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When Virginia lawmakers pass sweeping new gun control laws in the coming days, it will mark the culmination of nearly 13 years of often thankless work for two parents whose children were shot in one of the country's worst mass shootings. Lori Haas and Andrew Goddard started pressing lawmakers to enact new gun laws shortly after a gunman killed 32 people and wounded more than a dozen others at Virginia Tech in 2007. Haas and Goddard have been Virginia's most visible gun-control lobbyists for years, but until recently had little to show for their work.

Pope Francis on Sunday warned against "inequitable solutions" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying they would only be a prelude to new crises, in an apparent reference to U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace proposal. Francis made his comments in the southern Italian port city of Bari, where he traveled to conclude a meeting of bishops from all countries in the Mediterranean basin. "The Mediterranean region is currently threatened by outbreaks of instability and conflict, both in the Middle East and different countries of North Africa, as well as between various ethnic, religious or confessional groups," Francis said.

The Saudi-led coalition said it launched air raids Sunday targeting ballistic missile and drone depots in Yemen's capital of the Iran-backed Huthis, two days after the rebels fired missiles into the kingdom. Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the coalition fighting alongside Yemen's internationally-recognised government, said the strikes were in retaliation for ballistic missiles attacks on "civilian targets" in Saudi Arabia. The coalition "carried out a unique military operation to destroy legitimate military targets for the capabilities of assembling and firing of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones in the capital Sanaa", he said, quoted by the Saudi state news agency SPA.

The latest NBC News/WSJ poll shows that Biden fares best among all Democrats with African-American voters, but the gap is not as wide as one might think.

Trump's National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien doesn't believe there's anything to the reports about Russia once again interfering with the U.S. presidential election.In an interview set to air on ABC News’ This Week on Sunday, O’Brien denied being aware of U.S. intelligence reports that Russia is interfering to help Trump secure a second term in the oval office. He did acknowledge he hasn’t sought out any information about the reports, but he said he considers it a “non-story” based on leaks from a Congressional hearing. “All I know is that the Republicans on the side of the House hearing were unhappy with the hearing and said that there was no intelligence to back up what was being said,” O’Brien said.O’Brien said the Trump administration has been “very tough” on Russia and has urged Moscow to stay out of U.S. elections, adding that if anyone came forward with something different, he’d be willing to take a look at it more closely. For now, though, he says the report doesn’t "make any sense."Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was also briefed that Moscow was attempting to aid his Democratic primary campaign. Read more at The Associated Press and ABC News.More stories from theweek.com Bernie Sanders thanks 'multigenerational, multiracial coalition' as he declares 3rd primary victory Pete Buttigieg begs Democrats to 'take a sober look' at Bernie Sanders A moderate's 2020 lament

The White House is about to turn to Congress and request emergency funds in an attempt to curb the coronavirus outbreak, four people with knowledge of the request told Politico.So far, the vast majority of cases of the respiratory virus are in China where it originated, but it has been spreading across the globe, and over 30 people are infected in the United States. Because scientists know so little about the virus, including its incubation time, they're worried an outbreak could eventually hit the U.S.But it looks like the amount the White House plans to ask for — $1 billion — might be lower than some public health officials consider necessary, per Politico. If that's all there is, it could reportedly be exhausted swiftly by vaccine development, lab tests, and other investments. For comparison, the Obama administration requested $6 billion to fight Ebola in 2014 and received $5.4 billion.One White House official told Politico the amount is still subject to change, however. Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com Bernie Sanders thanks 'multigenerational, multiracial coalition' as he declares 3rd primary victory Pete Buttigieg begs Democrats to 'take a sober look' at Bernie Sanders A moderate's 2020 lament

As Italy experiences a surge in coronavirus cases, here is the latest for Sunday, Feb. 23.

"I think we're going to go, we're going to win in South Carolina, and then Super Tuesday and we are on our way," the former vice president said to a cheering crowd in Las Vegas Saturday.

The lockdown followed a confirmed 79 cases of coronavirus in Italy along with two deaths, and affects some 50,000 Italian citizens.

FBI is probing whether Jane Sanders improperly acquired bank loans to expand Burlington College, which was forced to close because of heavy debt

Iran's health ministry raised Sunday the death toll from the new virus to 8 people in the Middle Eastern country, amid concerns that clusters there, as well as in Italy and South Korea, could signal a serious new stage in its global spread. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told state TV that there were now 43 confirmed cases of the illness in Iran. The outbreak in Iran has centered on the holy city of Qom, where officials say travellers from China brought the new coronavirus.

South Korea went on high alert Sunday following a sharp jump in coronavirus cases, and Italy and Iran took their own drastic containment steps as an epidemic that has killed nearly 2,500 people in China continued a relentless global expansion. The World Health Organization (WHO) also warned that Africa's poor health systems left it vulnerable to the COVID-19 disease, which spilled out of China to more than 25 countries. South Korea is raising the nation's alert to its "highest" level, President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday after the number of infections nearly tripled over the weekend to 556.

(Bloomberg) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in signaled the potential for unprecedented steps as the country reeled from a surge in coronavirus cases that triggered travel advisories around the world.The government on Sunday raised the infectious-disease alert to “red,” the highest level, after about a 20-fold surge in confirmed cases over five days. The total is now 602, a majority of which have been linked to members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. A further 18 were tied to a Catholic group that visited religious sites in Israel.A day after Prime Minister Chung Se-Kyun asked citizens to stop mass religious activities for safety, President Moon said the government could take “powerful measures like never before without being tied to regulations” to contain the outbreak. He emphasized that shutting down Shincheonji facilities was a safety measure, not a suppression of religion.Daegu, the southeast Korean city where the Shincheonji group is located, has deployed some 600 police officers to track down members who have been unreachable, according to the Maeil Business newspaper. There are about 670 people who have been uncontactable, the paper said.Health officials in that city have a list of residents who are members of the sect, and are getting in touch to explain self-quarantine measures. Authorities have stationed a total of about 500 military personnel at two hospitals in Daegu to implement stricter measures for patients confirmed to be infected.Daegu is one of two cities, along with nearby Cheongdo, subject to a U.K. travel advisory on Saturday. Britain’s Foreign Office advised against “all but essential travel” to the two locations. The U.S. separately raised its alert to Level 2 -- “exercise increased caution” -- for the country as a whole.Israel took sterner measures after a group of Catholics visited for a Holy Land Pilgrimage, deciding on Saturday to block the entry of South Korean tourists on Saturday. That was a day after the Middle Eastern country reported its first case of the virus. South Korea’s foreign ministry called the move “regretful,” Yonhap reported.South Korea’s CDC said 18 people out of the 39 who went on the tour were confirmed to have the virus. Authorities are conducting further tests on the remaining 21. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Andong has halted all masses and assemblies until March, the CDC said in the statement.South Korea was last on red alert in 2009, during the H1N1 virus outbreak that resulted in 250 deaths in the country.To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Niluksi Koswanage at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net, Christopher AnsteyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Eight people were killed in Turkey in a magnitude 5.7 earthquake that struck western Iran early Sunday morning, Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu said. Soylu told a news conference that three children and four adults were killed in Turkey's Baskule district. No one remained trapped under fallen buildings, Van Governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez said.

The center-left Social Democrats won the most votes in the Hamburg state election Sunday, according to exit polls, followed by the environmentalist Green party in a vote that was overshadowed by a racist massacre and political turmoil in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats appeared to lose badly, receiving the weakest results in Hamburg, which is Germany's second-biggest city and its own state, in the last seven decades. In what would be a large upset, the far-right Alternative for Germany — which has been especially successful in state elections in eastern Germany where it got up to about a quarter of the vote — appears to not have received the 5% of the vote needed to get into the state assembly.

Bus drivers in Moscow kept their WhatsApp group chat buzzing with questions this week about what to do if they spotted passengers who might be from China riding with them in the Russian capital. The befuddlement reflected in screenshots of the group exchanges seen by The Associated Press had a common source - instructions from Moscow's public transit operator Wednesday for drivers to call a dispatcher if Chinese nationals boarded their buses, Russian media reported. A leaked email that the media reports said was sent by the state-owned transportation company Mosgortrans told dispatchers who took such calls to notify the police.