Brexit

"Given the latest COVID-19 developments, EU and UK negotiators have today jointly decided not to hold next week's round of negotiations in London, in the form originally scheduled," the source said

Brexit trade talks scheduled for next week cancelled over Coronavirus

Press Trust of India

UEFA will hold a crisis meeting next week, European football's governing body announced on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to force the postponement of Euro 2020 and the ongoing Champions League.
A videoconference will be held "to discuss European football's response to the outbreak" next Tuesday "in the light of the ongoing developments in the spread of COVID-19 across Europe and the changing analysis of the World Health Organisation."
The meeting will involve representatives from all 55 national associations and club and player bodies.
One possible solution for the European Championship could be to delay the tournament by a year until 2021.
UEFA later confirmed that next Tuesday's Champions League last 16, second legs between Manchester City and Real Madrid, and between Juventus and Lyon were postponed.
Real, who lost the first leg 2-1 at home to City, announced on Thursday that their squad has been placed in quarantine after one of the club's basketball players ...

Future of Euro 2020, Champions League up in the air as UEFA calls crisis meeting

PTI Automatic

Norwegian Air Shuttle said Thursday it would temporarily lay off up to half its staff, following the drop in demand due to the novel coronavirus, adding that it was cancelling 4,000 flights.
"Due to the extraordinary market situation as a result of the coronavirus... we must look at all possible measures to reduce costs. This unfortunately also includes temporary lay-offs of up to 50 percent of our employees and the number may increase," the company said in a statement.

Norwegian Air lays off half of staff over coronavirus

The Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museums in the Dutch capital Amsterdam said Thursday they were closing until the end of March to help halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Several other major tourist draws in the Netherlands including the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and major art museums in Rotterdam and The Hague, said they were also shutting their doors.
The announcements by the museums, which together attract millions of visitors a year, comes after Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced new rules including a ban on public gatherings of over 100 people.
"In line with national policy regarding the coronavirus, the Rijksmuseum will close its doors to the public until March 31, 2020," said the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands, which is famed for paintings such as Rembrandt's "The Night Watch."
The Van Gogh Museum, home to a huge collection of paintings by the Dutch post-impressionist master Vincent Van Gogh, made a similar announcement, as did the Mauritshuis in ..

Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum close over coronavirus

German carmaker BMW reported a 29-percent drop in profits in 2019 on Thursday, blaming heavy legal costs and high investments in a challenging economic environment.
Despite record revenues of 104 billion euros (USD 115.4 billion), driven by strong sales of its highest-end models, net profit amounted to just 5.0 billion euros, the company said in a statement.
The drop comes despite a two percent increase in the number of cars sold.
The figures took a big hit in first quarter from a 1.4-billion-euro provision set aside in connection with EU antitrust proceedings.
The European Commission has accused BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler of avoiding competition with each other on technologies that reduce harmful emissions.
Investment in research and development, especially on electric models, also contributed to the drop in profits, as did the higher manufacturing costs from a growing proportion of electric vehicles.
For BMW, 8.6 percent of cars sold in the European Union in 2019 were electric or ..

BMW profits slump as legal woes, investment costs bite

At least 13 people were killed in fighting in the Central African Republic where rival armed factions are battling after a seven-year civil war, UN officials said on Thursday.
Fighting erupted a week ago in the northern province of Bamingui-Bangoran between rival factions of the Popular Front for the Rebirth of Central Africa or FPRC, one of the country's largest militias.
CAR struggles with violence despite a peace deal signed between the government and 14 armed groups. Rival militias battling over resources control most of the country.
"Combat with heavy weaponry and light arms has left 13 dead in Ndele town, including some civilians," an official with the UN mission MINUSCA told AFP by telephone from the capital Bangui.
"The combat yesterday (Wednesday) morning was a consequence of an attack on the town by the Gula faction of the FPRC," the UN official said.
The FPRC last year split into two factions: the Runga ethnic group on one side, including FPRC's military chief Abdoulaye ...

Central Africa militia fighting kills 13

Europe's travel sector reacted with dismay Thursday to a US-imposed trans-Atlantic travel ban with the share price of major airlines going into free fall.
President Donald Trump said the measure would stem the spread of coronavirus, but an EU diplomat in Brussels called it "erratic".
Air France stock lost almost 18 percent at the Paris opening bell, before recovering to trade five percent lower in mid-afternoon exchanges.
Lufthansa shares, quoted in Frankfurt, were off by almost nine percent.
The US is not banning passengers from Britain, but shares in British Airways' parent company IAG still slumped more than 10 percent, while EasyJet lost over nine percent.
"Trump is simply kicking a man when he's down," the EU envoy charged.
Trump said the US would not allow travellers from the EU's Schengen border-free zone into the country for 30 days, calling the move an "aggressive" effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
The decision does not ...

Airline stocks nosedive as US travel ban hits EU travel sector

Major League Soccer announced a 30-day suspension of its season on Thursday as fears over the new coronavirus gripped sport across the United States.
A day after the NBA announced a suspension of the league after a player tested positive for the virus, MLS said in a statement it was following suit.
"Major League Soccer has suspended match play for 30 days, effective immediately, as the league continues to assess the impact of COVID-19 with its medical task force and public health officials," the league said.
MLS commissioner Don Garber said the suspension had been imposed after advice from health authorities.
"Our clubs were united today in the decision to temporarily suspend our season -- based on the advice and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and other public health authorities, and in the best interest of our fans, players, officials and employees," said Garber.
"We'd like to thank our fans for their ...

Major League Soccer suspending season over coronavirus

The United States Soccer Federation cancelled upcoming men's and women's international friendlies on Thursday over concerns of the new coronavirus.
The USSF said in a statement that all senior and youth team activities planned in March and April had been scrapped.
The US men's team was due to play the Netherlands on March 26 in Eindhoven and Wales on March 30 in Cardiff.
The women's team were due to face Australia on April 10 in Sandy, Utah, and Brazil on April 14 at San Jose, California.
"With the health of our players, coaches, staff and fans as our main priority, US Soccer has decided it was in the best interest to cancel the majority of our upcoming domestic and international camps at all levels, including our senior Men's and Women's National Team games in March and April, due to the outbreak of COVID-19," US Soccer chief medical officer George Chiampas said.
"We have been in communication with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as state and local ...

US Soccer Federation cancels upcoming friendlies: statement

Belgian Catholic churches have suspended public services until next month for fear of spreading the coronavirus, the council of bishops announced Thursday.
At the same time, the Great Mosque of Brussels cancelled Friday prayers and smaller Muslim places of worship were advised to follow local health advice.
For Belgium's majority Roman Catholics, the bishops said that marriages, funerals and baptisms could go forward with "limited attendance".
"Churches will remain open for prayer and personal meditation," the Church said, in a statement from its leader in Belgium, Cardinal Jozef De Kesel.
But public services will be suspended until at least April 3, meaning they could restart in time for Easter Sunday on April 12, virus permitting.
Belgium has one of the fastest growing outbreaks in Europe. Three elderly people have died.

Belgian churches suspend mass as virus spreads

A woman who tested positive for the coronavirus in Guyana after arriving from the United States a week ago has died, health officials in the South American country announced Thursday.
The 52-year-old Guyanese woman, who traveled from New York, died on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Karen Gordon-Boyle said.
The woman's family has been quarantined and efforts were underway to trace passengers who traveled on the same flight.
"All of that is being done now, all the contact tracing," Gordon-Boyle told AFP.
Family members and others who had come into contact with the woman were being subjected to "house quarantine," the health official said.
President David Granger late Wednesday advised against public gatherings and non-essential travel in and from the country, located on the northeastern corner of South America with a population of just 750,000.
Security forces will step up patrols at border crossings with neighbors Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela, he said.

Woman dies from coronavirus in first Guyana case

Cristiano Ronaldo has been in quarantine in Madeira for several days but is not showing any symptoms of the coronavirus contracted by a Juventus team-mate, local authorities in Portugal said Thursday.
"Ronaldo left Italy a few days ago and his isolation hasn't just started now," said Pedro Ramos, a member of the Madeira regional government in charge of health.
"Both the athlete and his family are symptomless," he added during a news conference.
Juventus and Italy defender Daniele Rugani tested positive for the COVID-19 virus on Wednesday, although the club said he was not exhibiting any symptoms.
"The players, members of staff and all those who came into contact (with Rugani) are in voluntary isolation. Ronaldo... is in Madeira and is staying there until further notice," the Serie A club told AFP.
Ronaldo travelled to his home town of Madeira last week to visit his mother who suffered a stroke.
"The player visited his mother because the health services were able to guarantee all the ..

Ronaldo in quarantine in Portugal but 'symptom-free'

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says he is convinced that the swingeing measures taken by his government will succeed in containing Europe's worst novel coronavirus outbreak, which has seen more than 800 deaths and nearly 12,500 infections.
"Tomorrow, we will not only be admired, we will be taken as a positive example of a country... that managed to beat this pandemic," Conte told fellow Italians in a televised statement on Wednesday evening.
But does Conte have a reason to be optimistic? AFP spoke to some doctors to find out.
"Viruses cause epidemics but it is people that harbour them and who can therefore stop them," says virologist Elisabetta Groppelli of London's St George's medical school.
"The isolation measures had a big effect in Wuhan (scene of China's most serious outbreak), as well as in previous epidemics like Ebola and the Spanish flu in 1918," says Groppelli.
"The shutdown in Italy could therefore succeed in containing and slowing the number of new cases, which ...

Will Italy's shutdown beat the coronavirus?

His remarks came after the presidents of the European Commission and European Council reacted with anger to the suspension Trump announced "unilaterally and without consultation" on Wednesday.

Coronavirus: Didn't notify EU on ban because 'it takes time', says Trump

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's communications chief, who met Donald Trump during an official weekend visit to the US leader's Florida resort, has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the government said on Thursday.
The Brazilian president's office "has taken and is taking all necessary preventive measures to protect the health of the president and all staff that traveled with him to the United States" last Saturday to Tuesday, it said in a statement, confirming the far-right government's chief spokesman, Fabio Wajngarten, had tested positive for COVID-19.
Wajngarten had posted a picture of himself meeting Trump on Instagram on Saturday, both with hats reading "Make Brazil Great Again."
Vice President Mike Pence was also in the photograph.

Brazilian who met Trump tests positive for COVID-19

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo could be postponed for a year, as organizers insist the Games will go ahead despite the coronavirus outbreak.
"Maybe they postpone it for a year," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "It's a shame" but "I like that better than I like having empty stadiums," he said.

Trump suggests Olympics could 'postpone' for a year

The Arab world has looked to laughter to counter the worst of the fear and speculation swirling around the coronavirus pandemic.
Among the treatments are a TV show starring coronavirus as guest of honour, a parody Covid-19 Twitter account, and song and dance designed to lampoon the panic over the illness.
From Egypt to Iraq and the Gulf to Tunisia, satirical hot takes have spread almost as fast as the virus across a region where authorities have resorted to increasingly draconian containment measures.
"What do you say to all the people who are scared of you?" an Egyptian television presenter asked an actor wearing a green virus costume.
"Wash your hands and sneeze away from others!" commands the character with a grotesque green face mask studded with spikes to mimic the coronavirus cell.
On Al-Hayah, a popular commercial channel, the coronavirus complains of "unjust treatment" because of widespread "exaggeration", accusing social media of hyping the epidemic's severity and calling on .

Going viral: Arab world treats virus panic with humour

NBA superstars LeBron James and Stephen Curry say the league needs to cancel 2020 after the year of Kobe Bryant's tragic death also saw the season shut down.
In the wake of the worldwide COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the NBA shut down its season Wednesday with five weeks remaining in the campaign after a player contracted the virus.
The shutdown follows the deaths of former NBA commissioner David Stern on January 1, 2020 and five-time NBA champion Bryant, the retired Los Angeles Lakers legend who was killed January 26 at age 41 in a helicopter crash along with his daughter Gianna and seven others.
"Man we cancelling sporting events, school, office work, etc etc. What we really need to cancel is 2020! . Damn it's been a rough 3 months. God bless and stay safe," Lakers star James tweeted in reaction to the news of the NBA shutdown.
As Slovenian guard Luka Doncic of Dallas tweeted: "2020 is being very bad year!! stay safe folks."
Golden State Warriors star Curry, who has played in the ..

LeBron, Curry say NBA needs to cancel 'rough' 2020

A number of Leicester players have shown symptoms of coronavirus and have been "kept away from the squad", manager Brendan Rodgers said on Thursday.
As it stands, a full Premier League programme is scheduled for this weekend, with third-placed Leicester due to travel to struggling Watford on Saturday, despite widespread cancellations of matches across Europe.
The game between Manchester City and Arsenal on Wednesday was postponed as a "precautionary measure" after Olympiakos owner Vangelis Marinakis tested positive for coronavirus.
Leicester boss Rodgers, quoted on the club's official Twitter feed, said at his pre-match press conference that disruption would be a "shame" but public health was more important than football.
"We're guided by football and federations," he said.
"We have to press on with our work and prepare as normal."
"The game is all about the players and the fans," he added.
"If you have one of those not there, it's obviously not the same." Several Arsenal players are .

Leicester players show symptoms of coronavirus: Rodgers

The ATP and WTA Miami Open was called off Thursday by Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus outbreak and began halting mass gatherings.
The hardcourt tennis tournament, one of the world's top events outside of the Grand Slams, was scheduled to begin with qualifying on March 23 and run through April 5.
The ATP and WTA earlier wiped out the combined event at Indian Wells, California, which was to have started main-draw play on Thursday.
And the ATP later announced a six-week halt to the season that also included another US tournament, the US Clay Court Championships that had been set for next month in Houston.
The news came hours after the NBA, including the Miami Heat, halted its season in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Miami-Dade County is under a state of emergency as we deal with the public health threat of COVID-19," Gimenez said in a statement.
"Although we do not have community spread at this time, we want to take ..

ATP-WTA Miami Open among events called off over coronavirus fear

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced plans Thursday for a halt to all transport in and out of the capital Manila and a quarantine to contain the spread of the deadly new coronavirus.
In a nationally televised address, Duterte also approved a month of school closures, ban on mass gatherings and a prohibition on the entry of foreigners from places where the contagion is spreading.
It was not immediately clear when all the measures would take effect but Duterte said the temporary block on land, sea and air traffic into and out of the capital would start Sunday.
"It's a lockdown," Duterte said.
The Philippines has a relatively small number of confirmed cases compared to hotspots such as China and Italy, but its tally has risen from 24 to 52 since Monday.
It has recorded five deaths, one of which was a Chinese tourist from Wuhan, the disease's epicentre.
However, Duterte has faced pressure from authorities and the public to squelch the virus in a nation with a fragile health ...

AFP

AFP

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