Basketball superstar LeBron James said he won't play if his Los Angeles Lakers have to hold games behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The NBA has reportedly told teams to look into strategies on how to play without fans in the arena amid concerns over the spreading virus.
"Nah. It's impossible," James said after the Lakers' 113-102 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
"If I show up to the arena and there ain't no fans in the crowd, then I ain't playing."
The league sent a memo to each team on Friday asking them to develop contingency plans to combat the spread of the virus. One of the alternatives is playing games behind closed doors.
"I ain't never played the game without no fans," James said.
"Ever since I started. This ain't Europe.
"I play for my teammates and I play for the fans. That's what it is all about."
James and Anthony Davis scored all but one of the Lakers' points in the final quarter Friday as they rallied to beat the NBA-leading Bucks and clinch their first ..

James says won't play in empty arenas as NBA mulls virus strategy

PTI Automatic

The death toll from the novel coronavirus in Iran continued to rise on Saturday with 21 more people killed, including a politician who became the eighth official to succumb to the disease.
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced 1,076 additional cases had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall tolls to 145 dead and 5,823 infected.
"More than 16,000 people are currently hospitalised as suspect cases," Jahanpour said during a televised news conference.
He added that 1,669 people who were sick with the COVID-19 illness have recovered.
The Islamic republic is battling one of the world's deadliest outbreaks of the disease outside China, where it originated.
The capital Tehran remains the worst-hit province in the country, with 1,539 confirmed cases.
On Saturday, a newly elected conservative MP for the city was the second Iranian lawmaker killed by the virus, state news agency IRNA reported.
Fatemeh Rahbar, 55, served as MP from 2004 to 2016 and was  among .

Iran novel coronavirus toll jumps to 145

The Barcelona Marathon, which was scheduled for March 15 with 17,000 registered runners, has been postponed until October to contain the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, city officials said Saturday.
"We have agreed to postpone the event to keep working on COVID-19 containment in line with the recommendations of the health authorities and the WHO regarding major events," Barcelona city council said in a statement.
"The Barcelona Marathon will now be held on October 25," it said of the race  which draws many runners from outside Spain.
Fernando Simon, the health ministry's chief coordinator for emergencies, said the annual race normally drew at least 1,000 runners from areas which are currently considered infection hotspots.
"For non-professional sporting events, the recommendation is to postpone or suspend them, particularly events with a high number of participants from risk zones," he said.
"In this case, the Barcelona Marathon usually has more than 1,000 participants coming from 

Barcelona Marathon postponed over virus fears

Australia's Marnus Labuschagne hit a maiden one-day international century on his return to his South African roots in the third and final one-day clash on Saturday.
Applauded by a large group of his South African family at Senwes Park, Labuschagne made 108 in an Australian total of 254 for seven after they were sent in to bat.
Labuschagne was born in Klerksdorp, 50km away, and started school in Potchefstroom before his family moved to Australia when he was nine years old.
He said it was "very special" to score a century so close to the town where he was born.
"I carried on like a bit of a goose," he told SuperSport television of his emotional celebration on reaching his hundred, "but it was amazing. I have 50 of my family members out there from all over South Africa."
But he was quick to add there were no divided loyalties.
"I left so young, I love Australia, it's my country," he said.
"Although I was born in South Africa and there's a little spot in my heart for the country, I'm ...

Labuschagne hits century on return to roots

South Africa on Saturday confirmed a second case the novel coronavirus, a 39-year-old woman who had  travelled to Italy as part of a group with the first confirmed case.
The South African authorities said the woman, originally from the inland province of Gauteng, had come into direct contact with the first case from Kwa Zulu-Natal when they travelled back in a group of 10 from Italy on March 1.
On Thursday, the authorities said a man who was part of that group was the first case in the country.
"The second patient who has now tested positive for COV-19 will now be immediately admitted to a public health facility in Gauteng that the government has identified as one of the hospitals that are ready to receive COVID-19 positive patients," the health ministry said in a statement.
The ministry assured the public it had managed to secure information on the whereabouts of all the other people in the group that had travelled to Italy.
The health ministry also confirmed that a 39-year-old South 

South Africa reports second coronavirus case

The Vatican said Pope Francis will deliver Sunday's Angelus Prayer by livestream instead of in person from his window overlooking Saint Peter's Square out of concern over  spreading the new coronavirus.
"The prayer will be broadcast via livestream by Vatican News and on screens in Saint Peter's Square," the Vatican said in a statement.

Pope to deliver Sunday prayer by livestream due to virus

Saudi Arabia reopened Saturday the area around the sacred Kaaba in Mecca's Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest site, reversing one of a series of measures introduced to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
Saudi authorities this week suspended the year-round umrah pilgrimage, during which worshippers circle the Kaaba seven times, and also announced the temporary closure of the area around the cube structure.
But King Salman has "allowed for the opening of the Mataf (where people circle the Kaaba) for non-umrah performers" starting on Saturday at dawn, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Hundreds of Muslims were seen rotating around the Kaaba, but the area between two hills that pilgrims must go between seven times to complete umrah remained closed.
Barricades blocked access to the Kaaba, draped in a gold-embroidered black cloth, while men in green uniforms cleaned the white-tiled floor.
Authorities had emptied the Grand Mosque for sterilisation on Thursday.  The unprecedented ...

Saudi Arabia reopens area around sacred Kaaba amid virus measures

Kabul was reeling Saturday after Islamic State jihadists killed 32 people and wounded dozens more, with injured survivors describing scenes of terror as gunmen opened fire in the deadliest attack to hit Afghanistan since a US-Taliban deal.
The attack at a crowded gathering in the capital has raised questions about Afghanistan's abysmal security situation and uncertain future following the February 29 agreement to pull foreign forces from the country within 14 months.
Lying in a hospital bed in a run-down Kabul neighbourhood, 15-year-old Basira said she had attended Friday's annual commemoration ceremony for Abdul Ali Mazari -- a politician from the Hazara ethnic group -- for the first time, accompanied by her father and younger sister.
"We were in the middle of the ceremony when the gunfire erupted," she told AFP in a frail voice.
"It was non-stop firing for more than an hour," she said, describing chaotic scenes, with terrified people running for cover from the gunmen who appeared to 

Kabul victims describe scenes of carnage after attack

One of China's biggest mobile gaming company is selling popular gay dating app Grindr for USD 608 million after pressure from US authorities concerned over the potential misuse of user data.
National security officials in Washington fear the platform -- which bills itself as the world's largest social networking space for LGBT people -- could be used by the Chinese government to blackmail Americans with government security clearances, according to media reports last year.
Beijing Kunlun Tech took a majority stake in the app in 2016 and bought the remaining equity two years later for a combined USD 245 million, but was reportedly ordered to relinquish the platform by US officials last year.
It will sell a 98.59 per cent stake in Grindr to San Vicente Acquisition, a holding company based in the US state of Delaware, according to a company filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday.
The deal is awaiting approval from a US committee authorised to review transactions involving ...

China tech firm to sell gay dating app Grindr for USD 608 million

A Chinese porcelain gourd which once belonged to the 18th century Chinese Emperor Qianlong sold for 4.1 million euros (USD 4.6 million) at auction on Saturday.
The cobalt blue and white gourd, which represents an imperial dragon with five claws in search of the sacred pearl, went to a Chinese buyer by telephone.
Auctioneer Olivier Clair, who found the object while executing a will in a Parisian apartment, told AFP that with fees, the sale amounted to more than 4.9 million euros.
"There have been a number, but it remains very rare," he said.
"The gourd was intended for Chinese pilgrims. Little by little, it has become a decorative symbol like a coronation sword. It is an object that interests the Chinese because it is their heritage."
The gourd was possibly looted, along with many other objects, during the sack of the Summer Palace by a Franco-English expeditionary force in 1860 but Clair said its path to Europe was unclear.
"We do not know how the object arrived in France, we only ...

18th century Chinese gourd sells for USD 4.6 million at auction

Iran on Saturday reported 21 new deaths from the novel coronavirus and 1,076 fresh cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall tolls to 145 dead and 5,823 infected.
"More than 16,000 people are currently hospitalised as suspect cases," health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference as he announced the tolls.
He added that 1,669 of confirmed cases have recovered from the illness.

Iran reports 21 new coronavirus deaths, raising total to 145

Greece plans to build two new temporary camps to house hundreds of additional asylum seekers who arrived after a surge enabled by Turkey, the migration minister said Saturday.
"We want to build two closed centres in (the northern region of) Serres and the greater Athens area with 1,000 places," migration minister Notis Mitarachi told Skai TV.
"We need the backing of local communities. We cannot leave all (these) people on the islands," he said.
Mitarachi said the camps would host asylum seekers who arrived after March 1, when Turkey announced it would no longer prevent people from trying to cross into the European Union.
Residents of a Serres town rumoured to host one of the camps staged protests earlier this week and local officials declared their opposition to the plan.
Over 1,700 migrants have landed on Lesbos and four other Aegean islands from Turkey over the past week, adding to the 38,000 already crammed into abysmal and overstretched refugee centres.
The new surge has ramped up 

Greece to build new camps after migrant surge: minister

The number of novel coronavirus cases in the world rose to 101,988, including 3,491 deaths, across 94 countries and territories by 0900 GMT Saturday, according to a report compiled by AFP from official sources.
Since 1700 GMT Friday, 1,146 new contaminations and 35 new deaths were identified.
China -- excluding the territories of Hong Kong and Macau -- where the epidemic emerged at the end of December, had 80,651 cases, of which 3,070 were fatal. There were 99 new infections and 28 deaths there since 1700 GMT Friday.  Outside China, a total of 21,337 cases have been recorded around the world since the epidemic began, including 421 deaths.
There have been 1,047 new cases and 7 new deaths outside China since 1700 GMT Friday.
The most affected countries after China are: South Korea (6,767 cases, 44 deaths), Iran (4,747 cases, 124 deaths), Italy (4,636 cases, 197 deaths) and Germany (684 cases, no deaths).
Since Friday 1700 GMT, China, United States, UK and South Korea have recorded new ..

Coronavirus toll at 0900 GMT Saturday

The number of cases from the new coronavirus topped 100,000 worldwide as official data Saturday showed a significant hit to Chinese exports after the deadly outbreak brought much of the country to a halt.
The World Health Organisation called the spread of the virus "deeply concerning" as a wave of countries reported their first cases of the disease -- which has now killed nearly 3,500 people and infected more than 100,000 across 92 nations and territories.  The US was battling to contain an outbreak on a cruise ship where 21 people have tested positive for the virus.
The Grand Princess has been stranded off San Francisco since Wednesday -- when it was supposed to dock -- after it emerged that two people who had been on the ship during its previous voyage had contracted the virus. One later died.
US Vice President Mike Pence said the ship will be brought to a non-commercial dock this weekend and all 3,533 passengers and crew will be tested.
The Grand Princess belongs to Princess ...

Coronavirus cases hit 100,000 as cruise ship fears grow

Sacks of heroin and methamphetamine are laid out in endless rows in a remote Myanmar border zone during a rare raid in the heart of Southeast Asia's infamous 'Golden Triangle'.
The seizure in one of the world's biggest narcotics-producing regions put three major laboratories out of business this week and hauled in 43 million meth tablets.
Record amounts of drugs continue to be churned out of the lawless forest areas by rebel groups and shadowy organised crime networks making billions of dollars each year from the trade.
Army operations around the Kutkai area of Myanmar's Shan State found the factories producing millions of "yaba" pills -- cheap, caffeine-cut meth tablets -- as well as heroin and the more addictive crystal meth, known as "Ice".
"Our soldiers are on the ground in areas of the forest the police cannot reach," Major General Tun Tun Nyi, a spokesman for the commander-in-chief's office, told reporters on Friday in a rare press tour to a murky zone of drug production and ...

Sea of meth as Myanmar army smashes three drug labs

An Iranian lawmaker died from the novel coronavirus on Saturday, state news agency IRNA reported, one of several officials to succumb to the illness in the epidemic-hit country.
Fatemeh Rahbar, 55, was a conservative MP and had recently been elected to the parliament from the capital Tehran, the agency said.
She is the second lawmaker killed by the virus in Iran and one of seven politicians and government officials who have died in the outbreak since the country reported its first cases in mid-February.
Iran has been scrambling to contain the rapid spread of the virus, which so far has infected 4,747 people and killed at least 124.
Rahbar was among the top candidates in Tehran for the conservatives, who overwhelmingly won February's general election marked by the lowest turnout in the Islamic republic's history.
Iran has closed schools and universities, suspended major cultural and sporting events and reduced working hours across the country to slow the contagion, which has spread to .

Iranian lawmaker dies of novel coronavirus

Nine people were killed in a bloody confrontation Friday in western Mexico between a criminal gang and agents investigating a suspected kidnapping, officials said.
The dead included two officers and six people believed to have been held captive in a house in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco state, the state prosecutor's office said.  Another man died on the street.
Jalisco has been hard-hit by violence linked to organized crime, particularly the powerful Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.
In the latest incident, the kidnappers opened fire on the officers and shot their captives when they were cornered, state prosecutor Gerardo Octavio Solis Gomez said.  After the gang shot at them, the agents returned fire and requested backup.
Dozens of police and elements of the army supported by two helicopters were deployed to begin a house to house search for the attackers.
A woman who asked to remain anonymous said the man who was killed in the street was her 43-year-old brother who had gone to visit his ..

Nine killed in Mexico shootout with police

The NBA has reportedly told teams to look into strategies on how to play games without fans in the arena amid concerns over the new coronavirus outbreak.
As fears grow over the spread of the virus, and sports leagues formulate contingency plans, the NBA on Friday sent a memo to its teams telling them to start "developing" plans on how to play games with only "essential staff" in attendance should that be deemed necessary, American sports broadcaster ESPN reported.
The NBA had sent out a previous memo to teams earlier this week, recommending players to use fist-bumps instead of high-fives with fans. It also said to avoid taking items such as pens, balls and jerseys from fans to sign.
"The health and safety of our employees, teams, players and fans is paramount," the NBA said in a statement on Monday. "We are coordinating with our teams and consulting with the CDC and infectious disease specialists on the coronavirus and continue to monitor the situation closely."
The global spread of ..

NBA mulls games without fans over virus fears: report

Davis Cup qualifying started Friday under the shadow of the deadly  coronavirus with fist bumps instead of handshakes, ball boys and girls keeping their distance from sweat-stained towels and two ties even played out in eerily-empty arenas.
With matches taking place from Australia to Japan to Europe and in South America and Hawaii, 12 teams are bidding to join defending champions Spain, 2019 runners-up Canada, semi-finalists Great Britain and Russia, as well as wildcards France and Serbia in the Madrid finals in November.
Two of Friday's encounters had to be staged behind closed doors with spectators banned in Miki, where Japan are hosting Ecuador, and in Cagliari as Italy faced South Korea.
"Conditions were strange," said Italian number one and world 11 Fabio Fognini after cruising past 251-ranked Lee Duck-hee 6-0, 6-3 in just over an hour at the Circolo Tennis venue.
"It was not difficult to focus but it was a bit strange to play in front of 100 people. But safety first and then ...

Fist bumps replace handshakes, sweaty towels off limits in Davis Cup

Two South Korean apartment buildings heavily occupied by members of a sect linked to most of the country's coronavirus cases have been quarantined after dozens of residents tested positive for the disease, an official said Saturday.
The move comes as the country, which has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world outside China, reported 174 new infections, taking its total to 6,767.
Another two deaths were reported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bringing the toll to 44.
The apartment complex in Daegu -- the country's fourth-largest city and epicentre of its outbreak -- was placed under lockdown after 46 residents were confirmed to have the virus, mayor Kwon Young-jin said.
More than 140 people live in the two buildings, including 94 members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which is often accused of being a cult and is linked to most of South Korea's infections.
It is the first residential community to be isolated over the outbreak, Kwon .

Two apartment buildings in South Korea quarantined over virus

China's fight against the coronavirus epidemic has triggered anger over the neglect of frontline female workers who have struggled to access menstrual products, battled with ill-fitting equipment and had their heads shaved.
Reports that some medical staff were given birth control pills in order to delay their periods have also prompted outrage.
As the world marks International Women's Day, women in China have rallied against measures they deem discriminatory as the government races to contain the crisis, which has disrupted the lives of tens of millions of people under lockdown in central Hubei province, the virus epicentre.
Shanghai resident Jiang Jinjing became concerned about how female medical workers were dealing with their periods, after workers spoke out about avoiding using the toilet to conserve their protective suits.
The 24-year-old asked about the issue on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, and received thousands of comments, including urgent anonymous appeals from women 

AFP

AFP

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