An Indonesian maid was jailed for two years in Singapore Thursday for giving money to an Islamic State-linked terror outfit blamed for a string of attacks in her home country.
The affluent city-state is home to over 250,000 maids from neighbouring Indonesia, and has seen a string of cases where foreign domestic helpers have allegedly been radicalised.
Anindia Afiyantari donated SG dollar 130 (USD 94) last year to charities used as fronts by Indonesia-based Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), described by prosecutors as among "the most dangerous terrorist organisations" in Southeast Asia.
It has been blamed for attacks, including the stabbing of President Joko Widodo's chief security minister Wiranto and deadly suicide bombings at several churches.
"The accused's actions of plotting to finance terrorist acts... strike at the very heart of Singapore's harmony," prosecutors said, according to court documents.
The 33-year-old -- who earned Sg$600 a month -- was introduced to radical religious ..

Singapore jails Indonesian maid for funding IS-linked group

PTI Automatic

A 74-year-old woman suffering from the new coronavirus has died in Switzerland, marking the country's first death in the outbreak, police said on Thursday.
The woman, who was hospitalised in the western city of Lausanne with the virus on Tuesday, had died overnight to Thursday, regional police in the canton of Vaud said in a statement.
To date, Switzerland has registered 58 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the disease first surfaced in the country on February 25.

First coronavirus death in Switzerland

South Korea's total number of novel coronavirus cases -- the largest outside China, where the disease first emerged -- passed 6,000 on Thursday as authorities announced a ban on face mask exports and other moves to try to ensure broader supply.
Japan is to impose two weeks' quarantine on arrivals from its neighbour, the Yomiuri daily reported, while Australia announced an entry ban on foreigners who have recently been in South Korea.
The two are the latest to take such measures -- according to the foreign ministry in Seoul, 36 countries and regions have entry bans, while 22 require quarantine, as do several parts of China.
Total infections stood at 6,088, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, up 467, with 35 deaths.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said face mask exports would be banned from Friday.
Masks have become standard wear throughout South Korea and demand has surged, with long queues forming as authorities struggle to ensure a sufficient supply.
South Korea .

South Korea virus total reaches 6,000

Bosnia on Thursday reported its first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, in a man who recently travelled to Italy and his child.
"It is a middle-aged man who worked in Italy from where he returned in late February," Alen Seranic, the health minister of Bosnia's Serb-run half, told reporters.
The patient lives in the northwestern region of Banja Luka where he was hospitalised and is held in isolation, the minister said.
"His health condition is good, he has no difficulties and feels well," Seranic said.
Members of the man's family were also tested and a child tested positive, he said.
Bosnia is now the third country in the Balkans region to which the virus has spread.  Croatia has registered 10 cases, and North Macedonia one.
More than 90,000 people have been infected and around 3,200 have died worldwide from the virus, the vast majority in China where COVID-19 first emerged late last year.

Bosnia reports first two coronavirus cases

Indonesia says it has detained dozens of crew from Vietnamese boats fishing illegally in waters that were the scene of a diplomatic spat with China earlier this year.
The maritime ministry said five fishing boats and some 68 crew members were seized after being intercepted on Sunday near Indonesia's Natuna islands, which border the South China Sea, most of which is claimed by Beijing.
Last year Indonesia accused the Vietnamese coastguard of ramming one of its vessels to stop the interception of a boat fishing illegally.
Indonesia, the world's biggest archipelago nation, has been trying to stop foreign vessels fishing in its territory, saying it costs Southeast Asia's economy billions of dollars annually.
Jakarta claims the area in the southernmost reaches of the South China Sea as its exclusive economic zone.
In January, Indonesia deployed fighter jets and warships to patrol the Natuna islands in a spat with Beijing over Chinese vessels entering the area.
China claims most of the ...

Indonesia detains 'illegal' Vietnamese fishing boats

The Port of Los Angeles, the biggest in the United States, has been significantly impacted by the new coronavirus outbreak and is forecasting a 15 to 17 percent drop in activity in the first quarter of the year, officials said Wednesday.
Eugene Seroka, the executive director of the port which mainly handles cargo to and from China, told the Los Angeles City Council that the facility experienced 20 to 25 per cent less business in February compared to the same period last year.
He said some 40 vessels that had been scheduled to arrive at the port through April had been cancelled due to the outbreak of the virus.
"We have advised the marketplace that we expect quarter one container volume to be down 15 to 17 percent," he added.
Seroka warned that the drop in business would impact workers and the wider community.
"In summation, for our port community, less cargo means fewer jobs," Seroka said, adding that some dock workers had been asked to stay home because there is not enough work.
"It .

Los Angeles port, country's biggest, hit hard by coronavirus

A high-speed TGV train locomotive derailed early Thursday while travelling from the eastern city of Strasbourg to Paris, injuring the driver, the national rail operator SNCF said.
"The TGV locomotive went off the tracks," an SNCF spokeswoman said. She did not indicate if others on the train were hurt or confirm news reports that several wagons also left the tracks.
Rescue workers were at the site of the accident near Vendenheim, around 15 kilometres (9 miles) north of Strasbourg, the SNCF and local authorities said.
Alexandre Sergeant, a passenger on the train, told BFM television by telephone that the train left Strasbourg on time at 7:19 am (0619 GMT), and the accident occurred around 20 minutes later.
"All of a sudden we felt an impact, and then the train was on the gravel, it kept rolling for a while and then started to lean on its side," Sergeant said.
"We're in the third wagon, all the windows are broken, and our wagon is off the tracks," he added.
The SNCF, which said traffic ..

French TGV locomotive derails on Strasbourg-Paris line, driver hurt

Japan plans to quarantine people coming from China and South Korea for two weeks to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, the Yomiuri daily reported on Thursday.
The newspaper said that everyone coming from the two countries will be quarantined at medical or other facilities and the government will ask Chinese and Korean tourists to refrain from visiting Japan and will suspend their visas.
The daily gave no details on its source for the report, but said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would announce the measures at a meeting later today of a cabinet-level task force on the outbreak.
More than 95,000 people have been infected and over 3,200 have died worldwide from COVID-19, which has now reached some 80 countries and territories.
The Yomiuri said the government will limit the landing of flights from China and South Korea to two airports, Narita and Kansai International.
The arrival of passengers on ships will be suspended, the daily said.
The reported decision comes as Japan steps up ..

Japan to quarantine visitors from China, South Korea: Yomiuri

Injury-hit Japan number one Kei Nishikori said Thursday he had failed to recover from an elbow injury and will sit out the behind-closed-doors Davis Cup qualifier against Ecuador at the weekend.
A depleted Japan will also be without world number 48 Yoshihito Nishioka when they bid to reach the finals in Spain later this year.
Nishioka has opted to return to the United States as a precaution against being quarantined because of the novel coronavirus outbreak  ahead of next week's ATP Tour Masters event in Indian Wells.
President Donald Trump has suggested that the US might consider imposing restrictions on people travelling from Japan because of the virus threat.
No fans will be present when the Davis Cup tie begins Friday to reduce the risk of infection as a growing number of sporting events across the globe are affected by the outbreak.
World number 31 Nishikori said he was still not fit enough because of the nagging injury, which required surgery in October, and he gave no definite .

Injury-hit Nishikori out of Japan-Ecuador Davis Cup clash

Russian air strikes Thursday killed at least 15 civilians including a child in the last major opposition bastion of Idlib in northwestern Syria, a Britain-based war monitor said.
The strikes after midnight targeted an area where displaced Syrians had gathered outside the town of Maaret Misrin in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
An AFP correspondent saw the bodies of some of the victims wrapped in thick winter blankets at a local hospital.
A rescuer carried in the body of a baby girl, her mouth filled with grey debris and her pink pyjamas caked in dust.
At the site of the strikes, two large one-storey out-buildings lay mostly in rubble near green orchards.
The strikes destroyed the poultry farm where the displaced families had been living. Dozens of surviving white chickens picked through the dust, as rescuers operated bulldozers to comb through the debris.
The Observatory said the toll was likely to increase as many wounded were in a critical ...

Russian strikes kill 15 civilians in northwest Syria: monitor

A fight over toilet roll ended with a man being tasered, Australian police said Thursday, as coronavirus concerns drive panic buying.
Police were called to a store in the New South Wales town of Tamworth, about four hours drive north of Sydney, after the man allegedly lashed out and attacked another customer and a worker.
Over 50 people have been confirmed to have the virus in Australia so far with the latest cases including an eight-month-old baby in Adelaide.
Coronavirus fears have triggered runs on several products, including hand sanitisers and face masks, with images of shoppers stacking trolleys with toilet rolls spreading on social media.
A fiery truck crash in Brisbane on Wednesday night further fuelled concerns after it was revealed it to be carrying loo roll.
But supermarkets and manufacturers urged calm, reassuring customers that deliveries were increasing to compensate for the demand.
Two major supermarket chains have also limited purchases on toilet paper to help quell ...

Australian man tasered in toilet paper scrap

A state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping this spring has been postponed over the outbreak of the new coronavirus, a spokesman for Japan's government said on Thursday.
"A state visit by President Xi to Japan will be held at a convenient time for both of us," Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo.

Japan says state visit by China's Xi postponed over virus

Russian air strikes Thursday killed at least 15 civilians including a child in the last major opposition bastion of Idlib in northwestern Syria, a Britain-based war monitor said.
The strikes after midnight targeted an area where displaced Syrians had gathered outside the town of Maaret Misrin in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Russian strikes kills 15 civilians in northwest Syria: monitor

Former UN chief Javier Perez de Cuellar, who was known for his peace-making efforts including brokering a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war, died Wednesday in his native Peru, aged 100, his son said.
Perez de Cuellar served as UN secretary general from 1981 to 1991, when he was often described as a "pacifist by vocation and nature."
Lauded by his countrymen as one of the most illustrious Peruvians of his era, Perez de Cuellar led the United Nations through a period marked by the fight against world hunger, the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq, as well as the civil war in US-supported El Salvador which led to UN-mediated peace talks.
"My dad died after a complicated week. He died at 8:09 pm tonight (0109 GMT Thursday) and is resting in peace," his son Francisco Perez de Cuellar told RPP radio.
Perez de Cuellar was known for his efforts to reconcile warring parties.
He considered the 1990 independence of Namibia, one of the last colonial enclaves on the African continent, his greatest .

Former UN chief Javier Perez de Cuellar dead at 100

Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific has been fined HK$5 million by Britain's privacy watchdog over a huge data leak of more than nine million customers including passport numbers and credit card details.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said in a statement on Wednesday it has ordered the airline to pay 500,000 dollars for "failing to protect the security of its customers' personal data".
Between October 2014 and May 2019, a lack of security measures on the carrier's computer systems led to a massive data breach involving 9.4 million customers around the world -- including 111,578 from the UK -- according to the ICO.
"People rightly expect when they provide their personal details to a company, that those details will be kept secure to ensure they are protected from any potential harm or fraud," Steve Eckersley, ICO Director of Investigations said.
"That simply was not the case here." He added that multiple serious deficiencies they found "fell well below" standard and the ...

Cathay Pacific fined by UK watchdog over massive data breach

Three years after the trauma of being raped by a stranger while jogging outside a university campus, American swimmer Nancy Hogshead-Makar lit up the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles by winning three gold medals and a silver.
Today, the 57-year-old lawyer, mother and activist devotes her life towards the fight for gender equality and the battle against sexual abuse in sport.
In an interview with AFP ahead of International Women's Day on March 8, Hogshead-Makar says she remains "unrealistically optimistic" about her work and life in general.
"I guess you have to be in order to try to win in the Olympics and try to address sexual abuse in sports," Hogshead-Makar said.
"They're pretty audacious goals."
The day before the interview, Hogshead-Makar had been working until the early hours drafting a letter to the US Congress about bipartisan legislation that calls for tougher protections for amateur athletes against abuse by coaches and employees.
Hogshead-Makar's work ethic mirrors the ...

US Olympic swim champion, a rape survivor, fights abuse in sport

A former Australian police officer was to appear in court Thursday charged with over 100 sexually related offences, including dozens of rapes.
The former Western Australian officer, who resigned after being charged by internal affairs in 2018, allegedly assaulted and raped numerous women over a decade during dates arranged online.
The 50-year-old man from Perth was charged with 108 offences including dozens of rapes, several counts of drugging women and multiple counts of assault causing bodily harm.
Allegations of predatory sexual behaviour sparked the investigation that uncovered the offences stretching back to 2010 with police believing more women have yet to come forward.

Australian ex-cop charged with 108 sex offences, including rape

One of Britain's biggest airlines, Flybe, collapsed Thursday with all its flights grounded, the company said, as the coronavirus epidemic takes a heavy toll on airlines around the world.
A statement on Flybe's website said the company had entered administration and could not arrange alternative flights for its passengers.
"All flights have been grounded and the UK business has ceased trading with immediate effect," said the airline, which avoided going bust in January only after being granted a tax holiday by the UK government.
Flybe, which employs 2,000 people, had failed to turn around its fortunes since being purchased by the Connect Airways consortium last year, initially owing to weak demand and fierce competition.
That has now been compounded by the coronavirus, with a slew of airlines cancelling flights and warning profits would take a hit from decreased demand.
The announcement came hours after British media reported that the airline could collapse following its failure to ...

UK airline Flybe collapses as virus hits flights worldwide

Thousands were stranded on a cruise ship off the California coast Wednesday over fears of the new coronavirus after passengers and crew members on board developed symptoms.
Officials delayed the return of the Grand Princess to San Francisco on Wednesday night from Hawaii in order to carry out testing on board for those potentially infected.
A 71-year-old man who had been aboard the same vessel during its previous voyage to Mexico died after contracting the COVID-19 illness, becoming the first fatal case in California, the operator Princess Cruises and California Governor Gavin Newsom said.
The ship's return from its current voyage was being delayed to allow "ample timing" for testing of "a number of passengers and crew members that have developed symptoms," Newsom told a press conference.
"So we're holding that ship, which (has) thousands of passengers as well, off the coast, and we'll be conducting those tests," he added.
Eleven passengers and 10 crew members were potentially ...

Thousands held on cruise ship off California over coronavirus fears

Janneman Malan, snubbed for South Africa's upcoming tour of India, hit a match-winning century as the Proteas clinched their one-day international series against Australia with a six-wicket victory in the second match at the Mangaung Oval on Wednesday.
Malan made 129 not out to enable South Africa to chase down a target of 272 and seal the series with a game to spare -- their first win in five series in all formats in home internationals this season.
Malan, 23, was out for a first-ball duck on his ODI debut in the first match in Paarl on Saturday and was not selected in a 15-man squad which will depart on Sunday for a three-game tour of India.
The younger brother of Test batsman Pieter Malan gave credit to Jon-Jon Smuts (41), Heinrich Klaasen (51) and David Miller (37 not out), with whom he shared partnerships of 91, 81 and an unbeaten 90 after captain Quinton de Kock had been bowled in the first over by Mitchell Starc.
"They were great partners to have in the chase," said Malan.
"My .

Snubbed Malan clinches South Africa series win over Australia

US freestyle great Katie Ledecky, looking forward to the Olympic debut of the women's 1,500m free in Tokyo, clocked the fifth-fastest time ever in the event with a 15min 29.51sec at the Pro-Swim Series meeting in Des Moines, Iowa.
Ledecky, who set the world record of 15:20.48 on May 16, 2018, owns the top 10 times in the event and is the heavy favorite to take the first Olympic gold awarded at the distance for women.
"I'm really excited about it coming to the Olympics," Ledecky said.
"Obviously I want to do really well in that event this year, so at the moment I'm really trying to set myself up well for it."
A stomach ailment forced Ledecky out of the 1,500m free at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, where she had been slated to go for a fourth consecutive title.
She said Wednesday's performance showed she was on track in her preparations for the US Olympic swimming trials in June and the Tokyo Games that start July 24.
"It was good," said Ledecky, whose five Olympic gold medals 

AFP

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