More than 40,000 workers at a vast Chinese-controlled industrial complex in Indonesia have been quarantined over fears about the spread of a deadly coronavirus strain which has killed more than 200 people in China, it said Friday.
PT Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park has sealed off its nickel mining hub on Sulawesi island and is barring any of its 43,000 staff from entering or leaving without written permission.
There are some 5,000 guest workers from mainland China at the sprawling site which hosts nickel ore smelters and stainless steel production.
Employees at the 2,000-hectare (5,000 acre) facility, majority owned by China's Shanghai Decent Investment Group, are undergoing medical tests and none has been found to be infected so far, said company spokesman Dedy Kurniawan.
The firm has also imposed a ban on employees or guests from overseas entering the complex and installed thermal scanners at its entrance, he added.
"We have identified and screened foreign workers from Wuhan," ...

Thousands on virus lockdown at China-backed plant in Indonesia

PTI Automatic

Sofia Kenin's father on Friday reflected on their journey from the Soviet Union all the way to Saturday's Australian Open final, saying it helped make his daughter the player she is today.
The 21-year-old Kenin, who plays Spain's Garbine Muguruza in the Melbourne final, has made a name for herself in the past fortnight for her aggression and tenacity.  Kenin -- who prefers to go by the name "Sonya" -- was born in Moscow but is a fiercely proud American.
The 14th seed, who stunned world number one Ashleigh Barty in the semi-finals, has a racquet decorated with the stars and stripes.
On the eve of the biggest match of her fast-burgeoning career, her father Alexander, who is also her coach, retold the family story.
He and wife Lena left the Soviet Union in 1987, initially for New York, returning to Russia for Sofia's birth in 1998 so a grandmother could help with the newborn.
The family would later settle in Florida and Kenin says her parents sacrificed themselves "so I could have the ...

Kenin's Melbourne heroics forged from turbulent family past

France's Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos of Hungary upset top seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova to win their second Australian Open women's doubles title in three years on Friday.
The pair beat the reigning Wimbledon champions 6-2, 6-1 in 1hr 12mins to claim their third Grand Slam title together and 10th overall.
Mladenovic, who won the Fed Cup with France in Perth in November, also reached last year's Melbourne doubles final with Babos, going down to Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai.
"There's just something about Australia -- we love coming back," said Babos.
"Our performance becomes better and better each time."
Mladenovic and Babos, the second seeds, had lost their only previous meeting with Hsieh and Strycova in the Wimbledon semi-finals last year.
Hsieh and Strycova warmed up for the Australian Open by winning in Brisbane and did not drop a set in their run to the final.

Mladenovic, Babos reclaim Australian Open doubles title

Garbine Muguruza won only one match between June and December last year. Suffering illness, she was then thrashed 0-6 by a qualifier in her first set at the Australian Open.
Now the 26-year-old faces American surprise-package Sofia Kenin in the final in Melbourne on Saturday, on the cusp of a third Grand Slam title.
The Venezuelan-born Spaniard has been keen to play down the swift transformation in her fortunes, but the facts speak for themselves.
Dial back to July 2017, when Muguruza won Wimbledon to go with her French Open title a year earlier. In September 2017 she rose to world number one.
What followed was a gradual but marked decline that she is only reversing now.
Muguruza won one title in 2018, in Monterrey, Mexico, the other high point reaching the French Open semi-finals.
She retained her Monterrey crown in 2019 but lost in the first round at Wimbledon in July, precipitating a dire run where she reached only one second round in five tournaments.
In Melbourne, Muguruza ...

Muguruza climbs back from brink to make Melbourne final

Radioactive water from the stricken nuclear plant in Fukushima should be released into the ocean or vaporised into the air, an expert panel advised the Japanese government on Friday.
The proposal is non-binding and sets no deadline for the government to decide or carry out procedures to deal with the water.
The panel has been weighing the issue for more than three years, but a decision is becoming urgent as space at the site to store the water is running out.
The TEPCO-operated nuclear plant suffered a meltdown in 2011 after it was hit by an earthquake-triggered tsunami.
The radioactive water comes from several different sources -- including water used for cooling at the plant, and groundwater and rain that seeps into the plant daily -- and is put through an extensive filtration process.
The panel convened by the industry ministry said releasing the water into the sea or into the air using vaporisation are "realistic options."
Discarding the water into the sea "can be done with ...

Release contaminated Fukushima water into sea: Japan panel

An A380 jet left Portugal on Thursday to repatriate more than 300 EU citizens from the Chinese city of Wuhan, epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, Portuguese broadcaster Sic Noticias reported.
Lisbon's foreign ministry said the plane, operated by Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly, was bound for China in a discreet operation to bring out Europeans based in the city in central Hubei province with Beijing's cooperation.
"We estimate around 350 passengers to come back. They are all European and many nationalities, including Portuguese," the flight's Greek captain Antonios Efthymiou told Sic Noticias before the flight left Beja airport some 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of Lisbon.
"We are in contact with our medical department, first of all, and the French government," Efthymiou added.
Portuguese daily Publico reported the French government had chartered the aircraft, adding it would make a stopover in Paris to receive medical personnel and then head first to Hanoi, Vietnam, before ...

Jet leaves Portugal to repatriate EU citizens from Wuhan

Britain has received clearance to evacuate around 200 of its citizens from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak, the government said on Thursday.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the charter flight would leave early on Friday morning local time, after receiving the necessary clearance from Beijing.
"We are pleased to have confirmation from the Chinese authorities that the evacuation flight from Wuhan airport to the UK can depart at 0500 local time on Friday, 31 January," he said.
"The safety and security of British nationals is our top priority.
"Our embassy in Beijing and consular teams remain in close contact with British nationals in the region to ensure they have the latest information they need." London had hoped the flight could leave the central city of Wuhan on Thursday morning UK time but on Wednesday evening was forced to tell those waiting to board that it would be delayed.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a number of ...

UK given go-ahead for Wuhan evacuation Friday: govt

The US economy expanded by a solid 2.3 percent in 2019, although that was slower than growth in 2018, according to the government's initial estimate released Thursday.
The slowdown in the $21 trillion economy last year came amid worsening trade friction, especially President Donald Trump's confrontation with China, which created uncertainty that made businesses hold off on investments, as well as reducing exports and raising costs for inputs.
But consumers remained upbeat and continued to spend and buy homes, which offset weaker business investment along with government spending, according to the Commerce Department data.
Even so, the slowdown from the 2.9 percent expansion in 2018 keeps growth far from Trump's promised target of 3.0 percent or higher.
Business investments -- a category known as "nonresidential fixed investment" -- slowed sharply last year, rising just 2.1 percent after the 6.1 percent gain in 2018.
And exports were flat, reflecting the hit from the trade wars as well 

US economic growth slowed to 2.3% in 2019: official

A US-Israeli woman jailed for drug trafficking in Russia flew into Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday after she was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin.
Israeli TV stations screened live coverage of 26-year-old Naama Issachar's arrival at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv.
"I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the support," she said smiling.
"Right now I'm still in shock from the whole situation." Russia freed her from prison shortly before Netanyahu met Putin at the Kremlin to discuss US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan.
Bringing Issachar home after 10 months in prison was a publicity coup for Netanyahu ahead of March 2 elections.
Her fate had sparked a wave of sympathy in Israel, where the veteran premier had pledged to do everything for her release.
She was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport in April 2019 while in transit from India to Israel.
Russian authorities said they found nine grammes (0.3 ounces) of ...

US-Israeli woman pardoned by Putin flies home with Netanyahu

A man was convicted Friday of attempting to steal a priceless 1215 original version of the Magna Carta, smashing its case with a hammer.
Mark Royden, 47, attacked the protective glass surrounding the historic manuscript at Salisbury Cathedral but was chased off by tourists and eventually cornered by stonemasons.
Royden was found guilty by a jury at Salisbury Crown Court in southwest England of attempted theft and criminal damage to the security case costing ?14,466 ($18,900, 17,150 euros) to fix.
Royden apparently believed the Salisbury Magna Carta was a fake.
Four original copies from 1215 remain in existence: two in the British Library in London, one at Salisbury Cathedral, and one at Lincoln Cathedral, in eastern England.
The charter has defined rights and liberties around the world.
"There is an irony that the charter of the Magna Carta that this defendant is charged with attempting to steal states that no free man may be imprisoned other than by the lawful judgement of his ...

British man found guilty of trying to steal Magna Carta

US life expectancy is up for the first time in four years, driven by factors including a fall in the rate of fatal drug overdoses and cancer deaths, official statistics showed Thursday.
The increase in 2018, the latest year for which data is ready, was marginal: 78.7 years compared to 78.6 years for the year before, but it was enough to arrest a slide that began in 2014.
The figure was 76.1 for men and 81.2 for women.
"This has not happened through coincidence, it's happened through causation," said White House advisor Kellyanne Conway, announcing the figures. "It's owed in large part to a whole of government approach to treat the whole person, led by President Trump." The government also said that 2018 saw the first decline in drug overdose deaths in almost three decades, confirming preliminary data that was announced last year.
There were more than 67,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2018, a four percent decline from 2017 when there were just over 70,000 deaths.
But .

US life expectancy up for first time in four years

Britain's Prince Harry on Thursday lost a complaint against tabloid newspaper the Mail on Sunday about a story criticising wildlife photographs he posted on Instagram.
The prince alleged the newspaper had run the inaccurate headline "Drugged and tethered... what Harry didn't tell you about those awe-inspiring wildlife photos" in an article about pictures he had posted online of himself and an elephant.
The weekly reported that another picture showed the animal was tethered with a rope.
Harry complained that the paper had made it seem he had deliberately cropped out the rope, and that he had posted the full picture in 2016.
He also said the website of the conservation organisation explained how it tranquilised and tethered the animals.
But the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) watchdog rejected the complaint.
"The complainant (Harry) said the article was inaccurate as it reported that... he had intentionally misled the public to give the impression that he was a superior .

Prince Harry loses complaint against Mail on Sunday

A Burundi court Thursday sentenced four reporters covering an incursion of rebels from neighbouring DR Congo to 18 months in jail, sparking immediate criticism from rights watchdog Amnesty International.
The journalists were working for Iwacu, one of Burundi's few independent media outlets when they were arrested on October 22 and charged with endangering state security.
"We are in shock. The court has just sentenced the four Iwacu journalists to two-and-a-half years in prison and fined them one million Burundi francs (485 euros, $535)," a witness who was in court told AFP.
"It's a shame because they were simply doing their job." The prosecution had called for a 15-year prison sentence largely based on a WhatsApp exchange of messages between one of the reporters and a colleague based abroad in which the former wrote: "We are heading for Bubanza ... to help the rebels." A further demand was for the four to be denied their civic rights for 20 years.
Iwacu's founder, Antoine Kaburahe, ...

Four Burundi journalists get jail terms over rebel coverage

Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and the global protest movement "Fridays for Future" were nominated Thursday for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize by two Swedish lawmakers.
"Greta Thunberg is a climate activist, and the main reason she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize is that despite her young age, she has worked hard to make politicians open their eyes to the climate crisis," Left Party parliamentarians Jens Holm and Hakan Svenneling wrote in a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
"The climate crisis will produce new conflicts and ultimately wars. Action for reducing our emissions and complying with the Paris Agreement is therefore also an act of making peace," they said.
The pair added that without the Fridays For Future movement and Greta Thunberg, "the climate issue would not have been on the agenda to such an extent as it is today."
Thunberg, 17, was mentioned as a possible Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2019, when the honour ultimately went to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ...

Greta Thunberg nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Swedish MPs

More than 6,000 tourists were under lockdown aboard a cruise ship at an Italian port on Thursday after two Chinese passengers were isolated over fears they could be carrying the coronavirus.
Preliminary tests on the pair suggested they were not carrying the virus, the ministry of health said, but it was not immediately clear whether passengers would be allowed to leave the Costa Smeralda vessel before final results were confirmed.
The Lazzaro Spallanzani national institute for infectious diseases is examining samples taken from a Chinese woman who fell ill with a fever as well as her travelling companion. It told AFP that the definitive results could take up to 48 hours.
It came as China reported its biggest single-day jump in coronavirus deaths and global fears deepened over a spread of the disease, with at least 15 countries confirming infections.
Cruise line Costa Crociere confirmed the ship, which is currently in the port of Civitavecchia, was on lockdown with some 7,000 people in 

Thousands held on liner in Italy over virus fears for China couple

A nurse in Germany has been arrested on suspicion of poisoning five newborn babies with morphine, officials said Thursday, adding that the infants had survived.
The woman was taken into custody on Wednesday after investigators found an oral syringe containing breast milk mixed with morphine in her locker at Ulm University Hospital in southern Germany.
The premature and newborn babies, who were between one day and five weeks old and staying in the same hospital room, suddenly all developed breathing problems "at almost the same time" in the early hours of December 20, said Ulm police chief Bernhard Weber.
"Only because of immediate action taken by the staff could the five lives be saved," he told a news conference.
Doctors do not expect the infants to suffer any lasting harm.
The nurse taken into custody has yet to be formally charged but faces five counts of attempted manslaughter and grievous bodily harm, Ulm prosecutor Christof Lehr told reporters.
She denies poisoning the babies, ..

German nurse 'poisoned babies with morphine'

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday that the virus that has killed 170 people in China and sparked global health fears could help create jobs in America.
Ross said the virus, which has spread to at least 15 countries, was "very unfortunate" but that it was also a "risk factor" for businesses weighing up whether to operate in China.
"I don't want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease but the fact is, it does give businesses yet another thing to consider," he told the Fox Business TV channel.
"So I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America, some to (the) US, probably some to Mexico as well." His comments triggered immediate criticism on social media and from health experts.
"You have somebody of that stature who makes an irresponsible comment, speaking on matters in which he has no expertise," Georges Benjamin, of the American Public Health Association, told the Washington Post.
"There's no scientific or ...

China virus could create US jobs: commerce secretary

Police in the West African state of Guinea are facing a storm of criticism over a viral video that apparently shows them using a woman as a human shield against stone-throwing protestors.
The video, whose source cannot be independently verified but whose authenticity has not been contested, spread fast on social media late Wednesday.
The footage is dated as of Wednesday and gives the location as the district of Wanindara.
It shows four helmeted policemen facing young protestors throwing stones.  One of the police moves in front of the protestors, pushing a woman in front of him, apparently against her will.
After an exchange of stones and anti-riot projectiles, the police suddenly fall back.
The police officer grabs the woman under his arm and after a few yards appears to be dragging her along the ground.
The video has notched up several hundred thousand views and triggered a wave of online attacks on security forces.
General Ansoumane Baffoe Camara, director general of Guinea's ...

Outcry in Guinea over police 'human shield' video

Iraq's security forces have resumed operations with the US-led coalition to fight Islamic State group sleeper cells, the global alliance said, after tensions led to a more than three-week pause.
The announcement came as Iraqi politicians faced a Saturday deadline to pick a successor to caretaker prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, who resigned in December as unprecedented anti-government protests rocked the country.
The US-led coalition announced on January 5 that it was freezing its anti-IS campaign in Iraq for security reasons after a spate of rocket attacks on bases where its forces are stationed.
That same day, Iraq's parliament voted in favour of ousting all foreign troops from the country after a US air strike on Baghdad that killed top Iraqi and Iranian commanders.
The coalition has provided training and air support for Iraqi forces since 2014 to help them beat IS, but the pause meant it could not carry out operations or strikes.
On Thursday, the coalition's spokesman Myles ...

Iraq resumes joint ops with US-led coalition

France is preparing to airlift hundreds of its citizens from the Chinese city at the centre of a deadly coronavirus outbreak, but one Frenchman is staying put.
Philippe Klein is head of the International SOS Hospital in Wuhan, the first city to be locked down by Chinese authorities as they battle the spread of the virus.
"It's not an act of heroism. It's been well thought out, it's my job," Klein said of his decision to stay.
"I think I'll be much more useful here than in France." The new coronavirus has killed 170 people so far in mainland China, with thousands infected across the country.
The virus has been detected in more than a dozen other countries, including as far away as the United States and Canada.
Klein told AFP he wants to help the local French community. Some 500 French nationals are registered with the nation's consulate in Wuhan.
French auto giant PSA and Renault have factories in the city, and the local universities run exchange programmes with institutions in ...

'I'm more useful here': French doctor stays put in virus-hit Wuhan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted Thursday Jerusalem was "not for sale" in response to a Middle East plan unveiled by US counterpart Donald Trump.
"They say, 'the deal of the century', what deal? This is a project of occupation," Erdogan said in Ankara. "Jerusalem is our red line... Jerusalem is not for sale.
"No one should attempt to shamelessly say 'we'll give something and you leave this to us'," he added.
Erdogan, who sees himself as a defender of Palestinians' rights, had previously said the plan was unacceptable.
Trump on Tuesday unveiled the long-awaited plan aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying Jerusalem would remain Israel's "undivided capital".
This is not the first time Jerusalem has been a sore point in US-Turkey relations, already tense over multiple issues.
When Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and moved the embassy there, Turkish officials angrily and repeatedly criticised the move.

AFP

AFP

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