Pregnant, newly-wed and now trapped at the Chinese epicentre of a global health crisis, Thai national Aphinya is among thousands of foreigners desperate to escape -- and watching helplessly as the US and Japan fly their citizens home.
Hundreds were flown to safety this week to Tokyo, Singapore and California on government-chartered flights, but those from countries with less diplomatic clout fear they are being left behind.
"I feel hurt that they don't care about us," Aphinya Thasripech, 32, told AFP.
"Either I could starve or I'll get infected and die," said the factory worker, who is two months pregnant.
So far 170 people have been killed by the virus since it emerged from a market in Wuhan, and more than 7,700 people have been sickened.
The illness has also spread around the world, with cases being recorded as far away as the United Arab Emirates, Finland and the United States, but all of the deaths have been in China.
China has imposed transport bans in and around Wuhan -- ...

Stranded in Wuhan: foreigners raise call for help in virus epicentre

PTI Automatic

World number one Ashleigh Barty said her 12-week-old niece helped put her Australian Open semi-final defeat into perspective on Thursday as she delivered her post-match press conference holding the baby girl.
American 14th seed Sofia Kenin silenced Rod Laver Arena with a surprise 7-6 (8/6), 7-5 win over the home favourite in fierce Melbourne heat.
It ended Australian hopes of a first homegrown women's champion since Chris O'Neil in 1978, and Barty's bid to win her home Grand Slam for the first time.
And in an unexpected twist, the 23-year-old sat down in front of the world's media with baby Olivia cooing on her lap.
"This is what life is all about, it's amazing," said the Australian, gazing fondly down at the baby.
"Perspective is a beautiful thing. Life is a beautiful thing.
"She brought a smile to my face as soon as I came off the court. I got to give her a hug."
Barty, who had been the strong favourite having defeated the 21-year-old Kenin in four of their five previous meetings, ..

Barty comforted by baby after shock Australian Open loss

Dominic Thiem says there are "no secrets" between him Alexander Zverev as they prepare for a battle of "small margins" to make an Australian Open final for the first time.
The fifth seed faces his good friend on Friday after stunning world number one Rafael Nadal in the last eight, with a crack at either seven-time champion Novak Djokovic or six-time winner Roger Federer at stake.
Thiem and Zverev have played each other eight times, with the Austrian holding a 6-2 advantage, including their last two encounters. They have never been forced into a five-setter.
"We have no secrets from each other. I mean, we played so many times, also on very special occasions already, at the ATP Finals, semis, French Open quarters," said the 26-year-old.
"It's a nice rivalry we have. It's great that we add an Australian Open semi-finals to this one. Going to be a close match again."
"Same if two top-10 players play each other (in the) semis of a Slam. The deciding moments are very small, small margins. .

'No secrets' - Thiem and Zverev battle for first Aussie final

Israel's national carrier El Al announced Thursday it was suspending flights to Beijing over China's new coronavirus epidemic, a spokesman said, as fears of a global contagion grew.
El Al said its flights to Beijing would be halted until March 25, with a spokesman confirming to AFP it was over the virus, which according to the World Health Organisation has already killed 170 people.
El Al flights to other destinations in China would continue as usual, the spokesman said, adding that a flight scheduled to arrive in Israel from Beijing on Thursday will go ahead as planned.
There have been no recorded incidents of the new coronavirus in Israel yet, but the health ministry said Wednesday it was "a matter of time".
The ministry said it was considering urging passengers arriving in Israel from China to refrain from being in public for a number of days, "even if they are healthy".
Major airlines that have suspended or pared back services to China include British Airways, German flag carrier .

Israel's El Al suspends Beijing flights over virus

Russia's prison service said Thursday that a US-Israeli woman jailed for drug trafficking has been freed from prison after President Vladimir Putin pardoned her.
Putin pardoned Issachar on Wednesday evening ahead of a Thursday visit to Moscow by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Due to the presidential decree on pardoning, Naama Issachar has been freed from prison," the prison service said in a statement.  Issachar, 26, was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport in April 2019 while she was in the transit zone en route from India to Israel.
Russian authorities said they found nine grammes (three ounces) of cannabis in her checked luggage and she was sentenced in October to seven and a half years in prison.
"Guided by the principles of humanity, I pardon Naama Issachar," Putin said in a decree cited by the Kremlin.
The young woman's fate had sparked a wave of sympathy in Israel where Netanyahu had pledged to do everything for her release.
Her mother Yaffa Issachar told ...

US-Israeli woman freed by Russia after Putin pardon

The world's biggest smartphone maker, Samsung Electronics, reported a slump in fourth-quarter net profits on Thursday, blaming weakening demand in key products and falling chip prices.
Net profit in the October-to-December period was 5.23 trillion won ($4.4 billion), down 38 percent from a year ago, it said in a statement.
"Fourth-quarter profit dropped from a year earlier due to the continued fall in memory chip prices and weakness in display panels," Samsung said in a statement.
The firm is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family-controlled conglomerates known as "chaebols" that dominate business in the world's 12th-largest economy.
But it suffered a series of difficulties in 2019, with the global memory chip market -- which has driven profits in recent years -- hit by rising supply and falling demand.
The premium smartphone market has also grown fiercely competitive, with buyers waiting longer before upgrading to new models.
Samsung said 

Samsung Electronics says Q4 net profit slumps 38%

A Japanese billionaire who launched a public search for a girlfriend willing to join him on a trip into space abruptly cancelled the hunt on Thursday, despite attracting nearly 30,000 applicants.
Yusaku Maezawa earlier this month said he was looking for a mate willing to join him when he heads on a trip around the Moon in 2023 or later, as the first private passenger on a voyage offered by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
His search for a soulmate was due to be turned into a TV show for a web-streaming service.
But on Thursday Maezawa dashed the hopes of thousands, citing "personal reasons."
"Despite my genuine and honest determination toward the show, there was a part of me that still had mixed feelings about my participation," he wrote, in English, on his Twitter account.
"To think that 27,722 women, with earnest intentions and courage, had used their precious time to apply makes me feel extremely remorseful," he added.
Maezawa, formerly chief of the online fashion company Zozo, is known for his 

Moonstruck: Japan billionaire cancels hunt for lunar love

Flash floods and landslides have killed at least nine people and forced thousands into temporary shelters on Indonesia's Sumatra island, the local disaster agency said Thursday.
Torrential rain in North Sumatra this week sparked the disaster, with most victims drowning or hit by logs swept away in the current, the agency added.
"We suspect (two victims) were killed after getting hit by logs," said Safaruddin Ananda Nasution, head of Central Tapanuli's disaster mitigation agency.
Rampant illegal logging in the area may have contributed to the disaster by loosening the soil and making it susceptible to landslides, he added.
Several thousand residents have fled to shelters.
This month, record rains triggered flooding and landslides that killed nearly 70 people in and around Jakarta, which is on neighbouring Java island.
Entire neighbourhoods in Indonesia's capital -- a megalopolis home to around 30 million people -- were submerged in floodwaters that forced tens of thousands into ...

Flash floods kill nine in Indonesia

Sri Lanka's central bank Thursday announced a 50 basis point cut in its benchmark interest rates, the third reduction since the Easter bombings that killed at least 269 people.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) said it was reducing its lending rate from 8.0 percent to 7.5 percent while the deposit rate was also cut by 50 basis points to 6.5 percent.
It said the two previous rates cuts of 50 basis points each since the April 21 suicide bombings against three churches and three luxury hotels had not adequately brought down market interest rates for consumers.
The Monetary Board of the CBSL "was of the view that it is essential that market lending rates reduce further in order to support the envisaged pickup in credit growth and economic activity," the bank said in a statement.
It said tourism had picked up after the devastating Easter bombings, but the number of tourist arrivals and income from the sector was below 2018 levels.
Sri Lanka's new government which came to power in ...

Sri Lanka in third rate cut after Easter bombings

Japan's former emperor Akihito, who abdicated last year, temporarily lost consciousness and collapsed at his residence this week, but medical checkups found "no abnormalities", the government said Thursday.
The 86-year-old was examined by court doctors after Wednesday's incident, an official at the Imperial Household Agency told AFP.
Akihito "had an MRI examination Thursday morning but doctors found no abnormalities", the official said, adding doctors would continue to monitor his condition.
In July, Akihito suffered temporary cerebral anaemia, a condition involving insufficient blood supply to the brain.
The former monarch has previously had surgery for prostate cancer and heart problems.
He shocked the country in 2016 when he signalled his desire to step down after nearly three decades in the job, citing his age and health problems.
His son Emperor Naruhito ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019.

Japan's former emperor briefly loses consciousness

The decision to quarantine China's national women's team in an Australian hotel because of the deadly coronavirus outbreak "was pre-planned", a top Asian football official said Thursday.
The Chinese team is being kept in a Brisbane hotel after arriving in Australia reportedly via Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak and where an Olympic qualifying tournament was originally due to be held.
The event, which also involves Australia, Taiwan and Thailand, was on Sunday moved to Sydney, with matches scheduled to be played next week.
A number of sports events have either been postponed or moved outside of China since the outbreak of the deadly virus in Wuhan.
The Chinese Football Association on Thursday suspended all domestic matches and postponed next month's scheduled start of the top-flight season indefinitely.
Windsor John, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general secretary, said that the move to quarantine China's women's team was planned by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) .

China's women's football team quarantine 'pre-planned': AFC

China announced Thursday the suspension of all domestic football and postponed indefinitely the top-flight Chinese Super League (CSL) season in response to the deadly viral outbreak sweeping the country.
The CSL 2020 campaign had been due to kick off on February 22, but was shelved along with "all types of football matches" in order to "carry out prevention and control of the pneumonia epidemic," said a Chinese Football Association statement.
The announcement comes just a few hours after the World Indoor Athletics Championships, scheduled to take place in the Chinese city of Nanjing in March, were postponed until 2021 after advice from the World Health Organisation.
Football is fanatically followed in the world's most populous nation with cash-rich clubs importing expensive foreign signings such as Brazilians Hulk and Oscar, and Argentina's Carlos Tevez in recent years.
It becomes the latest sport to be hit by the virus which by Thursday had seen more than 7,700 cases confirmed in ...

China postpones 2020 football season over virus fears

The Los Angeles Lakers, reeling from the death of team icon Kobe Bryant, "want to represent what Kobe was about" as they press ahead with the NBA season, coach Frank Vogel said.
"We want to represent what Kobe was about more than anything," Vogel said on Wednesday.
"We've always wanted to make him proud, and that's not going to be any different here."
Vogel, 46, spoke to reporters at the team's practice facility, where star players including LeBron James and Anthony Davis turned out but did not meet with the media.
Vogel said the club had a simple directive for players still coming to terms with Bryant's death in a helicopter crash on Sunday: "You guys can speak when you're ready, and not before."
But the timetable for returning to NBA action is set, with the Lakers to host the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center arena on Friday.
That's less than a week since Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people were killed when the Sikorsky S-76 slammed into a rugged ...

Grieving Lakers return to training after Bryant's death

Unheralded American Sofia Kenin stunned world number one Ashleigh Barty to end home hopes at the Australian Open on Thursday, as Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic prepared for the 50th instalment of their great tennis rivalry in a blockbuster semi-final.
Barty had sent Australian expectations soaring of a first home-grown winner since 1978, but they came crashing to earth against the aggressive 14th seed, who saved two set points in each set to win 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.
Moscow-born Kenin, 21, looked stunned at reaching her first Grand Slam final, at a tournament where she has often gone unnoticed while fellow Americans Serena Williams and 15-year-old Coco Gauff hogged the headlines.
"I'm just speechless, I honestly can't believe this. I've dreamed about this moment since I was five years old... I've worked so hard to get here," said Kenin, who was a baby when her family moved to America with just a few hundred dollars to her name.
"She came up with some really great shots. I knew she wasn't .

Kenin crashes Barty party as Djokovic, Federer blockbuster looms

Australia was bracing for a heatwave to sweep across the country's fire-ravaged southeast in the coming days, with the forecast stoking fears the soaring temperatures could inflame bushfires.
Temperatures reached above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday in South Australia state, where dangerous fire weather warnings were issued in several bushfire-prone areas.
The heatwave is then expected to hit Melbourne and Canberra on Friday before parts of Sydney reach 45 degrees Celsius on the weekend.
Authorities say the searing heat, accompanied by dry winds, would bring severe bushfire conditions to parts of New South Wales and Victoria -- where more than 80 fires are still burning across the two states.
"We've had the benefit of some suppressed, benign conditions over the last few days. However, as we've heard, it's going to be hot and dry," Victoria Emergency Services Commissioner Andrew Crisp said, urging residents to be prepared for bushfires to flare.
"If you're ...

Australia heatwave renews bushfire worries

Asian markets fell on Thursday with investors concerned about the economic impact from the spread of the new coronavirus as China reported more than 1,700 new infections.
Airlines around the world are either suspending or paring back services in and out of China following cases of human-to-human transmission outside the country and manufacturers have also been cutting their Chinese operations.
The World Health Organisation, which initially downplayed the severity of the disease, warned all governments to be "on alert" as it weighs whether to declare a global health emergency.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the coronavirus posed a new risk to growth in China and elsewhere.
In Asian stock markets, Hong Kong was down 1.4 per cent and Tokyo dropped 1.6 per cent.
Japanese automaker Toyota said it would keep its plants in China closed until at least February 9 over concerns about the outbreak of the SARS-like virus which has killed 170 people and infected more than ...

Asian markets fall on fears over economic impact of virus

For three years, Valeriya Pashko has been trying to get pregnant. Now her last hope is IVF, provided free by Russia's health service as authorities try to avert a new drop in the birthrate.
"My husband and I are really relieved to be getting reimbursed. This costs a lot of money," said the 23-year-old social worker.
Pashko is having fertility treatment at a perinatal centre in the town of Balashikha just outside Moscow that the authorities describe as a model for the rest of the country.
Boosting the national birth rate is a top priority for President Vladimir Putin, who made this one of the key topics in his state of the nation address this month.
"Russia's fate and its historic prospects depend on how many of us there are," he said, announcing enhanced child benefits and payouts to families for every new baby to help the country "escape from the demographic trap."
Russia saw its population fall to 142.9 million in 2010 after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, when it was 148.3 

Russia funds IVF baby boom to battle population slump

Three Japanese evacuated from the epicentre of a deadly new coronavirus outbreak have tested positive for the illness, the government said on Thursday as it faced criticism for the country's minimal quarantine measures.
The new cases were announced as a second evacuation flight from Wuhan landed in Tokyo, and the government confirmed a second case of apparent person-to-person transmission of the virus in Japan.
More than 400 people have now been repatriated to Japan from Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak that has killed 170 people and infected thousands.
But while returnees praised the government's effort to bring them home quickly, there has been criticism of Japan's decision to allow the arrivals to "self-quarantine," with two people on the first flight even refusing to be tested for the virus.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said there were now 11 confirmed cases in Japan.
"In addition to the eight (previously known) cases, among the people who returned from Wuhan yesterday, ...

Three Japanese evacuated from Wuhan have new coronavirus

The Northern Mariana Islands banned all travellers from China and declared a "state of significant emergency" on Thursday, as Pacific island states stepped up measures to protect against the coronavirus outbreak.
Although Chinese tourist traffic is a pillar of the economy in the US Pacific commonwealth, Northern Mariana governor Ralph Torres said the new coronavirus "poses a significant and imminent threat".
In China, where the epidemic originated, 170 have died with thousands more infected.
Although no suspected cases of the virus have been recorded in the Northern Marianas, Torres said the risk remained "substantial" due to incubation times.
"I find that the public health threat of a traveller from mainland China carrying the coronavirus is significant and cannot be understated," he said.
"The Commonwealth Ports Authority shall communicate with all airlines with travellers directly and indirectly from mainland China to suspend the arrival of travellers for the period of this ...

US commonwealth islands ban travellers from China over virus fears

Vanessa Bryant spoke out for the first time since her husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna were killed in a horrific helicopter crash, saying the family is "completely devastated" by the tragedy.
Vanessa, who married Kobe Bryant in 2001 when she was still a teenager, took to Instagram on Wednesday evening to communicate her grief but said she was at a loss for words.
"We are completely devastated by the sudden loss of my adoring husband, Kobe - the amazing father of our children; and my beautiful, sweet Gianna - a loving, thoughtful, and wonderful daughter, and amazing sister to Natalia, Bianka, and Capri," she wrote on her account.
Her comments come three days after Bryant and their 13-year-old daughter died when the Sikorsky S-76 they were in slammed into a rugged hillside in thick fog in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles. The crash also killed seven others.
The helicopter was headed to Bryant's Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, where Gianna was scheduled to play a ...

Vanessa Bryant says 'completely devastated' over Kobe's death

Canada's Christine Sinclair became the all-time leading scorer in international soccer history as Canada crushed St. Kitts and Nevis 11-0 at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in Brownsville, Texas.
Sinclair scored her 185th career goal on Wednesday to surpass American Abby Wambach's previous record for men or women.
"Christine has been amongst the upper echelon of Canadian athletes," said Sinclair's former women's national teammate Carmelina Moscato.
"What she has done to sports for Canadians is given us memories that we'll never ever forget.
"The Olympics stand out, but just her consistency over the years -- a top goal scorer, always comes through for the team."
Sinclair scored two goals on six shots as Canada outshot the tiny island nation with a population of just 50,000 people 31-2.
The now retired Wambach finished her stellar career with 184 goals, a mark she reached in 2015.
Since bursting onto the international scene as a 16-year-old for Canada, Sinclair has been one ..

AFP

AFP

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