Authorities in Texas are investigating a second suspected case on US soil of a new and deadly Chinese virus, officials said Thursday.
Brazos County, northwest of Houston, "is investigating a suspected case of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)," officials wrote in a statement on Facebook.
"The patient traveled from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus originated," the statement added.
"Health care providers were aware of public health guidance on novel coronavirus and quickly recognized that the patient met the criteria for coronavirus testing and is being kept isolated at home, while the precautionary testing is done." A blood sample from the patient has to be tested by technicians at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before the case if confirmed.
If the case is confirmed, the patient would be the second person to be infected with the pathogen on US soil after a man in his 30s near Seattle reported himself to authorities on January 19.
He is said to be ...

US investigating second suspected case of Chinese virus

PTI Automatic

Hundreds of Central American migrants surged into Mexico Thursday, wading unopposed across a river on the Guatemalan border where Mexican troops had used tear gas earlier in the week to keep them back, AFP journalists at the scene reported.
Once on the other side of the Suchiate River, the migrants quickly formed a column and began a trek on foot to Ciudad Hidalgo, in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
However, hundreds of Mexican national guard forces have deployed at a highway crossing further along the route, apparently preparing to detain the migrants.
Some 300 national guard troops stood in front of a fleet of National Migration Institute buses of the kind regularly used to deport undocumented migrants.
Thousands of Central Americans have crossed Mexico toward the United States in caravans in recent years, fleeing chronic poverty and brutal gang violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The so-called "2020 Caravan" left Honduras on January 14, gathering an estimated ...

Hundreds of Central American migrants cross into Mexico

The death toll from a violent storm that has wrought havoc across huge swathes of Spain's eastern and southern coastline rose to 11 on Thursday, with rescue workers still searching for four people.
The latest victim was a 50-year-old man who was fishing in coastal Ametlla de Mar, according to civil protection authorities in the northeast Catalonia region.
Earlier, emergency services found the body of a man inside a vehicle in Cabaces, 60 kilometres (37 miles) northwest of the port city of Tarragona and a local official reported the death of 75-year-old woman whose house collapsed because of heavy rain in Alcoi, a town in the eastern Alicante region.
Seven more storm-related deaths had already been reported since Sunday, when Storm Gloria hit the region bringing strong winds, torrential rains and heavy snow, battering Spain's southern and eastern flanks before moving north.
Gale-force winds and huge waves smashed into seafront towns, with dramatic images showing massive flooding that ..

Death toll rises to 11 in Spain as Storm Gloria ebbs

Amnesty International on Thursday urged Nigerian authorities to halt the forced evictions of shanties and waterfront communities in the economic hub of Lagos.
Lagos has in recent years seen repeated forcible evictions of poor communities living in prime locations, especially along the waterfront, as developers look to cash in by building high-end properties.
On Tuesday, the Nigerian Navy fired into the air to evict some 10,000 residents of Tarkwa Bay in the latest mass eviction around the city.
Bulldozers rumbled into Tarkwa Bay, a semi-rural area on an island in the city of some 20 million, as part of an operation the military say is aimed officially at stopping the looting of nearby oil pipelines.
"The Nigerian authorities must immediately halt the violent and unlawful evictions that rendered thousands of residents of Tarkwa Bay,"homeless, said Amnesty International in a statement.
It said the authorities should respect the rights of the people to safety and housing.
"What is ...

Amnesty urges Nigeria to stop forced evictions of waterfront residents

Isabel dos Santos, the tycoon daughter of Angola's ex-president who is at the centre of an anti-graft investigation, on Thursday vowed she was ready to fight against what she called "misleading and untrue" allegations.
Dos Santos, dubbed 'the princess' in Angola, is accused of using her father's influence to steal millions of dollars from state companies and siphon the funds overseas during his rule.
The allegations stretch across Angola's state oil and diamond industries and banks to Lisbon. Named in the probe, the head of one of Angola's largest banks has resigned while a Portuguese banker has been found dead in an apparent suicide.
Angola's prosecutors have accused dos Santos of mismanagement and embezzlement of funds during her tenure at Sonangol, Angola's state-owned oil giant which she once headed during her father's rule.
But Dos Santos on Thursday countered the claims.  "The allegations which have been made against me over the last few days are extremely misleading and ...

Angola's Dos Santos vows 'ready to fight' graft claims

Three people were killed in Guinea Thursday during clashes with security officers in the anti-government stronghold of Labe, according to the city's mayor.
Hundreds of thousands of people have protested in the West African state since mid-October over concerns that President Alpha Conde intends to use a planned constitutional reform to extend his mandate.
At least 23 civilians and one gendarme have been killed in the protests to date, according to an AFP tally.
On Thursday, the alliance of opposition groups behind the protests did not call a rally.
But tensions have remained high in the central city of Labe, its mayor Mamadou Aliou Laly Diallo said, and they spilled over into clashes.
"The town has been in turmoil since this morning, the people revolted," Diallo told AFP.
Two people were shot dead in clashes, he said, adding that he thought about ten more were wounded in shooting from security officers.
A third was killed when police opened fire on an ambulance transporting the first .

Three dead in fresh unrest in Guinea

Poland's parliament on Thursday approved a controversial draft law aimed at disciplining judges who question government judicial reforms that the European Union says are out of step with the rule of law.
The EU member country's lower house, where lawmakers from the governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party hold a majority, thus overturned last week's decision by the opposition-controlled senate to reject the draft law.
The measure, which Supreme Court president Malgorzata Gersdorf has denounced as a "muzzle law", will take effect once it is signed by PiS-allied Polish President Andrzej Duda.
The PiS government argues that the reform will tackle corruption in the judiciary still haunted by communism but opponents insist it is aimed at gagging critical magistrates and so undermines judicial independence.
The opposition called the parliamentary vote Thursday a "coup d'etat".
The measure, which was approved by 234 conservative lawmakers and rejected by 211 opposition lawmakers with 

Polish parliament approves judge 'muzzle law'

French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah has requested access to her French colleague Roland Marchal in detention in Iran, saying she has "serious concerns" about his health, a committee supporting the pair said Thursday.
The two researchers have been held in the Islamic Republic since June, two of a number of foreigners arrested in Iran during a spike in tensions between Tehran and the West.
Adelkhah would be willing to end her hunger strike, which she started on December 24, if Marchal was freed, the support committee said in a press release sent to AFP.
"She has the most serious concerns about his health -- an alarm that we share," because the Revolutionary Guards have refused a consular visit to Marchal since December, the committee said.
French nationals held abroad can usually receive consular visits, during which detention conditions -- and their health -- can be checked.
But Iran does not recognise dual nationality and has lashed out at Paris for what it has described as ...

Health fears over French academic held in Iran

Militia fighters massacred seven people in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday in a region where in intercommunal violence has killed hundreds since 2017.
The attack came as UN human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet began a five-day visit to Ituri province where the UN says killings and rapes may constitute crimes against humanity.
The seven people were killed in Djugu area and another 15 people were kidnapped by the armed group, Banze Charite, a local district association president, told AFP.
DR Congo's army this month said it had killed 16 members of the local Codeco militia after launching a crackdown on the armed group.
Eastern DR Congo has been plagued for years by numerous militias, a legacy of the two Congo wars in the 1990s that dragged in neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda.
But Ituri province has been caught up in fighting between armed groups from the ethnic Lendu communities and the Hema community over land and resources.
Since February last year, nearly .

Militia kills seven in northeast DR Congo: official

The United States has not yet entered into talks with Iraq on the removal of US troops from the country, as demanded by the Iraqi parliament, a senior US official said Thursday.
"There has not been any real engagement," said ambassador James Jeffrey, the US special envoy for Syria and the coalition against the Islamic State.
"Our position, as you know -- we've said it several times -- is that we're prepared to discuss with the Iraqi government our overall strategic relationship," Jeffrey told reporters.
"We have a Strategic Framework Agreement with Iraq since 2008," he said. "It covers economic, security, and diplomatic engagement across the board.
"We see this as a package," Jeffrey said. "And when we do sit down and talk with them, that's where we'll be aiming to direct the conversation." Jeffrey said that operations against IS fighters have been on hold since a January 3 US drone strike near Baghdad airport killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
The killing of Soleimani ...

No talks with Iraq yet on removing US troops: official

A  Nigerian court on Thursday remanded a former justice minister accused of corruption in custody pending a bail hearing.
Mohammed Adoke who appeared in the high court in the nation's capital Abuja has been charged over a $1.3 billion dollar oil scandal involving international majors Shell and Eni.
Adoke was arrested last month on arrival from the United Arab Emirates where he had been detained on a Nigerian warrant in connection with one of the West African state's biggest-ever corruption scandals.
"Adoke is accused of using public office for gratification," said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a statement.
He was also accused of money laundering and collecting a bribe worth 300 million naira ($800,000, 750,000 euros) to broker the sale of lucrative offshore oil block OPL245 to Shell and Eni.
Adoke pleaded not guilty to the charges along with his co-accused from Shell, Eni and two others.
Judge Abubakar Kutigi ordered that they should be remanded in the custody 

Nigeria remands ex-minister in custody over oil scandal

The Canadian court tussle over the arrest of a Huawei telecoms executive was put in limbo Thursday when a judge adjourned the case that pits the United States against China.
Washington is seeking extradition of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in December 2018 during a flight stopover in Vancouver.
Huawei has been effectively banned from the US, which insists the Chinese company is an espionage risk.
"I'm reserving judgement," British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes said at the end of a four-day hearing.
Further hearings are scheduled for April, June and September on allegations of a conspiracy to arrest Meng --  the eldest daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei -- and to crush the Shenzhen-based Huawei.
If extradited, Meng would face US prosecution on charges of fraud linked to violations of sanctions against Iran.
Four days of legal arguments this week focused on whether the US charges would stand up in Canada, a key test for ...

Canada court adjourns Huawei exec's extradition battle

Libya's neighbours on Thursday denounced foreign interference in the conflict-hit North African country, at talks in Algiers to seek a political solution to a crisis they say threatens regional stability.
The meeting organised at Algeria's initiative brought together foreign ministers from Tunisia, Egypt, Chad and Mali, as well as diplomats from Sudan and Niger.
The participants insisted on the "need to respect Libya as a united country and to respect the sovereignty of its legitimate authorities," Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum said after the talks.
They also rejected "any foreign interference in Libya" and urged all sides there "to solve their conflict by peaceful means", Boukadoum added.
"We are confident that the Libyan people will be capable of overcoming their differences through dialogue... and reaching a political solution," he said, adding that the African Union and the United Nations should be a part of a solution.
A statement at the end of the talks said the ...

Libya's neighbours reject foreign interference in crisis-hit country

US Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main election rival to Washington next week to discuss Donald Trump's long-awaited Middle East peace plan.
The White House said the talks would take place on Tuesday.
"President Trump asked me to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to the White House next week to discuss regional issues, as well as the prospect of peace here in the Holy Land", Pence said.
Netanyahu told Pence: "I think that the president is seeking to give Israel the peace and security it deserves," adding that he "gladly" accepted the invitation.
"Thank you for what your administration does every day... We have no better friend than President Trump," he said at the meeting at the US embassy in Jerusalem.  Palestinian leaders have however dismissed the US peace initiative as one-sided.
They say it fails to address their wish to end Israeli occupation and the expansion, encouraged by Netanyahu, of ...

Trump invites Netanyahu to US for peace plan talks

US banking regulators on Thursday fined ex-Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf USD 17.5 million over the bank's 2016 fake accounts scandal, blaming Stumpf and other top former executives for the debacle.
The Office of Comptroller of the Currency settled with Stumpf and two other former executives, while announcing charges against five other former officials whose poor work performance allegedly "contributed to the bank's systemic problems," the agency said.
As part of the settlement, Stumpf also received a ban from the banking industry.
The OCC is seeking a USD 25 million penalty from former head of community banking Carrie Tolstedt and a USD 5 million penalty from Claudia Russ Anderson, a former risk officer who allegedly made false and misleading statements and "actively obstructed the OCC's examinations of the bank's sales practices," the OCC said.
This group of officials can challenge the allegations through an administrative law process, the OCC said.
The penalties are the ...

US regulator fines ex-Wells Fargo CEO USD 17.5 mn over fake accounts

A Canadian judge on Thursday adjourned proceedings over whether or not to send Chinese Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to the United States to face fraud charges.
"I'm reserving judgement on this matter," said British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes at the end of a four-day hearing, effecting leaving Meng in limbo as no date was set for a decision.
Meng is wanted by US authorities for allegedly lying to the HSBC bank about Huawei's relationship with its Iran-based affiliate Skycom, putting the bank at risk of violating US sanctions against Tehran.
Further hearings are scheduled for April, June and September.

Huawei exec in limbo as Canada judge adjourns extradition hearing

US President Donald Trump will welcome Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House January 28, and has also invited the Israeli prime minister's election rival Benny Gantz to visit Washington, the White House said on Thursday.
"The United States and Israel are strong partners, and the prime minister's visit is an opportunity to discuss our shared regional and national security interests," a White House statement said.
The visit comes as Netanyahu faces a third election in less than a year.
Gantz, his centrist challenger, also accepted a Trump invitation to visit, the White House said, without giving a date.

Trump to host Israeli PM Netanyahu at White House on January 28

Clinical trials for a vaccine against the new virus sweeping China could be carried out in the summer, the head of an anti-epidemic coalition said on Thursday, as different companies announced research into the disease.
"We can announce that we have three partnerships to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus," Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), said in Davos.
"Our goal is to have these vaccines developed very rapidly and to move very rapidly to begin clinical trials, perhaps as early as the summer," Hatchett said during the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort town.
A fourth company, Novavax, which has worked on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), said earlier it had also initiated development of a vaccine candidate.
There is no vaccine or antiviral treatment against the novel coronavirus detected in China, which has killed 18 people so far and has now spread internationally.
Hatchett said the .

Companies look into possible vaccines for China virus

Gulf airports, including one of the world's biggest aviation hubs, said Thursday they would screen all passengers arriving from China amid the outbreak of a deadly virus.
The move goes further than other major transport hubs in Europe and the United States, which have limited their screening to passengers coming from Wuhan, the city at the centre of the scare.
Dubai airport authorities confirmed that "all passengers arriving on direct flights from the People's Republic of China must receive thermal screening at the gate upon arrival," a statement said.
China has locked down some 20 million people in Wuhan and the neighbouring city of Huanggang to rein in the coronavirus that has already claimed 17 lives and spread to a number of other countries.
Dubai International Airport in 2018 served over 89 million passengers, including more foreign passengers than any other airport worldwide for the fifth year in a row.
Dubai's government said Thursday that some 989,000 Chinese tourists visited .

Gulf screens passengers from China amid virus outbreak

Seven soldiers were killed and several were wounded in an overnight attack in central Mali, the government said Thursday, in fresh violence in the war-torn West African state.
The troops came under fire late Wednesday from "unidentified armed men" in Dioungani, an area in central Mali's volatile Mopti region near the border with Burkina Faso, Mali's army said on Twitter.
A security official who declined to be named said that, in an assault lasting several hours, the attackers overwhelmed the soldiers' position before reinforcements took it back.
Local authorities and inhabitants have blamed the attack on jihadists.
Mali government spokesman Yaya Sangare said in a statement on Thursday that seven died in the attack and several were injured.
The army previously said at least six had died.
Mali has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in the north in 2012 and has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives since.
Despite some 4,500 French troops in the ...

Seven Mali soldiers killed in overnight ambush

The United States on Thursday slapped economic sanctions on four petroleum firms that US officials accuse of moving oil exports for the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The new sanctions come three weeks after the US killing of the Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in a missile strike that Washington claimed was preemptive.
The US Treasury identified four entities -- two based in Hong Kong, one in Shanghai and another in Dubai -- saying they had together transferred "hundreds of millions of dollars' worth" of exports from the National Iranian Oil Company, thereby helping finance the Quds Force.
"Iran's petrochemical and petroleum sectors are a primary source of funding for the Iranian regime's global terrorist activities and enable its persistent use of violence against its own people," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
Washington has recently also targeted other Iranian entities in the commodities, including metals companies and oil companies accused 

AFP

AFP

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