The United States' two biggest cities reported 10 more coronavirus cases on Wednesday, as lawmakers in Congress reached a deal to provide more than USD 8 billion to fight the outbreak.
Los Angeles County officials declared an emergency as six new cases were reported in the West Coast metropolis, while New York reported four more patients -- all close contacts of a man who tested positive.
Nine people have died of the COVID-19 illness in the US and more than 130 have so far been infected, with the virus detected in more than a dozen states.
A congressional aide told AFP that Republicans and Democrats had reached a deal to fund the response to the tune of USD 8.3 billion -- with the House expected to vote today and the Senate tomorrow.
President Donald Trump had initially sought a much lower amount of USD 2.5 billion but later said he was happy to accept more money.
All of the newly infected individuals in LA were exposed to COVID-19 through close contact, health officials said.
Dr ...

New coronavirus cases in LA, New York as lawmakers reach funding deal

PTI Automatic

Countries voted on Wednesday to put the head of Singapore's national patent agency in charge of global intellectual property, replacing Australian Francis Gurry at of the helm of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
After a hotly contested and at times politicised race, Daren Tang won over five other candidates, including Chinese national Wang Binying, who has served as deputy chief of the UN agency for a decade.
In a second and final round of voting by the 83 members of WIPO's coordination committee, Tang took 55 votes over 28 for Wang.
The vote still needs to be confirmed during the agency's full general assembly in May, but that is traditionally a formality.
Once confirmed, he will replace Gurry when he steps down at the end of September after 12 years at the helm.
"It really is an honour," Tang, 47, told reporters after the vote, adding that his candidacy had received "support from every part of the world."
"We hope to bring to WIPO the spirit of inclusiveness, the spirit 

Singaporean Daren Tang elected to head global patent agency: UN

MIPTV, one of the world's biggest television and entertainment markets, has been cancelled because of the coronavirus, the organisers said on Wednesday.
The huge gathering in the French Riviera resort of Cannes was due to take place from March 30 to April 2.
Thousands of programme makers and TV and streaming services executives usually descend on the Mediterranean town every year for the market.
More than 9,500 turned up last year to get a sneak preview of the latest offerings from the global entertainment industry.
An international series festival that runs alongside it, Canneseries, has also been postponed until October.
"In the current context, many of our clients have expressed concerns about travelling at this time," said Paul Zilk, the head of Reed MIDEM, which runs MIPTV as well as the still larger MIPCOM market in Cannes in October.
"Rescheduling MIPTV in the coming months is not feasible so the most appropriate course of action is to cancel," he added.
South Korea -- which ...

One of world's biggest TV markets cancelled on coronavirus fears

Pakistan's farmers are struggling to combat the worst locust plague in nearly three decades as insect swarms decimate entire harvests in the country's agricultural heartlands and send food prices soaring.
Heavy rains and cyclones sparked "unprecedented" breeding and the explosive growth of locust populations on the Arabian peninsula early last year, according to the United Nations.
The insects have since fanned out and wreaked havoc on farms from East Africa to India before making their way into Pakistan from the desert on the country's southwestern border with Iran.
The crisis is so severe that the government has declared a nationwide emergency and urgently appealed for help from the international community.
Officials in southern Sindh province fear the infestation will devastate the supply of cotton, the local cash crop, ahead of its harvest in the coming months.
Local surveys of the damage are continuing, but the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture says nearly half of all crops have been .

Pakistan struggles to combat devastating locust plague

Hungary reported its first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday -- two Iranians studying in the EU member state.
"Two patients have been taken into medical care due to coronavirus infections," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a Facebook video message.
"Two foreigners, students studying in Hungary, Iranians, they are currently symptom-free it seems, but confirmed as infected," he said.
Dr Janos Szlavik at the Central Hospital of Southern Pest told reporters at a news conference that both patients had visited family in Iran recently and that their roommates were being taken into quarantine.
Authorities were making efforts to establish their travel history within Hungary and who they had been in contact with, Szlavik said.
While caseloads have steadily declined in the virus epicentre China, infections and deaths are rising in Asia and Europe, with cases appearing in new countries almost every day.
More than 90,000 people have been infected and around 3,200 have died ..

Hungary reports first two novel coronavirus cases

Sudan's central bank on Wednesday announced that the United States had informed Khartoum it was lifting sanctions on 157 Sudanese firms, in line with a policy shift by Washington in late 2017.
Central bank governor Badreddine Abdelrahim said in a statement that "only a few Sudanese individuals and entities remain under US sanctions for their links to the conflict in Darfur", a region hit by a protracted conflict that began in 2003.
The US announced an end to its 20-year-old trade embargo against Sudan in October 2017, but retained the country on its state sponsors of terrorism list.
Abdelrahim did not indicate why Washington's latest move had come so long after it declared it was ending its sanctions regime.
The announcement comes as Sudan is working to revive its economy and re-enter the international arena following the ouster in April 2019 of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
The ex-leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, war crimes and crimes against ...

Sudan central bank says US sanctions lifted on 157 firms

Italy on Wednesday closed all schools and universities until March 15 as the number of deaths from the new coronavirus in the Mediterranean country hit 107.
The measure is the most restrictive response to COVID-19 of any European nation and tougher than the closure of schools -- but not universities -- taken by fellow Group of Seven (G7) member Japan.
Italy reported 28 more deaths on Wednesday, the highest single day total to date. The nation of 60 million people has now recorded over 3,000 cases and only trails China in terms of total fatalities.
Other measures discussed by top ministers and reported by Italian media include what promises to be an unpopular plan to play all football matches without fans for a month.
Italy has borne the brunt in Europe of a disease that is now spreading across the world faster than it is in the central Chinese region where it was first detected late last year.
The problem for the Italian government is that existing restrictions -- including a ...

Italy closes schools as death toll hits 107

President Donald Trump on Wednesday complained that anti-coronavirus measures are leaving him out of touch -- with his own face.
Trump spoke at a White House meeting with airline executives and administration officials on sanitary measures taken to try and stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Executives explained their enhanced cleaning operations on passenger planes.
Then Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, reminded "the common sense of washing your hands, not touching your face.

Trump says coronavirus leaves him out of touch -- with his face

Police in Lithuania intervened in a domestic dispute on Wednesday after a man locked his wife in the bathroom over fears that she may be carrying the coronavirus.
"We got the report that a husband and two adult sons refused to let the woman out of the bathroom after she told them that she could have contracted the coronavirus," national police spokesman Ramunas Matonis told AFP.
The woman reportedly told her husband she may have caught the disease new coronavirus when she spoke with a person who had arrived from abroad.
"Police officers arrived, there was no violence, no complaint, therefore an ambulance was called," the police spokesman said.
Local media reported that the woman tested negative for the presence of the new coronavirus, which has so far infected one person in Lithuania, an EU Baltic state of 2.8 million people.
The 39-year-old male victim had recently returned from Verona in an area of northern Italy that has recorded Europe's highest number of deaths from the ...

Man locks wife in bathroom over coronavirus fears: police

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday called for an all-out, "no regrets" response to the new coronavirus epidemic which poses a "serious threat" to the global economy.
"At a time of uncertainty... it is better to do more than to do not enough," she said, warning that the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak will slow growth in the world economy to below the 2.9 percent posted last year.
The epidemic "is no longer a regional issue, it is a global problem calling for global response," Georgieva told reporters.
The virus has shuttered factories, disrupted travel, infected over 93,000 people worldwide and killed more than 3,200, mainly in China, while some countries are struggling to test for and contain the spread of the illness.
That has spurred global policymakers to come out in force to mitigate the damage, including an emergency, half-point cut in interest rates by the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, followed by a similar cut by the Bank of Canada on Wednesday.
While some economists ...

IMF chief calls for all-out offensive to counteract epidemic

Lawmakers in eastern German state Thuringia re-elected its state premier on Wednesday, with Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling CDU party sitting out the vote after a first try sank it into a deep crisis.
Popular former premier Ramelow of the radical-left Die Linke party was returned to power, despite falling four votes short of an absolute majority after the centre-right CDU abstained.
It was the second attempt in a month to form a working government in the former East German state, after CDU MPs there set off an earthquake in national politics by voting with the far-right AfD in the first vote on February 5.
The unprecedented alliance with the far-right triggered the departure of Merkel's designated successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, and sparked a new leadership contest for the German chancellor's party.
Amid the national outrage, elected liberal candidate Thomas Kemmerich immediately stepped down, leaving the state rudderless.
As Wednesday's rerun of the vote pitted the far-left ..

Merkel party sidelined as far-left wins closely watched vote

The European Union will not give in to "blackmail" by Turkey and borders will remain closed to migrants despite Ankara's threat to let them pass, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday.
"The borders of Greece and the Schengen Area are closed, and we will ensure they stay closed" despite attempts to enter by thousands of migrants who have massed on Turkey's frontier since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said they would be allowed to cross into the EU, Le Drian told senators.
Erdogan has warned Europe that it must support his "solutions" to end the conflict in Syria if it wants to avoid a new migrant crisis, despite a 2016 deal to stop the flow of refugees in exchange for billions of euros.
Tensions have soared over Ankara launched an offensive against Syria's Russia-backed forces after more than 50 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib Province in recent weeks.
Close to one million people in Idlib have been displaced by the Syrian government assault, which is backed 

EU borders to stay closed to migrants: France

Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday approved Denys Shmygal as the new prime minister after his predecessor resigned, caught out by a leaked recording of him criticising the president.
The majority of lawmakers voted to back President Volodymyr Zelensky's nominee Shmygal, who previously held the post of deputy prime minister in charge of regional development.

Ukraine Parliament approves Denys Shmygal as new PM

Countries on Wednesday voted to put the head of Singapore's national patent agency in charge of global intellectual property, replacing Australian Francis Gurry after 12 years at of the helm of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
In a second round of voting, Daren Tang took 55 votes over 28 for Chinese candidate Wang Binying, who has served as WIPO's deputy chief for a decade, the UN agency said.

Singaporean Daren Tang elected to take helm of global patent agency: UN

Iran must give access to the black boxes from a Ukrainian airliner shot down by an Iranian missile in early January, Canada's foreign minister said on Wednesday.
"We do expect and we demand... from Iran to give access to the black boxes without any further delay," Francois-Philippe Champagne said during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart in Kiev.
Champagne stressed that it has been more than 30 days since the accident killing all 176 on board, and that Iran will "undermine the international law" if it chooses to keep the recorders.
"We have questions and we expect Iran to provide answers," the minister said.
"We hope that Iran will choose the way of transparency." The Kiev-bound Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran on January 8.
Tehran admitted several days later it had accidentally shot down the airliner during a confrontation with the United States -- Iran had launched missiles at US forces in Iraq in response to the ..

Canada urges Iran to give access to downed airliner's black boxes

The world's tropical forests are rapidly losing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide from greenhouse gas emissions, with the Amazon rainforest at risk of turning from carbon sink to source within 15 years, researchers warned on Wednesday.
Tropical forests provide humans with medicine, food, shelter and water and currently account for around half of all terrestrial carbon absorption.
But they are rapidly getting saturated as manmade emissions continue to climb year on year.
Forests act as a carbon sink when the amount of carbon retrieved through photosynthesis outweighs that emitted by tree loss -- be that through fire, drought or deforestation.
But the rate of forest decline varies throughout the world, with the Amazon's absorption ability dropping far faster than the tropical forests of sub-Saharan Africa.
A team of dozens of Europe- and Africa-based researchers monitored tree growth and mortality data from undisturbed forests across 11 countries in Africa stretching back over 50 ..

Amazon, African forests turning from CO2 sink to source: study

Ukrainian lawmakers on Wednesday approved the resignation of Prime Minister Oleksiy Goncharuk only six months into the job, caught out by a leaked recording of him criticising the president.
He will be replaced by one of his deputies.
Goncharuk had offered to resign on Tuesday, in a second attempt to quit after a leaked recording emerged in January of him questioning President Volodymyr Zelensky's grasp of economics.
Zelensky denounced Goncharuk's government's performance on economic issues, saying that it made some achievements but not enough.
"We need new brains, new hearts," Zelensky told parliament minutes before the vast majority of lawmakers voted to fire accept Goncharuk's resignation at an extraordinary meeting.
It is expected that current Deputy Prime Minister Denys Shmygal will be nominated as Goncharuk's replacement later Wednesday, with some key ministers also getting shuffled.
Goncharuk became Ukraine's youngest-ever prime minister after Zelensky nominated him in August. .

Ukraine's parliament confirms PM's resignation

Energy-rich Gulf states have scrapped or postponed dozens of events as part of measures to contain the new coronavirus, denting economies already hurt by slumping oil prices.
From OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia to the region's most diversified economy the United Arab Emirates, sports tournaments, economic conferences and major religious events have been sacrificed in attempts to curb the spread of the disease.
More than 150 coronavirus cases have been detected in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, mostly among people returning from pilgrimages to Iran.
The Gulf region is already struggling to cope with decreasing oil revenues as the public health crisis paralyses economic giant China -- the world's biggest oil importer and buyer of Gulf oil.
Now Riyadh has suspended the "umrah", the minor Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that draws millions, while other Gulf nations have restricted entry to foreigners.
Citing "precautionary preventive measures" against the disease that has .

Coronavirus compounds Gulf economic woes as oil prices slump

At least two staff working for the EU administration in Brussels have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and are receiving treatment, European officials said on Wednesday.
One case, a man working at the European Defence Agency (EDA), had returned from Italy on February 23.
The second, who works in security for the European Council, is thought to have been infected in Brussels after having contact with the first man.
Meetings at the headquarters of the Brussels-based EDA have been cancelled until March 13, Elisabeth Schoeffmann said.
At the European Council, which EU represents member states, an official said his sick colleague was "receiving the appropriate medical care".
Meanwhile, the council "is taking all necessary measures to limit the risks of transmission of COVID-19 to others".
Following what he said was World Health Organisation advice, the council has no plans yet to cancel upcoming events such as the March 26 European summit.
"There should be no disruption to the ...

First coronavirus cases hit EU in Brussels

Europe unveiled a landmark green growth law on Wednesday but failed to impress teenage activist Greta Thunberg, who dubbed it a "surrender" to the threat of climate change.
The European Commission's draft of the law mandates EU members to achieve "climate neutrality" -- net zero greenhouse emissions -- by 2050.
It is seen in Brussels as the trigger to an economic revolution that will make Europe sustainable and meet the targets of the Paris climate accord.
The proposal "will be our compass for the next 30 years and it will guide us every step of the way as we build a sustainable new growth model," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.
It "will set in stone Europe's position as a climate leader on the global stage and will inspire many of our partners."
But 17-year-old Swedish eco-warrior Thunberg poured cold water on von der Leyen's enthusiasm and accused Europe of making false claims of leadership on the environment.
The European Union must stop ...

EU unveils climate law, but Greta is unimpressed

Three Italian skiers died in an avalanche in northwestern Georgia on Wednesday, officials said.
They were among six people who were skiing in a closed zone near Mount Tetnuldi when the avalanche hit, the Caucasus nation's tourism agency said in a statement.
"Rescuers have found the bodies of three Italians," the agency said, adding it had rescued three more, including one with multiple fractures.
Upper Svaneti, where the incident occurred, is one of the highest and most remote skiing destinations in Europe. Its medieval villages dotted with stone watchtowers are on UNESCO's World Heritage list.

AFP

AFP

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