A former executive at China's internet search giant Baidu is being investigated for corruption, the company said Wednesday.
Ex-Baidu vice president Wei Fang is under suspicion of corruption following internal investigations, and his case has been handed over to public authorities, said the firm's professional ethics committee in a statement to AFP.
Baidu vowed it would "resolutely crack down on all violations of law and discipline", but did not give further details of Wei's alleged wrongdoing.
The case comes just weeks after it was revealed that a top executive at Starbucks competitor Luckin Coffee might have faked 2.2 billion yuan (USD 310 million) worth of sales last year, causing the shares of the NASDAQ-listed firm to plummet over 70 per cent.
The former chief operating officer and several staff members at Luckin Coffee -- which debuted on Wall Street in May 2019 -- have been suspended pending an internal investigation.
The company also apologised.
On Wednesday, an official at the 

Former Baidu executive suspected of corruption

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The death toll from the novel coronavirus in Europe has passed 110,000, according to figures compiled by AFP from official sources by 0920 GMT on Wednesday.
With 110,192 people dead from 1,246,840 cases registered, Europe is the hardest hit continent by the pandemic that has killed 177,368 people around the world.
Italy has recorded 24,648 deaths, Spain 21,717, France 20,796 and Britain 17,337.

Coronavirus death toll tops 110,000 in Europe: AFP tally

Germany has authorised its first clinical test of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the country's regulatory body said on Wednesday, green-lighting trials on human volunteers for an RNA vaccine developed by German firm Biontech and US giant Pfizer.
"The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut... has authorised the first clinical trial of a vaccine against COVID-19 in Germany," the regulatory body said in a statement.
It added that approval was the "result of a careful assessment of the potential risk/benefit profile of the vaccine candidate".

Germany to start first clinical tests on coronavirus vaccine

Spain said Wednesday another 435 people died in the past 24 hours, with the figures showing a slight increase for a second day running, bringing the overall death toll to 21,717.
Spain has suffered the third-highest number of deaths in the world after the United States and Italy, with infections now passing 208,000 cases, health ministry figures showed.

435 virus deaths in Spain as daily toll rises for second day

As the coronavirus pandemic bears down on vulnerable nations in Africa and South Asia, experts say there are only weeks to help fill chronic shortages of what medics need to help people breathe.
Not ventilators, but oxygen itself.
Medical oxygen is a core component of the life-saving therapies hospitals are giving patients with severe cases of COVID-19, as the world waits for scientists to find vaccines and treatments.
The pandemic has pushed even the most advanced health systems to their limits, with concerns often focused on the supply of mechanical ventilators at the high-tech end of the breathing assistance spectrum.
But experts fear this has distorted the narrative about what constitutes an effective response, giving the wrong blueprint for nations with under-funded health systems.
"The reality is that oxygen is the only therapy that will save lives in Africa and Asia-Pacific now," said Hamish Graham, a consultant paediatrician and research fellow at Melbourne University Hospital 

'Suffering, gasping': experts warn of oxygen shortages in poorer virus-threatened nations

Peru's football federation has said it will set up a million-dollar fund to help first and second division clubs counter the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We have received the green light from CONMEBOL to dedicate the funds it allocates as part of its Evolution 2020 program in support of our Liga 1 and Liga 2 clubs," the FPF said in a statement Tuesday.
FPF president Agustin Lozano said that if the sport's regional governing body CONMEBOL and FIFA provided additional funds for Peruvian football, they would be intended for relaunching the first and second division championships.
South American football chief Alejandro Dominguez earlier this month asked FIFA for an urgent meeting on setting up a global fund to help federations affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Peru's football boss also hopes that competitions can resume in July behind closed doors and intends to require players to take virus tests.
"The FPF has acquired molecular tests for the coronavirus for ...

Peru launches fund to support virus-hit football clubs

A key Premier League broadcast partner has called on club bosses to probe a Saudi Arabian bid to buy Newcastle United over piracy allegations, it said on Wednesday.
The Magpies are on the verge of being sold to a Saudi-backed consortium that involves Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for around ?300 million ($368 million).
It was reported on Tuesday that a non-refundable deposit of ?17 million has already been paid to current owner Mike Ashley as part of the deal.
The Premier League must decide if the new owners meet the criteria in its owners and directors test.
Qatar-based BeIN accuses Saudi of masterminding the pirate broadcast of BeIN output, which included EPL games, as part of a spat between Doha and Riyadh. Saudi denies the claims.
In a letter to top-flight English clubs, BeIN urges them to put pressure on league officials to investigate whether Saudi "directors, officers and other representatives" would be fit and proper to own Newcastle.
"My request is purely based on the ...

BeIN calls on EPL to probe Saudi takeover of Newcastle

Training for Australia's National Rugby League could begin within weeks, as officials reaffirmed the game's May 28 return on Wednesday despite the country remaining under coronavirus shutdowns.
NRL teams hope to begin training on May 4 as officials stood firm on restarting the league before the end of May, Australian Rugby League Commissioner Wayne Pearce said on Wednesday.
"We actually have permission from the government, we're allowed to play provided we adhere to the public health guidelines," Pearce told Nine News.
All teams, including those based outside the state, would have to stay in New South Wales under the current plans and the league would carry out regular testing, Pearce said.
It is not clear how social distancing guidelines would be met.
"The government authorities that we are speaking to are very supportive of what we're looking to do because we are actually looking to hold ourselves to very high standards," Pearce said.
The season was suspended on March 24 after just .

Australian rugby league eyes return to training

A Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon has been put on lockdown after the UN announced the first confirmed case of coronavirus in one of the country's numerous and crowded camps.
The patient, a Palestinian refugee from Syria, has been taken to the state-run Rafic Hariri hospital in Beirut, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said in a statement late Tuesday.
Medical experts were due to visit the Wavel camp in the eastern Bekaa Valley later on Wednesday to carry out tests, the agency added.
The testing will focus on the woman's relatives and people she has interacted with, as well as 50 others chosen arbitrarily "inside the camp and its surroundings", said Lebanon's official National News Agency.
In coordination with Lebanese security forces, Palestinian factions in charge of security have imposed a lockdown on the camp, preventing anyone from entering or leaving, the NNA report said.
The United Nations and aid groups have repeatedly warned that refugees and migrants in ...

First virus case in Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp: UN

German football authorities are set to announce plans on Thursday for Bundesliga matches to restart in empty stadiums on May 9, but the potential first return of a major European league in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic is meeting some opposition.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is slowly easing nationwide restrictions and the resumption of the Bundesliga, which was halted on March 13, would boost morale in football-mad Germany.
It would also make the Bundesliga the first top-flight European league to begin playing again.
Large public events are banned in Germany until August 31, yet football could resume without spectators -- known as "ghost games" in a country that has more testing capacity than other in Europe and players could be tested regularly.
The 18 clubs have been back in training for three weeks, albeit in small groups with social distancing observed even on the pitch.
Having already been given signs of encouragement by politicians, the German Football League ..

German football eyes May return but debate rages

After Wuhan was sealed off from the world, acclaimed Chinese writer Fang Fang started an online diary about the coronavirus tragedy unfolding in her hometown.
Her journal drew tens of millions of readers -- but now that it is about to be published abroad in several languages, she is facing a nationalist backlash at home.
Critics say the 64-year-old, who was awarded China's most prestigious literary prize in 2010, is providing fodder to countries that have slammed Beijing's handling of the pandemic.
Fang began to document life in Wuhan, the city of 11 million where COVID-19 first emerged in December, after it was placed under an unprecedented lockdown on January 23.
As authorities desperately scrambled to stop the disease from spreading across the country, she wrote about the fears, anger and hope of the industrial hub's residents in isolation.
In one entry she mentioned seeing pictures of the city's empty East Lake, and the "deserted and peaceful expanse of the water".  She described .

Chinese writer faces backlash for 'Wuhan Diary'

Swimmers and surfers will return to Sydney's famed Bondi Beach next week, almost six weeks after it was closed amid a spike in coronavirus cases, officials announced Wednesday.
But the white sands will remain off-limits to sunbathers, joggers and families in an effort to maintain Australia's strict social distancing requirements.
Paula Masselos, mayor of Waverley, which takes in Bondi and surrounds, said locals could return to the ocean starting 28 April via two access points only.
"What these corridors will do is provide a safe access into the water for swim-and-go and surf-and-go only. So that is for exercise in the water," she told reporters in Sydney.
"The sand is closed: which means no running, no walking, no gathering, no bringing your kids down to play in the sand and have a paddle in the water." Bondi and nearby beaches were closed in late March after photos circulated online showing mostly young beachgoers packed together on the sands in defiance of a ban on large outdoor ...

Bondi Beach to reopen for surfing as Australia virus cases slow

A woman's life was likely saved by her silicone breast implants after she was shot in the chest at close range while walking down a street in Toronto, doctors have said.
The 30-year-old's left breast implant deflected the bullet away from her vital organs into the other breast, according to a case study published last week in the SAGE medical journal.
The incident, which occurred in 2018, is one of only a handful of cases where a woman was saved by her breast implants and is believed to be the first involving silicone ones, the study said.
The patient, who was not named, went to the local emergency department in the Canadian city after feeling pain in her chest and seeing blood.
Surgeons found a single entry wound and retrieved a bullet from below her right breast, which police forensics later determined was a copper jacketed 0.40 caliber, the study said.
They removed her implants and photographs with the study and CT scans show the bullet passed through her left implant and hit her ..

Breast implants saved woman shot in chest

At the entrance of an Istanbul mosque, the racks usually reserved for the shoes of the faithful are loaded with pasta packages, oil bottles, biscuits -- like a supermarket.
But they aren't for sale. Instead they are destined for the needy, hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The sign on the mosque's window asks anyone who can to leave something, and says those in need can take something.
Abdulsamet Cakir, 33, imam of the Dedeman mosque in the Sariyer district, came up with this idea of reaching out to the poor via the place of worship after Turkey suspended mass prayers in mosques until the risk of outbreak passes.
Turkey's official death toll from the virus now stands at 2,259 after 119 more deaths were reported on Tuesday, and major cities including Istanbul will be under lockdown for four days from Thursday.
"After the suspension of mass prayers, I had an idea to revive our mosque by bringing together well-off people with the people in need," Cakir told AFP inside the mosque, ...

Turkish mosque turned into temporary 'supermarket'

The body of the Indian migrant who died from coronavirus far from home was kept inside the ambulance in front of the crematorium in case a friend came by for a last goodbye.
But nearly an hour later no one had appeared, and the workers in protective suits had to carry out their grim task.
In silence, the four men carefully moved the body, wrapped in a white plastic bag, to a furnace where it was reduced to ashes that were placed in a silver box.
Millions of foreigners work in the United Arab Emirates and across the other wealthy Gulf nations, providing the backbone of the workforce in hospitals and banks, as well as on construction sites and in factories.
Many have spent decades toiling to provide for their families, with the hope of returning one day to open a business or build a house.
But a death from coronavirus means that the body cannot be sent home, and that it has to be cremated or buried in the country where the person dies.
"The whole world is changing. Nobody comes anymore, 

No last goodbye for Gulf migrant workers lost to pandemic

Brent crude plunged more than 12 per cent to below USD 17 a barrel on Wednesday while US oil erased early gains and fell, as the coronavirus strangles demand and ravages energy markets, while storage facilities approach full capacity.
In another day of volatile trading, US benchmark WTI surged in early Asian deals while Brent also edged up on news that top producers had held talks -- only for prices to suddenly change course.
Brent dropped 12.31 percent to $16.98 a barrel, extending heavy losses from a day earlier.
WTI for June delivery, which had rebounded about 20 percent at the open, was down around five percent at $11 a barrel in the afternoon.
On Monday, WTI for May delivery collapsed to an unprecedented low of minus $40.32 as traders scrambled to sell it before the contract expired Tuesday, but could find few buyers with storage capacity fast filling up.
The negative prices meant that traders were forced to pay to have the crude taken off their hands.
Analysts said the morning ..

Oil plunges again as virus ravages energy markets

Egypt on Tuesday flew a plane of medical supplies to the United States to assist in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a role reversal for a top US aid recipient.
Egypt's general-turned-president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has been eager to cement relations with President Donald Trump, and his country has already shipped medical goods with fanfare to China and Italy.
A video statement from Sisi's office showed crates in wrapping that read in English and Arabic, "From the Egyptian people to the American people," being loaded into a military cargo plane.
Dutch Ruppersberger, who leads a group in the US House of Representatives that promotes relations with Egypt, said the plane landed at Andrews Air Force base outside Washington.
The plane brought 200,000 masks, 48,000 shoe covers and 20,000 surgical caps among other supplies, said Ruppersberger, a Democrat who heads the bipartisan group.
"This is why international diplomacy and maintaining relationships with allies like Egypt are ..

In role reversal, Egypt sends virus aid to US

Australia said Wednesday it will take advantage of record low oil prices to develop a long-needed strategic oil reserve, which will be located in the United States.
With global demand for oil slowing to a trickle owing to worldwide virus lockdowns, crude prices turning negative and storage facilities bursting at the seams, Energy Minister Angus Taylor said it was time to act.
Australia has long had one of the lowest levels of emergency petroleum stockpiles in the developed world, leaving it hugely exposed in the event of tensions in hotspots such as the Strait of Hormuz.
Taylor said Australia would spend Aus$94 million (US$59 million) to begin developing an oil stockpile established on US soil.
"This is a unique opportunity to begin a fuel reserve because we are seeing historically low prices," he said.
"Now is the time to move. We are moving with the storage we can access, which right now is in the United States." The two allies signed an agreement in early March allowing Australia ..

Australia pounces on oil glut to build strategic reserve

Martin Fuchs was dreaming of celebrating Olympic showjumping gold on his grey gelding Clooney 51, soaking up the atmosphere in the Japanese heat as the Swiss flag was raised.
Instead, the 27-year-old rider, who competed in Rio four years ago, has been forced to play a waiting game by the global coronavirus pandemic.
The European champion and world silver medallist began the year as world number one ahead of compatriot Steve Guerdat and was gunning for Olympic gold in Tokyo.
But Fuchs is confident that his horse will be up to the challenge at the postponed Games next year, and is enjoying aspects of the enforced break from his usual relentless schedule.
"It is obviously a disappointment as I was very excited and looking forward to the Olympics this year," he told AFP by phone from his stables in Wangi, Switzerland.
"But I think even next year Clooney will still be in a good shape as he won't be doing much this year because there is not much happening."
Fuchs hails from a family whose ..

Swiss showjumper takes stock after Olympic delay

German football authorities are set to announce plans on Thursday for Bundesliga matches to restart on May 9 in empty stadiums, but the potential return in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic is meeting some opposition.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is slowly easing nationwide restrictions and the resumption of the Bundesliga, which was halted on March 13, would boost morale in football-mad Germany.
It would also make the Bundesliga the first top-flight European league to begin playing again.
Large public events are banned in Germany until August 31, yet football could resume without spectators -- known as "ghost games" in German. Germany has more testing capacity than other European countries and players could be tested regularly.
The 18 clubs have been back in training for three weeks, albeit in small groups with social distancing observed even on the pitch.
Having already been given signs of encouragement by politicians, the German Football League (DFL) is set to iron out 

German football plans May return but debate rages

World number one Rory McIlroy has added his voice to the chorus of players opposed to the idea of playing this year's Ryder Cup without spectators.
With the global golf season in chaos due to the coronavirus pandemic, the game's administrators are running through a range of possible scenarios as they attempt to plot a path back to competition.
For organizers of the Ryder Cup, which is due to take place at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin from September 25-27, that has included studying whether the tournament could be played without fans.
PGA chief executive Seth Waugh revealed earlier this week that officials had looked at the possibility of creating a "virtual fan experience" for the fiercely competitive team clash between Europe and the United States.
Waugh however acknowledged that a Ryder Cup without spectators was "hard to imagine," noting they were an integral part of the raucous and often febrile golfing spectacle.
McIlroy, speaking during an Instagram live event for sponsors ...

AFP

AFP

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