The coronavirus outbreak in China could have a "lasting economic impact" on the global tourism sector if panic is allowed to spread, the World Travel and Tourism Council warned Friday.
"Previous cases have shown us that closing airports, cancelling flights and closing borders often has a greater economic impact than the outbreak itself," said WTTC chief Gloria Guevara.
"Quick, accurate and transparent communication is also crucial in order to contain panic and mitigate negative economic losses.
"Containing the spread of unnecessary panic is as important as stopping the virus itself," added Guevara, the former tourism minister of Mexico who was closely involved in 2010 with the aftermath of the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus.
The worldwide economic impact of H1N1 was estimated at up to $55 billion (50 billion euros), according to the London-based group.
China, meanwhile, suffered a 25 percent reduction of tourism GDP and a loss of 2.8 million jobs due to the 2003 SARS ...

Global tourism chief warns against coronavirus 'panic'

PTI Automatic

Japan's Aya Ohori upset hometown favourite and number two seed Ratchanok Intanon to advance to the Thailand Masters women's badminton semi-final on Friday.
The left-handed Ohori bounced back from a set down to beat the star Thai shuttler 16-21 21-17 21-11.
Ohori, 23, will go up against Korea's An Se-young on Saturday at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok.
Former world champion Carolina Marin, who lost the Indonesia Masters title to Ratchanok, also moved through after dispatching Japan's Sayaka Takahashi 21-9 21-16.
Spain's Marin meets top seed and world number three Akane Yamaguchi on Saturday.
In the men's singles, Hong Kong's Angus Ng Ka Long battled past Korea's Heo Kwang-hee in three sets to win 21-16 13-21 21-11.
He now faces China's Shi Yu Qi in the semi-finals Saturday.
Bangkok fans can still root for a player on home turf as Thailand's 18-year-old Kunlavut Vitidsarn takes on Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in the other semi-final match.
The Thailand Masters is the second ...

Japan's Ohori ousts Ratchanok at Thailand Masters

Romelu Lukaku believes he made the right decision to leave Manchester United for a new challenge at Inter Milan, saying he had to "re-find" himself after a difficult time at Old Trafford.
The Belgium striker joined United from Everton for 75 million pound (USD 98 million) in July 2017, scoring 42 goals in his two seasons at the club before moving to Inter in August last year.
He has been in superb form for Antonio Conte's side, scoring 18 goals to help the club sustain a challenge for the Serie A title.
Those performances, and United's reported interest in signing a striker this month after Marcus Rashford's back injury, have raised questions as to the wisdom of allowing Lukaku to leave Old Trafford.
But, in an interview with Sky Sports News, the 26-year-old said the decision was his and it had worked out well for United as well.
"I think I had to re-find myself," he said.
"Last year was difficult for me on the professional side because stuff was not going how I wanted and I was not ..

Lukaku says split from Man Utd was 'right decision'

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson is urging member states to reach a compromise on how to share responsibility for migrants, as she tries to forge a pact to end an "unacceptable" stalemate.
More than four years since the migrant crisis began, EU states have failed to agree on reforming their common asylum system, though overall arrivals of migrants have dropped since then.
Johansson is touring European capitals to prepare the "new pact on migration and asylum" that will be presented in the spring, as promised by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.
It is a delicate mission focused on a sensitive issue.
"My aim is to de-escalate the debate on migration," Johansson said in an interview with AFP in Zagreb before attending an informal meeting of EU interior ministers on Friday.
"Migration is not the only policy area where EU member states have very different starting points, but in other policy areas in the EU we manage to sit down at a table to negotiate, to ...

EU commissioner calls for compromise in new migration pact

Recalled Shoaib Malik smashed a solid half-century to anchor Pakistan's five-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first Twenty20 international in Lahore on Friday.
Malik's 45-ball 58 not out for his eighth Twenty20 fifty as Pakistan overhauled a modest 142-run target in 19.3 over to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Bangladesh had managed 141-5 in their 20 overs with openers Mohammad Naim scoring 41-ball 43 and Tamim Iqbal hit 34-ball 39 as Pakistan's three-man pace attack kept them in check on a flat Gadaffi stadium pitch.
The win further consolidated Pakistan's chances of hanging on to their world number one ranking in the shortest format. If they lose any of the remaining matches -- on Saturday and Monday, also in Lahore, Australia will replace them at the top.
Lahore's foggy weather prompted Pakistan Cricket Board to start the match at 2pm (0900 GMT) but it failed to attract more than 10,000 people in a capacity of 24,000 stadium.
Bangladesh could not put a reasonable fight .

Recalled Malik leads Pakistan's win over Bangladesh

Gunmen from the Boko Haram jihadist group killed five people and abducted several others as they collected firewood in restive northeast Nigeria, security sources said Friday.
Fighters opened fire on the group as they fetched wood on Thursday outside the town of Dikwa, 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the regional capital Maiduguri, an anti-jihadist militia leader, Babakura Kolo, told AFP.
"A group gathered and went outside the town to collect firewood but Boko Haram terrorists attacked them, killing five of them," Kolo said.
"The loggers fled and some of them were abducted by the attackers while trying to escape."
Dikwa is home to more than 70,000 people displaced by the jihadist violence who live in several camps where they rely on food and humanitarian assistance from aid agencies.
Many have turned to felling trees from the surrounding bushland to sell as firewood to make money to buy extra provisions.
The decade-long jihadist conflict has killed 36,000 people and displaced around two 

Boko Haram kills five in northeast Nigeria: sources

A large explosion shook the US city of Houston, Texas, early on Friday morning, with shocked residents woken before dawn as houses were badly damaged and glass windows blown in.
The Houston Fire Department said one person had been taken to hospital as firefighters, emergency services and police rushed to the scene.
Police described the incident as a "building explosion" and warned all traffic to avoid the area in the northwest of the city.
CNN said that the blast erupted at about 4:15 am, adding that it had reportedly occurred at a grinding and manufacturing business 18 miles (29 kilometers) northwest of downtown Houston.
Security camera video footage appeared to show a huge blast and a fireball rising into the air.
Details about what exploded, the cause and whether anyone was seriously injured were not immediately confirmed.
"This is still an active scene. Avoid the area. No evacuation order given at this time," city fire chief Samuel Pena tweeted.
"We will advise of the possible ...

Large explosion rocks Houston, houses damaged

China has deployed its military medics to help to contain the coronavirus outbreak, which claimed 26 lives so far and led to the isolation of millions of people in the country, state media reported on Friday.
As many as 40 military medical officers have already started work in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital.
The central military command has ordered medical staff to help civilian doctors and nurses, the state-run China Central Television (CCTV) reported.
The decision to deploy military doctors also comes in the backdrop of a growing apprehension among doctors and medical staff over the threat posed by the virus to their lives as during the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) crisis in 2003, medical staff suffered major casualties.
The death toll in China's deadly coronavirus has climbed to 26 with confirmed cases rising sharply to 881 in the country.
With the virus spreading fast in the country and the world, China has locked down 13 cities, ...

China deploys military medics to combat coronavirus outbreak

Tens of thousands of civilians fled their homes in northwestern Syria last week in the face of intensified bombardment of rebel territory by pro-government forces, the United Nations said on Friday.
Between 15 and 19 January, more than 38,000 people fled violence in the rebel-held west of Aleppo province, which neighbours the main opposition bastion of Idlib, the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) said.
OCHA spokesman David Swanson said the displaced were heading north into territory controlled by Turkish-backed rebel forces or west into jihadist-dominated Idlib province.
Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says some of the deadliest strikes of recent days have been carried out by government ally Russia.
But Moscow has denied launching any combat operations in the region since a ceasefire it agreed with rebel supporter Ankara went into effect earlier this month.
The Observatory said Russian bombardment targeted the west of Aleppo province on Friday ..

More than 38,000 flee homes in northwest Syria: UN

Battling the fast spreading coronavirus, China on Friday said that it is building a 1,000-bed hospital for patients infected with the deadly virus that has claimed 26 lives so far with confirmed cases rising sharply to over 880, prompting authorities to shut down 13 cities during the country's most important holiday.
Dampening the celebrations of the Lunar New Year, China, in an unprecedented move, has shut down transportation in at least 13 cities -- Wuhan and 12 of its neighbours -- in central China's Hubei province to contain the coronavirus.
According to the National Health Commission, 26 people have died so far with over 880 confirmed cases being treated mostly in Hubei province. Twenty nine provinces have reported the cases.
China's biggest city Shanghai raised the emergency response of public health safety to level 1, the highest, following Beijing, and Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Guangdong provinces as more cases were reported.
Beijing so far reported 34 confirmed cases 

China shuts down 13 cities as coronavirus death toll climbs to 26

Nepal's Central Bank is saddled with Rs 7 crore of demonetised Indian currency but India is not making "adjustments" to take back the notes, Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said on Friday, hoping the scrapped notes would be accepted by its neighbour.
The Indian government on November 8, 2016 announced the ban on old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to curb black money in the system.
"Around INR 7 crore (demonetised currency) is deposited in our Central Bank. It went through the banking channel, I don't know why India is not making adjustment (in the matter)," Gyawali said.
Demonetisation caught Bhutan and Nepal off guard where Indian currency is widely used.
"We are not talking about the money which was transacted through the informal channels but it was through the banking channel. So I am requesting the Indian side to think about this pending issue," Gyawali said.
Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on November 8, 99.3 per cent or notes worth Rs 

Nepal hopes India will take back demonetised notes worth 7 Cr

Trade ministers from 35 member countries of the WTO, including Piyush Goyal from India, met here on the sidelines of the WEF 2020 on Friday to discuss priorities and preparations for the June ministerial meeting of the global trade body.
The informal gathering of the WTO members and the WTO General Director Roberto Azevedo was held at the invitation of Swiss Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin.
The group met to discuss and define their priorities for the 12th WTO ministerial conference to be held from 8 to 11 June 2020, at Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan, a post-meeting statement said.
It said the meeting on the fringes of WEF Davos summit was attended by 35 members of the WTO, who represent a wide spectrum of trade policy interests.
The ministers discussed their priorities with regard to ongoing WTO activities and processes.
High up on the agenda were negotiations on fisheries subsidies and current efforts to reform the WTO, including further developing the existing framework of WTO rules, to ..

Trade ministers discuss priorities for WTO's June ministerial meet

The remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal will meet in Vienna next month, the EU's diplomatic chief announced Friday, after Britain, France and Germany launched a dispute process.
The move gives the European members more time to try to find a way to persuade Iran to come back into line with the deal after Tehran made a series of steps away in protest at the US pulling out and reimposing sanctions.

Iran nuclear deal commission to meet in February

Human rights remain at threat in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Amnesty International said on Friday in a report issued a year to the day since the country underwent historic change.
Militia violence, ethnic clashes and failure to hold rights abusers to account dog the record of President Felix Tshisekedi, who succeeded Joseph Kabila, DRC's ruler for 18 years, it said.
"Although President Tshisekedi has taken some positive steps, such as pardoning political prisoners and allowing exiled critics to return, his government's failures on accountability mean warlords and suspected perpetrators of appalling violations and abuses remain at large," said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty's director for eastern and southern Africa.
"Meanwhile (a) brutal crackdown on peaceful protests has continued to cast doubt on respect for the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly."
Disherited took the helm on January 24 2019 after bitterly disputed elections.
The succession was the first peaceful .

Rights in DR Congo still under threat a year after change, Amnesty says

Billionaire investor George Soros, known for his outspoken liberal views, has criticised virtually all economic powers of the world, including the US and China, for being ruled by "would-be or actual dictators" and named India among the countries where nationalism is making further headway.
In a statement released here during the WEF 2020 week, he also questioned success of China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, saying it has required giving large loans, some of which will never be repaid.
The 89-year old, who has been a big donor for Democrats, said the strongest powers, the US, China and Russia, have "remained in the hands of would-be or actual dictators and the ranks of authoritarian rulers continued to grow".
Stating that he had last year hoped things to improve, including on international cooperation, Soros said his hopes crashed badly and nationalism, far from being reversed, made further headway.
"The biggest and most frightening setback occurred in India where a ...

Soros blasts Trump, Xi; questions success of Belt Road Initiative

An Israeli woman jailed in Russia on drug charges cannot be pardoned by President Vladimir Putin until she herself petitions for it, a Kremlin spokesman said Friday.
Naama Issachar, 26, was arrested in April at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where she was transferring flights on her way from India to Israel.
Russian authorities said more than nine grams of hashish were found in her luggage.
She was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison, and a higher court in Moscow upheld the verdict and sentence last month.
Israeli leaders deemed the sentence excessive, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Putin to pardon Issachar.
While in Israel for a Holocaust forum, Putin met Thursday with Issachar's mother and told her "everything will be all right."
However, the Russian leader also indicated that a final decision on the pardon was yet to be made.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Issachar herself hasn't petitioned for a pardon yet, and Russian law requires that step for ...

Israeli woman jailed in Russia yet to ask for pardon

The founder of an Arizona pharmaceutical company was ordered to spend 5 1/2 years in prison Thursday for orchestrating a bribery and kickback scheme prosecutors said helped fuel the opioid crisis.
John Kapoor, 76, the former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was sentenced in Boston's federal court after a jury found him guilty of racketeering conspiracy last May.
The 10-week trial revealed sensational details about the company's marketing tactics, including testimony that a sales executive once gave a lap dance to a doctor the company was wooing. Kapoor was also ordered to pay a USD 250,000 fine.
Kapoor and others were accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to doctors across the United States to prescribe the company's highly addictive oral fentanyl spray, known as Subsys.
The bribes were paid in the form of fees for sham speaking engagements that were billed as educational opportunities for other doctors.
Prosecutors also said the company misled insurers to get payment ...

Ex-pharmaceutical exec gets 5 1/2 years for pushing opioid

Thousands rallied in Baghdad on Friday to demand that American troops leave the country, though their numbers fell short of the "million-man" march called for by an influential Shiite cleric.
The rally came amid heightened anti-US sentiment after a US drone strike earlier this month killed a top Iranian general in the Iraqi capital.
Since mid-morning, large crowds gathered on the Muslim day of prayers as loudspeakers blasted "No, no America!" at a central square in Baghdad.
A child held up a poster reading, "Death to America. Death to Israel."
But by the afternoon the rally had failed to reach the critical numbers called for by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Apparently seeking to show control, al-Sadr's supporters did not engage in altercations with security forces or target the separate, anti-government protests in neighboring Tahrir Square, a possibility feared by activists in the lead-up to Friday's march.
Officials and experts said the rally was the cleric's attempt to capitalise 

Thousands turn up for 'million' Iraq rally against US troops

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to receive Britain's EU divorce agreement Friday after Brussels' top two officials signed it at a closed door ceremony in the dead of night.
Officials from both sides accompanied the document across the Channel to London, where Johnson was to add his signature to those of EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.
Number 10 said that Johnson would sign it later in the day then return it to Brussels, where the EU will make a copy for each party.
On Wednesday next week, the text will go to the European Parliament for ratification and on Thursday diplomats from the EU member states will approve the deal in writing.
Then, on Friday, January 31, Britain spends its last day in the EU before leaving the bloc at 2300 GMT as clocks strike midnight in Brussels.
"Charles Michel and I have just signed the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU, opening the way for its ratification by the European Parliament," European Commission ...

EU chiefs sign Brexit deal and send it to London

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on Friday said growth slowdown in India appears to be temporary and that she expects the momentum to improve going ahead.
The world appears a better place in January 2020 compared to what it was when IMF announced its World Economic Outlook in October 2019, she said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2020 here.
She said the factors driving this positive momentum include receding trade tension after the US-China first phase trade deal and synchronised tax cuts, among others.
She, however, said 3.3 per cent is not a fantastic growth rate for the world economy.
"It is still sluggish growth. We want fiscal policies to be more aggressive and we want structural reforms and more dynamism," the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.
On Monday, the fund lowered growth estimate for the world economy to 2.9 per cent for 2019, citing "negative surprises" in few emerging market economies, especially India.
The IMF also revised downwards its ..

Growth slowdown in India temporary, expect momentum to improve going ahead: IMF chief

Nepal said on Friday that it will not be part of any alliance which is "targeted" to a friendly country and would play a "sensitive role" to protect the "genuine interests" of its neighbouring countries, amidst China's increasing foray in the Himalayan nation.
Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that Nepal has "time and again made it clear that our soil will not be misused against the critical interests of both our neighbouring countries."
"Nepal will not be a part of any alliance which is targeted to another neighbour or friend...and Nepal will play a sensitive role to protect the genuine interests of our neighbouring countries," Gyawali told a group of visiting Indian journalists at a briefing here.
The Nepal government led by Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has moved closer to China in recent years, firming up connectivity network, specially the trans-Himalayan project.
China has been investing heavily in Nepal in the last few years to enhance the connectivity and ...

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