Dozens of passengers who were allowed off a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship have developed symptoms including fever and will be asked to take tests for the virus, Japan's health minister said Wednesday.
The government has contacted 813 former passengers of the Diamond Princess. Around 970 were allowed off the boat last week after testing negative for the virus, but several have subsequently been found to be carrying the disease.
The ministry found "45 people had certain symptoms," health minister Katsunobu Kato told parliament.
"We asked all of them (who have symptoms) to see a doctor and to take tests," Kato said.
Japan has come under increasing pressure over its handling of the crisis on the vessel, particularly after it emerged that some passengers allowed to disembark after testing negative were subsequently diagnosed with the virus.
Those allowed off the ship after a 14-day quarantine were asked to stay inside, but no formal measures restricting their movement were imposed.
As ..

Dozens allowed off Japan virus-hit ship have 'symptoms': minister

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The death toll in China's novel coronavirus epidemic on Wednesday climbed to 2,715 with 52 new fatalities while the confirmed cases rose to 78,064, amidst strong signs of COVID-19 slowing down even at its epicentre Hubei province.
The country's National Health Commission (NHC) in its daily update said it received reports of 52 deaths, all from Hubei, and 406 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection from all over the country.
The death toll has gone up to 2,715 and overall confirmed cases reached 78,064, it said.
Another 439 new suspected cases were reported on Tuesday while the number of severe cases decreased by 374 to 8,752, it said.
Overall 2,491 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus.
A total of 29,745 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.
The commission said 6.47 lakh close contacts had been traced, and over 79,000 are still under medical observation.
By the end of Tuesday, 85 confirmed cases including two deaths had been ...

China coronavirus: Death toll climbs to over 2,700 amidst signs of slowdown

Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri rejected suggestions that supporters of his side should not be allowed to attend Wednesday's Champions League clash with Lyon in France due to the coronavirus outbreak in Italy.
The virus had claimed 11 lives in Italy by Tuesday evening, with 322 confirmed infections, and authorities have said upcoming matches in Serie A will be played behind closed doors to combat its spread, as well as Thursday's Europa League game between Inter Milan and Ludogorets of Bulgaria.
The mayors of the two towns in the Lyon suburbs across which the Groupama Stadium, the venue for Wednesday's game, is situated have called for away fans to be banned from attending as a result. However, close to 3,000 fans from Italy are expected at the game.
"In my opinion it is a European problem, not an Italian problem," said Sarri, as the first question at Tuesday's press conference before the Champions League last 16, first leg focused on the coronavirus outbreak.
"In Italy we have done ...

Sarri calls for calm as coronavirus fears surround Juventus Champions League tie

Antoine Griezmann rescued a 1-1 draw for Barcelona at Napoli in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Frenchman Griezmann struck just before the hour mark in Naples after Dries Mertens had put the hosts ahead in the 30th minute with his 121st Napoli goal, drawing level with Marek Hamsik as the club's all-time top scorer.
Barcelona ended the game with 10 men after Arturo Vidal was sent off with two minutes to go after picking up two yellow cards, following an angry clash with Napoli defender Mario Rui.
"In the end it's a draw that is a good result considering that we have another home game," said Barcelona coach Quique Setien on Tuesday, with his side in a strong position ahead of the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 18.
The clash was the first between the two teams and also a Champions League debut for both Setien and Napoli counterpart Gennaro Gattuso, who took over after the group stage.
"They didn't hurt us, they tickled us," said Gattuso.
"It went wrong in one ...

Griezmann rescues Barcelona first-leg draw at Napoli

Serge Gnabry fired Bayern Munich to the brink of the Champions League quarter-finals as the German's double inspired a superb 3-0 rout of Chelsea in the last-16 first leg at Stamford Bridge.
Gnabry had tormented Tottenham Hotspur with four goals in Bayern's 7-2 victory in north London earlier this season and the former Arsenal winger returned to the English capital to push Chelsea to the brink of elimination.
The 24-year-old's time with Arsenal was a disappointment and he even flopped during a loan spell at West Bromwich Albion.
But he has been reborn with Bayern and his two goals in the space of three minutes left Hansi Flick's side within touching distance of the last eight.
Robert Lewandowski got Bayern's third before Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso was sent off in the 83rd minute on Tuesday.
Chelsea will need another Munich miracle in the second leg on March 18 to overturn the deficit at the Allianz Arena, where they famously beat the German club in the 2012 Champions League ...

Gnabry stars as Bayern rock Chelsea

Spanish police have launched an investigation into "tax evasion and money laundering" after uncovering fake transfers involving several player agents, the Civil Guard announced.
According to a statement on Tuesday, several raids were carried out in properties linked to the suspects and discovered that "prominent football agents" were arranging fake transfers through a Cypriot football club to launder money and evade taxes.
"At least 10 million euros was put back into Spain through the purchasing of luxury assets including real estate and yachts," the statement added.
The Spanish press has reported that among the agents involved is Fali Ramadani, representative of Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic and Juventus midfielder Miralem Pjanic.
When contacted by AFP, a Civil Guard spokesperson was unable to confirm the identities of those involved.
The agents were part of an organisation that made up fake transfers to inflate the price of players and avoid paying taxes in several countries, ...

Football agents investigated by Spanish police over 'ghost transfers'

A court in eastern China has sentenced a Swedish seller of books that took a skeptical look at the ruling Communist Party to 10 years in prison for illegally providing intelligence overseas," in a further sign of Beijing's hard line toward its critics.
Gui Minhai first disappeared in 2015, when he was believed to have been abducted by Chinese agents from his seaside home in Thailand. He and four others who worked for the same Hong Kong publishing company all went missing at around the same time, only to turn up months later in police custody in mainland China.
The Ningbo Intermediate People's Court announced Tuesday that it gave Gui, a naturalized Swedish citizen, a 10-year prison sentence. Gui admitted to his crime, agreed with the sentence and will not appeal, the court said.
Human rights groups have repeatedly accused China of extracting forced confessions from individuals it perceives to be opponents of the Communist Party's rule.
For years, Gui sold gossipy books about Chinese ...

China sentences Swedish bookseller to 10 years in prison

A US soldier stationed in South Korea has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, commanders said Wednesday, the first US serviceman to do so.
The soldier is stationed at Camp Carroll, 30 kilometres north of Daegu, the city that is the epicentre of the outbreak in the South, US Forces Korea said in a statement, adding that he had been put in self-quarantine at his off-base residence.

US forces in South Korea report first coronavirus case

Hours after President Donald Trump concluded his whirlwind 36-hour tour of India, the White House on Tuesday said the visit aimed at deepening the strategic partnership between both nations.
"The United States and India benefit from strong economic ties that advance prosperity, investment and job creation in both countries," the White House said in a statement titled "President Donald J Trump is strengthening our strategic partnership with India".
Underlining that it was the first official visit of the president to India, the White House said both countries enjoyed a long-standing trade relationship, exceeding USD 142 billion in 2018 alone.
India is a growing destination for American energy exports, it said, adding that during President Trump's tenure, energy exports to India have grown substantially, generating billions of dollars in revenue.
In India, ExxonMobil signed a deal to further improve India's natural gas distribution network so that the country can accept even more ...

Trump's India visit aimed at deepening strategic ties: White House

Air Canada announced Tuesday it is extending its suspension of flights between Canada and the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai until April 10 due to the new coronavirus epidemic.
Flights from Canada to the two cities had been temporarily suspended from January 30 to the end of February after the foreign ministry advised Canadians against non-essential travel to China in light of the virus's rapid spread there.
The Air Canada website says the company and health authorities "will continue to monitor this evolving situation closely" and "will adjust its schedule as appropriate." The airline usually offers direct flights from Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver to Beijing and Shanghai.
And the company also extended the suspension of daily flights to Hong Kong from Toronto until April 30, citing "reduced market demand."
Flights to and from Taipei "remain unaffected," according to the company's website.
Air Canada estimated that its first quarter net profit would be approximately Can$200 .

Air Canada extends flight suspension to Chinese cities, citing virus

Swiss food giant Nestle, owner of KitKat and Nespresso, on Tuesday said it was postponing all business trips until March 15 at the earliest because of the new coronavirus epidemic.
"We have asked all of our employees worldwide not to travel for business purposes until March 15 2020. We will review this measure in light of external developments," a company spokesman told AFP, quoting an internal note.
The spokesman said that the company was not calling back expatriate employees but added: "We monitor the situation closely to ensure the safety of our employees."
Nestle, which owns a range of household brands including also Nescafe, Maggi and Perrier, employs 291,000 people.  The epidemic, which began in China at the end of 2019, has now spread to dozens of countries and infected tens of thousands of people, killing more than 2,600.

Food giant Nestle delays all business trips over virus

Algerian authorities on Tuesday announced the country's first case of the novel coronavirus, in an Italian citizen who arrived in the country on February 17.
"One case was confirmed positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), out of two suspected cases (both) of Italian nationality," the North African country's health ministry said.
State television said the infected person had been placed in isolation, without offering further details.
The health ministry said it had reinforced its "monitoring and surveillance systems at all points of entry" into Algeria.

Algeria reports first novel coronavirus case

At least 20 civilians died in Syrian regime strikes on targets including schools, a monitor said Tuesday, in a relentless advance on the country's last major opposition holdout that saw loyalists seize a symbolic town.
Pro-regime bombing killed at least nine children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as Russian-backed regime forces wage a fierce offensive to seize Idlib, the final major territory in Syria still controlled by rebels and jihadists.
Regime strikes in Idlib, the main city in the densely populated, ever-shrinking enclave of the same name, killed a schoolchild and three teachers as well as two others, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
At least six children were among 10 civilians killed in Maarat Misrin, a town just north of Idlib city on the road to the Turkish border, the Observatory said.
Another four people, including a mother and her two children, died in regime fire on Binnish, northeast of Idlib city, he said.  Later, the Observatory reported that 

Syria regime kills 20 civilians, retakes symbolic town

Cameroon's constitutional council announced Tuesday it was annulling a legislative election held earlier this month in parts of the country's conflict-torn anglophone regions, state television reported.
The council said the election would have to be rerun in the Lebialem constituency, a hot spot for violence in the English-speaking South West region, according to the report.
Another vote will also be held in 10 constituencies in the North West region, which has seen the worst of the violence during the long-running separatist conflict, it added.
The two anglophone regions have been rocked by deadly violence as armed separatists campaign for independence from the rest of Cameroon, which is majority French-speaking.
Separatist fighters had called on people in the two regions not to take part in the municipal and legislative elections on February 9, issuing threats to anyone who planned to vote. One of the two main opposition parties also called for a boycott.
For the most, voting passed 

Cameroon annuls Feb 9 polls in parts of anglophone regions

The UN Security Council on Tuesday renewed its sanctions regime on Yemen for another year, after tense negotiations between Britain and Russia, which threatened to veto any mention, even implicit, of Iran.
Thirteen countries eventually adopted the London-drafted resolution on the sanctions, which now are in effect through February 2021. Russia and China abstained.
The sanctions plan, which would have expired on Wednesday, includes the extension of the mandate of UN experts who monitor the arms embargo imposed in 2015.
The resolution also extends the measures that provide for the freezing of assets and travel bans on targeted officials.
Talks had been ongoing for a week with little apparent difficulty, but suddenly on Monday, Moscow said it could not support the text drafted by London.
It threatened to use its veto and offered a counterproposal, diplomats said.
Russia was up in arms over any mention of Iran, which backs the Huthi rebels in their battle with government forces supported .

UN sanctions regime for Yemen renewed

The first clinical trial in the US of a possible coronavirus treatment is underway in Nebraska and is eventually expected to include 400 patients at 50 locations around the world, officials said Tuesday.
Half of the patients in the international study will receive the antiviral medicine remdesivir while the other half will receive a placebo. Several other studies, including one looking at the same drug, are already underway internationally.
Dr Andre Kalil, who will oversee the study at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said the clinical trial was developed quickly in response to the virus outbreak that originated in China.
Patients who are hospitalised with the COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, will be eligible to join the trial if they have at least moderate symptoms.
"The goal here is to help the people that need it the most," Kalil said.
Fourteen people who were evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan are being treated at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. ..

Study begins in US to test possible coronavirus treatment

Cameroon's constitutional council announced Tuesday it was annulling the February 9 legislative election in parts of the troubled anglophone regions in the west of the country, state television reported.
The council said the elections would have to be rerun in the South West region's Lebialem constituency and in 10 constituencies in the North West region, said the report.

Cameroon annuls Feb 9 polls in parts of anglophone regions: state TV

Italy's European neighbours pledged to keep borders open Tuesday despite the new coronavirus spreading down the country to Tuscany and Sicily and a surge in the number of infected people.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has blamed poor management in a hospital in the country's north for the outbreak, with the death toll in Italy rising to 11 and infections to 322, the largest number of people infected in Europe.
All of those who have died so far in Italy were either elderly or had pre-existing medical conditions.
Even as numbers of infections continue to rise, health ministers from Italy's neighbours -- meeting in Rome along with the EU's health commissioner -- said closing frontiers would be a "disproportionate and ineffective" measure.
"We're talking about a virus that doesn't respect borders," said Italy's Health Minister Roberto Speranza.
His German counterpart, Jens Spahn, who was also at the Rome meeting, said they were "taking the situation very, very seriously.
"The coronavirus .

Borders stay open as Italy coronavirus outbreak spreads south

Syrian regime forces recaptured Kafranbel in Idlib province on Tuesday, a war monitor said, a symbolic victory in a town that was among the first to rebel against Damascus.
Supported by Russian air strikes, pro-regime forces advancing on the last major rebel-held bastion in northwest Syria captured Kafranbel and 18 nearby towns and villages over the past 48 hours, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Earlier on Thursday, the Observatory said regime air strikes and artillery fire had killed 19 civilians in Idlib, in towns north of Kafranbel.
From the first days of the peaceful uprising against the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad in 2011, Kafranbel gained worldwide renown as a bastion of protest.
In 2012, it was rocked by fighting between regime fighters and defectors from Assad's army, soon slipping out of the government's control.
A town of some 20,000 people, it became known for the often humorous signs in English and Arabic that its residents held up at weekly ...

Syrian regime retakes symbolic town of Kafranbel: Monitor

American Airlines and Qatar Airways said Tuesday they will put aside past hostilities and revive a partnership selling seats on some of each other's flights and splitting the revenue.
American says it hopes that the arrangement will boost its ability to sell travel to India and elsewhere in Asia and also to Africa  weak spots in its current network.
If the U.S. government approves, American will sell seats on Qatar Airways flights between the U.S. and Doha, the capital of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar and a crossroads for travel between India and the U.S. and Europe. Qatar Airways could sell tickets on some American flights out of airports in Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami and Los Angeles. This type of cross-selling is called code-sharing.
American said it will also consider starting its own flights from the U.S. to Doha, although not before 2021.
Vasu Raja, American's senior vice president of network strategy, said the deal is part of a plan to expand the airline's 

American Airlines, Qatar will split revenue on some flights

The United States voiced optimism Tuesday about reaching an accord to end the war in Afghanistan as a partial truce held with the Taliban, warning rival leaders in the Kabul government not to scuttle the "enormous opportunity."
The United States plans to sign an agreement with the Taliban on Saturday in Qatar if the week-long truce holds. Four days in, the number of Taliban attacks has fallen dramatically.
"So far the reduction in violence is working -- imperfect, but it's working,"
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a news conference in Washington.
"We're on the cusp of an enormous, enormous political opportunity," he said.
The historic deal would see the US withdraw thousands of troops, winding down America's longest war which was launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks but has grown increasingly unpopular at home.
The Taliban would then open negotiations with the internationally recognized government in Kabul, which the Islamist militants have refused to recognize.  But the .

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