AFP The death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak rose again on Tuesday but Chinese and international health officials sought to calm global nerves, citing a study showing most cases are mild and warning against excessive measures to contain the epidemic. Nearly 1,900 people have now died and more than 72,000 people have been infected
AFP Police in China have arrested a prominent activist who had been a fugitive for weeks and criticized President Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus epidemic while in hiding, a rights group said on Tuesday. Anti-corruption activist Xu Zhiyong was arrested on Saturday after being on the run since December, according to Amnesty International. China’s
AP Chinese authorities on Monday reported a slight upturn in new virus cases and 105 more deaths, as the military dispatched hundreds more medical workers and extra supplies to the city hit hardest by the 2-month-old outbreak. The 2,048 new cases followed three days of declines but was up by just 39 from the previous
AFP The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in China passed 70,000 on Monday as international experts began meetings with their Chinese counterparts on how to tackle an epidemic that has caused global concern. The death toll jumped to 1,765 in mainland China after 100 more people died in Hubei province, where the
AFP The coronavirus epidemic could damage global economic growth this year, the IMF head said Sunday, but a sharp and rapid economic rebound could follow. “There may be a cut that we are still hoping would be in the 0.1-0.2 percentage space,” the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, told the Global
AFP A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 43,000 people globally. The latest figures reported by global health authorities as of Tuesday in Beijing: — China: 1,016 deaths among 42,638 confirmed cases on the mainland. In addition, Hong Kong has had 42 cases, including one death. Macao has had 10 cases.
AP Spain on Tuesday resumed the search for 67 migrants missing from a boat trying to reach European shores a day after maritime authorities rescued 119 others from cold Mediterranean waters. A spokeswoman with Spain’s Maritime Rescue agency said the search for the missing rubber boat in the stretch of sea separating Spain from Morocco
AFP The death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak surged past 1,000 on Tuesday as the World Health Organization warned that infected people who have not travelled to China could ignite a “bigger fire” in the epidemic. The rise came after President Xi Jinping made a rare visit to a hospital in Beijing, wearing protective
AFP Millions of people in China returned to work Monday after an extended holiday aimed at slowing the spread of a coronavirus, with the extra travel deepening contagion concerns as the death toll climbed above 900. At least 40,000 have been infected by a new pathogen believed to have emerged late last year at a
BBC US President Donald Trump has dismissed two senior officials who testified against him at his impeachment trial. The US envoy to the EU, Gordon Sondland, said he “was advised today that the president intends to recall me effective immediately”. Just hours earlier, Lt Col Alexander Vindman, a top expert on Ukraine, was escorted from
AP The flu-like virus that exploded from China has researchers worldwide once again scrambling to find a vaccine against a surprise health threat, with no guarantee one will arrive in time. Just days after Chinese scientists shared the genetic map of the culprit coronavirus, researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health had engineered a
AFP Botswana on Friday will hold its first major auction for trophy elephant hunting quotas since controversially scrapping a hunting ban last year, a wildlife official said. President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s government in May revoked a moratorium, just a year after he succeeded Ian Khama, an avid environmentalist, who introduced a blanket ban in 2014 to
AFP President Donald Trump celebrated his impeachment acquittal Thursday in a rambling, emotional speech raging against the investigations that have overshadowed his entire administration. Trump gathered scores of loyal Republican legislators, his legal team, wife Melania and White House aides in the ceremonial East Room and brandished the front page of The Washington Post reading:
AFP A Chinese doctor who was punished after raising the alarm about China’s new coronavirus died from the pathogen on Friday, sparking an outpouring of grief and anger over a worsening crisis that has now killed more than 630 people. At least 31,000 people have now been infected by a virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang
BBC President Donald Trump has been cleared in his impeachment trial, ending a congressional bid to remove him from office that bitterly divided the US. The Senate, run by the president’s fellow Republicans, voted to acquit him 52-48 on charges of abuse of power and 53-47 on obstruction of Congress. Democrats charged Trump in December
AFP Thousands of people were stranded aboard two cruise ships in Asia on Thursday, quarantined by officials desperate to stem the spread of a deadly virus that has killed hundreds in China and spread panic worldwide. At least 20 people on board one ocean liner off the Japanese coast have tested positive for the new
AP A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 24,500 people globally. The latest figures as of Wednesday in Beijing: — China: 490 deaths and 24,324 confirmed cases on the mainland. In addition, Hong Kong has had 17 cases, including one death. Macao has had 10 cases. Most of the deaths have
AP The death toll in mainland China from the new type of virus has risen to 425, with the total number of cases now standing at 20,438, officials said Tuesday. The new figures come after the country opened a new hospital built in 10 days, infused cash into tumbling financial markets and further restricted people’s
AP For companies bracing for losses from China’s viral outbreak, the damage has so far been delayed, thanks to a stroke of timing: The outbreak hit just when Chinese factories and many businesses were closed anyway to let workers travel home for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday . But the respite won’t last. If
AP Hong Kong hospitals cut services as medical workers were striking for a second day Tuesday to demand the border with mainland China be shut completely to ward off a virus that caused its first death in the semi-autonomous territory. All but two of Hong Kong’s land and sea crossings with the mainland were closed
