World

US lawmakers passed a $8.3 billion emergency spending bill to combat coronavirus Thursday as health workers boarded a cruise ship off the San Francisco coast to check sick passengers and crew. A day after the House passed the bill, the Senate gave sweeping bipartisan support to the funding so that President Donald Trump could easily be sent to the White …

One month after temporary clinics opened up to chaos and confusion at the epicenter of China’s coronavirus outbreak, Frontline Doctor Ma Yonggang is finally seeing more empty beds as fewer patients arrive. Announcement When 43-year-old Ma was first called to a sports stadium transformed into a medical facility on February 4, a virtual construction site with electrical wiring and beds …

Rising Chinese pollution levels measured from space are showing a gradual but uneven industrial pickup after the economic slowdown caused by the nation’s fight to contain the deadly novel coronavirus. Although the level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in China’s atmosphere has risen nearly 50% from Feb 17, it was still roughly 20% below the equivalent period last year, according an …

India has suspended the granting of regular visas to nationals of Japan and three other countries to guard against the spread of the new coronavirus. The government, in an official advisory, also said all nationals of Japan, Italy, Iran and South Korea already possessing visas will not be allowed to enter India, excepting in compelling circumstances. The suspension applies to …

Countries scrambled to secure their mask supply as panic buying, hoarding and robbery spread over fears of the deadly coronavirus outbreak on Wednesday, with global health officials warning that protective gear stocks were rapidly dwindling. The disease that first emerged in China occurs almost daily in new countries, with Iran, Italy and South Korea facing increasing numbers. Italy’s death toll …

A coronavirus outbreak has weighed on the transport and tourism sectors in Japan, including bullet trains, with fears about infection making people reluctant to venture outdoors or share confined spaces with others for long hours. The number of passengers between Feb 1 and 19 of the Shinkansen Line connecting Tokyo and Osaka fell 8% from a year earlier, its operator …

Twitter staff across the world were asked to work from home starting Monday in an effort to stop the spread of the deadly new coronavirus epidemic. The outbreak has spread across the world since emerging in central China late last year, killing more than 3,100 people, infecting over 90,000, and prompting a wave of travel restrictions. The social media platform’s …

South Korean health authorities said a religious sect leader tested negative for coronavirus on Tuesday after being taken to a “drive-through” test site late Monday in the midst of criticism over how his church became the outbreak’s nucleus. Lee Man-hee, who created the Shincheonji Church of Jesus and headed it, apologised on Monday and called the outbreak a “great calamity,” …

Turkey’s Erdogan’s decision last week to step back from a 2016 deal that halted the flow of migrants from the Middle East into Europe has reignited again the fears of a new crisis. Erdogan claimed that the the numbers would reach around “25000-30000”.  He also added that Turkey will not close it’s doors and that EU should keep its promises. …

Pete Buttigieg, who as a relative unknown entered the Democratic presidential race and established himself as the party’s future during an unprecedented rise to the top tier of a crowded field, ended his bid for the White House on Sunday. Buttigieg, 38, a former two-term mayor of South Bend, Indiana, a war veteran in Afghanistan and the first openly gay …