International

Blast targets US embassy in Tunis, attacker dead: police

TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — An attacker targeted the US embassy in the Tunisian capital on Friday, causing an explosion and injuries among police before being killed, police said. The assailant tried to enter the embassy but was prevented by police who guarded the diplomatic mission in the Berges du Lac district, a police official said. Several police were wounded in the attack, the official added, without giving further details. “The operation was doomed to fail,” […]

Virus lockdowns and quarantines must respect rights: UN

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Governments using lockdowns and quarantines to fight the deadly new coronavirus must ensure people’s rights are respected and avoid unintended consequences, the UN rights chief said Friday. Michelle Bachelet said the response to the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus must place human dignity and rights at its center. Her office said lockdowns, quarantines, and similar measures “should always be carried out in strict accordance with human rights standards and in […]

Iran reports 17 new coronavirus deaths, 124 in total

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran on Friday announced 17 more deaths from the novel coronavirus, raising the total number of people killed to 124, as the overall number of cases soared. “We have confirmed 1,234 new cases, which is a record in the past few days,” health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told a news conference, raising the total number of infections to 4,747. The new cases “are probably those who had been infected with the […]

Serbia announces first coronavirus case

BELGRADE, Serbia (AFP) — The first case of coronavirus in Serbia has been diagnosed in a man who had been in Hungary, the country’s health minister announced on Friday. “The first case of coronavirus has been confirmed in Serbia. It is a 43-year-old man from Subotica (north) who recently stayed in Hungary, in Budapest,” said Zlatibor Loncar at a press conference. The man is in solitary confinement at the Subotica hospital and his health is […]

Cameroon confirms first virus case

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AFP) — Cameroon has confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus, a French national who arrived in the capital Yaounde in February, the government said on Friday. The man, 58, has been placed in isolation in a hospital, the health ministry said in a statement. In sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal has registered four cases, all foreign nationals, and South Africa and Nigeria have one case each since the outbreak emerged in December in […]

Netherlands record first death in coronavirus outbreak

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — The Netherlands has recorded its first death in the novel coronavirus outbreak, health officials said on Friday. “An 86-year-old man with COVID-19 who was admitted to the Ikazia hospital in Rotterdam has died,” the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said, referring to the disease caused by the virus. “This is the first patient in the Netherlands to die of the coronavirus,” the RIVM said, adding that the source of […]

Seven missing after Pakistan building collapse as death toll hits 16

KARACHI, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistani rescuers using their bare hands searched Friday for seven people missing after an apartment building collapsed, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble, taking the death toll to 16. Soldiers have been deployed to help in the search efforts after a five-storey building and two adjoining houses collapsed in the port city of Karachi on Thursday. The residential building had been constructed as a four-storey complex, but another floor […]

Vatican reports its first coronavirus case

VATICAN (AFP) — The Vatican on Friday reported its first coronavirus case, saying it had suspended outpatient services at its health clinic after a patient tested positive for COVID-19. The clinic inside the tiny city-state — which has some 1,000 residents — will be deep cleaned, while the emergency room will remain open, spokesman Matteo Bruni told AFP. The patient tested positive on Thursday. The clinic is used by priests, residents and employees — including […]

Adviser to Iran’s foreign minister dies of coronavirus

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — An adviser to Iran’s foreign minister who took part in the 1979 US embassy hostage crisis has died from coronavirus, the official IRNA news agency reported. Hossein Sheikholeslam, “a veteran and revolutionary diplomat” died late Thursday, IRNA said. Iran has been scrambling to contain the rapid spread of coronavirus which so far has infected 3,513 people and killed at least 107 people in the Islamic republic. Six of those who died […]

China reports 30 virus deaths, rise in new infections and imported cases

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China reported 30 more deaths from the new coronavirus outbreak on Friday, with fresh infections rising for a second straight day and 16 new cases imported from overseas. In total 3,042 people have died from the disease in China, the National Health Commission said, with another 143 cases, up from 139 in the previous day. Over 80,500 people have now been infected in mainland China, which has imposed a series of […]

S. Korea threatens retaliation over ‘irrational’ Japan virus quarantine

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Seoul threatened to retaliate Friday over what it called Tokyo’s “irrational” plan to quarantine arrivals from South Korea over the coronavirus outbreak, turning the scientific issue into a diplomatic row. The two countries have close economic ties and are both major US allies, democracies and market economies faced with a rising China and nuclear-armed North Korea. But their relationship continues to be heavily affected by Japan’s colonial rule of the […]

Bosnia reports first two coronavirus cases

SARAVEJO, Bosnia (AFP) — Bosnia reported on Thursday its first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, in a man who recently traveled to Italy and his child. “It is a middle-aged man who worked in Italy from where he returned in late February,” Alen Seranic, the health minister of Bosnia’s Serb-run half, told reporters. The patient lives in the northwestern region of Banja Luka where he was hospitalized and is held in isolation, the minister […]