Sinead O'Connor death at London home 'not suspicious': police

LONDON -- Irish singer Sinead O'Connor was pronounced dead Wednesday at a south London residence by police officers responding to reports of "an unresponsive woman," the capital's Metropolitan Police confirmed Thursday.

"A 56-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene... the death is not being treated as suspicious," the force said in a statement which did not name O'Connor, in line with UK policing protocols.

"Police were called at 11:18 hrs on Wednesday, 26 July to reports of an unresponsive woman at a residential address in the SE24 area," the Met noted, referring to a postcode several miles south of central London.

"Next of kin have been notified... A file will be prepared for the Coroner," it added.

In English law, inquests are held to examine violent, unnatural or unexplained deaths. They set out to determine the place, time and type of death, but do not apportion blame.

Agence France-Presse

Former US Vice President Walter Mondale dies at 93

WASHINGTON - Former US Vice President Walter Mondale, a liberal icon who famously told voters to expect a tax increase should he win the presidency, died Monday, US media reported. He was 93 years old.

No cause was given for Mondale's death, according to reports citing a statement from his family.

Mondale served as vice president under Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.

"Today I mourn the passing of my dear friend Walter Mondale, who I consider the best vice president in our country's history," Carter said in a statement, extending his condolences to his former number two's family.

"He was an invaluable partner and an able servant of the people of Minnesota, the United States, and the world."

Prior to his stint at the White House, Mondale had served as attorney general to his home state of Minnesota from 1960 to 1964, and then as US senator from that state from 1964 to 1976.

After Carter left office, Mondale went on to serve as ambassador to Japan between 1993 and 1996.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a fellow Minnesotan, mourned Mondale's passing, calling him "kind and dignified to the end," while former President Barack Obama said Mondale "championed progressive causes and changed the role of VP."

Current Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement her predecessor "led an extraordinary life of service," and called him "so generous with his wit and wisdom over the years."

President Joe Biden reflected on some of his fondest memories of Mondale, including that he had been one of the first to greet Biden when he first arrived at the US Senate. 

Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale was born on Jan. 5, 1928 in the tiny town of Ceylon, Minnesota. The son of a Methodist minister and a music teacher, he moved through several small towns in the southern part of the state throughout his childhood.

At age 20, Mondale became a congressional district manager for Hubert Humphrey's successful Senate campaign. Humphrey would later become Mondale's political mentor.

Mondale began his national political career in 1964, when he was appointed to fill Humphrey's Senate seat, the latter having resigned to become vice president.

An outspoken supporter of civil rights, Mondale advocated throughout his Senate career for education, housing, migrant worker rights and child nutrition.

He made his own bid for the White House in 1984, facing off against Republican Ronald Reagan. Mondale picked US representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, making him the first major-party presidential nominee to put a woman on the ticket.

During his campaign, he infamously told voters to expect a tax increase if he won, which would later go on to define the race.

On Election Day, Mondale won only Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

"I did my best," he said the day after the vote.

Mondale served as the US ambassador to Japan under Bill Clinton, and he sought to increase trade between the 2 countries.

He kept up his relationship with the Clintons and in 2008 initially endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. He changed his endorsement once Obama secured the nomination.

Mondale married his wife, Joan Adams Mondale, in 1955. The couple had 3 children: sons Ted and William, and daughter Eleanor.

Ted and William followed their father into politics and public service, while Eleanor became a broadcast journalist.

Joan died in 2014 after an extended illness, and Eleanor died in 2011 from brain cancer.

Agence France-Presse

World reacts to death of Britain's Prince Philip

LONDON - Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth and a leading figure in the British royal family for almost seven decades, has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace said on Friday.

Here are reactions from major public figures in Britain and around the world.

UK PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON

"We remember the Duke ... above all for his steadfast support for Her Majesty the Queen, not just as her consort, by her side, every day of her reign, but as her husband, has strength and stay of more than 70 years. And it is to Her Majesty, and her family, that our nation's thoughts must turn today."

"Like the expert carriage driver that he was he helped to steer the royal family and the monarchy so that it remains an institution indisputably vital to the balance and happiness of our national life."

JUSTIN WELBY, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

"I join with the rest of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in mourning the loss of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, and give thanks to God for his extraordinary life of dedicated service."

"On the occasions when I met him, I was always struck by his obvious joy at life, his enquiring mind and his ability to communicate to people from every background and walk of life. He was a master at putting people at their ease and making them feel special."

UK OPPOSITION LABOUR PARTY LEADER KEIR STARMER

"The United Kingdom has lost an extraordinary public servant in Prince Philip."

"Prince Philip dedicated his life to our country - from a distinguished career in the Royal Navy during the Second World War to his decades of service as the Duke of Edinburgh."

"However, he will be remembered most of all for his extraordinary commitment and devotion to The Queen."

SCOTTISH FIRST MINISTER NICOLA STURGEON

"I am saddened by news that the Duke of Edinburgh has died. I send my personal and deepest condolences - and those of @scotgov and the people of Scotland - to Her Majesty The Queen and her family."

INDIAN PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI

"He had a distinguished career in the military and was at the forefront of many community service initiatives. May his soul rest in peace."

IRISH PRIME MINISTER MICHEAL MARTIN

"Saddened to hear of the death of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Our thoughts and prayers are with Queen Elizabeth and the people of the United Kingdom at this time."

SINN FEIN LEADER MARY LOU MCDONALD

"Sincere condolences to Queen Elizabeth and family on the death of her husband Prince Phillip. Sympathies to those of a British identity on our island, for whom his death will be felt as a great loss."

FORMER US PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

"Throughout his long and remarkable life, he devoted himself to worthy causes and to others. He represented the United Kingdom with dignity and brought boundless strength and support to the sovereign. Laura and I are fortunate to have enjoyed the charm and wit of his company, and we know how much he will be missed."

FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR

"He will naturally be most recognised as a remarkable and steadfast support to the Queen over so many years. However, he should also be remembered and celebrated in his own right as a man of foresight, determination and courage."

NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER JACINDA ARDERN

“Prince Philip will be fondly remembered for the encouragement he gave to so many young New Zealanders through The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award. In over fifty years of The Award in New Zealand, thousands of young people have completed life-changing challenges through the programme.”

KING HARALD OF NORWAY

"Our thoughts are with Queen Elizabeth and the rest of her family. We also send our condolences to the British people."

KING KARL XVI GUSTAF OF SWEDEN

"Prince Philip has been a great friend of our family for many years, a relation which we have deeply valued. His service to his country will remain an inspiration to us all."

-reuters-

Irrfan Khan, Indian actor in 'Life of Pi', dies after battling cancer

MUMBAI - Irrfan Khan, an Indian actor who brought a modern sensibility to recent hit films and had roles in Hollywood movies such as "Life of Pi" and "The Namesake," died on Wednesday, aged 54.

The death, after a prolonged battle with cancer, was confirmed by a spokesman who said Khan was surrounded by family at the time.

"He fought the many battles that came with it," the spokesman said in a statement, referring to the diagnosis of Khan's rare cancer in 2018.

Khan was among the first Indian actors to make a consistent mark in Western cinema, following in the footsteps of crossover pioneers such as Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth and Om Puri.

Born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan in the western desert state of Rajasthan, in a family with no ties to cinema, the actor recalled in interviews that as children, he and his siblings were not allowed to watch movies.

The only exception was when a visiting uncle took them to the theater.

"An incredible talent," said Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, among the tributes on Twitter that followed Khan's death. "A gracious colleague. A prolific contributor to the world of cinema... left us too soon creating a huge vacuum."

Another well-known director, Karan Johar, said, "Thank you for raising the bar as an artist... Thank you for enriching our cinema... We will miss you terribly, Irrfan." 

-reuters-

Japanese actress Okae dies after novel coronavirus infection

TOKYO -- Japanese actress and TV host Kumiko Okae died Thursday of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, her management office said. She was 63.

Okae, who died at a Tokyo hospital at 5:20 a.m., developed a fever on April 3, the office said, adding she was hospitalized after her condition suddenly deteriorated 3 days later and then tested positive for the virus.

A familiar figure who appeared in TV dramas and variety shows, Okae underwent an operation for breast cancer last year.

She underwent radiation treatment from the end of January to mid-February, according to the office.

Kyodo News

Spain death toll hits 9,053 as coronavirus cases pass 100,000

MADRID - The coronavirus death toll in Spain surged over 9,000 on Wednesday after a record 864 deaths in 24 hours, with the number of confirmed cases passing the 100,000 mark, the government said. 

Spain has the world's second-highest death toll after Italy, with the virus so far claiming 9,053 lives and the number of confirmed cases reaching 102,136.

But on a day-to-day basis, the rate of new infections continued its downward trend, showing an increase of just over 8 percent, compared with nearly 11 percent on Tuesday, health ministry figures showed. 

And the death rate has also slowed, from 27 percent a week ago to 10.5 percent on Wednesday, with officials saying the data appear to show the epidemic is reaching its peak. 

But officials have warned that even if the epidemic is peaking, the pressure on the intensive care system would be subject to a lag of at least a week or longer, with hospitals likely to reach crisis point by the end of this week or early next.

Madrid remains the worst-hit region, with 3,865 deaths and nearly 30,000 cases, leaving hospitals and mortuaries overwhelmed.

Agence France-Presse

7 killed, 150 injured in riots in Indian capital

NEW DELHI - At least 7 people were killed and around 150 were injured in clashes between opposing groups in the Indian capital, a police official told Reuters on Tuesday, the deadliest riots in the city since protests against a new citizenship law began over 2 months ago.

"Seven persons, including one head constable of Delhi police, have died," said Anil Mittal, a police officer, adding around 150 persons were injured in the violence on Monday.

The clashes erupted in a northeastern district of the city between thousands of people demonstrating for and against the new citizenship law. Police used tear gas and smoke grenades, but struggled to disperse the stone-throwing crowds that tore down metal barricades and set vehicles and a petrol pump alight.

"Some of the people brought in had gunshot wounds," said Dr Rajesh Kalra, additional medical superintendent at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in New Delhi.

Tensions in parts of the city remained high on Tuesday with schools remaining shut in some areas amid news reports of fresh clashes. At least 5 metro stations in the city were closed.

A fire department official told Reuters that its teams were responding to reports of at least 8 separate cases of arson on Tuesday, linked to fresh protests in the city. One department vehicle was also torched by protesters on Monday, and a small number of firemen were injured in the violence, he added.

The violence on Monday began just as US President Donald Trump began his maiden visit to India. Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are set to meet for talks on Tuesday at a venue located a few miles away from where the clashes occurred.

At a press conference early on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed for people to maintain peace. "Whatever problems people have can be resolved peacefully," he said. "Violence will not help find a solution."

India's Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to meet Kejriwal and police officials on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation.

India's capital has been a hotbed of protests against the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which eases the path of non-Muslims from 3 neighboring Muslim-dominated countries to gain Indian citizenship.

This has led to accusations that Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are undermining India's secular traditions. The BJP denies any bias against India's more than 180 million-strong Muslim minority, but objectors have been holding protests and camping out in parts of New Delhi for 2 months.

The violence erupted even as Trump was praising India as being a tolerant country.

"India is a country that proudly embraces freedom, liberty, individual rights, the rule of law, and the dignity of every human being," Trump said while addressing a rally of more than 100,000 people in Modi's home state of Gujarat. "Your unity is an inspiration to the world."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Hospital director dies in China's Wuhan, epicenter of coronavirus outbreak

BEIJING - The head of a leading hospital in China's central city of Wuhan, the epicenter of a coronavirus outbreak, died of the disease on Tuesday, state television said, becoming the second prominent Chinese doctor to have succumbed to the pathogen.

Liu Zhiming, the director of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital, died at 10:30 a.m., it said.

Earlier this month, millions in China mourned the death of Li Wenliang, a doctor who was previously reprimanded for issuing an early warning about the coronavirus.


Tens of thousands of medical workers have been fighting to contain the spread of the coronavirus, believed to have first surfaced in a seafood market in Wuhan, the capital of the central province of Hubei.

As in the case of Li's death, there was confusion on the Chinese internet about Liu's condition on Monday night.

On Monday night, the Communist Party propaganda department of the Hubei Health Commission wrote in a social media post that Liu had died.

But it said in a subsequent post that Liu was alive.

"According to Liu's relative, the hospital is still trying its best to rescue him," the commission said in the second post, adding that the previous misinformation was from a good friend of Liu who was not aware of the latest situation.

It has not posted any message since state television announced Liu's death on Tuesday morning.

Beijing was accused of covering up the full extent of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003. In the current coronavirus outbreak, Beijing has called for transparency.

A senior Chinese health official said on Friday that 1,716 health workers have been infected by the coronavirus and 6 of them have died.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Kirk Douglas, Hollywood's tough guy on screen and off, dead at 103

Kirk Douglas, the cleft-chinned movie star who fought gladiators, cowboys and boxers on the screen and the Hollywood establishment, died on Wednesday at the age of 103, his son Michael Douglas said.

“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” Michael Douglas said in a statement to People magazine and on his Facebook page.

“To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to,” Douglas added.

“Kirk’s life was well lived, and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come, and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet,” Michael added, saying he was "so proud" to be his father's son.

Douglas made more than 90 movies in a career that stretched across seven decades and films such as "Spartacus" and "The Vikings" made him one of the biggest box-office stars of the 1950s and '60s.

He also played a major role in breaking the Hollywood blacklist - actors, directors and writers who were shunned professionally because of links to the communist movement in the 1950s. Douglas said he was more proud of that than any film he made.

A stroke in 1996 at age 80 left Douglas with slurred speech and damaged facial nerves. But two weeks later he showed his spirit by attending the Academy Awards ceremony to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. He also continued to take small acting roles through 2008 but said the stroke left him suicidal.

"Humor saved me," Douglas told Parade magazine in 2014. "At first, I thought my life was at an end. But when I put the gun in my mouth, it hit a tooth. Ow! And that struck me funny. A toothache was stopping me from committing suicide?"

In one of his last public appearances, Douglas was frail and barely audible in a wheelchair as he helped daughter-in-law Catherine Zeta-Jones present the Oscar for best screenplay in January 2018. In November of that year he joined his son Michael as the younger Douglas was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Douglas had a distinctive chin, razor-sharp cheekbones and a jutting jaw - looks that he passed along to Michael - and that made him a natural for playing all manner of rugged characters.

He also had a demanding nature that earned him a reputation in his prime as the actor who directed directors. Long-time friend and sometime co-star Burt Lancaster loved to introduce him by saying, "Kirk would be the first to admit he is a difficult person. (Pause) I would be the second."

"I make my own way," Douglas once told an interviewer. "Nobody's my boss. Nobody's ever been my boss ... I've been a maverick."

Douglas said playing Vincent van Gogh in "Lust for Life" (1956) was his favorite role but "Spartacus" (1960) was his favorite film because, as producer, he took a big step toward breaking the Hollywood blacklist.

The lifetime Oscar was Douglas' only Academy Award even though he was nominated for playing ruthless boxer Midge Kelly in "Champion" (1949), a movie executive in "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952) and van Gogh in "Lust for Life."

Douglas' first movie was "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers," in 1946 after being suggested for the part by acting school classmate Betty Joan Perske, who became famous after changing her name to Lauren Bacall.

Douglas was known for powerful performances as characters who had to endure intense on-screen pain. He was stabbed in "Ace in the Hole," crucified in "Spartacus," lost an eye in "The Vikings," an ear in "Lust for Life," and a finger in "The Big Sky."

His other notable movies were "Lonely Are the Brave," "The Devil's Disciple," "Victory at Entebbe" and "Tough Guys," which he made with Lancaster in 1986.

Douglas' independent streak led him to set up Bryna Production Co, which he named after his mother, in 1955, snubbing big studio bosses and helping break their monopoly on the industry.

Born Issur Danielovich on Dec. 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, New York, Douglas was the only son of seven children born to illiterate Russian immigrants.

After graduating from high school, he hitch-hiked to St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where he became a wrestling champion. He also staged and starred in theatrical productions and changed his name to Izzy Demsy.

After St. Lawrence, he graduated from New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1941 and changed his name to Kirk Douglas. He joined the Navy following two small Broadway roles.

While in the Navy he married British actress Diana Dill and they had two sons, Michael and Joel, before the marriage ended after eight years.

Douglas had a reputation as a Hollywood ladies' man. Among the lovers listed in the 1988 book "The Ragman's Son," one of several books he wrote about his life, were Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Maxwell, Patricia Neal and Gene Tierney.

While making "Act of Love," Douglas met and Anne Buydens, the film's publicist, and they married in 1954. Their marriage became one of Hollywood's most enduring despite his affairs. They had two sons, Peter and Eric.

Douglas, who survived a 1991 helicopter crash that killed two people, tried to discourage his children from following him into acting. Still, Michael became a superstar and a successful producer, Joel and Peter also were producers and Eric was an actor until his 2004 death from a drug overdose.

"You see how they listened to me," Douglas once said.

Douglas, who grew a long white ponytail in his later years, published several books, including a book of poetry, prose and photographs in 2014 and “Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter and a Lifetime in Hollywood," in 2017 with his wife.

He established the Douglas Foundation for making charitable donations and in 2015 he and Anne announced plans to give away his $80 million fortune to a variety of causes. The beneficiaries included a shelter for homeless women named after Anne, the Los Angeles public school district, St. Lawrence University and hospitals.

To mark his 99th birthday in 2015 he donated $15 million to the Motion Picture and Television Fund to help build a facility for entertainment industry figures with Alzheimer’s disease.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Disabled Chinese boy dies while father in virus quarantine

BEIJING, China - A disabled boy has died after being left to fend for himself when his father was quarantined over the deadly new coronavirus in China's Hubei province.

Yan Cheng, who was confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy, was abandoned at home when his father was isolated because of a fever.

The 17-year-old, who could not speak, walk or eat by himself, and whose mother died several years earlier, had no one to feed him or help him with daily life.

His father, Yan Xiaowen, was taken into quarantine on January 22, and diagnosed with the potentially deadly virus five days later.

He posted a desperate plea for help on social media, calling for someone to go and look after his son.

But the post, entitled "An appeal for help from a father diagnosed with novel coronavirus," came too late.

The teenager died on January 29, according to a statement by the Hongan county government.

"Yan Xiaowen was unable to take care of Yan Cheng's daily life (because of being in isolation)... so he entrusted his relatives, village cadres and village doctors to take care of Yan Cheng," the county government said.

The boy's death has cost senior local figures their jobs.

The local Communist Party secretary and mayor were fired because they had "failed to fulfill their responsibilities,” officials said.

The son's cause of death had yet to be confirmed, they said.

News of the tragedy sparked an outpouring of rage and grief on social media, where authorities in Hubei have already been criticized for withholding information about the infection. 

On Weibo, the hashtag "The father of Hubei's cerebral palsy victim speaks out" had been read 270 million times by Tuesday morning.

A hashtag about the mayor being fired had been viewed 66 million times.

"I'm so angry and sad," wrote one user. "It's too disgusting."

More than 20,000 people in China have been infected by the coronavirus, with the death toll reaching 425.

The vast majority of infections and deaths have occurred in Hubei, where the virus is thought to have emerged late last year from a market selling wild animals and their meat.

More than two dozen countries have also reported infections, mostly people who had recently travelled to Hubei.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Dead man lies on empty street at China's virus ground zero

WUHAN - A gray-haired man wearing a face mask lay dead on the pavement at ground zero of China's virus epidemic, a plastic shopping bag in one hand.

On what would typically be a crowded street in Wuhan, an industrial city of 11 million under quarantine, there are only a few passersby and they dare not go near him.

AFP journalists saw the body on Thursday morning, not long before an emergency vehicle arrived carrying police and medical staff in full-body protective suits.

The man lay straight on his back in front of a closed furniture store. Medical staff in blue overalls gently shrouded his body with a blue blanket.

The ambulance left, and police stacked supermarket cardboard boxes to hide the scene.

AFP could not determine how the man, who appeared to be in his 60s, had died. AFP contacted police and local health officials afterwards but could not get details on his case.

But the reaction of the police and medical staff in hazmat suits, as well as some of the bystanders, highlighted the fear pervading the city.

A woman standing near the man, wearing pink pajamas and a Mao cap, said she believed he had died from the virus.

"It's terrible," she said. "These days many people have died."

Wuhan is the epicenter of the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which is believed to have jumped from wild animals at a city market into humans.

The virus, which emerged late last year, has claimed at least 213 lives and infected thousands in China, with at least 159 deaths in Wuhan alone.

With the virus spreading to other countries, the World Health Organization has declared the crisis a global health emergency.

TORMENT

Authorities have imposed an unprecedented lockdown of Wuhan, blocking off roads out of the city and banning flights, in a bid to stop the virus spreading.

Those who are trapped are enduring a tormenting wait for the lockdown to end, for a cure to be found, or even just for check-ups at overwhelmed hospitals. 

AFP reporters in Wuhan have seen long queues at hospitals, with some patients saying they had lined up for 2 days to see a doctor.

Many brought their own chairs for the wait.

With most traffic banned, people who venture outside have to walk or bike everywhere in the huge city.

The dead man on the street on Thursday lay one block from the Wuhan Number Six Hospital, one of the main medical centers for treating those with virus symptoms.

A team of forensic experts who examined him were immediately sprayed with disinfectant by colleagues after removing their hazardous material suits.

One man smoking near the scene was told sharply by police to put out his cigarette and don a face mask.

He quickly followed their orders.

In the 2 hours that AFP observed the scene, at least 15 ambulances passed by, attending other calls.

Finally, a white van with blacked-out windows arrived to take away the man.

The body was zipped into a yellow surgical bag, and carried into the van on a stretcher.

Staff immediately began to clean the ground as the van drove away, disinfecting the streets where the body had laid.

source: news.abs.com

38 deaths in 24 hours: China sees deadliest day yet as global virus fears mount

WUHAN - China reported its biggest single-day jump in novel coronavirus deaths on Thursday, as confirmation that 3 Japanese evacuated from the outbreak's epicenter were infected deepened fears about a global contagion.

The World Health Organization (WHO), which initially downplayed the severity of a disease that has now killed 170 nationwide, warned all governments to be "on alert" as it weighed whether to declare a global health emergency.

As foreign countries evacuated their citizens from Wuhan, the locked-down city where the virus was first detected, concern over the economic impact has steadily intensified.

Airlines have suspended services to China and companies from Starbucks to Tesla have shuttered stores and production lines.


Chinese authorities have taken extraordinary steps to arrest the virus's spread, including effectively locking down more than 50 million people in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province.

But that was yet to pay dividends, with the government reporting 38 new deaths in the 24 hours to Thursday, the highest 1-day total. All but one were in Hubei.

The number of confirmed new cases also grew steadily to 7,711, the National Health Commission said. Another 81,000 people were under observation for possible infection.

The pathogen is believed to have been spawned in a market that sold wild game, spreading far and wide by a Lunar New Year holiday season in which hundreds of millions of Chinese travel domestically or abroad.

'TOTALLY NEW SITUATION'

Japan's infection rate grew to 11 after 3 Japanese citizens among more than 200 on an evacuation flight Wednesday tested positive.

Officials had already confirmed 2 cases in which patients tested positive without having traveled to China, adding to anxiety over human-to-human transmission of the respiratory disease.

"We are in a truly new situation," Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told parliament.

The fact that 2 of the 3 new confirmed Japanese cases showed no symptoms underscored the scale of the challenge for health workers.


The WHO has come under fire after it last week declined to declare a global health emergency.

The global health body's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed regret for what he called a "human error" in the WHO's assessment.

WHO's Emergency Committee will meet Thursday to decide whether to declare an emergency -- which could lead to travel or trade barriers.

"The whole world needs to take action," Michael Ryan, head of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, told reporters in Geneva.

A US charter flight from Wuhan arrived Wednesday at a California military base with nearly 200 consular staff and other Americans, who "cheered loudly" when the jet touched down, said an official with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All passengers were declared symptom-free but will remain isolated for days while they are monitored.


Some 250 French citizens and 100 other Europeans will be flown out of Wuhan on board 2 French planes this week.

Australia plans to house any citizens it evacuates from the city on an island normally used to detain asylum seekers.

A growing number of governments -- including the United States, Britain and Germany -- have advised their citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China.

China also has urged its own citizens to delay trips abroad, after more than 15 countries confirmed infections.

FLIGHTS SCRAPPED, STORES CLOSED

Major airlines that have suspended or pared back service to China include British Airways, German flag carrier Lufthansa, American Airlines, KLM, and United.

China's efforts to halt the virus have seen the suspension of classes nationwide and an extension of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Most street traffic in and around Wuhan has been banned.


"This is the first day since the lockdown that I've had to go out," a man in his 50s told AFP on the mostly deserted streets of the industrial city.

"I have no choice because I need to buy food."

China's football body meanwhile said it was postponing "all levels and all types of football matches across the country," including the country's top-tier Chinese Super League, in response to the outbreak.

ECONOMIC WORRIES

Japanese automaker Toyota, Swedish furniture giant IKEA, tech giant Foxconn, Starbucks, Tesla and McDonald's were among major corporate giants to temporarily freeze production or close large numbers of outlets in China.

As the "world's factory," the disruptions in China are expected to send ripples through supply chains globally, denting profits.


US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the new coronavirus posed a fresh risk to a fragile world economy, adding that the US central bank was on alert.

"There will clearly be implications at least in the near term for Chinese output and I would guess for some of their close neighbors," Powell said.


The contagion has spread to nearly every corner of China, with remote Tibet reporting its first case on Thursday.

It has triggered fears in part due to its striking similarity to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2002-03, which also began in China and eventually killed nearly 800 people worldwide.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Weather conditions scrutinized as Kobe Bryant's fatal helicopter crash opens

CALABASAS, California - Overcast skies and fog reported at the scene of the helicopter wreck that killed Los Angeles basketball great Kobe Bryant, his daughter and 7 others figured prominently on Monday in the first full day of federal aviation experts' crash investigation.

An 18-member National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) team, assisted by FBI forensic specialists, began mapping the wreckage site with drones and examining debris scattered across the hillside where the helicopter went down on Sunday.

Los Angeles County coroner's investigators, working alongside aviation NTSB inspectors, said they had recovered the first three bodies from the crash site and were searching for more remains.

In a sign that clouds, fog and limited visibility were of particular interest to investigators, NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy appealed to the public to come forward with any photographs that might help document local weather conditions at the time of the crash.

Homendy told reporters that weather was just one factor.

'DEVASTATING ACCIDENT SCENE'

"We take a broad look at everything in an investigation - man, machine and the environment. And weather is just a small portion of that," she said at a late-afternoon news conference in Calabasas, California, about mile from the crash site.

She described how bits of the aircraft - a section of the fuselage, a piece of the tail, a rotor and other debris - were strewn around an impact crater where the helicopter slammed into a tall grassy slope.

"It was a pretty devastating accident scene," she said.

The twin-engine Sikorsky S-76B took off from John Wayne Airport in the Orange County city of Santa Ana on a flight destined for a regional airport about 80 miles to the northwest in the coastal town of Camarillo, the NTSB said. It crashed in the Santa Monica foothills on the outskirts of Calabasas, about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The pilot and all 8 passengers, including Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, perished in the fiery wreck. They were on their way to a girl's basketball tournament at a sports academy where Bryant was to have coached his daughter's team that day.



Bryant, an 18-time National Basketball Association all-star five NBA championships during his 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, was known since his playing days to travel frequently by helicopter to avoid the Los Angeles area's infamous traffic.

But questions immediately surfaced about the role that weather conditions played in Sunday's tragedy.

Forecasters reported low clouds and limited visibility at the time of the crash, and eyewitnesses recounted thick fog over the foothills where the helicopter went down.

'LOWER AND LOWER' 


Fog and clouds were so bad that both the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department grounded their helicopter fleets, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing officials.

Public recordings of radio calls between Bryant's helicopter and air traffic control during the flight indicate the pilot tried to remain below clouds so he could see the ground and avoid having to fly on instruments, said Gary C. Robb, an aviation lawyer and author of the book "Helicopter Crash Litigation."

"The dialogue between the pilot and air traffic control leads me to believe ... he kept wanting to go lower and lower, beneath the fog and ceiling, as we call it, and that could have led him to fly so low that he flew into the mountain," Robb told Reuters.

The pilot, in his transmissions, "was calm and controlled the whole time," Robb added, calling the communications "extremely normal and routine."

A possible mechanical failure cannot be ruled out, especially in light of "ear-witness" accounts that the helicopter sounded like it was "sputtering" moments before the crash, Robb said.

He described the Sikorsky S-76, however, as a "reliable" and "generally safe" aircraft.

Both Robb and another prominent aviation disaster attorney, Bob Clifford, both noted that the pilot had requested "flight following," or constant tracking from controllers to help keep the Sikorsky clear of other aircraft in limited visibility, but was informed he was flying too low to be picked up by air traffic radar. It is unclear whether the pilot heard that admonition as it came near the end of the doomed flight.

NTSB's Homendy said the pilot was an experienced, commercially licensed aviator and certified flight instructor with at last 8,200 hours of flight time.

LAKERS GAME CANCELED

The crash devastated 3 other families linked to the Mamba Sports Academy in Calabasas - a husband and wife with their 13-year-old daughter; a mother and her 13-year-old daughter; and a basketball coach who was also a mother. 


In honor of Bryant, the NBA announced it had canceled a game scheduled for Tuesday between the Lakers and their cross-town rivals, the Clippers.

After Lakers fans spontaneously built a shrine to Bryant near the Staples Center, his teams' home arena, fans also left flowers and Bryant jerseys at Lower Merion High School outside Philadelphia, where Bryant played before joining the NBA.

In Hollywood, movie celebrities, including Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt, took part in a moment of silence to honor Bryant at the start of the annual Academy Award nominees luncheon. Bryant, an Oscar-winner for the animated short film he wrote and produced, "Dear Basketball," attended the lunch two years ago.

In New York, morning commuters emerging from Penn Station stopped for a silent moment before an enormous electronic billboard lit up with Bryant's image outside Madison Square Garden. 

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Doctor at hospital in China's Hubei province dies from coronavirus

BEIJING - A doctor at a hospital in China's Hubei province, the center of the new coronavirus outbreak, has died from the virus, China Global Television Network reported in a tweet.

Liang Wudong, a doctor at Hubei Xinhua Hospital who had been at the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan city, died from the virus aged 62, it said.

The virus, similar to the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that spread in 2002 and 2003, has killed 41 and infected 1,300 as of Saturday. 

Confirmed cases have been reported in Chinese cities and the United States, France, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Nepal. 

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4 killed in Cambodia building collapse

KEP, Cambodia—Four people were killed and more than a dozen injured when a 7-storey building under construction collapsed in southern Cambodia on Friday trapping workers under the rubble, an official told AFP, as the search for more victims went into the night.

The building in coastal Kep province was meant to be a hotel but crumpled at around 4:30 p.m., with photos showing concrete floors sandwiched together as heavy machinery moved in to help clear the wreckage.

Cambodian leader Hun Sen said in a Facebook post he was traveling to the site and he arrived late Friday evening.

Sixteen people were injured in addition to the 4 who died, Ros Udong, spokesman for the Kep provincial administration, told AFP by phone.

Deadly accidents plague the kingdom's poorly regulated building sector even as the country has enjoyed a construction boom.

In June, nearly 30 people died after the collapse of a building under construction in Sihanoukville, a beach town undergoing a Chinese investment bonanza.

Last month at least 3 workers died and more than a dozen others were seriously injured after an under-construction dining hall at a temple collapsed in the tourist town of Siem Reap.

There are an estimated 200,000 construction workers in Cambodia, most unskilled, reliant on day wages and not protected by union rules, according to the International Labor Organization.

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At least 2 dead after police open fire amid raging India protests

NEW DELHI—At least 2 people are dead after police opened fire at a demonstration, an official said Thursday, as fresh protests erupted across India against a contentious citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim.

The men -- Abdul Jalil, 49, and Samshir Kudroli, 23 -- "died in police firing during the protests," Qadir Shah, a spokesman for the deputy commissioner of the southern city of Mangalore, told AFP, adding that a curfew had been imposed in the city with schools, restaurants and bars shut.

Another man taken to the King George's Medical University Trauma Centetr in Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with a gunshot injury died soon after, a hospital source told AFP.

His death has not been confirmed by local police, but his father told the Times of India newspaper his son was shot after getting caught in a crowd of protesters while he was out to buy groceries.

Four others were being treated at a hospital in Mangalore "with bullet injuries following the clashes," a district medical officer told AFP.

Shah said police fired their weapons after some 200 demonstrators refused to stop their march.

"They marched towards the busiest area of Mangalaru. This led to lathi (big, wooden sticks) charge. Then the tear gas was fired. When the protestors still didn't stop, the police had to open fire after that," he said, using an alternate name for the city.

Security forces and protesters had clashed in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka states, while elsewhere police bundled demonstrators onto buses, shuttered Delhi metro stations and cut cellphone access in some areas.

The protests were sparked by a new law easing citizenship rules for people fleeing persecution from 3 neighboring countries but not Muslims, stoking accusations at home and abroad that Modi wants to reshape India as a Hindu nation, which he denies.

Seven months after Modi swept to a second term, the past week has seen 6 other people killed in the northeastern state of Assam and dozens injured, while on Thursday, authorities banned gatherings across swathes of the world's biggest democracy that together are home to hundreds of millions of people.

DEMONSTRATORS DRAGGED

Fresh violence erupted in Samhbal, Uttar Pradesh, where hundreds of protesters set fire to vehicles and threw stones at security forces who responded with tear gas, local police chief Yamuna Prasad told AFP.

In Modi's home state of Gujarat, police said they baton-charged demonstrators and arrested 50 people.

As others ignored the assembly bans in Delhi and elsewhere, authorities ordered telecom firms to cut calls, text messages and data in parts of the city.

India is already the world leader in cutting the internet, activists say, and access was also restricted in parts of the northeast and in Uttar Pradesh, home to a large Muslim minority.

In Delhi, prominent rights activist Harsh Mander was detained, while in Bangalore globally renowned historian Ramachandra Guha was among those dragged onto a police bus.

Around 20,000 people took to the streets in the northeast, where the protests began last week—albeit for different reasons.

The day's biggest demonstration took place in Malegaon district of Maharashtra state with as many as 60,000 people, police said.

'SOMETHING HAS CHANGED'

In Mumbai, a crowd of thousands including tattooed students and older Muslim men wearing skullcaps brandished Indian flags, posters of Mahatma Gandhi and handed out copies of the constitution.

"Something has changed. This is the first time in a long time that people in Mumbai have come out in such large numbers to register dissent," said consultant Karishma V.

A crowd of around 40,000 people in eastern West Bengal's Kolkata city was led by the state's chief minister Mamata Banerjee, a strong Modi critic.

The protests have been fuelled by anger about alleged police brutality including at a university in Delhi on Sunday night.

Security forces in the capital have fired some 450 tear gas shells in the past 5 days, the Hindustan Times daily reported. One student reportedly lost an eye.

The demonstrations in the city have at times turned violent with vehicles set on fire and protestors hurling stones at police in heavily Muslim areas on Wednesday.

"If they show us the lathi (police baton), we will show them roses," a student in Delhi, Shivanji, told AFP as she handed flowers to police on Thursday.

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Motive unclear in deadly New Jersey kosher grocery rampage - officials

NEW YORK—Investigators are not sure why 2 people launched a deadly attack at a New Jersey kosher grocery store, state officials said on Wednesday, but a federal law enforcement source said the incident did not appear to be an act of organized terrorism.

Six people, including the 2 shooters, 3 civilians and a police officer, died in a series of events that ended in a police shootout on Tuesday in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City.

The 4-hour gun battle at the Jewish JC Kosher Supermarket erupted after the pair shot the police officer at a nearby cemetery and then fled in a white van. It ended after police crashed an armored vehicle through the wall of the market.

"We are not in the position at this time to say definitively why the suspects stopped in front of the supermarket and began firing," New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal told a news conference.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop ordered police to be on high alert to protect Jewish neighborhoods following the attack.

The federal law enforcement source said investigators believe mental illness and drug use may have been the primary factors in the attack. He said investigators now view an anti-Semitic message posted online by one of the shooters as a secondary factor.

Officials identified the shooters as David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50. The 3 civilian victims inside the market were Mindy Ferenz, 32, Miguel Douglas, 49, and Moshe Deutsch, 24, they said.

A fourth person who was in the market when the shooters entered escaped. Officials declined to identify that person.

Police found a homemade pipe bomb in the rented van that the shooters drove to the market.

Some local media reported the initial confrontation between the suspects and police near the Jersey City cemetery, about a mile (1.6 km) from the supermarket, was linked to a previous homicide investigation. The 2 shooters also are suspects in that earlier murder, officials said.

The dead police officer, identified as Joseph Seals, a 15-year veteran of the force and father of 5, was shot at the cemetery shortly before the shootout around the grocery began.

"We are deeply shocked and saddened by the antisemitic attack in #JerseyCity yesterday," the Israeli embassy in Washington said on Twitter.

"This remains a very fluid and fast-moving investigation," said New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. "Based on everything we know, there is no ongoing security concern related to the events of yesterday."

source: news.abs-cbn.com 

Measles killed more than 140,000 amid stagnating vaccine rates

WASHINGTON—More than 140,000 people died from measles worldwide in 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) and US authorities said Thursday, the result of global vaccination rates that have stagnated for almost a decade.

Poorer countries were hardest hit, with the vast majority of measles cases and deaths in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Wealthier countries however have also been battling their own outbreaks, with 4 European nations losing their "eliminated" status in 2018.

The announcement came as the Pacific island nation of Samoa was locked down in order to carry out a mass vaccination drive to cope with an epidemic that has killed 62 and, according to UN officials, was fuelled by anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories on the internet.

"The fact that any child dies from a vaccine-preventable disease like measles is frankly an outrage and a collective failure to protect the world's most vulnerable children," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, director-general of the World Health Organization.

"To save lives, we must ensure everyone can benefit from vaccines, which means investing in immunization and quality health care as a right for all."

Most of the deaths occurred among children under the age of 5. Babies and infants are at greatest risk of infection and of developing complications, including pneumonia and brain swelling that can lead to permanent damage, blindness or hearing loss.

About 142,300 people lost their lives to the disease in 2018—a quarter of the number of deaths in 2000, but up 15 percent compared to 2017. There were 9.7 million total cases.

The WHO and UNICEF estimated that 86 percent of children globally received the first dose of measles vaccine in 2018, but fewer than 70 percent received the second recommended dose.

That is far short of the recommended 95 percent vaccination coverage, with 2 doses of measles vaccine deemed necessary to protect populations from the disease.

The 5 worst affected countries, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia, Madagascar, Somalia and Ukraine, accounted for half of all cases worldwide.

But the United States also saw its highest number of cases in 25 years, narrowly avoiding losing its status of having eliminated the disease. The status is lost if an outbreak is sustained continuously for more than a year.

Albania, the Czech Republic, Greece and the United Kingdom meanwhile all lost their eliminated status.

The rise comes as a growing anti-vaccine movement gains steam around the world, driven by fraudulent claims linking the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella to a risk of autism in children.

A recent study meanwhile showed that contracting the measles virus decimated the protective antibodies responsible for remembering previous encounters with disease: effectively wiping the host's immunity memory.

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Korean actor Cha In Ha found dead: report

The South Korean entertainment industry continues to be riddled with news of deaths.

Actor Cha In Ha, 27, was found dead in his home Tuesday, according to a report by Korean entertainment news website Soompi.

The cause of Cha's death is still under investigation, according to the report.

In a statement published in the report, Fantagio, Cha's talent agency, asked the public to stop spreading rumors and speculation regarding the actor's death.

Cha debuted in 2017 through the short film "You, Deep Inside of Me." He starred in supporting roles in several television dramas, including "Temperature of Love" (2017), "Are You Human?" (2018), and "Clean with Passion for Now" (2019).

The news on Cha's death comes more than a week after K-pop star Goo Hara was found dead in her home in northern Seoul.

Another K-pop star, Sulli, a former member of girl group f(x) and close friend of Goo, also died in October.

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Student lay dead in New Zealand university dorm for two months

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A teenager lay dead in his campus dorm room for up to two months, a New Zealand university said Thursday, with the young man's body only discovered after fellow residents complained of the smell.

The remains of the first year University of Canterbury student were so badly decomposed that specialist disaster investigators were brought in to identify them.

"Clearly there's been quite a big failure here," New Zealand Education Minister Chris Hipkins said.

"And if that means that things need to change to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again in the future, then we will do that."

The 19-year-old, who has not been publicly identified, was described by friends as a "good and confident guy," but who would sometimes "go off the grid for a week or so."

The undergraduate began his course in July -- the start of the academic year in New Zealand -- having opted to live on Canterbury University's leafy campus in Christchurch.

Single rooms at the halls of residence where the student's body was found cost NZ$17,000 (US$10,000) a year, the university's website says, boasting they offer a "close knit community."

The halls of residence is run by Campus Living Villages (CLV) -- a company that operates student accommodation with more than 45,000 beds in the US, the UK and Australia, as well as New Zealand, according to its website.

"The thing that haunts me is how did we miss him?" CLV managing director John Schroder told reporters.

"I'm very perturbed. If indeed the young man was deceased for as long as he was… then I would say that is a failing on our part and we have to adjust our processes and systems."

Local media reported the dead man's stepfather had raised concerns with police after being unable to contact the student via friends.

"It's not right, it's just not right on any level," one outlet quoted a family member as saying.

Canterbury University vice-chancellor Cheryl de la Rey said it was an "extremely distressing time" for students and staff coming to grips with what had happened, adding an independent investigation into the death will be launched.

"Despite the comprehensive pastoral care programs in place, for us it is inconceivable to imagine how these circumstances could have occurred," she said in a statement.

De la Rey promised an independent investigation into the circumstances of the death. When questioned on national radio she said she had no explanation for the student's family.

"I am deeply sorry, I and the university will do all we can to answer these questions," De la Rey said.

Hipkins added the government would wait for the outcome of investigations launched by the police and coroner, before looking at whether regulations governing student accommodation needed to change.

The university, one of New Zealand's oldest, has more than 17,000 students.

Undergraduates pay around NZ$6,500 a year in fees.

source: news.abs-cbn.com