WORLD

Islamabad, Pakistan | AFP | With porous borders, creaking hospitals and large illiterate populations, Afghanistan and Pakistan face a potentially devastating health crisis after the new coronavirus erupted in neighbouring Iran. Islamabad has closed official border crossings while Kabul has suspended all travel to the Islamic republic, which has reported …

Rome, Italy | AFP |  Two US students are expected to appear in an Italian court on Wednesday on the first day of their trial over the fatal stabbing last year of a policeman during a botched drugs bust. Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth have been charged with killing newlywed …

Manila, Philippines | AFP | Filipinos marked Ash Wednesday with a bow and a sprinkling of dust instead of a cross being daubed on their foreheads, as Asia’s bastion of Catholicism guarded against the spread of coronavirus. Leaders of the Philippine church urged priests to adapt the rite in order …

Charleston, United States | AFP |  Democratic White House hopefuls rounded on leftist frontrunner Bernie Sanders at a feisty debate Tuesday, attacking him as too extreme for American voters and a flawed challenger to President Donald Trump. Joe Biden, who needs a victory in South Carolina’s crucial primary on Saturday …

Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iran’s deputy health minister confirmed on Tuesday that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus, amid a major outbreak in the Islamic republic. Iraj Harirchi coughed occasionally and wiped sweat from his brow repeatedly during a news conference in Tehran on Monday with government …

Washington, United States | AFP | Democrats take the stage for a debate in South Carolina on Tuesday in what could be the final opportunity for Joe Biden and the party’s other presidential candidates to halt Bernie Sanders’ drive to the nomination. The 78-year-old senator from Vermont is in pole position …

New Delhi, India | AFP | India rolled out the red carpet on Tuesday for US President Donald Trump on the second day of a visit high on spectacular optics, but deadly unrest exposed religious tensions that his host is accused of stoking. The violence in New Delhi on Monday just …

Havana, Cuba | AFP |  Monica Baro’s investigation into cases of lead poisoning in Havana won her a prestigious Latin American journalism award but few friends in the Cuban government, which views independent media outlets like hers with growing suspicion. Baro’s report for the Periodismo de Barrio website — which won …

Athens, Greece | AFP | The new coronavirus is a “game changer” that will require a rethink of global supply networks especially in the health, medicine, and auto industries, the French finance minister said on Tuesday. “The coronavirus epidemic is a game changer for globalisation,” Bruno Le Maire said during a visit to Athens, adding …

New York, United States | AFP | Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday of sexual assault and rape but cleared of the most serious predatory sexual assault charges, a verdict hailed as a historic victory by the #MeToo Movement against sexual abuse. The jury of seven men and five women, delivering …