The worst locust outbreak that parts of East Africa have seen in 70 years has reached South Sudan, a country where roughly half the population already faces hunger after years of civil war, officials announced. Around 2,000 locusts were spotted inside the country. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the locusts have been seen in Eastern Equatoria state near the borders with ...

GOLD COAST (AFP) -- Hollywood megastar Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for the new coronavirus while in Australia for a film project, the Oscar-winning US actor revealed Thursday. Hanks and Wilson, both 63, are in isolation at the Gold Coast University Hospital after being confirmed with the disease, Queensland state health officials said. Hanks is the first major Hollyw...

MIAMI (AP) -- The NBA has suspended its season "until further notice" after a Utah Jazz player tested positive Wednesday for the coronavirus, a move that came only hours after the majority of the league's owners were leaning toward playing games without fans in arenas. Now there will be no games at all, at least for the time being. A person with knowledge of the situation said the Jazz player wh...

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- The NBA will suspend play starting on Thursday after a Utah Jazz player preliminarily tested positive for COVID-19, the league said Wednesday. The test result was reported shortly before Utah's game against the Thunder in Oklahoma City was to begin, and that game was abruptly postponed. The league said the affected player was not at the arena. (AFP)

"We'll keep the world posted and updated," he added, along with a photo of a surgical glove placed inside a biohazard trash bag. The Elvis film directed by Baz Luhrmann features Hanks as the legendary singer's longtime manager Colonel Tom Parker. The Warner Bros film was in pre-production on the Gold Coast when Hanks was diagnosed, and has been halted while the situation is monitored. "We have...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Taking dramatic action, President Donald Trump sharply restricted passenger travel from 26 European nations to the US and moved to ease the economic cost of a viral pandemic that is roiling global financial markets and disrupting the daily lives of Americans. Trump, in a rare Oval Office address to the nation Wednesday night, said the monthlong restriction on travel would begi...

JAKARTA (AP) -- As outbreaks of the new coronavirus that first emerged in China continue to spread in more than 100 countries -- particularly those experiencing winter -- one of the biggest unanswered questions is how it will behave in warmer weather. Like influenza, the new disease is a respiratory infection belonging to a family of viruses that typically survive longer in colder environments. ...

"The club is currently taking steps to put all the necessary procedures into place," the Milan club said. Juventus are due to host Lyon in their Champions League return fixture behind closed doors in Turin next Tuesday. All sports in Italy have been suspended until April 3, including Serie A football, but Champions League and Europa League matches are under the jurisdiction of UEFA. UEFA calle...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- President Donald Trump will make a primetime address Wednesday on the coronavirus crisis, his latest attempt to counter criticism of his response to the growing health and economic fallout from the pandemic. "I'll be making a statement later on tonight as to what I have decided to do," Trump told reporters at the White House. It was scheduled from the Oval Office for 9:00 pm ...

BAGHDAD (AFP) -- An American soldier, a British soldier and one US contractor were killed Wednesday, a US official said, in the deadliest rocket attack in years on an Iraqi military base hosting foreign troops. The attack threatens a dangerous escalation, with suspected US-led coalition air strikes promptly targeting Iran-aligned Iraqi fighters in neighbouring Syria, a war monitor said. At least...

GENEVA (AFP) -- The World Health Organization called the new coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on Wednesday, issuing a grim warning that the global spread and severity of the illness was due to "alarming levels of inaction". The call came as Europe faced a mounting number of cases -- including a slew of new countries clocking first deaths -- prompting governments to roll out increasingly tough mea...

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Wednesday that Rome was allocating 25 billion euros ($28.3 billion) to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak that has killed 631 people in Italy. "We have allocated an emergency sum of 25 billion euros," Conte told reporters during a break in a meeting on the government's response to the rapidly escalating health crisis. The entire sum "will not all be used imm...

DETROIT (AFP) -- Joe Biden took another big step closer to clinching the Democratic nomination to challenge President Donald Trump, with wins projected Tuesday over leftist rival Bernie Sanders in Mississippi and Missouri, two of six states holding primaries. The Mississippi win, projected by US networks, confirmed crucial and overwhelming support from African American voters for Biden, the form...

WUHAN (AFP) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan Tuesday for the first time since the city emerged as the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic in January -- a major sign that officials believe the outbreak is under control. Xi's visit came as unprecedented quarantine measures that have sealed off Wuhan and the rest of central Hubei province since late January appear to have paid off, w...

Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League last 16-second leg at home to German club Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in Paris will be played behind closed doors. The Six Nations clash between France-Ireland scheduled for Saturday in Paris is postponed. In Greece the Olympic Flame lighting ceremony for this summer's Tokyo Games is to be held without spectators in Olympia on Thursday. In the United S...