HIGASHIMATSUSHIMA (AFP) -- The Olympic flame arrived in Japan to a scaled-down welcoming ceremony Friday as doubts grew over whether the Tokyo Games will go ahead on schedule with the coronavirus pandemic causing chaos around the world. As the flame, enclosed in a special lantern, landed on a charter flight, a Japanese Olympic Committee member broke ranks to call for a postponement and Olympics chief Thomas Bach admitted "different scenarios" were under consideration. "Of cours

PARIS (AFP) -- Italy surpassed China on Thursday as the country with the most deaths from coronavirus as the UN chief warned "millions" could die if it spreads unchecked around the globe. President Donald Trump said meanwhile that the United States is fast-tracking antimalarial drugs for use as a treatment and lashed out at China for not informing the world earlier about the original outbreak. China for its part reported no new domestic cases for the first time since the virus appea

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The EU‘s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has the coronavirus, he announced on Thursday. 　 “I tested positive yesterday for Covid-19. I’m as well as I can be, strictly confined to my home,” Barnier, 69, said in a video posted on his Twitter account. 　 “I‘m fine, morale is good,” added the former French foreign minister, who is in France. 　 “I naturally am following all instructions, as does my team. My message to all those

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States is suspending routine visa services in most countries because of the coronavirus pandemic, the State Department announced late Wednesday. It said embassies and consulates in "most countries worldwide... will cancel all routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments as of March 18, 2020." It did not specify which countries would be exempted from the suspension, which was in response to "worldwide challenges" related to the deadly

MONTREAL (AFP) -- International Olympic Committee member Hayley Wickenheiser said Tuesday that vows to press ahead with plans for the Tokyo Games are "insensitive and irresponsible." Wickenheiser, a member of Canada's women's ice hockey team that won four straight Olympic golds between 2002 and 2016, made her comments on Twitter. The 41-year-old IOC Athletes Commission member was speaking as the IOC said there was no need for "drastic decisions" over the staging of th

LAUSANNE (AFP) -- The International Olympic Committee will hold high-level talks on Tuesday, as doubts grow over the Tokyo Games and with some in Japan urging officials not to risk lives by pressing ahead during the coronavirus emergency. While countries across Europe have gone into full lockdown after the continent was declared the new epicentre of the deadly virus by the World Health Organization, no decision is expected yet on a possible postponement, or indeed cancellation, of this summer'

PARIS (AFP) -- Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: Border closures, checks French President Emmanuel Macron says the 27-nation European Union is to close all its external borders for 30 days. Germany implements controls at its land borders with Austria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Spain announces it is closing its land borders. Chile closes all its land, maritime and air frontiers. Egypt will close its airports from Thursday to March 31. Greece a

GOLD COAST (AFP) -- Tom Hanks has been released from the Australian hospital where he was in isolation since testing positive for the coronavirus last week, but his wife Rita Wilson remains hospitalised, health officials said Tuesday. The multiple Oscar-winning actor was on the Gold Coast near Brisbane to film an Elvis Presley biopic directed by Australian Baz Luhrmann when he and Wilson, both 63, came down with the disease. Wilson, a singer-songwriter, had given concerts in Sydney and Brisba

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Stock markets and oil prices went into freefall Monday as interest rate cuts and fresh stimulus measures by central banks failed to dampen fears amid the global coronavirus pandemic. The US Federal Reserve on Sunday slashed borrowing costs to zero -- its second emergency cut in less than two weeks -- and took action coordinated with central banks in several European countries to counteract global "dollar funding pressures." The Fed acted again on Monday, with its

TOKYO (AFP) -- Doubts are growing in Japan about the Tokyo Olympics, with growing opposition to holding them as scheduled and some urging officials not to risk lives by pressing ahead during the coronavirus emergency. Officials like Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach have repeatedly insisted preparations should continue to light the Olympic flame on July 24. But with events from the Premier League to NBA basketball scrapped, and Japanese s

NEW YORK (AFP) -- A New York Yankees minor league player has tested positive for the coronavirus the team said Sunday, the first known case in baseball. The team did not identify the player in accordance with US medical privacy regulations, but said he was never present at the Florida spring training facility used by the Yankees' major league team and did not have known contact with any of the Yankees players. "He was never here, nor anybody who would be linked to being with him," Y

The United States on Friday summoned China's ambassador after a senior official in Beijing tweeted the "ridiculous" suggestion that the US military started the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Department said. David Stilwell, the top US diplomat for Asia, issued a "stern representation" to Ambassador Cui Tiankai a day after foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted the conspiracy theory. "China is seeking to deflect criticism for its role in starting a global 

BEIJING (AFP) -- A Chinese government campaign to cast doubt on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic is fuelling a row with the United States, with a Beijing official promoting conspiracy theories and Washington calling it the "Wuhan virus". The spat comes as China tries to deflect blame for the contagion and reframe itself as a country that took decisive steps to buy the world time by placing huge swathes of its population under quarantine. With cases falling in China and soaring

TOKYO (AFP) -- The collapse of sports events worldwide over the rapidly spreading new coronavirus heaped pressure on the Tokyo Olympics on Friday as US President Donald Trump suggested delaying the Games by a year. Formula One's Australian Grand Prix and The Players Championship, one of golf's most prestigious events, were the latest to fall in a period when the virus has laid waste to the sporting calendar. Football's Premier League, with a worldwide audience of billions, is also in question

LONDON (AFP) -- Chelsea's players and coaching staff were ordered into isolation as Callum Hudson-Odoi became the first Premier League player confirmed to have the new coronavirus late on Thursday. "Chelsea men's team player Callum Hudson-Odoi had a positive test result for coronavirus returned this evening," a club statement said. "Chelsea personnel who had recent close contact with the player in the men's team building will now self-isolate in line with government health guid

OTTAWA (AFP) -- The wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tested positive for the new coronavirus, his office said late Thursday. "Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau was tested for COVID-19 today. The test came back positive," the Prime Minister's office said in a statement. "Following medical advice, she will remain in isolation for the time being. She is feeling well, is taking all the recommended precautions and her symptoms remain mild," it said. "The Prime M

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japanese government officials insisted Friday they have no plans to alter the Olympics, including holding it without spectators, after US President Donald Trump proposed a delay over the coronavirus. The fate of the 2020 Games, scheduled to open in Tokyo on July 24, has been thrown into doubt by the outbreak of the virus, now dubbed a pandemic. But organisers, Japanese government officials and the International Olympic Committee have insisted preparation for the Games is on tra

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- Disney will close its giant theme parks in Florida, California and Paris and pull the releases of major blockbusters including "Mulan" over the coronavirus, it announced Thursday. The resorts are among the largest theme parks in the world, each drawing tens of thousands of visitors each day. They will remain shut at least until the end of March. "In an abundance of caution and in the best interest of our guests and employees, we are proceeding with the

TOKYO (AFP) -- Asian markets opened in freefall on Friday, extending a global rout that saw bourses experience their worst day in decades on fears of a recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index nosedived more than seven percent shortly after the open, with markets around the region plummeting after a historically bad trading day in the US and Europe. The Nikkei 225 index dropped 7.12 percent or 1,322.15 points to 17,237.48 in early trade, while the broader T

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Global equity markets plunged again Thursday, with some suffering their worst losses in decades, as emergency measures by central banks failed to douse fears over the mounting economic toll from the coronavirus. The Dow lost 10 percent, dropping around 2,350 points, to 21,200.62 in its worst session since 1987. London recorded its worst day since the 1987 crash and Frankfurt its blackest day since 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell. Paris suffered its worst one-day l