World

"All nations including Iran should tell the truth about the coronavirus and cooperate with international aid organizations," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

Human rights groups have repeatedly accused China of extracting forced confessions from individuals it perceives to be opponents of the Communist Party's rule.

A lawyer for Julian Assange said the WikiLeaks founder was handcuffed 11 times, stripped naked twice and had court papers taken away on the first day of a hearing on his extradition to the US.

Emirates, the government-owned carrier based in Dubai, flies daily to Tehran. Its low-cost sister airline, FlyDubai, flies to multiple Iranian cities, as does the Sharjah-based low-cost carrier Air Arabia.

Italy reported its fifth death from the virus on Monday and it has the most confirmed cases in Europe.

The World Health Organization said on Monday the outbreak of the deadly new coronavirus has peaked in China, where new cases have been declining since early February.

Issuing a red alert, the city's security chief John Lee also instructed residents not to travel to South Korea.

The standing committee of the National People's Congress will decide on a new date later, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Francis made his comments in the southern Italian port city of Bari, where he travelled to conclude a meeting of bishops from all countries in the Mediterranean basin.

Just before his departure for India, Trump told reporters at the White House that the time had come for the US troops to "come home", adding he would sign a peace deal with the Taliban if it worked out over the next week.

President Xi Jinping acknowledged that the epidemic will "inevitably have a large impact on the economy and society", but he said the effects will be "short-term" and controllable.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on African Union member states 'to come together to be more aggressive in attacking' the virus, known as COVID-19.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top smartphone maker, said the floor where the infected employee worked would be shut down until the morning of February 25.

A longer incubation period could complicate efforts to contain spread of the epidemic that has so far killed more than 2,000 people and spread outside China.

The state conducts periodic drawings for permits to hunt bears, caribou, moose and other animals in various regions. Winners are chosen by a lottery, and there are typically many more applications than hunting tags awarded.

Millions remain under lockdown in central Hubei province, where the virus emerged in December, although new hotspots were found in several prisons and hospitals on Friday.