North Korea test fires two projectiles into the sea off eastern coast - NBC News

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Saturday fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea’s military said, as it continues to expand military capabilities amid deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration and a crippling global health crisis.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles were fired around 6:45 and 6:50 a.m. from an area around the county of Sonchon, western North Korea. They flew 255 miles cross-country on an apogee of 31 miles before landing in waters off the eastern coast.

South Korea and the U.S. were analyzing the launches. Seoul’s military urged the North to immediately stop its “very inappropriate” military demonstrations when the world is struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said the projectiles didn’t reach Japanese territory or its exclusive economic zone.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a drill of long-range artillery sub-units of the Korean People's Army, in North Korea on March 2, 2020.KCNA / Reuters

The North conducted two previous rounds of similar short-range launches and other military exercises this month after leader Kim Jong Un entered the new year vowing to bolster his nuclear deterrent in face of “gangster-like” U.S. sanctions and pressure.

While the North is clearly determined to advance its missile capabilities, Japan’s Defense Minister Taro Kono said Pyongyang’s demonstrations could also be aimed at “bracing the regime together” amid the coronavirus crisis.

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It wasn’t immediately clear what North Korea tested. Flight data released by the South Korean and Japanese militaries suggest that the North could have tested one of its new mobile, solid-fuel missile systems it first demonstrated last year.

Military analysts say such weapons, which are designed to overwhelm missile defense systems with their maneuverability and low-altitude flights, potentially strengthen the North’s ability to strike targets in South Korea and Japan, including U.S. bases there.

North Korea in recent months has also demonstrated what it described as a “super large” multiple rocket launcher, which experts say was likely tested earlier this month.

North Korea’s state media earlier reported that Kim supervised an artillery firing competition between army units in the country’s west on Friday.

The KCNA said Kim expressed satisfaction over the exercise that was aimed at evaluating combat readiness. The report didn’t mention any direct comments by Kim toward Washington or Seoul.

Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency also said on Saturday that the North has decided to hold a session of its rubber-stamp parliament on April 10. It wasn’t immediately clear what would be discussed.

Nuclear talks have stalemated since the collapse of the second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in early 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Following the breakdown in talks, the North ended a 17-month pause in ballistic activity and conducted at least 13 rounds of weapons launches last year while pressuring Washington and Seoul for concessions. Those weapons also included a developmental mid-range missile that could be launched from submarines.

Some experts say the lull in North Korean launches between November and March could have been caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which started in mainland China in December.

Although Kim has vowed to build up his nuclear arsenal and achieve a “frontal breakthrough” against sanctions while urging his nation to stay resilient in a struggle for economic “self-reliance,” some experts say North Korea’s self-imposed lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis could potentially hamper his ability to mobilize people for labor.

North Korea has not publicly confirmed a single case of the COVID-19 illness, but state media have described anti-virus efforts as a matter of “national existence.” Experts say an epidemic in North Korea could have dire consequences due to the country’s poor health system and shortage of medical supplies.

The country has banned foreign tourists, shut down nearly all cross-border traffic with China, intensified screening at entry points and mobilized health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms.

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2020-03-21 11:04:32Z
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Iran's leader points to coronavirus as reason for US to lift sanctions - Fox News

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, in an open letter, urged Americans to call on their government to end the “dark chapter” of sanctions against his country as it fights the growing coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran last week, blacklisting five international companies from doing business with the country, Reuters reported.

“Our policy of maximum pressure on the regime continues,” Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iranian affairs, told reporters, according to Reuters. “U.S. sanctions are not preventing aid from getting to Iran.”

But in his letter, Rouhani wrote, “Even under the circumstances of the pandemic, the U.S. government has failed to abandon its malicious policy of maximum pressure; and is thus in practice aiding the spread of this virus with its sanctions.”

A person dies of coronavirus every 10 minutes in Iran, health ministry says

He said the “war” on the virus can be won only if every nation pulls together.

Rouhani also wrote to a number of world leaders last week, asking them to ignore U.S. sanctions that have “hampered” Iran’s response to coronavirus, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who claimed the sanctions show “utter contempt for human life.”

Iran has been hit the hardest of any other Middle Eastern country by the virus, with one person dying every 10 minutes, according to the country's health ministry.

Over the past 24 hours, 123 people died, raising the country's death toll to 1,556, according to healthy ministry spokesperson Kianush Jahanpoor. It has had 20,610 cases.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE 

The U.S. sanctions are meant to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear ambitions after President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Obama-era nuclear agreement in 2018.

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2020-03-21 09:55:15Z
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Coronavirus deaths soar in Italy as UK adds restrictions - Al Jazeera English

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1. Coronavirus deaths soar in Italy as UK adds restrictions  Al Jazeera English
2. Coronavirus deaths top 11,000 globally: Live updates  CNN International
3. Italy's hospitals overwhelmed by coronavirus as death toll soars  CBS This Morning
4. 'Accept it': 3 states lock down 70 million against the virus  Salt Lake Tribune
5. HALF of 'most severe patients' are under 65 - coronavirus affects young as well as old  Express.co.uk
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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2020-03-21 08:12:32Z
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The United Kingdom is closed: Johnson shutters pubs and restaurants - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson effectively closed down the United Kingdom on Friday, ordering pubs, restaurants, theaters, cinemas and gyms to shut their doors in a bid to slow down the accelerating spread of the coronavirus.

As the coronavirus outbreak sweeps across the world, governments, companies and investors are grappling with the biggest public health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic, panicked populations and imploding financial markets.

Johnson said he understood just how wrenching it was to take away the ancient rights of the British people to go to the pub but that it was absolutely essential to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“I do accept that what we’re doing is extraordinary: we’re taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub, and I can understand how people feel about that,” Johnson said. “It’s a huge wrench.”

“It’s a huge wrench to do that, everybody understands that,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking to think of the businesses that will face difficulties as a result of the measures this country has had to take.”

The United Kingdom so far has 3,983 confirmed cases of coronavirus, after 66,976 people were tested, though the government’s scientists say it is raging across London, partly as some people are not obeying government advice to isolate.

At total of 177 people with the virus have died so far across the country.

Johnson said pubs, restaurants, theaters, nigthtclubs, cinemas and gyms and leisure centers were being asked to close on Friday night and to stay shut indefinitely.

“We are telling cafes, bars and restaurants to close tonight as soon as they reasonably can and not to open tomorrow,” Johnson told reporters in Downing Street. “Though to be clear, they can continue to provide takeout services.

“Some people may of course be tempted to go out tonight, and I say to those people, ‘please don’t,’” Johnson said.

Slideshow (7 Images)

The government also announced that a military veterans’ parade in London to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe (VE Day) in May would be canceled.

New plans to mark the occasion would be unveiled shortly.

Johnson’s finance minister Rishi Sunak also launched a gigantic stimulus package to stabilize Britain’s virus-hit economy on Friday, including the government paying the wages of workers up and down the country. [L8N2BD2UN]

Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison and Estelle Shirbon

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2020-03-21 05:11:07Z
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Italy calls in military to enforce coronavirus lockdown as 627 people die in 24 hours - CNN

Desperate scenes have unfolded in the north of the country, particularly the hard-hit Lombardy region where infections first exploded last month, as hospitals struggle to treat thousands of cases.

And Chinese medical experts helping Italy deal with the crisis have said the restrictions imposed in Lombardy are "not strict enough."

The government has now agreed that the military can be used to help enforce the lockdown, the president of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, told a news conference on Friday.

"(The request to use the army) has been accepted... and 114 soldiers will be on the ground throughout Lombardy... it is still too little, but it is positive," Fontana said. "Unfortunately we are not seeing a change of trend in the numbers, which are rising."

The soldiers had until now been deployed in the region to ensure general security in the streets.

More than 4,000 people have now died from the disease in Italy, the country's civil protection agency said Friday -- more than any other nation -- and nearly 6,000 new infections were confirmed in the past day, bringing the total to more than 47,000 cases.

Daniela Confalonieri, an Italian nurse in Milan, the region's capital, said the situation was so dire that the dead were no longer being counted.

"We're working in a state of very high stress and tension," Confalonieri told Reuters. "Unfortunately we can't contain the situation in Lombardy, there's a high level of contagion and we're not even counting the dead any more.

"Look at the news that's coming out of Italy and take note of what the situation really is like. It's unimaginable."

A hospital doctor in Bergamo, another Lombardy city, told CNN it had been hit so hard by the coronavirus that it is now sending patients who need intensive care to other parts of the country.

"Bergamo is sending ICU patients to other regions because we ran out (of space)," Dr. Stefano Magnone told CNN on Friday, adding that intensive care units in hospitals in nearby Brescia were also full. Brescia is the second-worst affected province, according to the civil protection agency.

"Around 50 patients were sent out of Lombardy to other regions, mainly in the south," Magnone said. Less than half of those were Covid-19 cases, according to the civil protection agency.

Bergamo's mayor on Thursday announced plans to build a field hospital in the city to help manage the situation.

A doctor in the Lombardy city of Cremona, Romano Paolucci, told Reuters that he had "seen a lot of dead here" and that medical staff were battling to cope with a lack of equipment, long hours and increasing sickness within their own ranks.

"I would say that we are at the end of our strength," he said. "This is a small hospital and we are taking in a lot of people, I would say the capacity is finished.

"We do not have sufficient resources and especially staff because apart from everything else now the staff are beginning to get sick."

About 70% of those treated at the hospital for Covid-19 are surviving, he added.

Patients 'often die on their own'

The disease has taken the greatest toll on Italy's elderly population. Figures released Thursday by the Health Institute of Italy indicated that 86% of fatalities were among those aged over 70. People aged 60 to 69 made up a further 10% of the deaths.

Paolucci said his hospital was trying to help patients keep in touch with their family by phone, particularly the elderly who were less used to making calls.

"The greatest problem which is emerging in these days, I would say, is that the patients cannot be visited by their relatives and often die on their own," he said.

Footage from Reuters showed army trucks collecting the bodies of coronavirus victims overnight in Lombardy.

The Prime Minister's office said a taskforce of up to 300 additional volunteer doctors would be sent to the areas of Italy worst affected by the pandemic.

This year's medical school graduates have also been told they can start working as fully qualified doctors immediately, months ahead of schedule, as Italy's authorities grapple with the crisis.

'I don't know what everyone is thinking'

Meanwhile, the Chinese Red Cross vice president, Sun Shuopeng, urged tougher measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The situation "is similar to what we experienced two months ago in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of Covid-19," he said Thursday at a news conference in Milan.

"In the city of Wuhan after one month since the adoption of the lockdown policy, we see a decreasing trend from the peak of the disease," Sun Shuopeng said. "Here in Milan, the hardest-hit area by Covid-19, there isn't a very strict lockdown: public transportation is still working and people are still moving around, you're still having dinners and parties in the hotels and you're not wearing masks."

"I don't know what everyone is thinking."

He advised Italians to stop all "economic activities and cut the mobility of people," calling on everyone to just stay at home. "We need every citizen to be involved in the fight of Covid-19 and follow this policy."

Lockdown extension?

Italian authorities are considering lengthening school closures beyond April 3, amid rumors of the nationwide lockdown, affecting more than 60 million people, also being extended.

"I think we are going toward an extension," Italian Education minister Lucia Azzolina said Thursday, adding that schools would reopen once there is "certainty of absolute safety."

Corriere della Sera quoted Italian PM Giuseppe Conte as saying Thursday that "it is clear" the measures to tackle the outbreak, "both the one that has closed a lot of the country's businesses and individual activities, and the one that concerns the school, can only be extended to the deadline."

The Prime Minister's spokesperson told CNN no official decision had yet been taken.

Two convents in Rome have been placed into lockdown after reports of a high number of coronavirus cases, a notice from the Lazio region health assessor Alessio D'Amato said Friday.

CNN's Valentina Di Donato, Nicola Ruotolo and Barbie Latza Nadeau reported from Rome and Mia Alberti from Lisbon. CNN's Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London. CNN's Livia Borghese, Sharon Braithwaite and Pierre Bairin contributed to this report.

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2020-03-20 18:12:59Z
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Italy calls in military to enforce lockdown as coronavirus crisis intensifies in north - CNN

Desperate scenes have unfolded in the north of the country, particularly the hard-hit Lombardy region where infections first exploded last month, as hospitals struggle to treat thousands of cases.

And Chinese medical experts helping Italy deal with the crisis have said the restrictions imposed in Lombardy are "not strict enough."

The government has now agreed that the military can be used to help enforce the lockdown, the president of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, told a news conference on Friday.

"(The request to use the army) has been accepted... and 114 soldiers will be on the ground throughout Lombardy... it is still too little, but it is positive," Fontana said. "Unfortunately we are not seeing a change of trend in the numbers, which are rising."

The soldiers had until now been deployed in the region to ensure general security in the streets.

More than 3,400 people have now died from the disease in Italy, the Italian Civil Protection Agency said. The number of deaths in China currently stands at 3,242, according to the World Health Organization.

Daniela Confalonieri, an Italian nurse in Milan, the region's capital, said the situation was so dire that the dead were no longer being counted.

"We're working in a state of very high stress and tension," Confalonieri told Reuters. "Unfortunately we can't contain the situation in Lombardy, there's a high level of contagion and we're not even counting the dead any more.

"Look at the news that's coming out of Italy and take note of what the situation really is like. It's unimaginable."

A hospital doctor in Bergamo, another Lombardy city, told CNN it had been hit so hard by the coronavirus that it is now sending patients who need intensive care to other parts of the country.

"Bergamo is sending ICU patients to other regions because we ran out (of space)," Dr. Stefano Magnone told CNN on Friday, adding that intensive care units in hospitals in nearby Brescia were also full. Brescia is the second-worst affected province, according to the Italian Civil Protection Department.

"Around 50 patients were sent out of Lombardy to other regions, mainly in the south," Magnone said. Less than half of those were Covid-19 cases, according to Italy's Civil Protection Agency.

Bergamo's mayor on Thursday announced plans to build a field hospital in the city to help manage the situation.

A doctor in the Lombardy city of Cremona, Romano Paolucci, told Reuters that he had "seen a lot of dead here" and that medical staff were battling to cope with a lack of equipment, long hours and increasing sickness within their own ranks.

"I would say that we are at the end of our strength," he said. "This is a small hospital and we are taking in a lot of people, I would say the capacity is finished.

"We do not have sufficient resources and especially staff because apart from everything else now the staff are beginning to get sick."

About 70% of those treated at the hospital for Covid-19 are surviving, he added.

Patients 'often die on their own'

The disease has taken the greatest toll on Italy's elderly population. Figures released Thursday by the Health Institute of Italy indicated that 86% of fatalities were among those aged over 70. People aged 60 to 69 made up a further 10% of the deaths.

Paolucci said his hospital was trying to help patients keep in touch with their family by phone, particularly the elderly who were less used to making calls.

"The greatest problem which is emerging in these days, I would say, is that the patients cannot be visited by their relatives and often die on their own," he said.

Footage from Reuters showed army trucks collecting the bodies of coronavirus victims overnight in Lombardy.

The Prime Minister's office said a taskforce of up to 300 additional volunteer doctors would be sent to the areas of Italy worst affected by the pandemic.

This year's medical school graduates have also been told they can start working as fully qualified doctors immediately, months ahead of schedule, as Italy's authorities grapple with the crisis.

'I don't know what everyone is thinking'

Meanwhile, the Chinese Red Cross vice president, Sun Shuopeng, urged tougher measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The situation "is similar to what we experienced two months ago in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of Covid-19," he said Thursday at a news conference in Milan.

"In the city of Wuhan after one month since the adoption of the lockdown policy, we see a decreasing trend from the peak of the disease," Sun Shuopeng said. "Here in Milan, the hardest-hit area by Covid-19, there isn't a very strict lockdown: public transportation is still working and people are still moving around, you're still having dinners and parties in the hotels and you're not wearing masks."

"I don't know what everyone is thinking."

He advised Italians to stop all "economic activities and cut the mobility of people," calling on everyone to just stay at home. "We need every citizen to be involved in the fight of Covid-19 and follow this policy."

Lockdown extension?

Italian authorities are considering lengthening school closures beyond April 3, amid rumors of the nationwide lockdown, affecting more than 60 million people, also being extended.

"I think we are going toward an extension," Italian Education minister Lucia Azzolina said Thursday, adding that schools would reopen once there is "certainty of absolute safety."

Corriere della Sera quoted Italian PM Giuseppe Conte as saying Thursday that "it is clear" the measures to tackle the outbreak, "both the one that has closed a lot of the country's businesses and individual activities, and the one that concerns the school, can only be extended to the deadline."

The Prime Minister's spokesperson told CNN no official decision had yet been taken.

Two convents in Rome have been placed into lockdown after reports of a high number of coronavirus cases, a notice from the Lazio region health assessor Alessio D'Amato said Friday.

CNN's Valentina Di Donato, Nicola Ruotolo and Barbie Latza Nadeau reported from Rome and Mia Alberti from Lisbon. CNN's Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London. CNN's Livia Borghese, Sharon Braithwaite and Pierre Bairin contributed to this report.

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2020-03-20 16:54:55Z
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UK PM Boris Johnson announces lockdown measures in London, telling cafes, pubs and restaurants to close - CNBC

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during a coronavirus news conference inside number 10 Downing Street on March 19, 2020 in London, England.

Leon Neal - WPA Pool | Getty Images

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced lockdown measures in the capital city of London, telling cafes, bars and restaurants to close from Friday.

Speaking at a daily press conference on the coronavirus outbreak, Johnson said: "We are collectively telling cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants to close tonight as soon as they reasonably can and not to open tomorrow."

He clarified takeout services for these businesses would be able to continue.  

"We are also telling nightclubs, theaters, cinemas, gyms, and leisure centers to close on the same timescale."

"These are places where people come together, and indeed the whole purpose of these businesses in many cases is to bring people together. But, the sad thing is, I'm afraid today for now at least physically we need to keep people apart," Johnson said.

It was not immediately clear whether the recommendations were enforceable by law, although Johnson said licensing laws would allow the government to order these businesses to close.

The prime minister said the newly announced measures would be reviewed on a monthly basis.

To date, the U.K. has reported 3,297 cases of the coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, with 168 deaths. 

Sterling rose on the news, trading up 1.5% to reach $1.1657 Friday evening London time

'Unprecedented' measures

Standing alongside Johnson at the daily press conference Friday, U.K. Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced the government would pay 80% of wages for employees not working — up to a limit of £2,500 a month.

Sunak described the extra measures as "unprecedented" in the history of the British state.

It comes roughly 24 hours after the prime minister warned further restrictive measures might be needed in the capital city, with evidence suggesting the flu-like virus is spreading faster in London.

On Thursday, he suggested the U.K. could turn the tide against the coronavirus within 12 weeks if the right measures were taken.

Schools in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will all close until further notice from Friday.

The former mayor of London has ruled out the prospect of stopping public transport in London, despite speculation about possible travel restrictions where approximately 9 million people live. 

The U.K. government has been criticized for being too cautious with their approach to the outbreak. 

Separately, Transport for London (TfL) announced Thursday that up to 40 Tube stations on the London Underground had closed as part of a partial network shutdown.

TfL also said there would be no night Tube and bus services would be reduced. 

Epicenter of the outbreak

The U.K. has reported the sixth-highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe, behind Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Switzerland. The WHO recently declared Europe as the new epicenter of the outbreak.

Italy has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 infections on the continent. It has also registered more deaths than any other country worldwide, overtaking China — where the outbreak first started in December last year.

Earlier this week, the U.K.'s finance minister announced a £330 billion ($398 billion) aid package of loans for businesses, as well as a business rates holiday and grants.

— CNBC's Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.

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2020-03-20 17:49:56Z
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