World briefs

PORTUGAL registered its first two cases of the new coronavirus, both in people who had recently returned from abroad, Health Minister Marta Temido told a news conference yesterday. Both men were taken to hospital in Porto and were in a stable condition and in good general health. One case was discovered in a 60-year-old man who had recently traveled to Italy and another one in a man, 33, who had returned from Valencia in Spain.

ITALY The coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy has so overwhelmed the public health system there that officials are taking extraordinary measures to care for the sick, seeking to bring doctors out of retirement and accelerate graduation dates for nursing students. The region of Lombardy has been the epicenter of Italy’s outbreak. Most alarmingly, 10% of Lombardy’s doctors and nurses are out of commission, because they tested positive for the virus and are in quarantine.

NEW YORK With the viral outbreak spreading to more countries, the price of oil has dropped precipitously as global demand weakens even further. That has sent shares tumbling for oil giants like Exxon and Chevron while smaller producers with idling rigs continue to slash jobs. Hundreds of new cases of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease have been announced in recent days outside of China.

FRANCE Coronavirus cases surged in Italy, and France closed the world-famous Louvre Museum as the epidemic that began in China sent fear rising across Western Europe, threatening its tourism industry. New battle fronts in the battle opened rapidly, deepening the sense of crisis that has already sent financial markets plummeting, emptied the streets in many cities and rewritten the routines of millions of people. More than 89,000 have been infected, on every continent but Antarctica.

PHILIPPINES A recently dismissed security guard freed dozens of hostages and was subdued by police after walking out of a shopping mall in the Philippine capital yesterday, ending a daylong hostage crisis in an upscale commercial district near the police and military headquarters, officials said. The former guard, identified as Archie Paray (pictured), left the mall in San Juan City in metropolitan Manila with the remaining hostages, who were then secured by police.

INDIA The death toll in New Delhi from riots last week between Hindus and Muslims rose to 46, officials said yesterday, a day after false rumors of new violence led to panicked calls to police in many parts of the city. The riots in New Delhi began over a disputed new citizenship law, which led to clashes in which hundreds were injured.

ISRAELIS were voting yesterday in the country’s unprecedented third election in less than a year to decide whether longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured, right) stays in power despite his upcoming criminal trial on corruption charges. Netanyahu, the longest serving leader in Israeli history, has been the caretaker prime minister for more than a year.