World briefs

THAILAND Bombers attacked a major government office in Thailand’s insurgency-plagued far south as hundreds of local officials and Muslim clerics met to discuss fighting COVID-19. At least 20 people were hurt, none seriously.

PAKISTAN’s prime minister said he fears the new coronavirus will devastate the economies of developing nations, and warned richer economies to prepare to write off the debts of the world’s poorer countries. Imran Khan criticized recent comments by the president of neighboring Afghanistan, which appeared to reference accusations that Pakistan used militants to further its own goals in years past.

IRANn’s state television has issued its most drastic warning so far about the new coronavirus, saying the outbreak could kill “millions” in the Islamic Republic if the public keeps traveling and ignoring health guidance. The warning came in a bulletin broadcast yesterday.

IRAQ’s president named former governor of the city of Najaf, Adnan Al-Zurfi, as prime minister-designate (pictured), following weeks of political infighting, as Baghdad residents rushed to stock up on supplies hours before a days-long curfew was set to take hold amid a global pandemic.

SRI LANKA’s defense authorities are warning more than 100 Sri Lankans who have evaded quarantine process after returning from coronavirus-hit countries to register with the police immediately or face legal action that includes six months imprisonment.

NEW ZEALAND’s government said yesterday it would spend billions of dollars supporting hard-hit companies as it tries to shore up an economy headed for recession because of the coronavirus. The stimulus package is equivalent to 4% of GDP.

BRITAIN’s dramatic escalation of social restrictions to fight Covid-19 was sparked by new scientific evidence suggesting that 250,000 people in the U.K. and more than 1 million in the U.S. might die if the country did not suppress the spread of the new coronavirus. Imperial College London epidemiologists advising the U.K. government have published an analysis drawing on data from Italy, the hardest-hit European country with nearly 28,000 cases and 2,158 deaths.

RUSSIAN health officials ordered coronavirus testing for everyone who returned from European countries in the last 14 days. The decree released yesterday by the country’s public health watchdog also outlines mandatory testing for everyone who returned from abroad in the past month and exhibited flu-like symptoms.

G7 The United States and its top economic allies pledged to more closely share real-time information about the coronavirus and the availability of medical equipment and to support jobs, global trade and investment. They also vowed to bolster science, research and technology and work to restore public confidence about the pandemic threatening the world’s economy.

JAPAN The head of Japan soccer, who is also the vice-chairman of the Japan Olympic Committee, has tested positive for the coronavirus and apologized for possibly infecting others. “I have slight fever and pneumonia … but otherwise I’m doing fine,” Kozo Tashima said in a statement released by the Japan Football Association yesterday.