BBC news.
The World Health Organization has for the first time declared the corona virus outbreak a pandemic. The head of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was deeply concerned by the spread and severity of the disease, and what he called alarming levels of inaction.
U.S share prices have tumbled again over concerns about the economic impact of the corona virus. The Dow Jones Index closed under 6% down, wiping out yesterday's gains. President Trump tweeted that he was fully prepared to use the full power of the federal government to deal with the outbreak.
Italy, the country in Europe that's been worst hit by the corona virus has reported a jump of nearly 200 deaths from Covid-19 in the past day to 827. The number of confirmed cases has now risen to almost 12,500.
The disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, once one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, has been jailed for 23 years for rape and sexual assault. The sentence by a judge in New York was greeted with gasps and applause.
Two fraudsters have been jailed in France from impersonating a French government minister in order to cheat three men out of 62 million dollars. The scams were conducted by video conference, with one of the fraudsters made up to look like that the current French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Iran has agreed that black box for flight recorders from the airliner it accidentally shot down in January should be sent to Ukraine for analysis. This ends weeks of growing tension over the fate of the devices and the critically important data.
Astronomers have observed a distant planet with conditions so extreme that probably rains molten iron. Winds also ripped through Wasp-76b at ferocious speed.
BBC news.
