Three rockets hit US Embassy compound in Baghdad, US official says - CNN

The official said the injury was minor and the individual had since returned to duty.

A State Department spokesperson said Sunday evening that they "are aware of reports of rockets landing in the International Zone," but did not address the US embassy itself. The State Department did not respond to a query as to whether any embassy employees were injured.

"We call on the Government of Iraq to fulfill its obligations to protect our diplomatic facilities," the spokesperson said.

There have been numerous rocket attacks on Baghdad's Green Zone, where the embassies of the US and several other western countries are located, and the area surrounding it in recent months. However, the whole of Iraq is on a heightened state of alert as tensions between the US and Iran have dramatically increased in recent weeks after the US killing of key Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iran's retaliatory missile attack on an Iraqi base housing US troops.

The State Department did not directly blame Tehran for the rocket strikes in the Iraqi capital, but the spokesperson's statement made reference to Iranian threats in the region and past attacks by Iranian-backed militias on US interests. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

"The security situation remains tense and Iranian-backed armed groups remain a threat. So, we remain vigilant," the spokesperson said. Since September there have been more than 14 attacks by Iran and Iranian-supported militias on US personnel in Iraq, according to the State Department.

The spokesperson said the State Department would not comment further on the security situation in Baghdad.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee, said in a tweet Sunday that he is "closely monitoring reports of a rocket attack targeting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad."

"Violent acts against our diplomatic facilities are simply unacceptable. We must ensure the safety of American diplomats, troops and other Americans in Iraq."

Adil Abdul Mahdi, the prime minister of Iraq, condemned the attack and said Iraqi forces have been ordered to "deploy, search, and investigate to prevent the recurrence of such attacks, and to arrest those who launched these rockets so that they can be punished."

The Prime Minister said the Iraqi government is "committed to protecting all diplomatic missions and taking all necessary measures to achieve this."

Escalating tensions

Baghdad's Green Zone was initially carved out of central Baghdad by US-led forces after their invasion of Iraq in 2003 and is largely viewed as a safe location, despite frequently being the target of rocket attacks.

Earlier this month, the US embassy was the site of mass protests in response to US airstrikes on an Iranian-backed militia group at the end of December.

Those strikes were launched in retaliation to attacks by an Iranian-backed Shia militia group known as Kataib Hezbollah, which had injured numerous American military personnel, according to US officials.

In early January, Iran fired a number of missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops in retaliation for the American strike that killed Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad International airport.

On Friday the Pentagon revealed that 34 US service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following the Iranian missile attack.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Hamdi Alkhshali and Ryan Browne contributed to this report.

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2020-01-27 12:08:00Z
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Survivors return to Auschwitz 75 years after liberation - NBC News

When more than 200 survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp gather there on Monday to mark 75 years since its liberation, many will do so for the last time.

Elderly survivors from the United States, Israel, Australia, South America, Russia, Slovenia and elsewhere will be among presidents, prime ministers and royalty from across the globe who will join the ceremony in southern Poland, which was under Nazi occupation during World War II.

The event will recall the moment Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet army on Jan. 27, 1945.

Polish President Andrzej Duda and the head of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, will lead a commemoration for the more than one million people slaughtered at Auschwitz, the vast majority of whom were Jewish.

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A delegation of survivors of the Auschwitz and their families arrive to lay wreaths at the camp's execution wall on Monday.Sean Gallup / Getty Images

World leaders gathered in Jerusalem last week for a separate event to commemorate the Holocaust. Poland's Duda boycotted that event over a disagreement with Russia over Poland's role in triggering World War II.

“This is about survivors. It’s not about politics,” Lauder said Sunday as he went to the death camp with several survivors.

Lauder warned that leaders must do more to fight anti-Semitism, including by passing new laws to combat it.

Many of the survivors lost parents and grandparents in Auschwitz or other Nazi death camps and some will be saying kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, some alongside their own children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren.

“I have no graves to go to and I know my parents were murdered here and burned. So this is how I pay homage to them,” said Yvonne Engelman, a 92-year-old who came from Australia, joined by three more generations now scattered around the globe.

She recalled being brought in from a ghetto in Czechoslovakia by cattle car, being stripped of her clothes, shaved and put in a gas chamber. By some miracle, the gas chamber that day did not work, and she went on to survive slave labor and a death march.

A 96-year-old survivor, Jeanette Spiegel, was 20 when she was brought to Auschwitz, where she spent nine months. Today she lives in New York City and is fearful of rising anti-Semitic violence in the United States.

“I think they pick on the Jews because we are such a small minority and it is easy to pick on us,” she said, fighting back tears. “Young people should understand that nothing is for sure, that some terrible things can happen and they have to be very careful. And that, God forbid, what happened to the Jewish people then should never be repeated.”

Patrick Smith

Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

Associated Press

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2020-01-27 10:22:00Z
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China coronavirus: All you need to know in 500 words - Al Jazeera English

Health authorities around the world are grappling with an outbreak of a new coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

At least 81 people have died in China and almost 3,000 have been infected worldwide.

More:

Here is what you need to know:

What is a coronavirus?

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

They circulate in animals and some can be transmitted between animals and humans. There are several known coronaviruses circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.

The new coronavirus has been named novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). It is the seventh coronavirus known to affect humans.

What are the symptoms?

Common signs of infection include fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. 

In more severe cases infection can cause pneumonia, SARS, kidney failure and death.

The incubation period of the new coronavirus is thought to be between one and 14 days. The virus is contagious before symptoms appear.

How many people are affected?

Eighty-one people have died in China and 2,744 have been infected, according to official figures and state media.

Elsewhere, cases have been confirmed in Australia, France, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

Canada has also reported one "presumptive confirmed case".

Where did it come from?

China alerted WHO to several cases of pneumonia in Wuhan on December 31.

The new coronavirus is thought to have originated in a seafood market, where wildlife was also sold illegally.

Scientists comparing the genetic sequences of the new coronavirus with those of other known coronaviruses have suggested that it likely originated in snakes.

What we know so far about coronavirus

What's happening in China now?

Efforts to contain the outbreak have caused major disruption in China, with almost 20 cities facing travel restrictions, affecting at least 56 million people. Screening stations have been set up at bus, train and plane terminals nationwide.

China has also introduced a ban in wildlife trade and extended the Lunar New Year holiday until February 2 to prevent transmission accelerating when people return from holidays.

The US, Japan and several European countries are working to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, and the wider Hubei province in some cases.

Should I be worried? And what can I do to protect myself?

WHO has acknowledged that the virus is an emergency in China but said on January 23 that it was too early to declare it a public health emergency of international concern. 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the agency's chief, has arrived in Beijing to meet government and health officials.

Follow local guidelines on measures to keep safe.

WHO recommends basic hand hygiene such as washing your hands with soap and water, and making sure to cover your mouth with your elbow when sneezing or coughing.

Avoid unnecessary, unprotected contact with animals and be sure to thoroughly wash your hands after contact with one. 

Make sure any meat you consume is cooked thoroughly.

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2020-01-27 10:30:00Z
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Passenger plane crashes in central Afghan province, reports say citing officials - CNBC

A passenger plane has crashed in the Afghanistan's central Ghazni province, senior Afghan officials said on Monday.

According to local media, the plane crashed in territory under Taliban control and Afghan special forces are to be sent to the crash site. The number of casualties was unclear, an official told Reuters.

It was initially reported to be a plane from the state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines. However, Reuters has since said that the airline's acting CEO Mirwais Mirzakwal has denied that one of its planes has crashed.

"There has been an airline crash but it does not belong to Ariana because the two flights managed by Ariana today from Herat to Kabul and Herat to Delhi are safe," Mirzakwal told Reuters.

A Facebook account, purportedly belonging to the airline, also said that if any crash did happen it didn't involve one of their planes.

Earlier, three senior Afghan government officials said one of the state-owned airline's planes had crashed.

This is a breaking news story, please check back later for more.

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2020-01-27 10:13:00Z
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Global stock markets roiled as China's coronavirus spreads - CNBC

Travelers wearing masks arrive on a direct flight from China, after a spokesman from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said a traveller from China had been the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Washington, January 23, 2020.

David Ryder | Reuters

Investors worldwide have been spooked by the rapid spread of the Chinese coronavirus, with stock markets around the globe sharply lower on Monday.

The death toll rose to 80 as of the end of Sunday, according to Chinese officials, with more than 2,700 people now infected. A fifth case in the U.S. has now been confirmed and the virus has been detected in Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1.7% early in the trading session, while in the U.S., Dow futures indicated a plunge of almost 400 points at the open on Wall Street.

While most markets in Asia were closed for the Lunar New Year, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell by more than 2% in afternoon trade while the Topix slipped 1.6%.

The flight from risk comes amid concerns about a possible economic fallout from the virus, with experts recalling the impact of the SARS crisis in 2003. At a press conference on Sunday, China's top health official said the virus's transmission ability is strengthening.

In a note Monday morning, Danske Bank Chief Analyst Allen von Mehren said that the Chinese economy is likely to take a short-term hit and a possible GDP (gross domestic product) reduction of one percentage point in the first half of 2020.

"The SARS epidemic lasted three to four months but it is hard to say if this is any guide. While the government response is faster, the new virus seems to be spreading faster. It is too early to judge when it will get under control," von Mehren said.

Traditional so-called safe haven assets surged on Monday. Spot gold was trading up by 0.78% at just below $1,582.6 a troy ounce early in the European session, while the Japanese yen changed hands at 109 against the dollar. The Swiss franc was also among the strongest-performing currencies.

Government debt prices also surged, sending bond yields tumbling. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.6218% to hit its lowest since October, while the 30-year Treasury bond yield slid to 2.0825%.

The yield on the German 10-year Bund plummeted to -0.3550% while U.K. 10-year Gilt yields fell to 0.543%, their lowest since October 10.

A Japan Airlines worker (C) wears a face mask while working inside a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on January 23, 2020 in Los Angeles.

Mario Tama | Getty Images

Danske Bank analysts projected that the Chinese service sector is likely to take the main hit this time around, and is much bigger than it was during the SARS epidemic, now standing at 54% of GDP versus 42% in 2003.

From a global perspective, China now accounts for 19% of the global economy in purchasing power parity (PPP) adjusted terms versus 9% in 2003.

A mitigating factor could be that the import content of the service sector is much smaller than in manufacturing, but the uncertainty is likely to cause some global economic spillover, von Mehren suggested.

"Hence, there is a clear risk that the expected recovery in growth and PMIs (Purchasing Managers' Index) could be somewhat delayed or at least be more muted. As in China, the effect should be temporary, though," he added.

"We are in uncharted waters as a virus of this kind has not taken place in the more modern economy that China is today, with much wider transport networks and being more integrated with the global economy."

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2020-01-27 09:58:00Z
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China's unprecedented reaction to the Wuhan virus probably couldn't be pulled off in any other country - CNN

With the number of confirmed cases in the country approaching three thousand, and at least 80 deaths, China has placed almost 60 million people on lockdown, with full or partial travel restrictions on 15 cities across Hubei, the central Chinese province of which Wuhan is the capital.

Thirty provinces and major cities have activated their highest level of emergency response, with checkpoints erected on roads and screening of travelers at airports and train stations. The semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong has initiated a complete ban on anyone from Hubei, or non-residents traveling from the province, arriving in the city.

In Beijing, the Politburo Standing Committee -- the Communist Party's top body, headed by President Xi Jinping -- has taken direct control of the response. Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Wuhan Monday for a personal inspection of hospitals in the stricken city.

The unprecedented scale of the response speaks in part to the sheer size of China -- 60 million people is greater than the entire population of South Korea, and Hubei spans the equivalent area as Syria. Such a lockdown has never been carried out in China before, not even during the 2003 SARS outbreak. The cost of it is staggering, not just in terms of manpower or funds, but also the economic hit Hubei will take and the knock on effect this will have on the wider Chinese economy during a sensitive period.

That China is able to pull something like this off is thanks to the ability of a centralized, powerful leadership to react in a crisis. It's also a sign of just how vital it is for that leadership not to screw up.

Writing on Sunday, analysts Adam Ni and Yun Jiang said that the Chinese Communist Party's "prestige and legitimacy are both on the line" in how they handle the crisis.

"Having realized just how serious this is, and how potentially destabilizing it is for the Party, the Party is now scrambling to fully mobilize resources to tackle the crisis," they added.

"Xi's prestige is likely to take a hit, putting pressure towards collective leadership instead of the paramount leader model. Centralization of power under Xi means that inevitably Xi will take the blame if things go wrong, as would he be showered with glory when things go right. This is high risk, high reward for him."

Contrasting response

As more and more becomes known about the initial spread of the virus and the dangers posed by it, suspicion has grown over how authorities in Wuhan handled the first weeks of the outbreak.

While there is always some uncertainty at first with regard to new pathogens, that officials in Wuhan held a major provincial Communist Party meeting, an attempt at a world record for the largest potluck lunch involving 40,000 families, and had police go after people spreading "rumors" about the virus online, does not cast them in the most positive light.

Many observers have speculated that some officials will be punished in the days and weeks to come, especially after Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang admitted on state TV that the city's warnings "were not sufficient" and the infection rate will likely continue to climb.

There is also the almost staggering contrast in how the crisis has been handled since the central government got involved. Xi himself last week ordered "all-out efforts" to contain the virus' spread and treat those affected, about a month after the virus was first detected.

Beijing-based commentator Wang Xiangwei described that as a "watershed moment."

However, he added that the slow response from local officials was likely the result of "deeply entrenched issues," ones that may have actually been exacerbated by Xi's much vaunted anti-corruption campaign.

"Ironically, the Chinese leadership's keen efforts to push for accountability from bureaucrats and promise stiffer punishment for those who shirk responsibilities have contributed to their propensity to cover up disasters," Wang said. "As Xi has consolidated his power and urged other officials to conform completely to the Party leadership, this has also strengthened a tendency to avoid making any important decisions and instead wait for specific instructions from the Party leadership."

Huge effort

With more than a dozen countries now reporting cases of the virus, along with almost every region of China, the ability to rein in the pathogen's spread may be somewhat out of the hands of the Chinese government.

All eyes will be on the World Health Organization this week, to see if it reverses the decision to hold off on classifying the Wuhan virus as a "public health emergency of international concern." Doing so could enable a more concerted international response, though many affected countries have already independently begun putting in the types of screenings and quarantines that might be recommended.

Inside China, since January 22 when Xi intervened the government response has been colossal, but this does not seem to be having the desired effect, perhaps because of how far the virus spread before a reaction was ordered.

Two brand new hospitals are being constructed in Wuhan itself to aid its overstretched healthcare system, due to be completed by next week, while an additional 1,200 health workers -- along with 135 People's Liberation Army medical personnel -- will soon arrive in the city.

But the hugely advanced infrastructure that China is relying on to contain the virus and transport aid and support to where it's needed, is also what helped spread the pathogen in the first place.

A month ago, few outside China may have heard of Wuhan, yet the city -- and a small wildlife market within it -- has managed to impact countries the world over; a sign of just how connected we all are in a globalized world. Attempting to control this inter-connectivity, as China's and other governments must do to stop the virus, may be far harder than reaping the economic benefits.

The stringent measures placed on Hubei have also attracted criticism. Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Zhang Xuezhong denounced them as "savage" online, earning him the opprobrium of many panicked commentators. They may also carry major downsides in the long run, Xi Chen, a public health expert at Yale University, pointed out that lockdowns not only have negative economic repercussions but also break down the "social cohesion that binds people at this special moment."

As Xi and the rest of the Standing Committee meet this week to discuss how to tackle the virus's continued spread, they may decide on more draconian tactics. Whether their response is successful remains to be seen, as perhaps the world's most powerful state apparatus grapples with what has bedeviled many of its predecessors -- the sheer size and scale of China itself.

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2020-01-27 09:44:00Z
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Coronavirus: Companies tell workers 'stay at home' - BBC News

Companies in China have advised staff to work from home in an attempt to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Businesses are also offering workers longer holidays, as well as telling employees returning from the most affected areas to stay away from work.

It comes after the Chinese government extended the Lunar New Year holiday by three days to Sunday.

At least 80 people have now died in China from the disease, with almost 3,000 confirmed cases around the world.

Bytedance, which owns the video-sharing platform TikTok, and Chinese gaming giant Tencent have told staff to work from home.

Hotpot restaurant chain Haidilao has shut its branches across China until Friday.

On Sunday, the government of the city of Suzhou said businesses there would remain closed until at least 8 February.

Suzhou is a manufacturing hub in eastern China, home to a major pharmaceuticals and technology business park.

Several companies, including Swiss banking group UBS and property developer Country Garden, have told staff returning from the city of Wuhan or Hubei province to quarantine themselves at home.

In Hong Kong, the stock exchange has cancelled a ceremony scheduled for Wednesday to mark the first day of trading day of the Lunar New Year, due to concerns over the risk of infection.

Global markets have also been hit by growing concerns from investors that measures to halt the spread of the flu-like virus will have a negative impact on the global economy.

In Tokyo, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 share index fell by 2% after the Chinese government announced this weekend that it would extend the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.

Stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, which had been due to reopen on 31 January, are now scheduled to stay closed until 2 February.

On the commodities markets, prices of everything from oil to copper have fallen as traders bet that global demand will fall while Chinese cities remain in lockdown.

Brent crude oil was down by 2.2% on deepening concerns about demand for energy, despite attempts by Saudi Arabia's energy minister to ease market jitters.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud said he was closely monitoring developments in China and was confident the virus would be contained.

London copper prices fell by 1.9% to the lowest level in almost eight weeks. That followed last week's 5.5% slide, the steepest weekly decline in five years.

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2020-01-27 07:35:54Z
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