COVID-19 is taking aim at a broadening swath of the globe, with officials in Europe and the Middle East now scrambling to limit it. Despite showing signs of stabilizing in China, where fewer new infections are being reported, worries are growing elsewhere. In Italy, authorities have set up roadblocks, called off soccer matches and shuttered sites including the famed La Scala opera house. In Iran, a report of dozens of deaths in a single city emerged as infections were reported to have spread for the first time to Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Afghanistan. The leader of the World Health Organizati

Ontario Provincial Police have moved to clear an indigenous rail blockade in Ontario that has crippled freight and passenger rail traffic in most of eastern Canada for nearly three weeks. Ontario Provincial Police on Monday arrested some protesters on Tyendinaga Mohawk territory near Belleville, Ontario, east of Toronto. Demonstrators have set up blockades in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta and Quebec in solidarity with opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project that crosses the traditional territory of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation in northwestern British Columbia. Hereditary chief

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump departed for their maiden two-day visit to India from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Sunday.The visiting dignitaries will have a stopover at Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany and will reach Ahmedabad on Monday.Ahead of his departure from Washington DC, the US President told reporters that he looks forward to being with "millions and millions" of the Indian people."I look forward to being with the people of India. We will be with millions and millions of people. I get along very well with the Prime Minister. He is a friend of mine. Pri

Bernie Sanders is celebrating his Nevada caucus victory hundreds of kilometres away in Texas.The 78-year-old Vermont senator took the stage before thousands of cheering supporters inside the Cowboys Dance Hall in San Antonio declaring, "We're going to win this election. We are going to win here in Texas."America's second largest state votes on "Super Tuesday" on March 3rd, after next week's South Carolina primary.Sanders says the American people are sick and tired of a president who "lies all of the time."

Unknown miscreants vandalised the residence of Amulya, the Karnataka girl who raised pro Pakistan slogans at an anti CAA rally in Bengaluru. Amulya's home in Chikmagalur was vandalised late night on Feb 20. Police have begun their investigation. Imran Pasha, who organised the anti-CAA protests here where 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogan was raised, said on Friday that Amulya was not invited to the event. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi was also present at the rally.

China says the daily count of new virus cases has fallen significantly to 397, with another 109 people dying of the disease, most in the epicenter of Hubei province. The figures announced Saturday bring the total number of cases in mainland China to 76,288 with 2,345deaths, as strict quarantine measures and travel bans continue to contain the disease that emerged in China in December and has since spread world-wide. The daily figure is down from 889 on Friday. South Korea has become the newest front in a global outbreak, reporting Friday that 204 people had been infected, quadruple the number

Sexual assault charges have been laid against a man employed as a physiotherapist at a Chilliwack health clinic, and police say there may be more victims. Police say 38-year-old Sanjay Amrutkar was arrested without incident for offences alleged to have occurred lasts August and September while he was working as a physiotherapist. He's charged with two counts of sexual assault and has been released from custody pending a court appearance next month. Police say their investigators are aware that there may be other victims who haven't reported an encounter and they encourage those people to

Premier John Horgan says he believes the ``vast majority'' of residents across northern B.C. want to resolve a dispute with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs opposed to the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline. Horgan says his government is ready to talk with the chiefs but is challenged by their refusal to meet unless RCMP and pipeline officials withdraw entirely from their traditional territories. The Premier says other Wet'suwet'en people are beginning to speak out about possible benefits of the pipeline. He says his government remains ``at the ready'' to find a way forward.

The World Health Organization is concerned about new cases of COVID-19 with no clear links to travel in China or other confirmed cases. A multiplying caseload in South Korea is showing the ease with which the new coronavirus can spread. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says health officials need to act quickly to contain a further spread of the virus. Globally, more than 76-thousand people have been infected in 27 countries, and more than 22-hundred have died.