China has reported new deaths by a viral outbreak have risen by 73 in the past 24 hours. That brings the number of confirmed cases to 28,018, an increase of 3,694. The little-understood new coronavirus has spread fear around the world, along with the shunning of any suspected to have a link to the outbreak that appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December and has revived fears of the deadly 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS. SARS had killed almost 800 people.

Kirk Douglas, the muscular actor with the dimpled chin who starred in ``Spartacus,'' ``Lust for Life'' and dozens of other films and helped fatally weaken the Hollywood blacklist, has died at 103, his family announced. Douglas was nominated three times for Oscars _ for ``Champion,'' ``The Bad and the Beautiful'' and ``Lust for Life.'' He later received an honorary award for ``50 years as a creative and moral force'' in the movie industry. His son Michael won Oscars as producer for ``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' and as actor for ``Wall Street.''

The US Senate has acquitted President Donald Trump on both impeachment charges against him. The first vote on abuse of power was defeated 52-to 48. The second on obstruction of justice went down to defeat 53-to 47. US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made the announcements. The vote against impeachment was never in doubt, since the Republicans have control of the Senate.

A cruise ship carrying 251 Canadians has been quarantined off the coast of Japan following a confirmed outbreak of the new coronavirus on-board.A statement from Princess Cruises says 10 people have tested positive for the virus, but none of those are Canadians.It says the ship, with 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew on-board, will remain under quarantine for 14 days in Yokohama.It says Princess Cruises will continue to fully co-operate with and follow the instructions of global medical authorities and the Japanese government.The viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 24,500 peopl

Four gunmen shot to death nine people at a video game arcade in western Mexico, and among the dead are three children aged 12, 13 and 14. Prosecutors in the state of Michoacan say Monday's attack left two other people wounded. The attackers were apparently searching for specific targets, but then opened fire indiscriminately on customers. Two of the victims were aged 17 and 18. The attack occurred in the city of Uruapan, where drug cartel turf wars have cost scores of lives.

America's Sofia Kenin on Saturday lifted her maiden Women Singles Gland Slam title after defeating Spain's Garbine Muguruza in the finals of Australian Open. Kenin overcame Muguruza 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena in the finals of the tournament. With this win, Kenin becomes the youngest Australian Open women's singles champion in 12 years. The two-times Grand slam winner Muguruza played aggressive tennis and did not allow the American to get any momentum, taking the set 6-4. However, Kenin bounced back in the second set with a terrific display of tennis skills and won the set 6-2. Kenin dom

As many as 11,791 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been registered in China and the death toll reached 259 on Saturday, Sputnik reported citing Chinese authorities. On the other hand, 243 people have been discharged from hospitals. The virus originated in China's Wuhan city in December and has since then spread to various cities around the world. China has imposed quarantine and travel restrictions, affecting the movement of 56 million people in more than a dozen cities, amid fears that the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year.

The head of Ukraine International Airlines is thanking Canada for its part in investigating the crash of one of its planes outside Tehran in early January. In a long statement on the airline's website today, Yevhenii Dykhne also says the company expects the formalities for compensation to families of the 176 people killed will be "finalized in the immediate future." Iran admits an air-defence battery shot the plane down, hours after Iran launched missiles into Iraq in retaliation for the American killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. The Iranian government says the operators of a missi

China's foreign ministry said Friday it will send charter flights to bring home residents of virus-afflicted region from overseas. The one-sentence statement gave few details, but said those from Hubei province and its capital Wuhan would be sent directly back to Wuhan in light of the “practical difficulties" they were encountering. The new type of virus originated in Wuhan and has since spread to more than a dozen nations and regions overseas. Most of the overseas cases were found among people who had travelled from Wuhan, although physicians are concerned about person-to-person transmissio