International

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Russian track and field athletes may be banned from a second-straight summer Olympics after the Athletics Integrity Unit recommended severe sanctions be imposed on the Russian Athletics Federation on Wednesday.

MIAMI (AP) — Jennifer Lopez and Shakira said their Super Bowl halftime show will pay homage to Latino culture, promising a joint performance that has an empowering message and also one that will remember NBA icon Kobe Bryant.

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization declared the outbreak sparked by a new virus in China that has spread to more than a dozen countries as a global emergency Thursday after the number of cases spiked more than tenfold in a week.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — A tour guide living in Osaka Prefecture has been infected with the new coronavirus in addition to a Japanese bus driver, the health ministry said Wednesday, after they rode with Chinese tourists earlier this month.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that Taiwan's participation in the World Health Organization is necessary to effectively fight the spread of a new coronavirus.

PARIS (AP) — European officials and business stepped up efforts Wednesday to counter a spreading virus from China that has killed more than 130 people. Airlines canceled flights to the Chinese mainland, businesses told employees to work from home and EU nations made plans to repatriate some 600 citizens from China.

BEIJING (Xinhua) — Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by phone on Wednesday at the latter's request, discussing efforts to combat the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament overwhelmingly approved the departure terms of the United Kingdom from the European Union — the final major decision in the four-year Brexit saga.

SEATTLE (AP) — People around the world are buying up protective face masks in hopes of keeping the new virus from China at bay.

SHANGHAI (Xinhua) — The project for the development of an mRNA vaccine targeting the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has been urgently approved, said Shanghai East Hospital of Tongji University.