Officials claim British-Iranian dual national has not been affected by coronavirus
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being offered temporary release from Evin prison in Tehran due to the risk of the coronavirus outbreak reaching Iran’s jails.
The news was confirmed by the Iranian ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, and by Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s constituency MP in north-west London, Tulip Siddiq.
Continue reading...USA, Australia and Thailand report first deaths from coronavirus as two frontline doctors in China die and bans are put in place on large gatherings. Follow live news
A parent and child who attended the minor injuries unit at Sevenoaks Hospital in Kent on Saturday afternoon have been advised to self-isolate at home and call NHS 111 in case they require testing for the coronavirus.
The parent grew concerned when the child, who had been at school with pupils who recently returned from Italy, developed a mild temperature.
Our Sevenoaks Minor Injury Unit (MIU) has now closed for the evening and will be reopening as normal tomorrow morning.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
You can find the details of your nearest, alternative MIU here https://t.co/TjQ9dy665d pic.twitter.com/YmotgxTFLq
A “surveillance network” of GP practices in Scotland will test patients with coughs and fevers and submit samples, even if patients have not travelled to an area affected by coronavirus, as part of the Scottish government plans.
The measure described as an “early warning” system to alert health professionals to possible spread of the virus.
“Hospitals and GP surgeries will now conduct tests on some patients with coughs, fevers or shortness of breath - regardless of whether they have travelled to a place where the virus is known to be spreading.”
“Not everyone with flu will be tested, but this is a sensible step to take as a precautionary measure to give us an early warning of community transmission.”
Continue reading...Despite reports of Covid-19 in Evin prison, staff are refusing to test her, say campaigners
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman detained in Iran, is suspected to have the coronavirus, her family has said.
The Free Nazanin Campaign said that although there were reports of at least one coronavirus-related inmate death inside Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, staff had refused to test her.
Continue reading...Lone Kabul laboratory preparing to treat patients in the midst of political turmoil and tentative peace talks, as border with Iran closed
Preparations for an outbreak of coronavirus were underway in Afghanistan as the country confirmed its first case in the western province of Herat, which borders Iran.
Seven more suspected cases have been identified in Herat, and three cases in the nearby provinces of Farah and Ghor.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabia bans religious tourists from entering country as WHO says virus now spreading faster outside China than in it. Follow latest news
Fiji has extended its travel ban due to coronavirus fears. Travellers who have been in Italy, Iran and the South Korean cities of Daegu and Cheongdo will not be permitted to enter Fiji. Visitors who had been in mainland China in the last 14 days have also been forbidden entry into the Pacific nation.
There are no suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus in Fiji, but Pacific nations are fearful of how their health systems will cope were the virus to reach their shores.
Ian Thorpe, the Australian Olympic swimming legend, says athletes must consider their own health before attending the Tokyo Games this year.
Thorpe, whose five Olympic golds make him the most successful Australian Olympian all time, spoke out as concerns mounted about whether the Games in July and August will go ahead because of the coronavirus outbreak.
I think the decision should come down to each individual athlete. But whether or not they want to compete, that they should take their health into consideration first.
Related: Athletes must consider their own health before travelling to Olympics, says Ian Thorpe
Continue reading...Anoosheh Ashoori, a British-Iranian citizen, is among those who may be forced to move
Prisoners in Iran’s Evin prison, including a British-Iranian dual national, are protesting against plans for them to be transferred to a ward that they believe previously held a coronavirus victim.
Sherry Ashoori, whose dual national husband, Anoosheh Ashoori, 65, was jailed by the Iranian authorities for 12 years, said she has contacted the Foreign Office to warn them of the plans to transfer her husband and others to the prison’s ward 4.
Continue reading...Shrine city of Qom believed to be virus hub, as concern grows for region’s refugee population
Fears are growing across the Middle East that coronavirus has infiltrated a main pilgrimage route, which could lead the deadly pathogen to vulnerable refugee populations, causing perhaps unprecedented public health crises across the region.
Concern is centred on the Iranian shrine city of Qom, which is thought to be a hub of the disease and the likely source of its spread elsewhere in the country and in neighbouring states, where infected travellers have been diagnosed in recent days.
Continue reading...Iran’s election on Friday was a blow to moderates, a disappointment for conservative rulers and bad news for the region too. The result was largely ordained before anyone could cast a ballot. Hardliners appear to have swept the parliamentary contest – taking all 30 seats in Tehran – because the authorities ensured that they would. The Guardian Council, which is loosely under the control of the supreme leader, had disqualified around half of the thousands of candidates for the 290-seat body, including 90 serving members. While parliament’s powers are limited, it can impede the president and shape the political environment; with a presidential race due next year, the result sets a course for conservative control of every branch of government – as seen during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s grim tenure.
Yet the outcome of Friday’s poll was far from the endorsement sought. Despite the supreme leader’s exhortations to vote, the extension of polling hours and the anger engendered by the US assassination of Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds force, a usually active electorate stayed away. Turnout stood at just 42.5%, the first time it has dipped below 50% since the 1979 revolution; in Tehran it was just 25%.
Continue reading...Shohreh Bayat warned after images circulated appearing to show her without a headscarf at Shanghai tournament
A chess referee from Iran has fled to the UK after being warned that she could be arrested for being in breach of Iran’s strict dress codes during an international tournament in China.
Shohreh Bayat, 32, has sought asylum in Britain after a photograph of her at the women’s world chess championships in Shanghai last month was circulated on social media. It appeared to show her without a headscarf, although she has insisted the scarf was in place but loose over her hair.
Continue reading...78,000 cases confirmed, as Italy and Iran scramble to contain major outbreaks
The world is fast approaching a tipping point in the spread of the coronavirus, according to experts, who warn that the disease is outpacing efforts to contain it, after major outbreaks forced Italy and Iran to introduce stringent internal travel restrictions and South Korea’s president placed the country on red alert.
Some of the countries most affected by the virus are scrambling to halt its progress two days after Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the international community needed to act quickly before the narrowing “window of opportunity” closed completely.
Continue reading...Country confirms more than 430 cases as WHO head voices concern over fifth death in Iran
Thousands of members of a secretive religious sect in South Korea are being screened for the new coronavirus after more than 430 cases were confirmed in the country by officials, one of several fresh clusters of the disease globally.
More than 78,000 people around the world have been infected by the Covid-19 virus, with most cases in mainland China, though clusters that have unclear origins have emerged in Singapore, Iran and South Korea.
Continue reading...Likely outcome reflects frustration at collapsing living standards and relations with the west
Iran’s conservatives are on the brink of a landslide victory in the country’s parliamentary elections as forecasts show them taking more than two-thirds of the seats.
The reformists, the largest grouping in the outgoing parliament, have been decisively beaten, with predictions showing them taking only 17 seats in the 290-strong parliament. The principalists – or conservatives – were on course to take around 200 seats, including all 30 seats in the capital, Tehran, previously a stronghold of the reformers.
Continue reading...Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, has expressed concerned over the ‘narrowing window of opportunity’ to tackle Covid-19, and has urged the international community not to squander it. With four new cases in Iran, concern has increased about the epidemic spreading across the Middle East, and the sharp devaluation of the Iranian rial means it will be hard for its government to throw the same resources at the epidemic as China has
Virus is spreading in Middle East, with confirmed cases in Lebanon and Israel
Four Iranians have died after contracting the coronavirus, with health authorities warning it has spread to multiple cities, while Israel and Lebanon declared their first domestic cases as the deadly epidemic spreads across the Middle East.
Asked on Friday if the new cases put the crisis at a tipping point, the World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the “window of opportunity is narrowing, so we need to act quickly before it closes completely”.
Continue reading...While some want to show solidarity with the supreme leader in face of US pressure, others feel their voice won’t be heard
At dawn, Dr Mostafa, a psychologist, went to pray at the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in north Tehran before taking the short walk to be the first in line at the polling booth. So determined was he to do his religious duty and show his support for the supreme leader, that he voted in Friday’s parliamentary elections as soon as the polling booth opened at 8am. “We all have a duty to vote, if we want to be responsible citizens,” said Mostafa, who claims to have worked for the Iranian delegation in the Hague. Saying he had voted for the Conservatives, he added that he believed the US was “a liar”, insisting: “The parliament should never have believed American promises.”
But such enthusiasm for the parliamentary elections is likely to be the exception. By mid-afternoon there was just a smattering of people queuing to vote by the same mosque, while the nearby Tajrish bazaar was, in contrast, teeming. The mosque itself, too, seemed more attractive to mid-afternoon visitors than the chance to vote.
Continue reading...Hardliners aiming to take advantage of fury over corruption to take power and keep President Rouhani on a tight leash
“They’ve been stealing the money. Cut off their hands, make them pay and answer,” shouted an elderly woman in a black chador, suddenly standing up at a conservative election rally in south Tehran.
Mohammad Hosseini, Iran’s minister for culture and Islamic guidance from 2009 to 2013 under the then president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, replied. If elected, he said, he would always be available to his people. He even read out his phone number to the crowd to underline his sincerity.
Continue reading...Canada, Ukraine, Britain and others ask for box to be sent to third country for examination
Canada and other countries whose nationals were killed in the Iranian strike on a Ukrainian civilian jet leaving Tehran have stepped up their requests for Iran to hand over the black box to a third party for examination.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has suggested specialist equipment should be sent to Tehran to help the Iranians decrypt the contents of the black box and has given a commitment the box will not be opened except in the presence of all interested parties. But with an impasse looming, western aviation experts have said it is not possible to send the cumbersome equipment to Tehran.
Continue reading...‘Terrible’ attack thought to be Saudi-led reprisal for the shooting down of one of its planes that was claimed by Houthi rebels
Thirty-one people were killed in air strikes on Yemen on Saturday, the United Nations says, the victims of an apparent Saudi-led retaliation after Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have shot down one of Riyadh’s jets.
The Tornado aircraft came down on Friday in northern Al-Jawf province during an operation to support government forces, a rare shooting down that prompted operations in the area by a Saudi-led military coalition fighting the rebels.
Continue reading...Tornado aircraft came down in al-Jawf during operation to assist Yemeni forces
A Saudi fighter jet has crashed in Yemen, the Riyadh-led military coalition supporting the government said.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they had downed the plane.
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A judge has temporarily blocked Microsoft’s cloud-computing work with the Pentagon after Amazon complained that it lost the contract partly because of Trump’s bias against the company.
Trump has repeatedly lashed out against Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and owner of the Washington Post.
A judge ordered Thursday a temporary block on the JEDI cloud contract, which was awarded to Microsoft, in response to a suit filed by Amazon. Shares of Microsoft fell on the news, while Amazon’s stock rose slightly.
A court notice announcing the injunction was filed on Thursday, but wasn’t public. It’s unclear why the documents were sealed.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is instructed to earmark $42 million for any ‘costs and damages’ that could be incurred in the event that the ‘injunction was issued wrongfully,’ the filing states. Amazon must file a notice with the courts indicating it has obtained the $42 million by Feb. 20. Microsoft and Amazon must respond to the filing by Feb. 27.
The eight Republicans who supported the Iran War Powers resolution in the Senate were: Todd Young, Mike Lee, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Rand Paul, Bill Cassidy, Jerry Moran and Lamar Alexander.
The resolution, aimed at limiting Trump’s authority to launch military operations in Iran, was expected to attract some Republican support, but the number of defections was surprising.
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