Cruise Ship Denied by Jamaica, Grand Cayman on Coronavirus Fears Headed for Mexican Port

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-02-26/cruise-ship-denied-by-jamaica-grand-cayman-on-coronavirus-fears-headed-for-mexican-port

MEXICO CITY (REUTERS) - A passenger cruise ship is headed for Mexico's port city of Cozumel after Jamaican and Grand Cayman authorities barred its passengers from disembarking due to fears of the fast-spreading coronavirus, ship operator MSC Cruises said on Wednesday.

MSC Cruises said the medical records of the MSC Meraviglia show "one single case of common seasonal flu" by a passenger who has not traveled in any areas impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

The company added that the passenger was isolated for security measures but that no other cases of type A influenza have been discovered on board MSC Meraviglia and no coronavirus cases have been reported on any of its ships.

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In unprecedented move, Israelis advised to avoid all travel abroad over virus

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-unprecedented-move-israelis-advised-to-avoid-all-travel-over-virus-fears/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

In a dramatic statement Wednesday, Israel’s Health Ministry urged Israelis to seriously consider refraining from traveling abroad, as the country looked to isolate itself from the novel coronavirus outbreak rapidly spreading across the globe.

“If you don’t genuinely have to fly — don’t do so,” the ministry said in a travel warning.

In making the announcement, Israel became the first country to urge its citizens to refrain from international travel entirely because of the outbreak, which started in China in December and has since infected over 80,000 worldwide and claimed well over 2,000 lives, almost all of them in China.

Saudi Arabia halts travel to Islam’s holiest sites over coronavirus

https://www.timesofisrael.com/saudi-arabia-halts-travel-to-islams-holiest-sites-over-coronavirus/

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Thursday halted travel to the holiest sites in Islam over fears about a new viral epidemic just months ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage, a move coming as the Mideast has over 220 confirmed cases of the illness.

The extraordinary decision by Saudi Arabia stops foreigners from reaching the holy city of Mecca and the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims pray toward five times a day. It also said travel was suspended to Prophet Muhammad’s mosque in Medina.

The decision showed the worry about the outbreak potentially spreading into Saudi Arabia, whose oil-rich monarchy stakes its legitimacy on protecting Islam’s holy sites. The epicenter in the Mideast’s most-affected country, Iran, appears to be in the holy Shiite city of Qom, where a shrine there sees the faithful reach out to kiss and touch it in reverence.

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Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar will not attend AIPAC conference

https://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Pete-Buttigieg-and-Amy-Klobuchar-will-not-attend-AIPAC-conference-618983

Democratic presidential candidates Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg said they will not attend AIPAC’s annual conference because it overlaps with Super Tuesday.

Their absence leaves former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg as the only Democratic candidate to confirm that he will speak at the prominent Israel lobby’s confab March 1-3 in Washington, D.C. The event draws some 18,000 people each year.

Attendance has become a hot-button issue after Sen. Bernie Sanders, the front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, said he would skip the conference, tweeting that he is “concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights.”

California resident with no China links catches Coronavirus - showing disease has started spreading within US

https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-cdc-calls-california-case-013516165.html

A patient in California has been diagnosed with the Coronavirus despite no known links to any outbreaks overseas.

The case may be proof that the fatal illness has begun spreading within communities in the US, the CDC warned.

The news came as President Trump held a White House press conference outlining his adminstration's response to the epidemic but downplaying how widespread he expects it to become.

US targets individuals, entities linked to Lebanon's Martyrs Foundation

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1633626/middle-east

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday added a host of Lebanese individuals and entities it said were linked to the Martyrs Foundation to its designated “global terrorists” lists, according to a notice on the US Treasury Department’s website.

US officials have previously targeted the Lebanon-based Martyrs Foundation, an organization the department has said channels financial support to several militant groups, including Hezbollah.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had blacklisted Atlas Holding for being owned or controlled by the Martyrs Foundation, as well as senior Atlas official Kassem Mohamad Ali Bazzi, and 10 Atlas-affiliated companies.

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