Bill Chappell

Italy says its cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus spiked by more than 50% in just 24 hours. Fears over the virus are forcing top-level soccer matches to be played without any fans present.

The first suspected U.S. case of novel coronavirus infection through "community spread" was left undiagnosed for days, hospital officials said, because the case didn't fit the CDC's criteria.

South Korea, Italy and Iran have each confirmed at least 10 deaths from the coronavirus disease COVID-19, a mark that surpasses the death toll reported in many Chinese provinces.

Italy's health experts haven't been able to trace how the coronavirus got a foothold. The WHO's chief says COVID-19 has the potential to be a pandemic.

"America loves India, America respects India, and America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people," President Trump told a cheering crowd in a huge cricket stadium.

Taken just nine days apart, two images illustrate the impact a recent warm period had on the Antarctic Peninsula. NASA says such warmth "has become more common in recent years."

More than 15,000 people had sought to run for one of the 290 seats in Iran's parliament, but the government disqualified thousands — many of them reformist or moderate candidates — last month.

Many of the new cases are linked to a Christian sect in the city of Daegu. A woman who attended services there is listed as having more than 1,000 contacts.

A total of 621 people from the cruise ship have now been confirmed to have COVID-19 — or about 20% of the 3,011 people who had been tested for the coronavirus disease as of Wednesday.

"We just looked at each other: 'Is this what's going on? Let's go,' " Elizabethtown (Ky.) Detective Chase McKeown said, describing how he and his wife acted to stop a man with a gun.

"It is important to know that these people being released from quarantine pose no health risk to the surrounding community," a CDC press officer said in a statement to NPR.

One of the most stubborn fires to be declared out this week was a 2,000-acre beast that had been burning since July.

The move is aimed at helping Sudan get off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. The guided missile destroyer was attacked in 2000 while refueling in Yemen. Seventeen people onboard died.

The postings on Facebook, email and WhatsApp are mainly "just words of encouragement and a friendly ear." But they also share food reviews and news.

Bishops from the Amazon region had sought the changes to address a shortage of clergy. But some Roman Catholic conservatives warned that enacting them would lead to the end of clerical celibacy rules.

Emerging from the CDC's first quarantine in more than 50 years, one of the evacuees tells NPR that while people are excited, "we're kind of sad saying our goodbyes to each other."

Of the 109 who were injured, 76 have returned to duty. But 21 service members who were taken from Iraq to Germany for medical care have now been brought to the U.S.

The new cases include 45 Japanese and 11 Americans, as well as smaller numbers of people from Australia, Canada, England, the Philippines and Ukraine.

If the Diamond Princess were a country, it would now have the second-highest number of coronavirus cases outside of mainland China.

A deluge is falling on Australia's southeast coast — and while it's quashing stubborn fires, the water is also causing flash floods and other hazards.