BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday reported 254 new deaths and a spike in virus cases of 15,152, after the hardest-hit province of Hubei applied a new classification system that broadens the scope of diagnoses for the outbreak, which has spread to more than 20 countries. Japan also reported its first death, a woman in […]

MONTREAL (JTA) – A former Hasidic Jewish couple is suing the Quebec province and school system, claiming the government did not make sure they received a complete education. The trial opened Monday in Quebec Superior Court and is expected to last about two weeks. Yohanan and Shifra Lowen filed the lawsuit five years ago, the […]

NEW YORK (AP) – There are jigsaw puzzle nights at coffee shops and libraries. Puzzle groups and puzzle games online. Hand-cut wooden puzzles that cost thousands of dollars. And puzzle designs that range from edgy, original artwork to your own, custom-ordered family photos. Jigsaw puzzles for grownups are in vogue. “I was not as passionate […]

BEIJING (AP) — Dr. Mike Ryan, the head of emergencies for the World Health Organization, says “it’s way too early to try to predict the beginning of the end” of the virus outbreak in China. Ryan was speaking at a news conference Wednesday at WHO headquarters in Geneva. He says it is reassuring that the […]

NEW YORK (AP) — When the factory in China that makes Romy Taormina’s anti-nausea wristbands closed for the Lunar New Year in late January, she expected production to resume by early this month. But many factories across China are still closed to try to limit the spread of the coronavirus, leaving business owners in limbo. […]

JERUSALEM (AP) — After repeated delays, the U.N. human rights office on Wednesday released a list of more than 100 companies it said are complicit in violating Palestinian human rights by operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The list, the first ever attempt by the U.N. to name and shame businesses contributing […]

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A long stalemate over the future independence of Warsaw’s landmark Jewish history museum is building toward a crucial turning point after the former director — who won a competition for a second term but whom Poland’s populist government refuses to reinstate — offered to renounce the job. Dariusz Stola announced Tuesday […]

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese man with a sweet tooth who believes in smiles has become the world’s oldest male at 112 years and 344 days old, according to Guinness World Records. Chitetsu Watanabe, who was born in Niigata in northern Japan in 1907, received a certificate for his accomplishment on Wednesday at a nursing […]

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court on Wednesday handed down a five-year prison term to a radical cleric for terrorism financing. Hafiz Saaed is wanted by Washington and New Delhi for his alleged role in the bloody 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people in neighboring India. The U.S. put a $10 million bounty […]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Samsung on Tuesday unveiled a new foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Flip, its second attempt to sell consumers on phones with bendable screens and clamshell designs. The new phone can unfold from a small square upward into a traditional smartphone form, and will go on sale Feb. 14 starting at $1,380. […]