News Headlines - 06 March 2020

▽Korea Sect Leader Seeks Forgiveness for Coronavirus Spike - Bloomberg

The leader of a religious sect at the center of a sudden surge in South Korea’s coronavirus infections knelt and then bowed before a throng of TV cameras and reporters before asking for forgiveness for unintentionally spreading the virus.
In his first public appearance since the outbreak that has claimed 28 lives and infected more than 4,800 people in Korea, leader of the Shincheonji sect, Lee Man-hee, said Monday it was “not the time for casting blame on anyone,” adding that his religious organization was “fully” cooperating with health authorities.

▽Coronavirus: The Queen wears gloves at investiture ceremony | Daily Mail Online

The Queen wore gloves at an investiture at Buckingham Palace today, the first time she has done so since she began carrying out the ceremonies in 1952, amid warnings about the spread of coronavirus and the deadly danger it poses to the over-80s... Her Majesty wears gloves when she meets the public at events or garden parties - but not at investitures where she carries out the fiddly task of fastening the awards to a hook on the recipients' lapels... The last time she wore gloves for an investiture at all was in 1954, when she recognised Air Marshal Claude Pelly with a knighthood in Yemen.

▽Cruise ship is held off California coast for virus testing

Scrambling to keep the coronavirus at bay, officials ordered a cruise ship with 3,500 people aboard to stay back from the California coast Thursday until passengers and crew can be tested, after a traveler from its previous voyage died of the disease and at least four others became infected.
A military helicopter lowered test kits onto the 951-foot (290-meter) Grand Princess by rope as the vessel lay at anchor off the coast of San Francisco, and authorities said the results would be available Friday. Princess Cruise Lines said fewer than 100 people aboard had been identified for testing.

▽U.S. Stymies Chinese Bid to Run Intellectual Property Agency - Bloomberg

The U.S.-backed candidate, Daren Tang of Singapore, won by a vote of 55-28 over Chinese candidate Wang Binying among the governments voting for the leadership of the World Intellectual Property Organization, which helps develop cross-border policies on intellectual property.
While the agency is relatively obscure, the leadership fight had become a crucial battleground in the bid by President Donald Trump’s administration to counter what it has seen as China’s growing influence and assertiveness in international agencies and the U.N. The State Department had made it a top priority to stop China’s candidate from winning the election.
The fight underlines the growing intensity of the U.S.-China rivalry even after the two countries reached a phase-one trade agreement. That tariff war has already sapped global trade, choked supply chains and boosted worries of a new Cold War as competition between the nations intensifies in a range of different forums.

▽Scientists meet in Havana on diplomats' mystery illnesses

Some scientists who gathered Monday for a two-day conference on the mysterious illnesses suffered by U.S. and Canadian diplomats in Havana said they suspected pesticides as a possible culprit, although results remained inconclusive.
The dozens of illnesses reported in recent years led the U.S. and Canada to sharply reduce the staffing at their embassies in Cuba. The phenomenon also led to increased tension between Cuba and the Trump administration, which accused Cuba of bearing at least some responsibility for the illnesses.