Wuhan virus: US confirms second case, 50 under investigation
A woman in Chicago in her sixties was on Friday confirmed as the second patient on US soil infected with a deadly new virus originating in China, health officials said, with 50 other suspected cases under investigation.
The contagion has so far claimed 26 lives in China, sickened hundreds and has spread across several Asian countries as well as the US.
"I'm pleased to report she is clinically doing well and is in stable condition," said Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health of the new patient.
Nancy Messonier, senior official at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the agency had so far tested 63 samples from patients across 22 US states for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
Gunman kills parents and four others in Germany
A 26-year-old man is believed to have shot dead his mother and father and four other people in a town in south-west Germany on Friday, police said, leaving two others seriously wounded.
The suspect "called the police station in (nearby town) Aalen at 12.48pm (7.48pm Singapore time) to inform them he had shot several people," police chief Reiner Moeller told reporters in a press conference hours after the killings in Rot am See, near Baden-Wuerttemberg state capital Stuttgart.
The young man stayed on the line, and when the first officers arrived minutes later at the hotel where the shooting took place, they immediately arrested him outside.
Building blast rips through Houston neighbourhood, killing two
A massive explosion at a machine shop ripped through a Houston neighbourhood early Friday morning, killing at least two people and damaging homes while sending out blast waves for miles.
Aerial video showed the shredded and collapsed wreckage of the Watson Grinding and Manufacturing building smoldering but no longer flaming, along with widespread damage to area homes and businesses.
The moment of the explosion, around 4.25am CST (6.25pm Singapore time), captured on video by a home security camera, showed a blinding flash in the distance followed by a fireball.
Powerful quake hits eastern Turkey, four dead
A powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 hit eastern Turkey on Friday (Jan 24), leaving at least four people dead and causing buildings to collapse.
The quake shook the Sivrice district in the eastern province of Elazig at around 8.55pm (1.55am on Saturday, Singapore time), the government's disaster and emergency management agency said.
"It was very scary, furniture fell on top of us. We rushed outside," 47-year-old Melahat Can, who lives in the city of Elazig, told AFP.
Athletics: 'They're fast, but are they fair?' Runners face Nike Vaporfly dilemma
British amateur runner and triathlete Holly Grundon was delighted to smash a long-held personal speed target - to finish a half marathon in less than 1 hour and 30 minutes.
But the 36-year-old's decision to switch to Nike's Vaporfly trainers before securing her new personal best (PB) time has her wondering whether she cheated herself, or dirtied a sport she's always loved for its purity.
The shoe has raised question at World Athletics, the sport's governing body, which looks set to review its rules for elite racing in light of technological advances while allowing recreational runners to wear what they want.
