Just call him Harry.The British prince who is preparing to step back from royal duties would normally be referred to as sir or his royal highness. But as he was introduced to speak about sustainable tourism at an event in Scotland on Wednesday, the Duke of Sussex said the formality no longer was necessary.”He’s made it clear that we are all just to call him Harry,” conference host Ayesha Hazarika said. “So ladies and gentlemen, please give a big, warm Scottish welcome to Harry.”The request reflected the seismic shift under way in the British monarchy.Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, say they will walk away from most royal duties starting March 31, give up public funding and try to become financially independent. The couple, who were named the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their wedding day, have also abandoned plans to use the “SussexRoyal” brand because of U.K. rules governing the use of the word “royal.”Harry spoke at an event for Travalyst, a coalition he founded along with companies such as Booking.com, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor, Trip.com and Visa. The conference in Scotland was a discussion of sustainability in travel, including creating an online scoring system to rate the eco-friendliness of different flights, accommodations and vacation experiences.Harry warned that the growth of tourism is damaging some of the world’s most cherished sites.”If we do not act and in a large part get ahead of the inevitable surge, this massive increase will mean risking more of the world’s most beautiful destinations closed or destroyed, more communities becoming overwhelmed, more beaches shut because of pollution, and animals and wildlife driven from their natural habitat – which has a huge impact on communities and reduces tourism opportunities,” he said.
 
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European governments are readying plans for coping with a possible coronavirus pandemic, despite the fact that the numbers of COVID-19 cases are still small in Europe compared to Asia.Officials in several counties admit that they expect the novel virus, which has infected at least 80,000 people worldwide and killed nearly 3000, to spread and say they are developing plans to cancel sporting events and concerts, reduce public transport services, impose travel restrictions and shutter schools.European Union leaders are still hopeful that member states will refrain from imposing border controls within the Schengen area of visa-free travel, but they acknowledge that the scale of the public health crisis will most likely determine the reaction of national governments.Some public health experts say the time is right to start planning for a pandemic — they suspect there are far more cases in Europe than are known.Britain’s health service is planning to increase testing for COVID-19 and has directed more than one hundred family surgeries and a dozen hospitals to start more testing, even for people who have not traveled to high-risk countries and aren’t displaying any symptoms of the illness. The service says the testing is a bid to establish whether coronavirus is spreading in Britain despite containment efforts. There have been 13 reported cases of COVID-19 in Britain so far.Health officials said that it would “not be wholly unexpected” if the tests found new cases. Britain’s Sun newspaper reported Wednesday that the British government fears 80% of the country’s population could contract the virus, if a pandemic does develop. The newspaper quoted from a government  report called “COVID-19 Reasonable Worst Case Scenario.”“The current planning assumption is that 2-3% of symptomatic cases will result in a fatality,” government officials said in the report. According to the government forecasters infection rates would snowball for two to three months once the virus starts spreading.A British government spokesman told the newspaper all eventualities had to be planned for, but added, “this does not mean we expect it to happen.”With Italy emerging as a new hub for the virus, many neighboring countries say they have little option but to plan for an outbreak, if prevention and containment fails to halt contagion. Health ministers from France, Germany, Italy and the EU Commission committed to keeping frontiers open at a meeting Tuesday as new cases of the virus emerged throughout Europe.Empty tables sit in St. Mark’s square in Venice, Italy. Italy has been scrambling to check the spread of Europe’s first major outbreak of coronavirus amid rapidly rising numbers of infections.“We’re talking about a virus that doesn’t respect borders,” said Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza. Britain’s health minister Matt Hancock said the British government had no plans to halt flights from Italy, which attracts about three million British visitors each year. “If you look at Italy, they stopped all flights from China and they’re now the worst-affected country in Europe,” he said.But whether member states remain united on the border issue remains to be seen. In early February several member governments pressed for restricting entry into the Schengen zone for all travelers from China, but with some countries opposed the move failed on the grounds that such a restriction would make no sense unless all countries acted in harmony.Some EU officials say that if individual countries start imposing restrictions within their own countries on movement, then it would probably be only a matter of time before some European governments start unilaterally to impose temporary controls on their borders with other EU member states.European countries are also making preparations for a severe outbreak of coronavirus within their own borders without regard for what their neighbors are planning. Contingency plans, in some countries include quarantining families when any family member contracts the disease. Switzerland, Austria, Croatia and mainland Spain all recorded their first cases midweek, with most infections stemming from travel to Italy, where nearly a dozen towns in the north of the country have been locked down and isolated to try to prevent a further spread.The World Health Organization has been urging countries to “think the virus is going to show up tomorrow,” warning: “If you don’t think that way, you’re not going to be ready.” The outbreak in Italy, where there are more than 300 cases and eleven people have died, has acted as a wake-up call for neighboring states.France and Croatia have ordered the cancellation of study-abroad programs and are changing train schedules and installing checkpoints. Budapest’s airport is installing thermal cameras in a bid to identify passengers displaying elevated temperatures.Italy’s northern region of Lombardy, which includes the city of Milan, the country’s commercial capital, has reported the vast majority of the more than 300 coronavirus cases confirmed so far by Italian authorities.Businesses and public health experts are moving in some cases faster than governments in urging employees and individuals to consider their travel needs. Nathalie MacDermott, an infectious disease expert at King’s College London, said that anyone planning to travel to Italy or other affected countries should ask: “Am I prepared that, if I go there, when I return, I might have to self-isolate for 14 days? Is my employer or my child’s school aware of that and will that be acceptable to them?”European companies — like their American counterparts — are also drawing up contingency plans for their employees to telework. In Asia the move to teleworking has already started. In Japan last week, the country’s health ministry urged businesses to promote telework and stagger working hours as part of an effort to prevent further spread of the new virus. “We need the understanding of companies to keep the virus from spreading,” health minister Katsunobu Kato said at a press conference. His call came after some major companies and telecommunications operators had already started to instruct employees to work from home. 
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Parts of Northern Italy are on lockdown following an outbreak of the Coronavirus or Covid-19 as it’s known, with at least seven deaths in the region. The sudden outbreaks in recent days, from South Korea to Iran to Italy, have raised fears that the virus – which originated in China – will turn into a global pandemic. Global cases of the virus have passed 80,000. Meanwhile a new report warns that southeast Asian and sub-Saharan African economies could be badly hit, even if there are no outbreaks of the disease there.Northern Italy is the epicentre of Europe’s Coronavirus outbreak. In the regions of Lombardy and Veneto several small towns have been put on lockdown – and 50,000 people have been told to stay at home. Supermarket shelves are emptying of basic goods, even in big cities like Milan.Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged citizens to heed government advice.Conte said, “This discomfort and sacrifice, which for now is intended for 14 days, I hope will prove to be effective to contain the spread of the virus.”But with new cases reported in other Italian regions – and in Spain and Switzerland – health authorities are struggling to contain the virus. Virologist Doctor Sterghios Moschos of Britain’s University of Northumbria says it’s vital people do all they can do to stop its spread.“The containment procedure is there to effectively dampen down the intensity of transmission and stretch it out to prevent an overload in healthcare settings,” Moschos said.Iran is one of the worst-affected nations outside China, with hundreds of infections and more than a dozen confirmed deaths. South Korea is also badly hit and the U.S. government has advised against all non-essential travel there. In China – where the virus first appeared in late December – infections have topped 77,000, with more than 2,500 deaths.“The window of opportunity for stopping this disease from becoming a pandemic is narrowing very fast. We, the entire (medical) community at the moment is anticipating this will eventually develop into a pandemic. However I have to point out that in the past we’ve had similar fears and what has happened is that viruses just died down, die away,” Moschos said.The global economic cost could hit $360 billion, according to a report from the Overseas Development Institute or ODI, which warns sub-Saharan Africa stands to lose $4 billion in export revenue. Oil and copper prices are sharply down – and big exporters to China, such as Angola, are suffering. The ODI says Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines will be worst hit. Sherilynn Raga is co-author of the report says, “Everyone’s looking back at the SARS impact in 2003. But of course if we look back, China is now four times bigger than during the time of the SARS outbreak and it’s more connected to the world now through global value chains, and the manufacturing sector.”Scientists are racing to produce a vaccine for the virus – with the first human trial scheduled for April.  By then the Covid-19 outbreak could be a full pandemic – with serious consequences for national health systems and the global economy.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov decried what he terms the “double standards” employed at the U.N. Human Rights Council in favor of Western democratic values, at the expense of what he calls the legitimate sovereign rights of nations that do not fall within the Western orbit.Lavrov did not hide his disdain Tuesday at the so-called country-specific resolutions adopted by the Council, saying the resolutions had become an increasingly popular pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states.   The Russian foreign minister criticized the imposition of unilateral sanctions often used by Western countries to topple governments.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Feb. 25, 2020.”This harmful practice leads to exacerbating confrontation and ultimately restricts the ability of ordinary citizens to exercise their legitimate rights,” he told the Council. “The reliable securing of rights and freedoms is incompatible with double standards. And in this context, one can wonder at the sight that some Western partners, who declare themselves champions of democracy, deliberately turn a blind eye to the outrageous oppression of human rights in the Ukraine.”    Lavrov didn’t offer names, though the European Union, the United States and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia and the Crimea following Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine in February 2014.  The U.N. Human Rights Office reports the war has resulted in the deaths of some 13,000 people, a quarter of them civilians. Another 30,000 people have been injured, and 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in Ukraine since the start of the conflict and Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.Lavrov also lashed out at Western powers for their support and justification of military actions committed by what he called “radical” and “terrorist” groups in Idlib in northwestern Syria.”It is difficult to find any other explanation for calls for peace agreements to be concluded with bandits as we see regarding the situation in Idlib,” he said. “That is not caring for human rights. That is capitulating before terrorists or even encouraging their activities in violation of international treaties and numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions.”  Lavrov’s observations come just as the United Nations has warned of a potential bloodbath of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Idlib if Russian-backed Syrian government forces do not stop their indiscriminate carpet-bombing of the region.Lavrov urged the Human Rights Council to resolutely renounce what he called double standards. He said that’s why his government has decided to run for a seat on the 47-member Council for its 2021-2023 term.   Russia lost its bid to become a member in 2016 after a campaign by rights groups over its bombing of Syria.
 
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European Union members said Tuesday they are ready to offer Britain a substantial and wide-ranging post-Brexit trade deal, but differences between the two sides are wide — even before they start talks next week.Meeting in Brussels, European ministers set out clear negotiating lines for a future trade deal, beyond which they claim they will not budge.Chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the 27 EU members want a fair and balanced partnership with Britain. But he acknowledged the talks will be difficult — especially given the year-end deadline the U.K. has set to wrap them up.“We are ready to offer a highly ambitious trade deal to the U.K., but the U.K. cannot expect high-quality access to the single market if it is not prepared to accept guarantees that competition remains open and fair — free and fair,” said Barnier.To get the best deal possible, EU members say Britain must adapt to the bloc’s rules and regulations in areas like environmental and working standards. London wants to set its own laws and standards.And while the U.K. reportedly wants a Canada-style free trade agreement with zero tariffs, Barnier dismissed the prospect.“The U.K. will be the EU’s third largest trading partner, almost 10 times bigger than Canada. At the same time, Canada is some 5,000 kilometers away. It’s clear the rules cannot be the same,” he said.EU members also insist the U.K. honor commitments it has already made in Brexit negotiations last year, if it is to get a good deal moving forward.Irish Sea borderHere’s Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney on the question of enforcing the Irish Sea border.“The withdrawal agreement involves significant commitments in the context of Northern Ireland through the Irish protocol that both the EU and the U.K. need to follow through on. If that doesn’t happen, it will damage significantly the prospects of getting even a bare-bones trade agreement,” he said.The first round of post-Brexit negotiations are set to begin in Brussels on Monday, before talks switch to Britain. Barnier said he’ll be providing a progress check in June. 
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Italian officials are scrambling to contain an outbreak of coronavirus, or COVID-19, after separate cases were confirmed Tuesday in Tuscany and Sicily, which is hundreds of kilometers away from the north of the country, where nearly a dozen towns are on lockdown following seven virus-related deaths.The lack of a clear source of the outbreak in the affluent northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto is raising the alarm of Italy’s public health officials, who have been hunting for “Patient Zero,” the first person in the country to be infected with the virus.The surge of 283 positive cases in parts of northern Italy in recent days is prompting anxiety in neighboring countries with officials saying coronavirus is “knocking at the door.”Austria is considering stopping all rail traffic from Italy and imposing other controls on its border with its southern neighbor. Two Italian emigres who live in the Austrian region of Tyrol, and who recently returned from a trip to northern Italy, tested positive for the virus, according to a local health authority spokeswoman.Croatia’s prime minister confirmed the country’s first COVID-19 case Tuesday. Hundreds of tourists at a hotel in the Spanish resort of Tenerife are reportedly being tested after another vacationer, an Italian from Lombardy, tested positive.British officials announced that anyone who has visited northern Italy in the past two weeks should “self-isolate” at home, if he or she develops flu-like symptoms. That’s in line with official guidance for those who have returned from vacations or business trips to China and South Korea. Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock, said he didn’t know of any Britons trapped in the nearly dozen northern towns being quarantined by the Italian government, but the “significant outbreak” of cases was “worrying,” he added in a broadcast interview.Two schools in the English county of Cheshire decided Tuesday to shut down after some of their students returned from ski trips in Italy. So far, 13 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19; four were travelers repatriated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.People, some wearing protective masks amid a coronavirus outbreak, take photos in central Milan, Italy, Feb. 24, 2020.Globally, there are more than 80,000 suspected and confirmed cases. More than 2,700 people have died from the flu-like virus, according to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, which has been collating global figures.The rapid surge of cases in the north of Italy has prompted panic shopping, with supermarkets across the country, even in the south far from the viral epicenter, packed with families stocking up on food and medicine.In a superstore in Viterbo, on the northern outskirts of the Italian capital, Rome, retailers were taken aback by the volume of shoppers eager to stock up on water, pasta and dry foods; as people formed long lines in front of registers early in the morning with shopping carts piled high. “That’s a lot of people,” said Lucretzia, a cashier at Conad Ipermercato. “This is more like what we see on Christmas Eve,” she said.Pharmacists in the town of 55,000 said they had sold out of surgical masks, hand-sanitizers and disinfectant wipes. An assistant at the hardware store Bricofer said all stock of protective masks used by builders and home-improvement enthusiasts had been emptied.More shoppers arrived by midday, as news broke of two people testing positive in Tuscany, and another COVID-19 case in the Sicilian city of Palermo. Marino Faccini, head of Milan’s infectious diseases team, warned that Italy was “at the start of an epidemic.” He said the lockdown may have come too late and predicted there would be lots of cases caused by people who left towns just before the lockdown was imposed.Some governments — and airlines — moved quickly Tuesday to isolate Italy. Kuwait suspended all flights to Italy because of the coronavirus outbreak. Bulgaria Air, meanwhile, said it has stopped its service to Milan until March 27. The announcements drew a sharp response from Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte who said his government had moved quickly to contain the spread of the virus with its lockdown of affected towns and orders to cancel cultural events and sporting events.Conte said limitations on the movement of Italians imposed by foreign states would be be unacceptable. “We cannot accept it. Our citizens can leave safe and secure, for themselves and for others,” he added.Empty shelves are seen in a supermarket in Milan, Feb. 23, 2020, as fears spread of rising numbers of coronavirus cases in Italy.All the deaths from the virus so far in Italy have involved people over the age of 60, most of whom had pre-existing health conditions. The worst-hit region is Lombardy, where six people have died and 212 people have contracted the potentially deadly disease. There have been one death and over 38 positive cases in Veneto, 23 positive cases in Emilia-Romagna, three in Piedmont, and three in Lazio, the region dominated by Rome. The Lazio cases involved an Italian academic, who had returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus originated, and two Chinese tourists.Some of Italy’s regional governors are critical of the government’s response, saying they had urged Rome to act more quickly and with much tougher measures. The president of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, said local hospitals had been misinformed by the health ministry on the best ways to handle COVID-19 patients. “Too bad that we followed, unfortunately, the protocols that were given to us by the government. If we had done what we as governors proposed, things would not have gone so far,” he told RAI Radio.Fontana said he and other regional presidents had argued more than a month ago for all Chinese students returning to Italy from vacations to be quarantined. “We were accused of being racist, of wanting to spread panic,” he said. But government officials say there’s no evidence to support the suggestion that Chinese students may be the ones inadvertently spreading the virus.European officials say they fear the spread could quickly develop into a pandemic. Officials point out that one of the biggest challenges in containing the virus is that it can be spread by infected people who show barely any symptoms, if any, of ill-health.U.S. actor Tom Cruise flew from Venice to Britain after filming for the next Mission Impossible movie was postponed. A production worker told Britain’s The Sun newspaper: “There have been meetings with officials but they’re clear that, as far as they are concerned, there is a serious risk in the area, especially where large numbers are gathered — and this is a huge set. Halting this is extremely expensive, but there’s no way anybody involved would take the risk of staying put.” 
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A lawyer for Julian Assange complained Tuesday that the WikiLeaks founder was handcuffed 11 times, stripped naked twice and had court papers taken away on the first day of a hearing on his extradition to the United States.Attorney Edward Fitzgerald told a judge that the treatment of Assange at London’s Belmarsh Prison “could be a contempt of this court.” The extradition hearing opened on Monday at Woolwich Crown Court, which is located next to the prison.District Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who is hearing the case, said she had no power to act unless Assange became unable to participate in the proceedings, which are expected to last several months.“If it comes to that, please let me know,” the judge said.Assange is wanted in the U.S. on espionage charges over the leaking of classified government documents a decade ago.U.S. prosecutors accuse Assange of conspiring with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password, hack into a Pentagon computer and release hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.They allege that WikiLeaks’ publication of the unedited documents put U.S. intelligence sources who were mentioned in them at risk of torture of death.Assange says he was acting as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection. His lawyers argue that the U.S. charges — which carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison — are a politically motivated abuse of power.Defense lawyers also deny that Assange put lives at risk. Attorney Mark Summers said WikiLeaks initially worked with media outlets in 2010 to publish the trove of files in edited form.He said that the following year Assange phoned the White House to warn that a password published in a book about WikiLeaks could allow people to view the full unredacted cache of documents. Summers said Assange had warned that “unless we do something, then people’s lives are put at risk.”Assange has been jailed in England since April 2019, when he was evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He took refuge in the embassy seven years earlier to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault.A British court handed him a 50-week sentence for jumping bail in 2012.The extradition hearing is expected to continue for the rest of the week, then take a break before resuming in May.
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