TAIWAN – Taiwan reported its first case of domestic transmission of the new coronavirus and raised its travel warning for China, saying people should avoid going unless absolutely necessary following the outbreak of the virus there.

Taiwan and China have close economic and cultural ties, and the island has reported eight confirmed cases of the virus. All of the more than 100 deaths from the virus have been in China, centered on Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre said the latest patient, the eighth, was the first case of transmission on the island as in all the previous cases the people had been infected first in China.

The new patient, a man in his 50s from central Taiwan, was infected by his wife after she returned from working in China and before she was subsequently diagnosed, the command center said. The man is in a stable condition, it said.(Reuters)…[+]

RUSSIA – Russia expelled a Japanese journalist last month for trying to obtain secret information related to military capabilities in the Russian Far East, the RIA news agency reported.

The expelled journalist worked for Kyodo News, the Japanese agency said on Tuesday, denying the accusation of attempted espionage.

Kyodo did not identify the reporter but said he was detained on December 25 in Vladivostok and released after about five hours of questioning.

The reporter was told to leave Russia in 72 hours, Kyodo said.

“For safety reasons, he left the country the following day. It is our understanding that he was engaged in standard reporting activities,” Kyodo said in an emailed statement.

Russia’s foreign ministry summoned a Japanese embassy official to make an official diplomatic protest over the incident, RIA reported.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it could not comment on the matter. (Al Jazeera)…[+]

LEBANON  – Lebanon’s Christian religious authorities urged anti-government protesters to give a new government breathing room to tackle a dire financial crisis, condemning what they described as mob assaults on security forces in recent marches.

Many demonstrators have rejected the government formed last week by the Iran-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah and its allies without participation of major political parties including the second-largest Christian party, Lebanese Forces (LF).

Demonstrations that began last October against a political elite blamed for steering Lebanon into its worst crisis in decades have turned violent as some protesters clashed with security forces at barricades around parliament and government headquarters in central Beirut to demand an independent cabinet.

“The Fathers stress the right for peaceful demonstrations to demand reform, but strongly reject the mobs on the streets and squares, especially in Beirut, lest the mobilization veers away from its noble goals”. (Reuters)…[+]