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Beijing expands lockdowns as cases top 100 in new outbreak

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BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities locked down a third neighborhood in Beijing on Tuesday as they rushed to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 100 people in a country that appeared to have largely contained the virus.

The resurgence in China highlighted public health expert calls for vigilance as many nations move forward with easing virus restrictions to revive their economies.

New Zealand, which hadn’t seen a new case in three weeks, said it is investigating a case in which two women who flew in from London to see a dying parent were allowed to leave quarantine and drive halfway across the country before they were tested and found to be positive. And the Philippines reimposed a strict lockdown on the city of Cebu after a rise in cases.

China reported 40 more coronavirus infections nationwide through the end of Monday, including 27 in Beijing, bringing the total to 106 in the nation’s capital since Thursday. At least one patient was in critical condition and two were in serious condition. Four cases were also reported in neighboring Hebei province, with three linked to the Beijing outbreak.

Most of the cases have been linked to the Xinfadi wholesale food market, and people lined up around the city for massive testing campaigns of anyone who had visited the market in the past two weeks or come in contact with them. About 9,000 workers at the market were tested previously.

The initial spread happened among market workers, Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state broadcaster CCTV. He said that authorities detected the outbreak early enough to be confident they can contain it.

“For those who were infected, they will start showing symptoms either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” he said. “So, if there’s no sharp increase of newly reported cases tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the outbreak this time will basically stay at the current scale.”

Authorities locked down seven residential compounds in Beijing’s Xicheng district, where the first case was confirmed on Thursday. They also barring residents of areas considered high-risk from leaving Beijing and banned taxis and car-hailing services from taking people out of the city.

The number of passengers on buses, trains and subways will also be limited and all are required to wear masks.

Fresh meat and seafood in the city and elsewhere in China was also being inspected, though experts have expressed doubt the virus could be spread via food supplies. Nonetheless, Chinese media reports said that salmon had been pulled from shelves in 14 cities including Beijing after the virus was found in a sample taken from a salmon chopping board at Xinfadi market.

The market has been closed for disinfection, as has a second market where three cases were confirmed. Residential communities around both markets have been put under lockdown, affecting 90,000 people in a city of 20 million.

China had relaxed many of its coronavirus controls after the ruling Communist Party in March declared victory over the virus, which was first detected the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

The two women in New Zealand had been allowed to leave quarantine for compassionate reasons and traveled from Auckland to Wellington by car. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said that as part of their travel plan, they had no contact with any people or any public facilities on their road trip.

The women remain in isolation in Wellington, and tests were being conducted on passengers and staff on their flights, others at the Auckland hotel they initially quarantined at and a family member they met in Wellington.

South Korea, also battling to prevent a resurgence of the virus, reported 34 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. Half were in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area where officials have been scrambling to stem transmissions linked to leisure and religious activities and low-income workers who can’t afford to stay home.

The Seoul government has so far resisted calls to reimpose stronger social distancing guidelines, fearing further damage to the fragile economy.

Besides Cebu, Philippine officials retained quarantine restrictions in Manila for another two weeks as infections continued to spike.

“The battle with COVID isn’t over,” Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said.

Turkey, which has seen an uptick in cases since easing restrictions in early June, made the wearing of face masks mandatory in five more provinces on Tuesday. “We cannot struggle against the virus without masks,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted.

The epidemic continues to grow sharply in India, which recorded 10,667 new cases, taking the tally to 343,091. Health services in the worst-hit cities of Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai have been swamped by the rising infections. Nearly 10,000 people have died.

In the United States, Vice President Mike Pence encouraged governors Monday to highlight the “good news” around efforts to fight the virus despite several states reporting a rise in infections, which could intensify as people return to work and venture out during the summer.

In audio of the call obtained by The Associated Press, Pence said the U.S. is seeing strong drops in virus-related hospitalization and mortality rates and urged governors to make it clear to residents that “there’s a lot of really, really good news.”

One governor, Nevada’s Steve Sisolak, announced that current limits on businesses and gatherings would remain in place while health officials evaluate whether the state’s uptick in cases is cause for concern.

Sisolak said he and state health officials anticipated an increase in new cases after reopening and expanding testing capacity throughout June. “Recently we’ve experienced some trends that require additional evaluation and analysis,” he said at a news conference.

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Tech

NASA’s Artemis II Astronauts Begin Historic Journey Around the Moon After Key Orion Engine Burn

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Earth's crescent is seen from a solar array camera on the Orion spacecraft on the first flight day of the Artemis II mission. Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (FNN) — For the first time in more than 50 years, astronauts on a NASA mission are headed around the Moon after successfully completing a critical burn of the Orion spacecraft’s main engine.

The approximately six-minute firing of Orion’s service module engine Thursday — known as the translunar injection burn — accelerated the spacecraft and its crew beyond Earth’s orbit, placing them on a trajectory toward the Moon.

Aboard the spacecraft are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

“Today, for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, humans have departed Earth orbit,” said Dr. Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy now are on a precise trajectory toward the Moon. Orion is operating with crew for the first time in space, and we are gathering critical data and learning from each step.”

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center at 6:35 p.m. EDT on April 1, beginning a planned 10-day test mission around the Moon and back.

Successful Launch and Spacecraft Activation

Shortly after reaching space, Orion deployed its four solar array wings, allowing the spacecraft to generate power from the Sun. The crew and mission controllers then began transitioning the spacecraft from launch to normal flight operations while checking critical onboard systems.

About 49 minutes into the flight, the rocket’s upper stage fired to place Orion into an elliptical orbit around Earth. A second burn propelled the spacecraft — named “Integrity” by the crew — into a high Earth orbit extending roughly 46,000 miles above the planet for nearly 24 hours of system testing.

Following the maneuver, Orion separated from the upper stage and began flying independently.

System Tests and Crew Operations in Space

During the early phase of the mission, the astronauts conducted a manual piloting demonstration to evaluate Orion’s handling capabilities using the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage as a docking target.

After the test, Orion executed an automated departure burn to safely move away from the stage. The propulsion stage later performed a disposal burn before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere over a remote area of the Pacific Ocean.

Before its re-entry, four small CubeSats were deployed from the rocket’s Orion stage adapter to conduct separate scientific missions.

Mission teams also transitioned communications to NASA’s Deep Space Network while the crew adjusted to the space environment. Astronauts completed their first rest periods, performed onboard exercise routines, restored the spacecraft’s toilet to normal operations and prepared the spacecraft for the translunar injection burn.

Lunar Flyby and Artemis Program Goals

The crew is scheduled to conduct a lunar flyby Monday, April 6, when astronauts will capture high-resolution images and make observations of the Moon’s surface — including portions of the lunar far side rarely seen directly by humans.

Although the far side will only be partially illuminated during the flyby, the lighting conditions are expected to cast long shadows across the terrain, highlighting ridges, slopes and crater rims that are difficult to observe under full sunlight.

After completing the flyby, the astronauts will return to Earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.

The mission marks a major milestone for NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to send astronauts on increasingly ambitious missions to explore the Moon, advance scientific discovery, stimulate economic growth and prepare for the first crewed missions to Mars.

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Karolina Muchova Dominates Alexandra Eala 6-0, 6-2 at Miami Open to Advance

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Karolina Muchova Cruises Past Alexandra Eala in Straight Sets at Miami Open. Roman D. Garary / Florida National News

MIAMI, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) — No. 14-ranked Karolína Muchová delivered a dominant performance at the Miami Open, defeating the Philippines’ Alexandra Eala in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.

The Czech star controlled the match from the opening game, racing to a 6-0 first-set victory before maintaining her aggressive play in the second set to close out the match in convincing fashion.

Muchova Takes Early Control

Muchova wasted little time asserting control, quickly building momentum and dictating play from the baseline. Her consistent groundstrokes and aggressive approach left Eala struggling to find rhythm throughout the match.

The 29-year-old Czech player dominated the opening set without dropping a game and carried that momentum into the second set, allowing just two games before sealing the win.

Karolina Muchova Cruises Past Alexandra Eala in Straight Sets at Miami Open. Roman D. Garary / Florida National News

Post-Match Reaction

Speaking in an on-court interview with Tennis Channel, Muchova said she focused on controlling the match against a dangerous opponent.

“I just wanted to control the game because I know she can be very dangerous, especially here where she had an amazing result last year,” Muchova said.

“So I tried to control the game, keep myself at the baseline and play aggressive — and it worked pretty well,” she added.

Alexandra Eala at Miami Open. Roman D. Garary / Florida National News

Impact on Eala’s Ranking

The loss marked Eala’s second defeat to a Czech player in two weeks. She previously fell to Linda Nosková in the Round of 16 at the Indian Wells Open on March 11.

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Regional Tourism Chief Links Caribbean Resilience to Agricultural Preservation at 54th Annual AgriFest

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ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands (February 17, 2026) — The future of Caribbean economic stability lies not in the boardroom but in the soil, declared Dona Regis‑Prosper, Secretary-General and CEO of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), on Saturday.

Addressing a capacity crowd at the opening of the 54th annual AgriFest on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the region’s top tourism official delivered a powerful reminder that modern tourism success remains inseparable from the Caribbean’s agrarian roots.

Framing the three-day showcase of agriculture and technology as a reckoning with regional identity, Regis-Prosper challenged the idea that tourism should eclipse local production.

“Before there were hotels, airports, seaports (and) cruise ships, there was land, soil and cultivation,” she said. “Tourism really began in a garden.”

A foundation of identity

Regis-Prosper, whose career includes work on St. Croix-based energy projects in the 1990s, praised the U.S. Virgin Islands for sustaining agriculture as a core pillar of its social and economic fabric rather than treating it as a secondary industry.

“Here in St. Croix, agriculture is not a side story. It is the foundation of your global identity,” she said, referencing the historical legacies of St. Croix’s sugar, St. Lucia’s bananas, Jamaica’s coffee, and Trinidad & Tobago’s cocoa.

She noted that today’s travelers increasingly seek sensory authenticity over traditional luxury markers — a shift that places local farmers at the center of the tourism value chain.

“Visitors don’t always remember square footage, décor or thread counts,” Regis-Prosper said. “They remember taste, smell, storytelling — or, as I like to say, truth-telling. And they remember how they felt.”

Economic indicators: “Every room is filled”

That vision of agro-tourism was reinforced by real-time data shared by Jennifer Matarangas‑King, Commissioner of Tourism for the U.S. Virgin Islands, who confirmed that AgriFest has become one of the Territory’s busiest tourism weekends.

“Outside of the Crucian Christmas Festival, Agrifest is the biggest weekend that we have,” Matarangas-King said. “Right now, every room is filled. You can’t get a rental car. I think people are probably sleeping on the beach at this point — so that’s good for us.”

She reported that three cruise ships were to deliver more than 8,000 visitors over the holiday weekend, joining thousands of residents and diaspora members, and emphasized that the Territory’s farm-to-table reputation is an authentic cultural asset rather than a marketing trend. “Farm-to-table is not a movement here,” said Matarangas-King. “It’s a way of life that spans generations.”

Policy and resilience

Governor Albert Bryan Jr. used the platform to call for a shift in how the Territory approaches land use, consumption and food security. Praising Agriculture Commissioner Dr. Louis Petersen for his long-standing leadership, the governor framed land ownership as a pathway to generational wealth and resilience.

“We all need to think think about how we live, how we eat and what we grow,” Bryan said. “Good food grows in the yard. Actually, everything grows here.”

He noted that his administration continues to acquire land specifically for preservation and agricultural use, urging young people to see the “garden” as a foundational asset.

The path forward

Referring to the CTO’s Reimagine Plan, which highlights sustainable and regenerative tourism, Regis-Prosper emphasized that technology must serve as an ally to strengthen long-term resilience. “Agriculture plus technology plus strategic foresight equals resilience,” she said. “And resilience is something that St. Croix knows well.”

Her closing message served as a regional directive: “Tourism should never replace the garden. Tourism should protect it.”

Prior to the opening ceremony, the CTO delegation — including Narendra Ramgulam, Deputy Director of Sustainable Tourism, and Marvelle Sealy, Executive Assistant and Office Manager — met with Governor Bryan, Commissioner Matarangas-King and RoseAnne Farrington, Deputy Commissioner of Tourism, to discuss regional cooperation and the expansion of agro-tourism linkages across the Caribbean.

L–R at Government House, St. Croix: Marvelle Sealy, Executive Assistant and Office Manager, Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO); Dona Regis-Prosper, CTO Secretary-General and CEO; RoseAnne Farrington, USVI Deputy Commissioner of Tourism and Deputy Chair, CTO Cruise Committee; Albert Bryan Jr., Governor of the USVI; and Narendra Ramgulam, Deputy Director of Sustainable Tourism, CTO
CTO Secretary-General Dona Regis-Prosper (right) presents a handcrafted salad bowl to Jennifer Matarangas-King, Commissioner of Tourism, U.S. Virgin Islands at Agrifest 2026.

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