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Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, seen here at the National Board of Review Awards in New York in 2018, have been diagnosed with coronavirus while filming in Australia. Photo: JStone / Shutterstock 

Coronavirus: WHO declares pandemic

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus the director general of the World Health Organization, has said the world is now in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic. Speaking in Geneva, Ghebreyesus said that he and his colleagues were “deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction.” The Guardian and Vox have explainers on what a pandemic is, while The New York Times has a glossary of terms associated with the coronavirus.

Coronavirus: Trump restricts travel from Europe

US president Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that travel from Europe to the United States will be suspended for 30 days starting on Friday. An exception has been made for the UK. Addressing the nation from the White House, Trump accused the EU of failing to take precautions to restrict travel from China and other hot spots and said his administration was conducting the “most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history.” Reuters, The Guardian, CNBC and the BBC report.

Coronavirus: deliberations classified by White House

In an exclusive report, Reuters says the White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified. According to the Reuters sources, four Trump administration officials, the decision potentially delayed response to the crisis.

Coronavirus: Tom Hanks tests positive

Actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson became the most high-profile people to be diagnosed with coronavirus. The Guardian and The New York Times report that Hanks, who is currently in Australia filming Baz Luhrmann’s film about Elvis Presley, has written that the couple will be “tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires.”

Coronavirus: NBA suspends season

The National Basketball Association has suspended its season while it considers how to deal with the pandemic. The news follows the sudden postponement of a match between Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, when the players were already on court. One of the Jazz players, who was not in the arena, had preliminarily tested positive for coronavirus. CNN, ABC News, and The Daily Mail have reports.

Weinstein gets 23 years

Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison by judges in New York on Wednesday. The sentence is close to the maximum 29 years he could have been handed after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault. Sky News, the BBC, Vulture and CNN report. In The Guardian, Taralê Wulff, who testified at the trial, said she hoped it would send a message that times have changed.

EU to introduce “right to repair”

The European Commission is set to extend an eco-design law to cover phones, tablets and laptops, forcing manufacturers to make the products easier to repair and reuse. Virginijus Sinkevičius, the Commission's environment minister, said: “The linear growth model has reached its limits.” The Guardian and the Telegraph report.

3 dead in Iraq rocket attack

A rocket attack on Iraq’s Taji military camp north of Baghdad has left an American soldier, a British soldier and an American contractor dead and about a dozen people injured, Reuters and the BBC report.

Something for the weekend

Friday 13 March: Kick off the St. Patrick’s celebrations early with live music, either at The Black Stuff pub with local singer-songwriter Ross Steele or at Eirelux with Irish band The Bogs. See Iranian police corruption thriller “Just 6.5” at the Lux Film Fest. Saturday 14 March: Visit the Lokale Maart in Ettelbruck to find local products and design (also on Sunday). Hear local singer-songwriter Sven Sauber perform at the release of his debut solo album at Opderschmelz in Dudelange. Or check out jazz legend Chick Corea and his trio at the Philharmonie. Or watch Billie Piper’s debut as a feature film director, eccentric romantic comedy “Rare Beasts”, at Lux Film Fest. Sunday 15 March: the Lux Film Fest comes to an end with screenings of the three winning films at the Cinémathèque (winners will be announced on Saturday evening) and a screening of “True History of The Kelly Gang” at Kinepolis.

“Weird fossil” contains smallest ever dinosaur

A piece of 99-million-year-old amber found in northern Myanmar contains a bird-like skull belonging to the smallest dinosaur ever discovered, the BBC reports. "I just love how natural selection ends up producing such bizarre forms,” said Prof Jingmai O'Connor from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Duncan Roberts