Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped into negative territory on Wednesday as faltering fuel demand from the spread of the coronavirus outweighed a massive pending U.S. economic stimulus package.

Brent crude LCOc1 was down 45 cents, or 1.66%, at $26.70 per barrel at 1029 GMT after earlier rising to a high of $28.29.

U.S. crude CLc1 was down 10 cents, or 0.42%, at $23.91 after a high of $25.24 per barrel.

London; 25 March 2020 (UMM): Prince Charles has tested positive for Coronavirus.

Clarence House said: "He has been displaying mild symptoms but otherwise remains in good health and has been working from home throughout the last few days as usual."

"In accordance with Government and medical advice, the Prince and the Duchess are now self-isolating at home in Scotland.

GENEVA, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization said that the United States could become the global epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.

WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters there had been a “very large acceleration” in infections in the United States.

Over the previous 24 hours, 85 per cent of new cases were in Europe and the United States, and of those, 40 per cent were in the United States.

BERLIN, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — German customs officials are attempting to track down about 6 million face masks ordered to protect health workers from the coronavirus which went missing at an airport in Kenya.

“The authorities are trying to find out what happened,” said a defence ministry spokeswoman, confirming a report first published by Spiegel Online.

MOSCOW, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A 7.5-magnitude quake hit off Russia’s Kuril Islands on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake hit at a depth of 59 kilometres, around 1,400 kilometres northeast of the Japanese city of Sapporo, USGS added.

The US National Tsunami Warning Center said it was “analyzing the event to determine the level of danger”.

“This earthquake has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami in the source region,” it added.

LISBON, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 1,000 passengers aboard a cruise ship docked in Portugal’s capital Lisbon were being flown back to their home countries on Tuesday even though a fellow passenger tested positive for coronavirus, the interior ministry said.

En route from Brazil, the MSC Fantasia arrived in Lisbon on Sunday and passengers, mostly from the European Union, Britain, Brazil and Australia, have since been waiting for repatriation efforts to begin.

(Reuters) - Russian authorities lifted a tsunami warning in the Pacific far east on Wednesday after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the Kuril Islands, the RIA news agency reported, citing a representative of the Sakhalin Tsunami Centre.

Residents in the town of Severo-Kurilsk in Russia’s Sakhalin region had earlier been evacuated to a safe zone on higher ground, emergency services said, adding that a wave of about 50 cm (20 inches) had reached the shores.

PARIS, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) —The African saxophone legend Manu Dibango has died in Paris after catching coronavirus.

Dibango – best known for his 1972 hit Soul Makossa – is one of the first global stars to die from Covid-19.

The 86-year-old fused jazz and funk music with traditional sounds from his home country, Cameroon.

He collaborated with numerous artists over a long career, including US pianist Herbie Hancock and Nigeria’s Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German business morale tumbled in March to its lowest level since 2009, a survey showed on Wednesday, with an Ifo institute economist saying Europe’s largest economy could contract by as much as 20% this year due to the impact of the coronavirus.

The Ifo institute said final results from its March survey showed that its business climate index slumped to 86.1 from 96.0 in February.

“This is the steepest fall recorded since German reunification and the lowest value since July 2009,” Ifo President Clemens Fuest said in a statement.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany must protect its economic structure during the coronavirus crisis and prevent the sell-off or break-up of key companies, Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht told the Handelsblatt business daily.

“It is imperative that we protect the economic structure of our country during the crisis and prevent the sale or break-up of important companies,” Lambrecht said.

“To this end, the state is prepared to take stakes in companies, even partially or fully, if this should become necessary,” she added.