The global battle to contain the coronavirus reached a new level of urgency Monday, as governments locked down their borders, a new wave of closures and restrictions kept more than 500 million students at home, and pleas went out to funnel masks and ventilators to places struggling with soaring caseloads.

As a virus pandemic spreads globally, China and other parts of Asia are scrambling to prevent it from coming back to where it broke out.

The coronavirus outbreak began to look more like a worldwide economic crisis Friday as anxiety about the infection emptied shops and amusement parks, canceled events, cut trade and travel and dragged already slumping financial markets even lower.

Major U.S. stock indexes gave up early gains and closed mostly lower Wednesday, extending the market’s heavy losses for the week.

Shares are mixed in Asia after Wall Street suffered its worst session in two years, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 1,000 points on worries over the impact of the viral outbreak from China.

As new cases of the coronavirus are reported around the world, a doctor explains where the 2019 Novel Coronavirus comes from and what you can do to protect yourself from the outbreak.

Panic and pollution are driving a surging market for protective face masks in Asia, where fear of the virus from China is straining supplies and helping make mask-wearing the new normal

Kobe Bryant was a hugely popular figure in Asia, no more so than in China where basketball rivals soccer as the most popular sport.

People in parts of Southern Asia caught a glimpse of a “ring of fire” solar eclipse Thursday.

People along a swath of southern Asia have gazed at the sky in marvel at a “ring of fire” solar eclipse. The so-called annular eclipse, in which a thin outer ring of the sun is still visible, could be seen along a path stretching from India and Pakistan to Thailand and Indonesia.

A South Korean court on Friday found two K-pop stars guilty of illicit sexual relations with a woman who was unable to resist and sentenced them to up to six years in prison. The Seoul Central District Court said singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young received a six-year prison term and former boy band member Choi Jong-hoon a five-year term. The court said...

Four African countries have reported new cases of polio linked to the oral vaccine, as global health numbers show there are now more children being paralyzed by viruses originating in vaccines than in the wild. In a report late last week, the World Health Organization and partners noted nine new polio cases caused by the vaccine in Nigeria, Congo, Central...

Bulgari owner LVMH has reached a deal to buy Tiffany & Co. at $135 a share in cash, or $16.3 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter. The boards of the luxury firms have been discussing a potential deal since last month, and will meet on Sunday to approve the deal, sources tell CNBC’s David Faber. An agreement could...

Nkeze wasn’t home when Cameroonian militants came knocking, probably to deliver their signature ultimatum to join their separatist movement or have his writing arm cut off. The 24-year-old economics student escaped to Douala, the country’s largest city, only to learn that the government wanted to arrest him for participating in a university protest. He then flew to Ecuador and traveled...

Molly Solomon began her career at NBC Sports as a researcher for its Olympics coverage. Nearly 30 years later, she will lead its coverage. NBC announced Tuesday that it has promoted Solomon to executive producer and president of the network’s Olympics unit, becoming the first woman to be an executive producer for a network sports division.

The number of foreign students coming to U.S. colleges and universities continued to fall last year, according to a new report, but the Trump administration says the drop should be blamed on high tuition costs and not students’ concerns over the nation’s political atmosphere. An annual report from the Institute of International Education found that the number of newly enrolled...

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday the United States and South Korea have indefinitely postponed a joint military exercise in an “act of goodwill” toward North Korea. The move comes even as Japan’s defense minister, whose country feels threatened by repeated North Korean missile launches, told Esper “no one could be optimistic about” changing the North’s behavior. The statement...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the Fed is likely to keep its benchmark short-term interest rate unchanged in the coming months, unless the economy shows signs of worsening. But for now, in testimony before a congressional panel, Powell expressed optimism about the U.S. economy and said he expects it will grow at a solid pace, though it...

Mercury is putting on a rare celestial show today, parading across the sun in view of most of the world. The solar system’s smallest, innermost planet will resemble a tiny black dot Monday as it passes directly between Earth and the sun. It begins at 7:35 a.m. EST. The entire 5 ½-hour event will be visible, weather permitting, in the...