PARIS: The growing list of world celebrities who have been hit by the novel coronavirus includes Spanish tenor Placido Domingo and former Italy and AC Milan defender Paolo Maldini.
Veteran Afro-jazz star Manu Dibango is among the first worldwide stars to die as a result of COVID-19.
The 86-year-old Dibango, from Cameroon, died in a hospital in France on Tuesday after contracting the virus.
Congolese music legend Aurlus Mabele, known as the “King of Soukous,” a high-tempo modern variant of Congolese rumba, died in Paris Thursday of the coronavirus, aged 67.
Spanish opera star Domingo said Sunday he had tested positive, adding he was “in good health.”
Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and his wife, actress and singer Rita Wilson, said on Monday they were doing better after nearly two weeks quarantine in Australia.
British actor Idris Elba said on March 16 that he had tested positive for the virus and gone into self-isolation.
Chilean author Luis Sepulveda, who lives in northern Spain, also has the virus and is in hospital. He felt the first symptoms on February 25.
The first test result for quarantined German Chancellor Angela Merkel came back negative on Monday. Merkel had decided Sunday to self-isolate after being treated by a doctor who has since tested positive for the virus.
Prince Albert II of Monaco has tested positive, although there are “no concerns for his health” the palace said on March 19.
Michel Barnier, who leads EU negotiations with Britain on Brexit, announced in a Twitter video on March 19 that he had tested positive.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been in isolation since March 13 after his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau tested positive.
Members of governments in several countries — Australia, Brazil, Britain, Burkina Faso, France, Iran, Morocco, Norway, Poland and Spain — have been infected.
On Tuesday Finland said Nobel laureate and former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, aged 82, has contracted the virus.
Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz died on Saturday aged 76, three days after being hospitalized with the coronavirus
In Italy several players at Juventus are infected, including France’s 2018 World Cup winner Blaise Matuidi and Argentinian attacker Paulo Dybala.
Former AC Milan defender Paolo Maldini and his footballer son Daniel announced they were positive Saturday.
At Fiorentina, another top Italian club, 10 players are infected.
In England, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi have both tested positive.
In 12 days at least 14 players from the NBA have tested positive, including Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant. Most of them have said they are without symptoms according to NBA boss Adam Silver.
Paolo Maldini and Prince Albert II of Monaco among celebrities testing positive for coronavirus
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Paolo Maldini and Prince Albert II of Monaco among celebrities testing positive for coronavirus
- Former AC Milan defender Paolo Maldini and his footballer son Daniel announced they were positive Saturday
- Prince Albert II of Monaco has tested positive, although there are no concerns for his health the palace said on March 19
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
