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The Chinese province at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak reported a record rise in deaths and thousands more cases on Thursday under a new diagnostic method, raising fresh questions about the scale of the crisis. The sharp rise in the headline number of deaths and infections unnerved world markets, as traders halted a recent rally in stocks.

Joe Biden’s campaign held a victory party in a New Hampshire hotel ballroom. But there was no victory. And there was no Joe Biden. Before the polls had even closed, the Democratic presidential hopeful had left New Hampshire, where he ultimately posted a fifth-place finish. The dismal performance came just eight days after the Iowa caucuses, where Biden finished fourth.

Britain’s financial regulators are probing historical links between Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley and the U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, the bank said. Barclays said its board had looked into media reports on Staley’s relationship with Epstein, and probed Staley’s characterization of it. The Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority are investigating.

A handful of U.S. lawmakers have a unique argument for asking President Donald Trump not to slash the food stamp program - they themselves once relied on it. The Republican president this week proposed $15 billion in cuts to the $71 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps, as part of his $4.8 trillion budget plan.

Companies that have spent money on a major telecoms conference in Barcelona that has been cancelled after mass withdrawals due to the coronavirus outbreak cannot expect compensation under the organisers’ standard insurance, they said. The GSMA telecoms body cancelled the Feb. 24-27 event on Wednesday despite assurances from local and national health officials that it would have been safe to hold it.

World

UK finance minister Sajid Javid has resigned, in a surprise move that shattered Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s choreographed reshuffle of his government and raised questions over his leadership team. Johnson’s team had wanted to keep Britain’s biggest-hitting ministers in post, but Javid’s resignation over what one political editor said was a disagreement over his advisers has thrown the prime minister’s plans off kilter.

President Trump will be shielded from the sight of slums by a newly built wall when he visits the city of Ahmedabad during a visit to India this month. A senior government said the wall was being built for security reasons, not to conceal the slum district. But the contractor building it told Reuters the government “did not want the slum to be seen” when Trump passes by on the ride in from Ahmedabad’s airport.

Iran’s week-long parliamentary election campaign has started, state TV reported, a vote seen as a popularity test for the clerical establishment at a time when relations with Washington are at their worst since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The Guardian Council, which must approve candidates, has rejected around 6,850 moderate or conservative hopefuls in favor of hardliners from among the 14,000 applicants seeking to contest the Feb. 21 vote.

Turkey will use force against those violating a ceasefire in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region including “radical” groups, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, according to state media. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that his military would strike Syrian government forces by air or ground anywhere in Syria if another Turkish soldier was hurt, after 13 troops were killed by Syrian forces in a week.