The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the global coronavirus outbreak a pandemic (STAT), prompting increased travel and event bans worldwide.
 
WHO officials urged testing (NYT), isolation of known cases, and avoidance of large public gatherings. Countries including Ireland and Norway have mandated temporary school closures (Reuters) and event bans, while sports leagues including the U.S. National Basketball Association (NBA) have suspended their seasons. India temporarily banned arrivals by all foreign tourists (Guardian) and the United States banned most arrivals from Europe for thirty days, a move condemned by the European Commission.

U.S. lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill that aims to strictly limit (NYT) imports of goods made in China’s Xinjiang region due to concerns over forced labor. 

Over nineteen thousand Afghan migrants returned to Afghanistan (VOA) from Iran in the first week of March, more than double the previous week’s numbers. The International Organization for Migration attributed the increase to worksite closures in Iran, which has been hard-hit by the new coronavirus.
 
India: India’s opposition called for an investigation (AP) of the Delhi riots that killed more than fifty people last month and the resignation of the home minister, who praised the police reaction to the riots.
 
In Foreign Affairs, CFR’s Alyssa Ayres discusses what Washington’s response to the riots reveals about U.S.-India relations.

A rocket attack (Al-Monitor) on a military base north of Baghdad killed two Americans, including a contractor, and one British service member.
 
Syria: More than five hundred military attacks on medical facilities (Reuters) have occurred in the country since 2016, killing at least 480 health workers and patients, the WHO said.
 
CFR looks at the major developments in Syria’s war.

U.S. Africa Command is investigating a Somali lawmaker’s claim that an air strike targeting Islamist militants killed six civilians (Reuters).
 
This CFR In Brief looks at the controversy over U.S. strikes in Somalia.
 
Sierra Leone: Former rebel leader Gibril Massaquoi was arrested in Finland (BBC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Liberia from 1999 to 2003, according to human rights group Civitas Maxima.

Iranian authorities agreed to send the black box (Reuters) of a passenger plane shot down over Tehran in January to Ukraine, where it will be analyzed.
 
Greece: The country dismissed (Reuters) a New York Times report detailing a detention “black site” where migrants are held without access to lawyers.

Under a new right-wing president, Uruguay announced it will leave (MercoPress) the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), a regional bloc that has lost several members in recent years. Montevideo will also suspend its exit (Buenos Aires Times) from the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, which includes the United States.
 
El Salvador: Three police officers will be tried for the murder (Reuters) of a transgender woman who was deported from the United States in 2017. She had applied for asylum in the United States, arguing that her life was in danger in El Salvador, but authorities denied the request.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo singled out (NYT) China, Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela as some of the world’s worst human rights violators while speaking at the release of the State Department’s annual human rights report. The report also details systematic abuses in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, where Washington aims to return people seeking asylum in the United States.