SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — Schools were shuttered, churches told worshipers to stay away and some mass gatherings were banned as cases of a new virus swelled Friday in South Korea, the newest front in a widening global outbreak.  (full story)

BERLIN — A German court has ruled that clearing of trees from the site of Tesla Inc.'s first electric car factory in Europe can go ahead, days after it issued an injunction temporarily halting the preparatory work.  (full story)

BEIJING — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower Friday after a spike in new virus cases in South Korea refuelled investor anxiety about China's disease outbreak.  (full story)

TOKYO — The outbreak of the new virus threatens to erase $29 billion of this year's revenue for global airlines, mostly for Chinese carriers, as travel crashes worldwide, according to the International Air Transport Association.  (full story)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Over the objections of environmentalists, California regulators approved a proposal Thursday to allow builders to construct homes without solar panels, a decision critics said undercuts California’s seven-week-old law that all new houses have their own solar power.  (full story)