Welcome to the weekend. The fallout from the coronavirus continues to be felt around the world with ASB Bank saying the NZ economy is likely to stall in the first half.
Take some time this weekend to catch up everything else going on around the globe. Here's a selection ofsome of the best international premium pieces of content to get you started.
How I fell in love with serial killer Ted Bundy
Elizabeth Kendall's relationship with Theodore "Ted" Bundy lasted six years — during which time he raped, tortured and killed at least 30 women across America. The true number of his victims is feared to be far higher. Once describing himself as "the most cold-hearted son of a b**** you'll ever meet", he practised necrophilia and kept some of the women's skulls as trophies. Until his death in the electric chair in 1989 aged 42, he wrote to Kendall professing his love.
Poker face: Bundy in a Miami courtroom during his 1979 trial - the first to be televised nationally in America. Photo / AP
'We're in a Petri dish': How coronavirus ravaged a cruise ship
The captain came over the intercom early in the evening: A passenger who had left the ship nine days earlier had tested positive for the new coronavirus sweeping through China.
While the guests on board were unnerved, it was the final night of their two-week luxury cruise aboard the Diamond Princess. The revelry continued as the ship headed toward the port in Yokohama, Japan's second-largest city.
More than three days passed before Japan imposed a quarantine.
Passengers on the Diamond Princess on February 2, the night before the ship arrived in Yokohama, Japan. Photo / Philip and Gay Courter via The New York Times
'Finally': Ashley Judd and other Weinstein accusers respond to verdict
Harvey Weinstein was one of the most powerful tastemakers in Hollywood. Now, after a Manhattan jury convicted him of two felony sex crimes, he faces the prospect of years in prison.
While the New York case was narrowly focused — the criminal charges centered largely on just two women — its symbolism was sweeping. More than 90 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, and the allegations against him set off the global #MeToo movement.
Harvey Weinstein was convicted of two felony sex crimes. Photo / AP
Kanye, out west: The superstar's new life on the ranch
It's surprising that a global celebrity who frequently self-identifies as the greatest artist living or dead has become an everyday presence in a tightly connected town of about 10,000 people. It's more surprising just how much the town's leaders want him to stay.
There Kanye West is at the McDonald's, the Best Western and the Boot Barn. He hangs out at the Cody Steakhouse on the main drag, where he met one of his intern videographers, a student at Cody High School. His ranch is close to town, and to get where he needs to go, Kanye drives around town in a fleet of blacked-out Ford Raptors.
So what exactly is the superstar doing in Wyoming?
A billboard on the south end of Cody, Wyoming, greets travellers on their way into town. Photo / Elliot Ross, The New York Times
Australian bush fires: Death and destruction from the scorched front line
Australians living in the new normal are growing inured to the sight of helicopters swooping down to drain suburban swimming pools for their water-bombing campaigns. Every day, commuters stop their cars by the side of the road to collect stray wombats with burnt faces emerging from the scrub. Koalas with smouldering backsides come down from their trees and drink water from bowls side-by-side with dogs in backyards. Hitchhikers with no bags stand by the roadside carrying signs that read, "My home burnt."
A fire burns near Cathcart, New South Wales, Australia. Photo / Matthew Abbott, The New York Times
'Open, insert, squirt.' Children taught to administer narcan
Shortly after his first-grade class let out for the day, Nash Kitchens sat with a dozen other young children at a library and played a murder mystery game that had a surprising plot twist.
The victim was a restaurant worker who had been found dead in a freezer. The killer, the children would discover, was heroin laced with fentanyl, an often fatal opioid.
In rural Carter County, Tennessee, health officials have embraced a strategy for stemming addiction: Teaching children as young as 6 how to reverse an overdose.
Nolan Loveday, 10, looks at a Narcan nasal sprayer during training on how to administer the drug. Photo / Mike Belleme, The New York Times
The company behind plans to reshape global rugby
CVC Capital Partners is plotting an ambitious reshaping of global rugby, as the European buyout firm aims to become the biggest commercial player in one of the world's most popular sports.
England and Ireland clash in the Six Nations this morning. Photo / AP
How to buy wine: Five questions to ask
The act of buying wine can rank high among life's unpleasant tasks.
It's not a physical or mental issue so much as a psychological one. We're just talking about a bottle of wine, after all, first among first-world problems. But often the act of selecting that bottle is fraught with the fear of making a mistake, of wasting money and of appearing foolish in front of other people.
These questions will give you the confidence to find a bottle you like without having to master everything about wine. Photo / 123RF
Sharapova wants to be clear: She's retiring, not quitting
Pain has been a near-constant companion over the last two years for Maria Sharapova.
The former No. 1 player became one of the richest and most globally recognisable athletes of the 21st century but found herself unable to return to the top of the game after a suspension for using a banned substance in 2016.
Sharapova called perseverance her "greatest tool" but said it had ultimately worked against her as she tried to push through recurring injuries and revive a brilliant career.
Maria Sharapova said the death of Kobe Bryant, a longtime friend, was one of the things that helped convince her that it was time to end her tennis career. Photo / AP
How neighbours' feud in paradise launched an international rape case
Neighbours Peter Nygard and Louis Bacon had little in common except for extreme wealth and a driveway. But when Nygard wasn't allowed to rebuild after a fire, he blamed Bacon.
Since then, the two have been embroiled in an epic battle, spending tens of millions of dollars and filing at least 25 lawsuits in five jurisdictions. Nygard, 78, has spread stories accusing Bacon of being an insider trader, murderer and member of the Ku Klux Klan. Bacon, 63, has accused Nygard of plotting to kill him.
