National Business

BOSTON — Did an artificial-intelligence system beat human doctors in warning the world of a severe coronavirus outbreak in China? In a narrow sense, yes. But what the humans lacked in sheer speed, they more than made up in finesse.

TOKYO — Two elderly passengers taken off the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess because they were infected with the new virus have died, Japan's Health Ministry said Thursday, becoming the first fatalities from the virus-stricken vessel.

TORONTO — Starlight Investments and KingSett Capital have signed a deal to buy Northview Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust in a transaction valued at about $4.8 billion, including debt.

YOKOHAMA, Japan — About 500 passengers left the Diamond Princess cruise ship Wednesday at the end of a much-criticized two-week quarantine that failed to stop the spread of the new virus among passengers and crew.

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials were mostly optimistic about the U.S.

Milan Fashion Week opened Wednesday with outreach to China, largely cut off from the rest of the world by a new virus, and to Africa, often overlooked by luxury except as references.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, six months after disclosing it had paid millions of dollars to people sexually abused as children by its clerics.

GATINEAU, Que.

CALGARY — The Alberta government has approved an application by Suncor Energy Inc. to build a 40,000-barrel-per-day thermal oilsands project but construction is unlikely to start any time soon.

TORONTO — Canada's main stock index set a new record high Wednesday as a deceleration in reported cases of the COVID-19 virus set off a rally led by the key energy and materials sectors. The S&P/TSX composite index gained 67.