Coronavirus: Putin postpones Russia’s WW2 victory parade
Russian President Vladimir Putin has postponed the 9 May Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square because of the coronavirus pandemic. This year sees the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, and the annual military parade has not been postponed...
Coronavirus: UK lockdown extended for ‘at least’ three weeks
Lockdown restrictions in the UK will continue for “at least” another three weeks as it tackles the coronavirus outbreak, Dominic Raab has said. The foreign secretary told the daily No 10 briefing that a review had concluded relaxing the measures now would risk harming public...
Police find 17 bodies at New Jersey nursing home after anonymous tip
New Jersey police found 17 bodies in one of the state’s largest nursing homes after an anonymous tip said a body was being stored in a shed. A total of 68 people associated with the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation centres have recently died, with 26...
India coronavirus: Tablighi Jamaat leader on manslaughter charge over Covid-19
The leader of a prominent Muslim group has been charged with manslaughter in India after a meeting it held in Delhi spawned numerous Covid-19 clusters. Police say Muhammad Saad Khandalvi ignored two notices to end the event at a mosque in the capital in March....
Coronavirus: Security forces kill more Nigerians than Covid-19
Security forces enforcing the lockdown in parts of Nigeria have killed more people than coronavirus itself, a local rights group says. Evidence of the killings comes from members of the public who rang their hotline or sent in videos, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)...
Coronavirus: How India’s Kerala state ‘flattened the curve’
On 12 March, a 33-year-old salesman disembarked from a flight from Dubai at an airport in southern India, feeling very sick. He was suffering from the chills, dry cough and breathlessness. Airport officials quickly moved him to hospital in the city of Trivandrum in Kerala...
Coronavirus: MPs and peers to quiz ministers via video conferencing
Plans to allow MPs to take part in some parliamentary business virtually have been approved by the body responsible for administration in the Commons. The House of Commons Commission said ministers will be quizzed via Zoom for the first time in the House’s 700-year history....
Polish MPs vote to delay controversial abortion and sex education bills
Polish MPs have today voted to delay two bills that if approved would have further restricted access to abortion and ban sex education. Pro-choice campaigners hailed the decision, which will see the two controversial pieces of legislation sent back to committee stage. Human rights activists...
Libya: Caught between bombs, bullets and now COVID-19
Libya has been engulfed by conflict for nearly a decade now. The fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 was supposed to herald a new phase of social development and freedom for the country of six million. Instead, it brought about political and economic instability...
Coronavirus: Japan declares nationwide state of emergency
A nationwide state of emergency has been declared in Japan due to the country’s worsening coronavirus outbreak. The move allows regional governments to urge people to stay inside, but without punitive measures or legal force. The state of emergency will remain in force until 6...
Coronavirus: 668 infected on French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle
A third of the sailors serving with France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle – 668 out of nearly 2,000 – are infected with coronavirus. Nearly all are on the carrier itself, the navy says. An escorting frigate and carrier pilots are also in quarantine. The...
More than 1,600 new cases in Iran
The number of infections in Iran rose by 1,606 in the past day to reach 77,995, Kianush Jahanpur, a spokesman for the country’s health ministry said. The country’s official death toll from the outbreak rose by 92 to 4,869. Iran has suffered more deaths than...
Latin America update: Protests at Mexico factory
Factory workers in Ciudad Juárez in Mexico have held a protest demanding that the Regal plant, which assembles electric motors for household appliances, be shut down. The employees said their work was not essential and that not enough was being done to protect them from...
Scotland confirms 80 more virus deaths
Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has just confirmed 80 more people have died from coronavirus in the country. The latest 24-hour figure brings the total number of deaths in Scotland to 779. At a “virtual” First Minister’s Questions held online, Ms Sturgeon said the lockdown...
US jobless claims exceed 21 million
More than 21 million Americans have lost their jobs in the past four weeks, new figures show. It is by far the worst run of job losses on record. According to the latest figures from the Department of Labour, new unemployment claims reached 5.25 million...
‘We are all in this together’ – Gates
“Covid-19 anywhere is Covid-19 everywhere,” Melinda Gates said as she called for global co-operation to beat the pandemic. The philanthropist was speaking to Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 5 Live after President Donald Trump announced the US would stop funding the World Health Organization (WHO)....
Japan to extend state of emergency to entire country: report
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reportedly planning to extend Japan’s state of emergency to cover the entire country amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to a report Thursday. Japan has seen a notable increase in cases in recent weeks, with at least 327 confirmed nationwide on...
Israeli president gives parliament three weeks to choose prime minister
Israel’s president Thursday asked the Knesset to choose a new prime minister, giving the parliament three weeks to agree upon a leader or plunge the country into an unprecedented fourth consecutive election in just over a year. President Reuven Rivlin made the move after his...
Amid coronavirus lockdown, Ukrainians start to feel the pinch
The streets in Kyiv are mostly empty, with only a few people walking outside wearing masks. The majority of shopfronts are closed, and an increasing number of “for rent” signs become visible with every step taken away from the city centre. The government has forced...
Macron says controversial malaria drug will be tested for use as COVID-19 treatment
French President Emmanuel Macron called on Wednesday for a controversial dual therapy based on hydroxychloroquine to be tested as soon as possible, describing the infectious diseases specialist behind it as a “great scientist”. The French leader said in an exclusive interview with RFI radio that...
WWII Veteran aged 99 raises over €14 million (£12 million) for healthcare workers in the UK
You’re never too old to take up exercise, especially when it’s for a good cause. That’s why 99-year-old British army veteran, Captain Tom Moore, made it his challenge to walk 100 laps of his 25m-long garden before he reaches his 100th birthday. The goal was...
Coronavirus in Europe: Tourism sector ‘hardest hit’ by COVID-19
The tourism industry is “one of the hardest-hit by the outbreak of COVID-19” as lockdowns have all but ground the sector to a halt, the UN’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has warned. The organisation estimated earlier this week the pandemic, which has already killed more...
Coronavirus: 668 infected on French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle
A third of the sailors on France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle – 668 out of nearly 2,000 – are infected with coronavirus, the navy says. The ship returned to the French port of Toulon early from Atlantic exercises. Twenty sailors are in hospital, one...
Coronavirus: Some social distancing needed ‘until vaccine found’
The UK must maintain some form of social distancing until a coronavirus vaccine is found, a scientist advising the government has said. Prof Neil Ferguson told the BBC there was “little leeway” to relax measures without “something… in their place” – such as testing and...
Seafarers in limbo as coronavirus hits shipping
With the world in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the shipping industry is already feeling the impact as the global economy heads into a deep recession. Hundreds of ship sailings have been cancelled as first ports in China, and then across the globe, have...
Coronavirus: World economy ‘may face double recession’
The world economy already faces an economic downturn worse than the Great Depression. But this could be followed by another “possibly much worse downturn”, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). World governments are giving trillions of dollars in stimulus packages to help prop up...
‘Free our children!’ – Barcelona mayor
Spain has been under lockdown since 14 March. But unlike other European nations, in Spain children are not allowed outside for any reason. Ada Colau, the mayor of Barcelona, has called for an end to the confinement, calling on the government to “Free our children!”...
Online classes bring a sense of calm in anxious times
With temples, churches, mosques and other places of worship shutting their doors to help curb the spread of coronavirus, many people have taken up spirituality services online. From a remote hillside retreat in northern India, Tibetan Buddhist nun Tenzin Drolma’s online classes on meditation drew...
Guatemala fears rise in cases from US deportees
There are fears that coronavirus could spread further in Guatemala after a number of its nationals who had recently been deported from the US tested positive for the virus. Three quarters of passengers on one flight alone were found to have the virus, the health...
Hancock pledges more tests for care workers amid criticism
More than 4,000 social care workers and 10,000 care home residents have been tested for coronavirus so far, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said this morning. The health secretary’s comments came after social care directors wrote to the Department of Health and Social Care, on...
