Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Two boats still stranded at sea as Malaysia accused of using Covid-19 as an excuse to turn them back
Rohingya refugees whose relatives, including children, have been stranded for weeks on cramped boats have urged international governments to act before they perish at sea.
Two boats carrying around 500 people were last spotted off Bangladesh about a week ago, but are believed to have returned to the high seas. The refugees on board, who were fleeing desperate conditions in camps in Bangladesh, had attempted to reach Malaysia but appear to have been turned away. Bangladesh has also said it will not allow the boats to dock.
Hong Kong’s government calls allegations from the US, UK and European parliament ‘totally unfounded’
The Hong Kong government has accused foreign politicians of being ignorant and irresponsible after they criticised its recent crackdown on pro-democracy figures and accused Beijing of “flagrant breaches” of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
While it did not name anyone, the Hong Kong government’s statement on Friday said allegations voiced by “certain officials and politicians” from the US, UK and European Parliament were “totally unfounded and amounted to a serious intervention in Hong Kong’s affairs”.
North Korean state media has released pictures purportedly showing the leader attending the opening of a fertiliser factory
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has appeared in public for the first time in almost three weeks, according to state media, following speculation that he had been seriously ill following heart surgery.
The state news agency KCNA released photographs purportedly showing Kim opening a fertilizer plant in Sunchon, north of the capital Pyongyang.
North Korean leader had not been seen for three weeks; Ireland and India both extend lockdowns, while global markets fall due to threat of US-China trade war
Many Pacific nations are Covid-free and their economies depend on tourism. Cautiously restarting travel there could be an important move
As Australia and New Zealand tentatively celebrate successes in their battles to bring Covid-19 under control, Winston Peters, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, has raised the possibility of the two nations opening up travel to one another.
The mooted “trans-Tasman bubble” would allow travel between these two countries, which seem – for now – to have brought infection rates under control, while keeping their borders with the rest of the world closed or tightly managed.
Every day for the last two weeks I have spoken with Ms Du, a mild-mannered, middle-aged woman who is my quarantine handler.
She calls me in the morning to remind me to send her my temperature. She calls again if I forget to send the afternoon reading. She texts rose emojis, asking me to “please cooperate” with the rules. If I open my door, equipped with a sensor, to put the rubbish in the hall or pick up a delivery, she immediately calls and tells me to let her know beforehand.
China is gearing up for its first national holiday after months of lockdowns, with authorities lowering the emergency response level for Beijing just in time to allow freer travel.
On Wednesday, authorities announced a downgrade of the emergency response level governing Hebei province and the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin, from Thursday.
When Jelta Wong was appointed as Papua New Guinea’s health minister in November, he knew he had his work cut out for him.
The Pacific nation just north of Australia is dealing with outbreaks of malaria, dengue fever, drug-resistant tuberculosis and had a recent outbreak of polio. Its health system is notoriously fractured and underfunded.
Spain has ruled out any early reopening of its tourism sector and Germany is set to extend a travel warning for all leisure trips outside the country until mid-June, casting further doubt on when would-be holidaymakers will be able to venture abroad again.
With airline fleets mostly grounded, cross-border train traffic slashed and many EU countries, including France, requiring all arrivals bar their own citizens to formally justify their journey, leisure travel within Europe is at a near standstill.
Another 31 people have died in Ireland and 376 more cases have been diagnosed, the country’s chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has said.
One of the deaths reported on Wednesday involved a person in the 15-24 age group, the second in this category. Dr Holohan warned the number in intensive care units was too high as the prospect of a rapid easing of movement restrictions dwindles.
That is simply too high and we need to get that down further not only because it is about protecting occupancy but the lower the figure is it is a reflection of better protection of the public and lower levels of spread of the infection.
Bolivia will extend its lockdown against the pandemic until 10 May, the government has announced, though it is planning to relax rules in less affected parts of the country from the following day.
The president Jeanine Áñez has said Bolivia will move to a “dynamic” or “less rigid” quarantine on 11 May, allowing some people to return to work.
Opening the quarantine a little or closing it completely will depend on how the pandemic is being controlled in each region. The Ministry of Health will evaluate every seven days how the pandemic evolves in each region. On that basis, decisions will be taken to relax or harden the quarantine.
Political activists wait to find out if they will be included in government pardon scheme to stop the spread of Covid-19
It has been two months since Andi Rizky last saw her uncle Jimmy, a drug offender in Cilegon Prison, Banten province, in person. Since the middle of March, the prison has banned visitors because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
In 10-minute video calls to replace the visits, the pair have discussed the Indonesian government’s plan to release thousands of prisoners.
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has defied China and defended the “entirely reasonable and sensible” call for an investigation into the origins of coronavirus, as the international political fallout over the pandemic deepened.
China has been pushing back against criticism from other governments about how it handled the outbreak of Covid-19, which is believed to have started in Wuhan and which has now infected 3 million people worldwide and killed 200,000.
Kim Jong-un is not ill and could be sheltering from the coronavirus pandemic, according to South Korean and US officials, in the latest possible explanation for the North Korean leader’s recent absence from public life.
North Korea insists it has yet to identify a single case of Covid-19, despite sharing a border with China, where the outbreak is believed to have started.
He arguably paved the way for the terrible experiences of generations of Indigenous people
James Cook’s critics can relish the irony that a global pandemic has diminished the planned lavish commemorations of his east coast Australian arrival 250 years ago today.
Many Indigenous people and supporters of their causes and sensibilities rightly view the lieutenant as the doorman for so many ills that followed, including the smallpox epidemic of 1789 that killed as many as seven in 10 Aboriginal people of the new colony for which Cook’s arrival paved the way.
The head of the Japan Medical Association (JMA) has added his voice to speculation that the Tokyo Olympics, now due to be held next summer, could again be delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Unless an effective vaccine is developed I think it will be difficult to hold the Olympics next year,” JMA president Yoshitake Yokokura told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. “I’m not saying at this point that they shouldn’t be held. The outbreak is not only confined to Japan ... it’s a worldwide issue.”
Iran reports 96 more deaths; Spain’s death toll shows slight rise; Germany calls for ‘very careful’ easing of lockdown; New Zealand says ‘worst is over’
Formula One plans to start the season in Austria on 5 July and stage between 15 and 18 grands prix this year with the opening races behind closed doors.
The announcement came immediately after the French Grand Prix was cancelled and the news the British Grand Prix will be held without spectators if it goes ahead.
Preparatory work has begun on restarting repairs to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic began, has discharged all of its coronavirus patients, as the nation reported only three new cases and no new deaths.
According to the National Health Commission, as of Sunday the number of new coronavirus patients in Wuhan was at zero. “Thanks to the joint efforts of Wuhan and medical staff from around the country,” said a spokesman for the commission, Mi Feng.
Moon Chung-in quashes health rumours, saying North Korean leader has been in Wonsan – a resort town in the country’s east – since 13 April
South Korea has said that Kim Jong-un, is “alive and well”, downplaying rumours that that the North Korean leader was seriously ill after undergoing heart surgery.
“Our government position is firm,” Moon Chung-in, a special adviser on national security to the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday. “Kim Jong-un is alive and well.”
WHO clarifies ‘immunity passport’ advice; global deaths pass 200,000; Russia case tally passes 80,000; Sweden’s deputy prime-minster admits problems with strategy. This blog is now closed.