Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Coronavirus live news: global deaths near 300,000 as WHO says Covid-19 may never disappear

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Japan expected to ease state of emergency in many regions; Russia has second highest number of infections; Wuhan mass testing begins; follow the latest updates

Morning/evening/whatever-it-is-where-you-are everyone. This is Simon Burnton taking on the live blog for the next few hours. If you have seen any stories that deserve our attention, or if you have any tips, comments or suggestions for our coverage then please let me know by sending me a message either to @Simon_Burnton on Twitter or via email. Thanks!

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan for today.

Today I leave you with something a little different – a Ghanaian pallbearer and his band of merry, morbid men, who have become the unofficial mascots of the pandemic in countries around the world:

Related: 'Why should you cry?' Ghana's dancing pallbearers find new fame during Covid-19

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Covid-19 spreads to every African country – as it happened

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Coronavirus may never be eradicated, warns WHO as Spanish study reveals 5% of the population has antibodies

We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:

Related: Coronavirus live news: Trump 'surprised' by Fauci's reopening warnings as WHO says Covid-19 may never go

Donald Trump has ratcheted up his “Obamagate” conspiracy theory to implicate Joe Biden and other former White House officials in what critics say is a desperate attempt to distract from the coronavirus pandemic.

Related: Trump deepens 'Obamagate' conspiracy theory with Biden unmasking move

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Just the tonic: app helps Iraqi patients locate vital medicines

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In Mosul, sourcing essential medication can be an expensive struggle – but entrepreneur Ameen Hadeed may have found the solution

When Ameen Hadeed’s father had heart surgery in 2015, the tricky part was not the operation but finding the drugs to aid his recovery.

The clinic had no medicine, so Hadeed was told to hustle around his home city Mosul to find the prescriptions. It took hours and cost a small fortune, as he visited store after store.

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Coronavirus live news: Italy to reopen bars and restaurants; Spain to quarantine overseas travellers

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Trump walks out of press conference; White House staff ordered to wear masks; WHO urges ‘extreme vigilance’ as lockdowns end

Taiwan confirmed no new Covid-19 cases for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday, keeping the country’s total at 440, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

At a daily press briefing, the health minister and head of the CECC, Chen Shih-chung, said it was also the 30th straight day that no domestically transmitted infections had been recorded in Taiwan, CNA reports.

The United Kingdom’s Covid-19 death toll topped 38,000 at the start of the month, including suspected cases, by far the worst official toll yet in Europe, according to official data published on Tuesday.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it recorded 34,978 Covid-19 related deaths as of 1 May in England and Wales.

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Coronavirus live news: Facebook reports rise in posts removed for hate speech

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Spain to quarantine overseas travellers; Trump walks out of press conference; White House staff ordered to wear masks

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that another 1,064 people have died and 18,106 new infections have been detected, taking the totals to 80,820 and 1,342,594, respectively.

Parts of Mexico that have been spared the worst of the epidemic could reopen as soon as 17 May – a date some health experts worry is too ambitious as the country still hasn’t carried out widespread testing or enforced strict quarantine.

Jorge Alcocer told reporters that roughly 300 of Mexico’s more than 2,400 municipalities would likely to be reopened, depending on assessments from the health authorities. The rest of the country is projected to reopen at the end of month – with school returning 1 June – according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who will unveil plans on Wednesday for “returning to a new normalcy”.

They cannot know [which cities to open] because if a sample is not representative at the state level, would it be much less representative at the municipal level … It’s a national sample. Nothing more.

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Release of Iranian scientist in doubt as US official ‘calls BS’

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Homeland security questions whether Tehran wants return of Sirous Asgari

A potential deal to release a renowned Iranian scientist from a US jail and return him to Iran appears to be in danger of breaking down after a senior US official questioned whether Tehran really wanted him returned.

Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, claimed on Monday that Sirous Asgari had been freed by US authorities and would be able to return to Iran immediately if he tested negative for coronavirus.

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Israel threatens to pull evangelical Christian TV station aimed at Jews

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State forbids preaching to under-18s without parents’ permission

The Israeli government is threatening to take off air a Christian television channel that launched in the country to preach to Jews, warning that it will be barred if it breaks strict rules around proselytising.

GOD TV, an evangelical media network that broadcasts across the world, signed a seven-year deal with a major Israeli cable television provider, HOT, to host its new Hebrew-language channel that began airing last month.

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Australian government tells ICC it should not investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine

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International Criminal Court rejects Australia’s argument it has no jurisdiction because Palestine is ‘not a state’

The Australian government has told the International Criminal Court it should not investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine because Palestine is “not a state”, arguing the court prosecutor’s investigation into alleged attacks on civilians, torture, attacks on hospitals, and the use of human shields, should be halted on jurisdictional grounds.

Australia was lobbied to make the submission to the court by Israel, which is not a party to the court. But the office of the prosecutor has rejected Australia’s argument, saying it had not formally challenged Palestine’s right to be a party to the court before.

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Can Iraq’s new PM, and the region, escape Suleimani’s long shadow?

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Rise of spy chief to premier comes as Iran struggles to maintain momentum months after killing of powerful general

In late February, six weeks after the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani was killed by a US drone, a candidate for Iraq’s vacant premiership was nervously preparing for an interview that would secure him the role.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s rise from intelligence chief to the seat of national power had been unorthodox, as was the journey he had just made – from Baghdad, where high-stakes appointments like his had mostly been made over the past decade.

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Could Assad row with cousin tear down Syrian regime?

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Power struggle between Bashar al-Assad and first cousin sparks rare family fissure and leaves public aghast

A defiant tyrant and his ruthless wife square up against the family oligarch, with the spoils of a nation at stake. It could be standard Ramadan television fare, but not this year. Instead, all the intrigue of Syria’s ruling family has been laid out in a spectacular real-life drama that has gripped the country and the region.

Leading the cast is the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, and Syria’s first lady, Asma al-Assad, but star billing has so far been taken by the president’s first cousin, Rami Makhlouf, who last week took to Facebook to do the unthinkable: air the normally inscrutable family’s dirty laundry.

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‘There is no future’: the refugees who became pawns in Erdoğan’s game

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First the asylum seekers were used to further Turkey’s regional ambitions, now they are made to suffer in quarantine camps

At the beginning of March, thousands of refugees gathered in the shadow of the Pazarkule border gate in Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he would “open the gate” to Europe.

The move was a reaction to the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in Idlib province on 28 February and designed to exert pressure on the EU and Nato to support its military operation in northern Syria.

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WHO conditionally backs Covid-19 vaccine trials that infect people – as it happened

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20m Americans lost their jobs in April; Donald Trump says virus will ‘go away without a vaccine’. This blog is now closed, follow our new blog below

We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date with all the latest news on our new global live blog which you can find below.

Related: Coronavirus live news: global cases approach 4 million as US unemployment hits 14.7%

New Zealand’s cabinet will meet on Monday to decide the future of the country’s tough but effective lockdown – though Kiwis have been told not to visit their mums this Mother’s Day.

Next week, Ardern’s government will plot a path back to something close to normality, meeting to decide a timetable for the removal of social and business restrictions. The prime minister has already released what level two restrictions will look like, including the re-opening of restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, cinemas and public facilities like museums and libraries.

Social restrictions could end immediately, with provisions for schools, business and personal movement more likely to be phased in.

Any decision will come too late for Kiwi mums to enjoy visits from sons and daughters not already in their household bubbles. Ardern has banned socialising outside of existing households, with few exceptions, and told Kiwis this week to “stick to the plan” ahead of Monday’s review.

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Qatar’s migrant workers beg for food as Covid-19 infections rise

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Desperation and fear mount in the Gulf state as thousands of labourers are left with no job, no money and no way out

Low-wage migrant workers in Qatar, one of the richest countries in the world, say they have been forced to beg for food as the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic takes a devastating toll, following a surge in the outbreak that has seen one-in-four people test positive.

In more than 20 interviews, workers in the World Cup host nation have described a mounting sense of desperation, frustration and fear. Many told the Guardian they have suddenly been left jobless, with no other way to earn a living. Others say they are desperate, but unable, to return home. Some have been forced to plead for food from their employers or charities.

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Coronavirus live news: New Zealand could allow gatherings of 100 from next week

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PM Jacinda Ardern outlines easing curbs to allow domestic travel and eating out; White House says US-China relationship one of ‘disappointment’; eurozone’s future threatened. Follow the latest updates

A gas leak at a chemical factory in southern India has killed at least nine people and led to hundreds being taken to hospital, amid warnings that the death toll could climb higher.

Styrene leaked from the Korean-owned LG Polymers plant during the early hours of Thursday morning when families in the surrounding villages were asleep, a local official in Andra Pradesh state said.

Related: Gas leak at chemical factory in India kills at least nine and hospitalises hundreds

Donald Trump has again suggested the US may need to accept the reality of more deaths in order to start reopening the economy, as governments around the world continued to ease out of lockdown restrictions.

Related: Global report: deaths are price of reopening, says Trump, as China warns risks remain

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Iraq appoints new prime minister after months of protests and jockeying

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Intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi is regarded as being acceptable to both US and Iran

Iraqi lawmakers have approved a new prime minister and government after six months without one as parties squabbled until the last minute over cabinet seats in backroom deals.

The new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Iraq’s intelligence chief and a former journalist, will head the new government. He will begin his term without a full cabinet, however, after several ministerial candidates were rejected.

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Israel: Netanyahu and Gantz get supreme court nod for coalition

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Rivals will alternate as prime minister with government to be sworn in on 13 May

Israel’s supreme court has approved the coalition agreement between the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Benny Gantz, paving the way for a unity government to be sworn in next week.

The country’s top court considered eight separate petitions from opponents of the pact at a hearing this week.

But it ruled “there was no legal reason to prevent the formation of a government” led by Netanyahu.

As the decision was delivered, Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party and the centrist Blue and White alliance led by Gantz said in a joint statement that the new government would be sworn in on 13 May.

Related: Netanyahu and Gantz agree to form unity Israeli government

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Egypt says film-maker died in cell after drinking hand sanitiser

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Shady Habash had been held in Cairo’s Tora prison for more than two years without trial

Egypt’s public prosecutor has said a young film-maker who died in prison had mistakenly drunk hand sanitiser in his cell, thinking it was water.

Shady Habash died inside Cairo’s Tora prison complex on 2 May. He had been held for more than two years without trial, accused of membership of a terrorist group and “spreading false news” after he produced a music video critical of Egypt’s president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

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Coronavirus live news: Trump wants to disband Covid-19 taskforce; Germany looks to reopen shops and restart amateur sport

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President says it’s time to reopen businesses as US deaths top 70,000; number of Russian cases rises by more than 10,000 for fourth consecutive day; Spain set to extend state of emergency for two more weeks

Pope Francis has urged employers to respect the dignity of workers, particularly migrants, in the face of economic difficulties brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the end of his general audience, held from the papal library instead of St Peter’s Square because of Italy’s lockdown, he said:

It’s true that the crisis is affecting everyone but the dignity of people must always be respected.”

Baseball fans will be let back into Taiwanese stadiums this week as the government begins relaxing some controls implemented to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Taiwan has been relatively successful at controlling the virus, with 439 cases to date and six deaths, and 100 active infections, thanks to early prevention and detection efforts. The island has never gone into total lockdown, though the government has promoted social distancing and face masks.

Related: Taiwan to welcome baseball fans back into stadiums this week

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Coronavirus live news: top UK adviser Prof Neil Ferguson resigns over lockdown breach

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Austria says easing lockdown has not led to spike in infections; Macron says major foreign travel will be limited this summer; global deaths pass 250,000

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 19,138 new confirmed cases; taking the total to at least 1,171,510. The number of deaths has risen by 823 to 68,279, it added.

The figures do not necessarily reflect those reported by individual states.

A regional capital in Brazil has become the country’s first city to declare a total lockdown – in direct opposition to the president Jair Bolsonaro, who has railed against social isolation and dismissed a soaring death-toll.

The lockdown in São Luís, capital of the north-estern state of Maranhão, and three neighbouring towns, was ordered by a judge after intensive care beds in state government hospitals filled up. States such as Rio de Janeiro are watching closely. But the move came as looser social isolation measures introduced by state governors crumble across Brazil and cases soar.

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