Airline apologises after credit card details of about 2,200 passengers were stolen
EasyJet has revealed that the personal information of 9 million customers was accessed in a “highly sophisticated” cyber-attack on the airline.
The company said on Tuesday that email addresses and travel details were accessed and it would contact the customers affected.
Continue reading...Restrictions were due to end but Hong Kong extends social distancing measures for 14 days
Hong Kong has in effect banned an annual vigil for the Tiananmen Square massacre by extending its physical distancing measures for another 14 days.
After two consecutive days without local transmissions of Covid-19, the city state’s authorities announced some restrictions would ease, but those limiting gatherings to a maximum of eight would be extended for another 14 days.
Continue reading...A Billy bookcase is made every three seconds. But with a third of people admitting to throwing away furniture that they could have sold or donated, does the cheap furniture boom have a heavy environmental price?
Jo Jackson remembers the day when it was clear that nothing was going to be the same for a while. It was mid-March and Made.com, an online purveyor of millennial-friendly furniture, had big plans for growth in the year of its 10th anniversary.
Continue reading...WHO chief promises review of global response; Afghanistan sees biggest one-day rise in new infections; Italy records lowest deaths since March
Twenty one more people have died from Covid-19 in the Netherlands, the lowest number reported on a Tuesday since March, taking the total death toll in the country to 5,715.
According to the latest update from the Dutch national institute for public health and the environment (RIVM), a further 108 people tested positive for the virus, the lowest number of new daily infections recorded since 10 March. So far, 44,249 confirmed cases have been reported.
The number of people who have fallen ill due to the novel coronavirus in the Netherlands has been decreasing since the end of March. This is apparent from the decrease in the number of newly reported patients, hospital admissions, ICU admissions and deaths per day.
The number of people who visit their GP because of symptoms that are consistent with the coronavirus is still decreasing. This is evident from figures provided by the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel).
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus across Africa has passed 86,000, the regional office of the World Health Organization has said.
Unlike in Europe, a widespread outbreak seems yet to happen in Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people. There had been fears that its comparatively limited healthcare infrastructure would be overrun by patients with Covid-19.
Over 86,000 confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent - with more than 33,000 recoveries & 2,700 deaths. View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/V0fkK8dYTg pic.twitter.com/t8kU48MI7R
Continue reading...New research also warns that half of those with a problem are not getting the help they need
Gambling addiction rates may be much higher than previously thought, according to research that also warns nearly half of those with a problem are not getting any help.
Related: Isolation will fuel gambling addiction. We must protect those at risk | Carolyn Harris
Continue reading...UK journalist Robyn Vinter gets thousands of replies after asking people to share images of life before lockdown
Robyn Vinter knew something was happening when she saw a reply from Monica Lewinsky. Vinter, a Leeds-based journalist, had sent a Saturday morning tweet which contained a simple request: “I would like to see the last normal pic on your phone.”
Within hours she had thousands of replies, including one from the woman best known for her part in a political scandal involving the former US president Bill Clinton.
Continue reading...The funeral industry has had to adapt to new regulations around death care during the pandemic at the same time as dealing with an increase in work. Poppy’s Funerals in south London is one provider that believes that public health concerns should not impact upon its ability to carry out its role with humanity and respect. The Guardian spent the day inside its mortuary to see how the firm and its staff have adapted to the new challenges they face
Daily death tolls fall in UK, Spain and Italy; South Africa reports highest daily increase; global infections pass 4.7 million. Follow the latest updates
Despite strong efforts, Taiwan did not get invited to this week’s meeting of a key World Health Organization body due to Chinese pressure, its foreign minister has said, adding they had agreed to put the issue off until later this year.
Non-WHO member Taiwan had been lobbying to take part in the World Health Assembly, which opens later on Monday.
Despite all our efforts and an unprecedented level of international support, Taiwan has not received an invitation to take part.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses deep regret and strong dissatisfaction that the World Health Organization Secretariat has yielded to pressure from the Chinese government and continues to disregard the right to health of the 23 million people of Taiwan.
Understandably, countries want to use the limited time available to concentrate on ways of containing the pandemic.
For this reason, like-minded nations and diplomatic allies have suggested that the proposal be taken up later this year when meetings will be conducted normally, to make sure there will be full and open discussion.
Hungary’s government will submit a proposal to parliament on 26 May to end its special coronavirus emergency powers, hirtv.hu quoted prime minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff as saying late on Sunday.
Gergely Gulyas said parliament would take a few days to pass the bill, which will end the much-criticised emergency powers by early June.
Continue reading...Services increased to 70% but capacity kept to 10% of normal levels to prevent crowding
Train companies will increase the number of services on Monday to reflect the easing of coronavirus travel restrictions in England.
Industry body the Rail Delivery Group said services would be increased from about 50% of the standard timetable to 70%.
Continue reading...Women’s rights group says too many social workers are not equipped to respond to increased risk posed by lockdown
Girls at risk of child marriage are falling under the radar of authorities in England and Wales because of a lack of record-keeping by more than half of the departments responsible for children’s social care, a charity has warned.
IKWRO women’s rights organisation says it is preparing for a spike in cases following the easing of lockdown and is urging social workers to be ready to respond.
Continue reading...Aviation is struggling and seeking support, but there are demands for it to give something in return
“The political moment is now” to address the climate risks posed by the aviation industry, analysts, insiders and campaigners say, as governments across the world weigh up bailouts for airlines grounded by the coronavirus pandemic.
Rescue packages need to come with green strings, such as reduced carbon footprints and frequent flyer levies, they warn, or the sector will return to the path that has made it the fastest rising source of climate-wrecking carbon emissions over the past decade.
Continue reading...The Cabinet Office minister has said he is confident children and teachers will be safe if they return to the classroom, but admitted the risk remained of contracting Covid-19. Appearing on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, Michael Gove said: ‘The only way ever to ensure that you never catch coronavirus is to stay at home completely. There’s always, always, always in any loosening of these restrictions a risk of people catching the coronavirus’
Norfolk’s picture postcard destinations were set for a bumper year – now they are fighting for survival
On a cloudless May morning, the seaside resort of Great Yarmouth on England’s east coast looks postcard perfect, but it’s deserted – the shops are shuttered and the beachside carparks closed. A scattering of lone joggers and cyclists make their way along the promenade, known as the “golden mile”, while one beach hut serves takeaway coffees and ice-creams.
While the UK has begun its first tentative steps towards easing lockdown restrictions, foreign leisure travel is still expected to be off the table for some time. Could a gradual reopening of the economy throw a lifeline to Britain’s struggling tourism industry, provided the virus is brought under control when the peak school summer holiday season begins?
Continue reading...The prime minister’s new policy left Scotland, Wales and England’s regions in a battle for money and control – and gave the Tory party a huge ideological challenge
Only a few weeks ago Boris Johnson was invoking the spirit of Winston Churchill when he called on the nation to unite in the fight against the coronavirus. As he took the momentous decision to order the closure of pubs, restaurants and many shops on 23 March, much of the United Kingdom seemed ready to respond and rally round the flag at a time of crisis. Similar lockdowns were ordered in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Rival political leaders offered to abandon hostilities and seek consensus. There was talk of forming a government of national unity. Johnson’s ratings soared in the polls as voters heard the call to join a great collective effort. “We will get through this together,” he told the country.
That was then. Last week the short-lived unity fractured, and trust in the government in London started to haemorrhage away. Political leaders in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast began to resist and go their own ways in the fight against Covid-19. In England, open dissent started to break out in the regions. This weekend some council leaders in England have vowed to defy the government at Westminster by refusing to re-open schools on 1 June, as Johnson wants, because of fears for their pupils’ and teachers’ safety. The R rate (of the virus’s reproduction) is too high and the move too risky, they say, echoing the views of worried teaching unions. Yesterday Hartlepool council issued a statement: “Given that coronavirus cases locally continue to rise, Hartlepool borough council has been working with schools and we have agreed they will not reopen on Monday 1 June. Whilst we recognise the importance of schools reopening, we want to be absolutely clear that we will be taking a measured and cautious approach to this.”
Continue reading...The 22-year-old was arrested on Friday and will appear before magistrates on Monday
A third person has been charged with murdering an NHS worker, who was allegedly chased and stabbed eight times after he left his house to go shopping.
Vagnei Colubali, 22, was charged on Saturday over the death of marketing graduate David Gomoh, 24, who was attacked outside his home in east London on 26 April while he was on the phone to his girlfriend.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson was hit by a growing revolt over his strategy for easing the Covid-19 lockdown last night as council leaders across the north of England joined unions in vowing to resist plans to reopen schools on 1 June.
Related: Are we all in this together? It doesn't look like it from the regions
Continue reading...The brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was one of several protesters arrested at an anti-lockdown demonstration in Hyde Park. Between 50 and 70 people defied social distancing guidelines to gather close together at Speakers’ Corner
Continue reading...Unique 2,000-year-old discovery made by staff in lockdown at Northumberland’s Vindolanda Museum
The Roman author Pliny the Younger advised “kissing the hairy muzzle of a mouse” as a cure for the common cold. His fellow countrymen linked mice to the god Apollo, who could bring deadly plague upon them with his arrows.
So they might not have seen the funny side of a lifelike mouse made out of a strip of leather which has been newly discovered at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, south of Hadrian’s Wall, near Hexham, Northumberland.
Continue reading...Birds born in one of three nests at Knepp estate in West Sussex as part of breeding project
White stork chicks have hatched in the wild in the UK for the first time in centuries.
Eggs in one of three nests at the Knepp estate in West Sussex have hatched, the White Stork Project announced.
Continue reading...Russia records highest daily fatalities; German football gets back under way; French child dies of Kawasaki disease. Follow the latest updates
This live blog is now closed – the new one is here where you can join Rebecca Ratcliffe for continuing coverage.
Related: Coronavirus live news: Barack Obama attacks Trump virus response
Tens of thousands of impoverished migrant workers are on the move across India, walking on highways and railway tracks or riding in trucks, buses and crowded trains in blazing heat, Associated Press reports.
Some are accompanied by pregnant wives and young children, braving threats from the coronavirus pandemic. They say they have been forced to leave cities and towns where they had toiled for years building homes and roads after they were abandoned by their employers casualties of a nationwide lockdown to stop the virus from spreading.
On Saturday, at least 23 laborers died in northern India when a truck they were traveling in smashed into a stationary truck on a highway. Last week, a train crashed into a group of tired workers who fell asleep on the tracks while walking back home in western Maharashtra state, killing 16.
The government and charities have tried to set up shelters for them, but their numbers are simply overwhelming, leaving them little choice but to head on a perilous journey home.