Icke’s account was terminated for violating policy on spreading coronavirus disinformation
YouTube has deleted conspiracy theorist David Icke’s account.
The video-sharing site said the 68-year-old violated its policies on sharing information about coronavirus.
Continue reading...Just one in five want schools, pubs and restaurants to be reopened, according to new poll by Opinium
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Fewer than one in five of the British public believe the time is right to consider reopening schools, restaurants, pubs and stadiums. The findings, in a new poll for the Observer, suggest Boris Johnson will struggle to convince people to return their lives to normal if he tries to ease the lockdown soon.
The poll by Opinium, taken between Wednesday and Friday last week, found 17% of people think the conditions have been met to consider reopening schools, against 67% who say they have not been, and that they should stay closed.
Continue reading...Previously secret agreement emerges as spokesmen for US military and Taliban clash on Twitter
The US military has warned the Taliban it must curb attacks inside Afghanistan and revealed that a US troop withdrawal agreement signed in February included an informal commitment for both sides to cut violence by 80%.
The previously secret arrangement was revealed in a Twitter spat between the US military spokesman Col Sonny Leggett and his Taliban counterpart Zabihullah Mujahid. It comes after a sharp escalation in militant attacks since the agreement was sealed.
Continue reading...As the world battles the coronavirus pandemic, communities are coming together to support each other through difficult times. From improvised festivals to a flypast for Capt Tom Moore at 100, here are some of the small and big things people are doing to keep each others' spirits up.
Continue reading...The communities secretary has announced £76m in support for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse who have been affected by the coronavirus lockdown. Admitting the measures have been 'a nightmare' for people trapped at home with abusers, Jenrick said the money would be used to provide more safe spaces and accommodation, recruit workers for survivors of sexual violence and support frontline charities working with those in need
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Donald Trump disputed warnings from the US Capitol physician and said it is safe for the Senate to return to the Washington DC building next week in a tweet which, as usual, needs a bit of explanation.
There is tremendous CoronaVirus testing capacity in Washington for the Senators returning to Capital Hill on Monday. Likewise the House, which should return but isn’t because of Crazy Nancy P. The 5 minute Abbott Test will be used. Please inform Dr. Brian P. Monahan. @MarkMeadows
The White House said it would be “counterproductive” for Dr Anthony Fauci to testify before Congress next week and is blocking him from speaking about the government’s response to the pandemic ina House committee hearing.
Fauci, who has worked at the National Institute of Health since 1968, has been a source of measured, expert analysis on the Covid-19 outbreak in press briefings and interviews. This has put him at odds with the president, who has downplayed the pandemic and disputed facts about the crisis.
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Here’s a look at today’s major news items ...
Donald Trump has appeared to confirm that Kim Jong Un is “alive and well” after weeks of speculation over the North Korean leader’s health.
“I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!” Trump wrote, quote-tweeting North Korean state media photos of Kim attending a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory.
I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well! https://t.co/mIWVeRMnOJ
Continue reading...Somalia reports rapid rise in Covid-19 deaths; 98 people die in one New York nursing home; Singapore eases restrictions as second wave subsides
Japan will fast-track a review of the antiviral drug remdesivir so that it can hopefully be approved for domestic COVID-19 patients a week after Gilead Sciences filing for such approval, the health minister said on Saturday, according to a report by Reuters.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato’s comment comes after remdesivir was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19 on Friday.
The Chinese virologist whose work has been at the centre of the controversial claim that coronavirus came from a laboratory has dismissed rumours that she has defected from China, South China Morning Post reports.
Shi Zhengli, a researcher of bat coronaviruses, wrote on WeChat on Saturday that she and her family had not fled the country, despite coming under heavy scrutiny amid conspiracy theories that the virus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic had originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in central China where she works.
Continue reading...In move condemned by UN, refugees including Rohingya arrested amid rising climate of xenophobia
Malaysian authorities have rounded up and detained hundreds of undocumented migrants, including Rohingya refugees, as part of efforts to contain coronavirus, officials said.
Authorities said 586 undocumented migrants were arrested in a raid in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Friday. Armed police walked people through the city in a single file to a detention building, according to activists. The UN said the move could push vulnerable groups into hiding and prevent them from seeking treatment.
Continue reading...Fear tempers relief as people remain worried about safety of streets after 50 days indoors
The birds’ seven-week reign in Madrid is coming to an end.
By 9.30 on Saturday morning, the musings of blackbirds, the cooings of pigeons and the hooligan shrieks of parakeets had begun to mix with the rhythmic fall of foot on pavement, the whizzing of bikes and the wheezing of long-confined lungs.
Continue reading...Three-month easing includes some retailers opening from 18 May and restaurants from 29 June
Ireland has extended its lockdown for another two weeks to 18 May, when it will introduce a phased, five-stage exit over three months.
The country’s lockdown regime has been much stricter than the UK’s, but Friday night’s announcement offers a clear, step-by-step map out of the lockdown for schools, shops and businesses as well as the global Irish diaspora including more than 300,000 in the UK, many of whom would normally make visits home in the summer.
Continue reading...Other ideas to ease lockdown reportedly include wearing face masks and a reduction from 2 to 1 metres distancing
UK commuters could be asked to check their temperatures at home before travelling under plans to ease the coronavirus lockdown being considered by the government.
A change in physical distancing measures, including reducing the recommended gap between people in public from 2 metres to 1 metre, is also being considered, according to reports, as Boris Johnson prepares to lay out a “roadmap” next week for schools and businesses reopening.
Continue reading...Declarations of false victory and a vacuum of federal leadership have undermined testing as experts warn reopening the US could result in disaster
A broad coalition of US health systems has mobilized to ramp up coronavirus testing in a national effort on a scale not seen since the second world war. But declarations of false victory by the Trump administration and a vacuum of federal leadership have undermined the endeavor, leading experts to warn that reopening the US could result in a disaster.
Related: The missing six weeks: how Trump failed the biggest test of his life
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Groups of professionals are helping deliver essential packages in Nigeria’s largest city
Twelve friends fill hundreds of carefully arranged aid packages into four cars, then trail through Oniru’s empty streets, past sky-coloured luxury apartment blocks.
In what is notionally an affluent suburb along Lagos’s coastline, the cars stop outside the shells of abandoned, part-constructed buildings, and the friends file into the informal housing compounds that sprawl within.
Continue reading...Concerns that official mortality counts in African countries are a big understatement
Medics, funeral workers and gravediggers in Somalia have reported an unprecedented surge of deaths in recent days amid growing fears that official counts of Covid-19 deaths reflect only a fraction of the virus’s toll in Africa .
So far Somalia, one of the poorest and most vulnerable countries on the continent, has announced an official total of 601 confirmed cases and 28 deaths.
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Donald Trump appears to have revised upward to 100,000 his expectations for the number of Americans who will die of Covid-19.
“Hopefully we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number nevertheless,” Trump said at a White House event to honor people who are doing work related to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Reuters.
The last patient has left the field hospital that was erected in New York City’s Javits convention center, the AP reports.
The emergency facility was erected by the members of the US military to alleviate strain on the city’s hospital system at the height of the outbreak. It ultimately treated 1,095 patients, the last 8 of whom left the hospital today.
Continue reading...Germany’s top coronavirus expert says children play as big a role as adults in spread
More countries across Europe are preparing to reopen schools in the coming weeks despite conflicting advice from scientifist, some of whom caution against underestimating children’s potential to spread the coronavirus.
Some schools and nurseries in Denmark and Norway have already reopened, and grandparents in Switzerland are allowed to hug grandchildren under 10, following a ruling by the health ministry’s head of infectious diseases that it is safe to do so.
Continue reading...US president escalates attack on Beijing’s handling of coronavirus pandemic
Donald Trump’s threats to reignite the US-China trade war over coronavirus has triggered another sell-off in global financial markets, as the economic costs of the pandemic continue to mount.
Against a backdrop of rising tension between the world’s two economic superpowers, share prices resumed a downward slide on Friday with the FTSE 100 falling by 144 points, or 2.5%, in London.
Continue reading...Coronavirus has hit the London borough of Newham – one of the UK’s most deprived areas – harder than anywhere else
Kamrul Islam doesn’t dare visit his local supermarket. Over the last few weeks, he said three of his closest friends fell ill with the coronavirus shortly after shopping there. One friend’s mother became seriously unwell after contracting the virus and sadly died.
The 40-year-old former cab driver says a day doesn’t go by when he isn’t aware of a death or infection of someone he knows. While the coronavirus has spread widely across the UK, the pandemic has taken a huge toll on the area where Islam lives, the east London borough of Newham, which has recorded the worst mortality rate in England and Wales.
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