A family from Kent who shared a video of their living room performance of a lockdown-themed adaptation of a Les Misérables song have become a sensation online. Ben and Danielle Marsh and their four children changed the lyrics of One Day More to reflect common complaints during the Covid-19 lockdown. They say the video, which has gone viral, was intended to give friends and family a laugh during this stressful time
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If coronavirus sinks the eurozone, the ‘frugal four’ will be to blame | David Adler and Jerome Roos
The Dutch-led opposition to a ‘coronabond’ to raise funds for nations hardest-hit by the pandemic is self-defeating
Last Thursday, the leaders of the European Union convened a video conference to deliberate the escalating Covid-19 crisis. On the agenda was a simple proposal co-signed by nine different eurozone governments: the “coronabond”, a new type of public debt instrument backed by all the members of the currency union as they come together to combat the virus.
After a long decade of crisis fighting in the eurozone – pitting north against south, creditor against borrower – the proposal marked a rare display of unity, and the meeting was a perfect opportunity to ratify it. Issued collectively, the “coronabond” would drive down the borrowing costs of some of Europe’s most heavily affected countries, staving off another sovereign debt crisis and freeing up much-needed resources to invest in public health and economic recovery. “We are all facing a symmetric external shock,” the proposal read, “and we are collectively accountable for an effective and united European response.”
Continue reading...‘We can’t go back to normal’: how will coronavirus change the world?
Times of upheaval are always times of radical change. Some believe the pandemic is a once-in-a-generation chance to remake society and build a better future. Others fear it may only make existing injustices worse. By Peter C Baker
Everything feels new, unbelievable, overwhelming. At the same time, it feels as if we’ve walked into an old recurring dream. In a way, we have. We’ve seen it before, on TV and in blockbusters. We knew roughly what it would be like, and somehow this makes the encounter not less strange, but more so.
Every day brings news of developments that, as recently as February, would have felt impossible – the work of years, not mere days. We refresh the news not because of a civic sense that following the news is important, but because so much may have happened since the last refresh. These developments are coming so fast that it’s hard to remember just how radical they are.
Continue reading...The UK feigns ignorance, but five years on it’s still intimately involved in Yemen’s war
The British government refuses to track the use of its weapons in a conflict that has targeted civilians and healthcare facilities, and now a coronavirus outbreak looms
The coronavirus pandemic has forced questions of life and death to the fore around the world. National health infrastructures risk being overwhelmed, food supply chains are struggling to keep up with stockpiling, and restrictions on movement are enforcing social distancing. Worries about loved ones and fears for the future combine with outbreaks of neighbourliness and solidarity.
The questions about who is – or should be – responsible for mitigating the crisis and addressing its worst effects are being raised urgently. For many this is the new reality. But for those in conflict zones, such as Yemen, basic survival has long been the pressing preoccupation.
Continue reading...Coronavirus bank loans: what’s on offer for Australian home owners and small business
Here’s how the banks are doing their bit to help while businesses are closed and people are out of work due to Covid-19
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- Coronavirus Australia maps and cases: live numbers and statistics
All the banks are offering a similar menu of relief for retail and business customers, although details of what’s available differ between institutions.
What’s set out below is as up-to-date as possible, but what’s on offer changes frequently and you should always check with your bank before making any financial decisions.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: rise in Italy, US and France deaths takes global confirmed toll past 40,000
Worldwide confirmed cases pass 800,000 as Spain and Russia also report record single-day death tolls and Mexico wakes to state of emergency
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Do you ever run out of questions, you people? Trump asks a room full of reporters.
Trump is talking about the impeachment. “They probably illegally impeached me... you don’t hear much about that nowadays because everyone’s talking about the virus,” which he is happy about, the US president says.
“The democrats their whole live their whole being their whole existence was to try and get me out of office any way they can even if it was a phony deal.”
"I think I'm getting A pluses now for how I handled myself during a phony impeachment," Trump says.
Continue reading...Trump attacks journalists for asking ‘snarky’ questions on coronavirus testing in US – video
Donald Trump said that federal physical distancing guidelines might be toughened as he urged Americans to help fight the coronavirus with tough measures through April. Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said more than 1 million Americans had been tested for the coronavirus, which he called a milestone. But when questioned about testing per capita in the US, Trump wrongly claimed that the population of Seoul in South Korea was 38 million people (it is actually closer to 10 million people) and told the reporter to stop asking ‘snarky’ questions
Continue reading...UK police warned against ‘overreach’ in use of virus lockdown powers
Exclusive: policing chiefs seek to set out legal powers forces have in coronavirus lockdown
Police chiefs are drawing up new guidance warning forces not to overreach their lockdown enforcement powers after withering criticism of controversial tactics to stop the spread of coronavirus, the Guardian has learned.
The intervention comes amid growing concern that some forces are going beyond their legal powers to stop the spread of Covid-19, with one issuing a summons to a household for shopping for non-essential items and another telling locals that exercise was “limited to an hour a day”.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: ‘each and every individual matters’, says WHO director – video
WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the poorest from each community would struggle for their 'daily bread' as more and more countries implemented lockdowns of various degrees. He added poverty was a global problem, not one unique to India, and governments should take each individual into account when implementing measures
- India racked by greatest exodus since partition due to coronavirus
- India's 1.3bn population locked down to beat coronavirus
Extend Brexit transition by years over coronavirus, UK told
European People’s party says it hopes ‘common sense will prevail over ideology’
The largest group in the European parliament has urged the UK government to do the “responsible thing” and extend the Brexit transition period, as coronavirus plays havoc with the timetable for an EU-UK deal.
The centre-right European People’s party (EPP), which unites the parties of 11 EU leaders, including Angela Merkel and Leo Varadkar, issued a statement on Monday calling on the government to extend the Brexit transition beyond the end of the year.
Continue reading...New York governor Andrew Cuomo calls for unity in US coronavirus fight – video
The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, has warned that the state’s surge of coronavirus cases and deaths could soon be replicated across the country. He said he agreed with Donald Trump's description of the fight against the virus as 'a war' and stressed that preparation for the peak of infection was essential
Continue reading...NHS nurse applauded by family as she returns from work amid coronavirus crisis – video
An NHS nurse working during the coronavirus outbreak in the UK received a standing ovation from her family as she returned home from a shift.
Her son shared a video on Twitter and said: 'We as a family have been welcoming our mum home from work as a hero. She is a nurse in the NHS in Britain and is working so hard every day! We will continue to do this every time she returns home from work'
Continue reading...Brazilian left demands Bolsonaro resign over coronavirus response
President accused of cynically and criminally putting business interests over public safety
Some of the most distinguished members of the Brazilian left have demanded Jair Bolsonaro’s resignation in a biting declaration that criticised what they called his cynical and criminally irresponsible handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Related: Bolsonaro threatens to sack health minister over coronavirus criticism
Continue reading...New York City under quarantine: quiet, empty streets and closed stores – video
As New York state’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak passed 1,000, New Yorkers continued to battle Covid-19 through social isolation and self-quarantine, making the city’s typically busy streets and public areas eerily quiet
Coronavirus: Indian migrant workers sprayed with disinfectant amid mass exodus from cities – video
Video footage shows Indian health workers spraying disinfectant on a group of migrant workers, amid fears that a large scale movement of people from cities to the countryside risks spreading the coronavirus widely. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, has ordered the country's 1.3 billion people to remain indoors until 15 April, saying that was the only hope to stop the pandemic.
But the order has left millions of impoverished Indians jobless and hungry, prompting a mass exodus from cities to the countryside
- Divided Delhi under lockdown: 'If coronavirus doesn't kill me, hunger will'
- Coronavirus world news - live
Who is most at risk from coronavirus and why? – video explainer
The best thing to do when trying to understand a new virus like Covid-19 is to look at the data. The Guardian's science correspondent Hannah Devlin uses the latest figures to explain who is most at risk of contracting this coronavirus, why men are more likely to die from the disease, and the reasons health workers could be particularly vulnerable
- What is coronavirus – and what is the mortality rate?
- Coronavirus mapped: which countries have the most cases and deaths?
Divided Delhi under lockdown: ‘If coronavirus doesn’t kill me, hunger will’
India’s shutdown is catastrophic for Muslims driven from their homes by sectarian carnage and now without food or shelter
It wasn’t possible for Mohammed Idrish to watch Narendra Modi’s address to the nation last Tuesday exhorting 1.3 billion Indians to stay at home. His TV was looted along with everything else in his home in Delhi during the recent anti-Muslim riots in the Indian capital.
When Idrish, a carpenter, heard about Modi urging Indians to stay at home to stop coronavirus spreading, he shook his head again and again. “I don’t understand … I don’t understand. Doesn’t he know we have no home?”
Continue reading...Oil rig closures rising as prices hit 18-year lows
Global producers running out of storage for surplus due to coronavirus crisis
Global oil producers have begun shutting down their oil rigs on the largest scale in 35 years as the coronavirus continues to drive market prices to their lowest level since 2002.
Related: More than 4,000 North Sea oil rig jobs cut amid Covid-19 crisis
Continue reading...Italian mayor douses ‘miracle water’ theory for lack of coronavirus cases
Clean air and a healthy lifestyle may be more likely reasons for the absence of the virus in a Piedmont village
The inhabitants of Montaldo Torinese, a village in Italy’s northern Piedmont region, have so far been spared coronavirus, leading some to believe they are being protected by the “miracle water” that, according to legend, cured Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops of pneumonia.
Montaldo Torinese lies about 11 miles (19km) from Turin, the regional capital where as of Saturday 3,658 people were infected with the virus. Across Piedmont, the fourth worst-affected region in Italy, there were 8,206 cases as of Sunday.
Continue reading...Will sky-high unemployment lead to authoritarianism or progress? | Barry Eichengreen
The fallout from coronavirus could help undermine Reagan-era principles and renew a sense of national interdependence
Does the huge surge in US unemployment claims announced on Thursday mean that we are doomed to endure the 30% unemployment of which the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis has warned?
The answer is no. How high unemployment rises will depend on how quickly we ramp up testing and the provision of protective equipment, enabling us to determine when and where it is safe to return to work.
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