Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Spaniards fear that the sacrifices made during the coronavirus lockdown will be in vain after tourists from overseas flouted regulations about wearing masks and social distancing.
As footage of drunken British tourists dancing on cars in the Mallorcan resort of Magaluf went viral, one Twitter user commented: “Parts of Spain in lockdown, the elderly shut away in care homes, we all wear masks in the street, but in Magaluf the antisocial and irresponsible Brits do whatever they please. It’s shameful.”
Trump has claimed he received 'rave reviews' for commuting the prison sentence of Roger Stone, his long-time ally. Stone, 67, was convicted in November 2019 of obstructing a congressional investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. Both Democrats and Republicans have criticised the move as a miscarriage of justice
Donald Trump has rebuffed reports that the White House is briefing against Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top public health expert. 'I have a very good relationship with Dr Fauci,' he said. The president's press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, denied that officials had shared 'opposition research' with reporters. Over the weekend, Trump aides told news outlets that Fauci, who has become the public face of the government’s response, had made a series of 'mistakes' in his predictions
Hi all - Sam Levin here, taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day, writing from Los Angeles, which is returning to strict closures for a number of industries, as Covid infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to surge here.
Business owners in LA have told me that it’s been particularly painful to restart and then shut down again, and that they have been pouring money into making their indoor operations safe, with little certainty about when they can properly reopen. Here’s more from my colleague Vivian Ho on the state of the crisis and new restrictions across California:
Canadian prime minister faces third conflict-of-interest investigation in just over three years
Justin Trudeau has apologized for taking part in a cabinet decision to use a charity he and his family have worked with to administer a C$900m (US$663m) student grant program.
President’s critics fear result will boost illiberal tendencies at home and within EU
Poland’s ruling populists have been given free rein in their mission to reshape the country after liberal hopes of taking the presidency were crushed in a narrow defeat following a divisive campaign.
The incumbent president, Andrzej Duda, was elected for another five-year term as a familiar set of demographic divisions played out in the vote. Poles under 50 and those living in larger towns and cities backed the liberal challenger, Rafał Trzaskowski, while older and rural voters stood by Duda.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, has criticised the leaders of countries where 'mixed messages' have led to a breakdown in trust over measures to limit the spread of Covid-19. Tedros said there would be no return to the old normal 'for the foreseeable future', adding: 'there are no short cuts out of this pandemic'.
Prof Christopher R Hughes believes a letter by Dr Hugh Goodacre on the crisis in Hong Kong does not stand up to historical scrutiny
Dr Hugh Goodacre’s letter (5 July) in response to Simon Jenkins (Britain can’t protect Hong Kong from China – but it can do right by its people, 2 July) claims that the people of Hong Kong gained the democratic right to vote on their future because China “stood up in the world”, which would have been unthinkable under British rule. This does not stand up to historical scrutiny.
As early as January 1958, Zhou Enlai warned the Macmillan government against supporting a “conspiracy” to make Hong Kong a self-governing dominion. In the 1960s, China insisted Britain should resist US pressure to introduce self-government, as the status of Hong Kong was to China’s benefit. Beijing continued to resist the introduction of democracy throughout the Sino-British negotiations and its current behaviour confirms its intention to act like a colonial power. Its narrative that the current protests are due to the whipping up of anti-Chinese hysteria by outside forces reflects this mindset by denying agency to the people of Hong Kong. Prof Christopher R Hughes Department of international relations, London School of Economics
Stabbing of Mireille Knoll in 2018 prompted national outcry over antisemitism
French judges have ordered two men to stand trial for the brutal 2018 killing of an elderly Jewish woman that prompted an outcry over a rise in antisemitic acts.
Mireille Knoll, 85 and suffering from Parkinson’s disease, was stabbed in her Paris apartment by attackers who later set her body on fire, apparently to hide evidence of their crime.
Duda expected to further erode judicial independence and democratic norms during second presidential term
Andrzej Duda’s second five-year term as president looks certain to intensify Poland’s standoff with Brussels, as the conservative’s allies in the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party pursue changes to the judiciary, media and other areas that the European commission says subvert democratic norms.
Duda squeezed past his Europhile rival, the liberal Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, to win re-election by 51.2% to 48.8%, official results showed on Monday, after a bitter campaign laced with homophobic language and accusations that Trzaskowski would sell out Polish families to “Jewish demands”.
Relatives of coronavirus victims in Italy have urged the European commission president to supervise an investigation into the deaths, as 100 new cases were submitted to prosecutors on Monday.
In a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the legal commission of Noi Denunceremo (We Will Denounce), the group driving the investigation, said there appeared to be “signs of unspeakable crimes against humanity” in Lombardy, the region worst hit by the virus in Italy.
He is the US scientist who became the figurehead of attempts to combat the country’s coronavirus epidemic, described in some quarters as “America’s doctor”.
Now Anthony Fauci appears sidelined by Donald Trump’s White House after repeatedly contradicting the president’s view about the effectiveness of the government response.
There is “compelling” evidence that air pollution significantly increases coronavirus infections, hospital admissions and deaths, according to the most detailed and comprehensive analysis to date.
The research indicates that a small, single-unit increase in people’s long-term exposure to pollution particles raises infections and admissions by about 10% and deaths by 15%. The study took into account more than 20 other factors, including average population density, age, household size, occupation and obesity.
If he’s to stay in power, Trump needs to repeat his victory in Wisconsin. But the landscape is very different now – and support is shrinking
Donald Trump claimed to have done so much for African Americans that his campaign decided to open the first ever Republican office in a black neighbourhood of Milwaukee.
Covid-19 exposed the country’s reliance on ‘invisible workers’ enduring wretched conditions – and a new visa scheme has not addressed the problem
Earlier this summer, as millions of Italians were locked down inside their homes, fruit and vegetables were left to rot in the fields despite the cost to the country’s economy.
Italy’s informal refugee and migrant workforce, who had previously worked long hours in wretched conditions for paltry wages to bring produce off the fields, were absent from the farms.
Low priority for reproductive health during lockdown leaves millions unable to access contraception or safe terminations
Sadhna Gupta* discovered she was pregnant just after India imposed a crippling lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The 21-year-old from the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar didn’t want to be pregnant. With no public transport available, clinics closed and Bhubaneswar at a standstill, she bought an abortion pill without consulting a doctor. While what she did was not unusual, Indian law requires a prescription for the pills from a licensed medical professional.
Mainland China reported eight new Covid-19 cases as of the end of 12 July, up from seven reported a day earlier, the Chinese national health authority said on Monday.
The National Health Commission said in a statement that all of the new cases were imported infection involving travellers from overseas, the same as the seven cases a day earlier. The capital city of Beijing reported no new confirmed cases for the seventh consecutive day.
The Commission also reported six new asymptomatic patients, those who are infected with the coronavirus but have no symptoms, compared with five a day earlier. China does not consider such patients as confirmed cases.
Total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases for mainland China now stands at 83,602, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Hong Kong health authorities are continuing to battle its worst virus outbreak yet. It saw a rise in cases in March as people began returning from overseas, prompting increased social distancing measures and restrictions which had started to ease in recent weeks.
On Sunday another 38 new cases were confirmed, including 30 local transmissions. Of the 30, 13 have an unknown source.
An entire hospital in Mexico’s southern Oaxaca state has been put in quarantine after 68% of its remaining staff tested positive, writes Analy Nuño in Guadalajara.
Doctors and nurses at the Macedonio Benítez Fuentes hospital in the town of Juchitán de Zaragoza held protests last week, calling for a lockdown after 120 of their colleagues were put under isolation after positive tests.
The hospital won’t close – we will still deal with urgent cases, and have already analysed our staffing requirements to attend to the community as our colleagues start to return to work.
China has stepped up a travel warning to Australia, telling its citizens of a risk of being searched “arbitrarily” by law enforcement authorities, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Tensions between the two countries have been escalating on various fronts after Beijing reacted with fury to calls for an independent investigation into the origins and spread of the pandemic, which first surfaced in central China last year.
We urge Australia to change its course and stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs and China’s internal affairs in any way, or risk further damage to China-Australia relations.