An animated graphic released by an international aviation organisation shows the dramatic impact the lockdowns have had on air travel. Eurocontrol, which manages flight networks across Europe, said the continent's largest airports had 90% fewer flights compared with April 2019
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Fire wrecks Greek refugee camp after unrest over woman’s death
Iraqi woman, 47, dies after going to hospital with fever but testing negative for Covid-19
A fire ripped through one of Greece’s largest migrant camps, leaving widespread damage and many people homeless after the death of an Iraqi woman sparked unrest.
The blaze late on Saturday at the Vial refugee camp on Chios island destroyed the facilities of the European asylum service, a canteen, warehouse tents and many housing containers, Greek migration ministry secretary Manos Logothetis said.
Continue reading...Dutch flower park’s virtual tour brings its blooms to living rooms
Keukenhof will showcase 7m plants to online viewers after coronavirus forces closure
The 7m bulbs were planted and now the flowers are in bloom: tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, orchids, roses, lilies and more. Everything is ready at the Dutch flower park of Keukenhof – everything, except the visitors.
For the first time in its 71-year history, the renowned flower park in South Holland will not open to the public. Instead, managers hope to bring the park to the people via a virtual opening. Every week, three new videos are posted on social media showcasing the profusion of blooms in the English-style landscape park.
Continue reading...What the butler saw: sex secrets of French presidents’ palace revealed
For 300 hundred years staff at the Elysée witnessed men flaunting their power over women, but no longer, says author of a new book
From the time of kings and emperors to modern day presidents, the Elysée Palace has stood as a symbol of male dominance in society and politics. Behind the wrought iron gates its gilded salons have witnessed conquests of many kinds – including, frequently, the sexual.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Europe fatalities pass 100,000, but death rate slows in Spain and Netherlands
Saudia Arabia religious body urges all Muslims to pray at home during Ramadan; Spanish PM seeks lockdown extension
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Lockdowns across Europe have had a dramatic impact on air traffic, with 90% fewer flights taking off from the continent’s largest airports compared to a year ago
Wearing face masks, waving black flags and keeping two yards apart, thousands of Israelis demonstrated against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu under strict coronavirus restrictions on Sunday.
Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, is under criminal indictment in three corruption cases.
Continue reading...The exit strategy: how countries around the world are preparing for life after Covid-19
As Australia makes plans to gradually lift its coronavirus lockdown, we look at what the rest of the world is doing
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Australia has a road out of its coronavirus lockdown, long and winding though it may be.
Having warned repeatedly that this pandemic response was taking Australia into “uncharted territory”, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has leaned again on a navigational metaphor for our subsequent recovery.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Trump backs anti-lockdown protests as global deaths pass 150,000
China pushes ‘comprehensive’ economic reopening; first virus case in Syria’s northeast; Germany says pandemic ‘under control’. Follow latest updates
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- Coronavirus ‘under control’ in Germany
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For the latest global coronavirus developments, here is our at-a-glance guide:
Related: Coronavirus latest: at a glance
Thailand has reported 33 new coronavirus infections, bringing the country’s total to 2,733 cases.
Eleven of the new cases were in Bangkok and had a history of going to public areas, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration.
Some have questioned if the low number of detected cases is down to a lack of testing in the country.
Suppliers ration stocks of tinned tomatoes after surge in demand
Supermarkets told to ‘calm the fever’ as UK sales rise more than 30% during coronavirus crisis
Tinned tomato suppliers are rationing stocks to supermarkets after demand in the UK surged more than 30% and threatened to use up supplies ahead of this year’s harvest.
Supermarkets and convenience store groups are understood to be jockeying for supplies as families continue to buy more tinned foods than usual after the closure of schools and restaurants forced them to cook more meals at home.
Continue reading...Coronavirus ‘under control’ in Germany, as some countries plan to relax lockdowns
Health minister says Germany will produce 50m face masks a week by the summer
Germany has declared its coronavirus outbreak under control as it prepares to take its first tentative steps out of lockdown next week, while several European countries unveiled contact-tracing mobile apps aimed at facilitating a gradual return to a more normal life.
The German health minister, Jens Spahn, said on Friday that the virus was under control in Europe’s largest economy, thanks to confinement measures imposed after an early surge in cases. “The infection numbers have sunk significantly, especially the relative day-by-day increase,” he said.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: EU offers Italy ‘heartfelt apology’ over response – video
Ursula von der Leyen has offered 'a heartfelt apology' to Italy on behalf of the EU for the delays and lack of responses from other member states at the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the union.
As the World Health Organization warned that the continent remained firmly 'in the eye of the storm', the president of the European commission said that 'too many were not there on time when Italy needed a helping hand at the very beginning'
Continue reading...EU offers ‘heartfelt apology’ to Italy over coronavirus response
Ursula von der Leyen voices regret as expert warns herd immunity still a way off in Europe
The EU has offered “a heartfelt apology” to Italy for letting it down at the start of the coronavirus crisis as fresh evidence emerged that few European countries are likely to have achieved herd immunity as they begin cautiously lifting their lockdowns.
As the World Health Organization warned that the continent remained firmly “in the eye of the storm”, the president of the European commission said on Thursday that truth was needed to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic – including political honesty.
Continue reading...Polish parliament delays decision on new abortion restrictions
Proposal would ban terminations even on grounds of serious foetal abnormalities
Poland’s parliament has deferred a final decision on a bill that seeks to tighten the country’s already strict abortion legislation.
The bill would outlaw abortion on the grounds of serious foetal abnormalities, one of a small number of exceptions to a near-total ban on abortion currently in place in the country. It has been sent back to a parliamentary committee for further work.
Continue reading...Scheme for EU citizens to stay in UK draws 3.4m applications
Government close to target figure, but researchers still fear citizens may be missed out
The Home Office has received 3.4m applications from people seeking to stay in the UK after Brexit under the EU settled status scheme.
It puts the government close to its overall goal for the scheme, with estimates of the number of EU, EEA and Swiss citizens eligible to remain in the country lying between 3.4 million and 3.8 million.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: 1m tests to be rolled out across Africa, as WHO warns over Europe situation
Trump casts doubt on China death toll; WHO chief hopes US will remain a ‘friend’; almost 700 test positive on French aircraft carrier
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Households across the UK are now taking to their gardens, doorsteps, balconies and windows to applaud for the frontline workers fighting the coronavirus.
It will be the fourth “clap for carers” event in the UK, becoming a staple for Thursday nights in lockdown.
Leaders of the G7 group of major industrialised nations have agreed the rapid development of a coronavirus vaccine is crucial in dealing with the outbreak.
First Secretary of State Dominic Raab deputised for the UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson at the virtual summit, which also discussed the particular risk coronavirus poses for developing countries.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Trump casts doubt on China death toll as cases worldwide top 2 million
US reports 25,000 new infections; WHO chief hopes US will remain a ‘friend’; almost 700 test positive on French aircraft carrier. Follow the latest updates
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- New York nurses hold vigil for colleagues who have died amid pandemic
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The New York Times is reporting that a pork factory in Smithfield, South Dakota is the new centre of the coronavirus pandemic in the US. This week, the paper reports:
The Smithfield plant became the nation’s largest single-source coronavirus hot spot. Its employees now make up about 44 percent of the diagnoses in South Dakota, and a team of researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has traveled there to assess how the outbreak spiraled out of control. Smithfield is the latest meat processing facility to close in the face of the coronavirus.
A Japanese MP has been expelled from his party after it was revealed he had visited a club in a Tokyo red light district, two days after the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, declared a state of emergency in an attempt to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Takashi Takai, a 50-year-old lower house member for the Constitutional Democratic party of Japan, admitted he had visited Sexy Cabaret Club in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district on 9 April, media reports said, despite government requests that people refrain from visiting bars, restaurants and clubs as part of efforts to reduce personal contact by 70-80%.
Takai submitted a letter of resignation after media reported his visit to the club, but the party rejected it and expelled him instead, Kyodo news agency said.
Coronavirus live news: Trump suspends WHO funding as Denmark begins to reopen schools
US to investigate World Health Organization’s response to crisis; global cases pass 1.98m with 126,000 deaths; France summons Chinese envoy
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Kandahar province went into full lockdown on Wednesday morning as Afghanistan reported its second biggest daily rise of new coronavirus cases in a week, triggered by a surge of infections in Kabul.
Afghanistan’s health ministry has reported 70 new positive cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of infections to 784.
Most of the new cases were in Kabul, which has so far recorded 201 cases, 31 today.
Kabul went into full lockdown last week, as all roads to the city of six million were blocked and 1,600 police officers were appointed to monitor movement inside the city.
Of the new Covid-19 cases, 22 were confirmed in the western province of Herat, the worst affected area in Afghanistan so far with 313 cases.
The southern province of Kandahar went into full lockdown on Wednesday morning in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus in one of Afghanistan’s most populated areas.
Germany’s government will extend restrictions on movement introduced last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus until at least 3 May, Handelsblatt business daily reported on Wednesday, citing the dpa news agency.
The chancellor, Angela Merkel, is holding a video conference on Wednesday, first with cabinet ministers and later with the leaders of Germany’s 16 states, who will try to agree on whether to ease the measures given some improvement in the situation.
Continue reading...Ireland’s Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil close to forming coalition government
Party leaders agree to seek ‘full and equal partnership’ for five years and rotate taoiseach role
Ireland’s ruling Fine Gael party and its longtime rival Fianna Fáil have moved closer to forming an unprecedented coalition government.
Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, and Micheál Martin, the Fianna Fáil leader, agreed on Tuesday to seek a “full and equal partnership” for five years, during which they would rotate the position of taoiseach. The pair will brief their parties on the details on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Concerns over Polish government tightening abortion laws during Covid-19 crisis
With street protests now an impossibility, human rights groups fear that Poland’s conservative government will push through ‘dangerous legislation’
Poland’s parliament will this week discuss a controversial proposal to tighten abortion laws in the country, as opposition politicians and women’s rights groups warn that the country’s conservative government may use the distraction of the coronavirus pandemic to push through the legislation.
Poland already has some of the strictest legislation in Europe on abortion, and previous attempts to tighten the laws further were abandoned after mass protests in 2016. The proposal comes from a citizen initiative, and it is unclear if the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party will support it, but president Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, has said he would sign the law if it reaches his desk.
Continue reading...One year after Notre Dame fire, officials struggle to keep restoration on track
Cathedral can still be repaired by 2024, says general, but decisions must be made fast
The army general in charge of rebuilding Notre Dame has said it is still possible for the cathedral ravaged by fire exactly one year ago on Wednesday to reopen in 2024 as pledged by Emmanuel Macron, if everyone “rolls up their sleeves”.
Jean-Louis Georgelin insisted unexpected delays in work to restore the 13th-century cathedral to its previous glory – including the coronavirus lockdown – need not derail the five-year deadline.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: cases worldwide near 2 million as Trump repeats WHO funding threat
UK daily deaths likely to rise this week; France to ease lockdown starting 11 May
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The Slovak government will release a plan next Monday on when and how shops will reopen after forced closures due to the spread of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on Tuesday.
Reuters reports him as saying that Slovakia aims to protect the 70% of the economy that is running from being affected by the spread of the virus and the reopening of retail will be cautious.
The European commission is urging EU states to coordinate as they begin to ease lockdown measures, warning that failure to do so could result in new spikes of the coronavirus epidemic.
Several EU states have announced plans or have already begun to relax restrictions imposed to contain the outbreak, as pressure grows to revive their battered economies.
It is time to develop a well-coordinated EU exit strategy. The exit strategy should be coordinated between the Member States, to avoid negative spillover effects.
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