‘This is not another Covid,’ WHO chief tells Tenerife as hantavirus cruise ship heads to island – as it happened

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The interior minister of Spain told Reuters on Saturday that Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands have confirmed they will send planes to repatriate nationals from their respective countries aboard the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak.

The European Union is sending two more planes for the remaining European citizens, and the US and UK have also confirmed planes and contingency plans for non-EU citizens.

A total of 8 cases, including 3 deaths, have been reported as of Friday. Six of these cases cases are confirmed as Andes virus and four patients are currently hospitalised.

One case previously reported as suspected hantavirus has now been reclassified as a non-case after testing negative for Andes (ANDV) virus.

A man who disembarked in Tristan da Cunha on 14 April is currently stable and in isolation. He is currently a probable case until laboratory confirmation.

Passengers who travelled on the same flight from St Helena to South Africa along with one of the confirmed cases have been contacted – 75 of those contacts have been identified in South Africa, of whom 42 have been traced by national authorities and are currently under monitoring.

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Danish rightwing leader asked to form government after Frederiksen fails to form coalition

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Denmark’s king asks Troels Lund Poulsen to form government after PM struggles to gather support

The king of Denmark has asked a centre-right politician to try to form a new government after the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has failed to put together a ruling coalition.

The announcement on Friday night shook the political establishment as Frederiksen has been a staple of Danish politics for decades. Her left-leaning party, the Social Democrats, won the plurality of votes in parliamentary elections in March.

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Neither US nor Iran can sustain strait of Hormuz standoff indefinitely

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Simply hanging on could be a disaster for Iranians, while Trump needs to resolve this economic crisis he created

Exchanges of fire between Iran and the US demonstrate the serious instability of the situation in the Middle East. Though the US strikes late on Thursday were just “a love tap”, according to the US president, Donald Trump, the reality is that neither side can continue the high-stakes standoff in the strait of Hormuz indefinitely.

The US and its ally Israel demonstrated a comprehensive military superiority over Iran – taking minimal casualties in the 38-day war – but Washington has both failed to translate that into strategic dominance and allowed Iran to take control of the strait, driving up the oil price.

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U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces calls to resign after disastrous local elections – CBS News

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  1. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces calls to resign after disastrous local elections  CBS News
  2. Britain’s Electorate Is ‘Splintering.’ Can Its System Stand the Strain?  The New York Times
  3. An Epic Collapse for Britain’s Labour Party  The American Prospect
  4. Labour MPs have put Starmer on notice after election battering. Can he turn it around?  BBC
  5. Nigel Farage’s triumph is not quite what it seems  The Economist
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Hungary’s New PM Magyar Demands President Quit in Showdown – Bloomberg.com

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  1. Hungary’s New PM Magyar Demands President Quit in Showdown  Bloomberg.com
  2. Peter Magyar Takes Over as Hungary’s Leader From Viktor Orban  The New York Times
  3. In Hungary, jubilation marks Péter Magyar's inauguration as prime minister  Le Monde.fr
  4. Péter Magyar Led Hungarians out of Autocracy. Where Will He Take Them Now?  The New Yorker
  5. Hungary's new PM Magyar sworn in after landslide victory over Orbán  BBC
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Russia will always be victorious, says Putin at scaled-back Victory Day parade

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Moscow blanketed in heavy security despite last-minute announcement of three-day ceasefire with Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has declared Russia will always be victorious as he oversaw a scaled-back Victory Day parade on Red Square held under heavy security amid mounting fears of Ukrainian attacks and growing public fatigue with the war.

Speaking to the crowd, the Russian leader invoked the sacrifices of the second world war to rally support for his soldiers fighting in the war in Ukraine. “The great feat of the generation of victors inspires the warriors carrying out the tasks of the special military operation today,” he said, using the Kremlin’s preferred euphemism for his invasion of Ukraine.

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Indonesian rescuers retrieve body from Mount Dukono as search continues

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Woman recovered after volcanic eruption on remote island, while operation to find two missing Singaporeans goes on

Rescuers have recovered the body of an Indonesian woman who was caught in a volcanic eruption on Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s remote island of Halmahera, officials have said.

Search operations continued on Saturday for the bodies of two Singaporeans. The dead hikers were among 20 who set out to scale the 1,355-metre (4,445ft) volcano in defiance of safety restrictions and became stranded when Dukono erupted early on Friday, spewing a thick ash column about 6 miles (10km) into the air.

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Guardian reporter and colleagues detained and beaten by Somali police

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Mohamed Bulbul arrested in Mogadishu after covering case of woman allegedly being tortured in prison

A journalist who covered the case of a woman who said she was being tortured in prison was detained and beaten with pistols by Somali authorities, along with two others, for his reporting for the Guardian.

Mohamed Bulbul was arrested with the journalists Abdihafid Nor Barre and Abdishakur Mohamed Mohamud on Friday evening while in a restaurant in the centre of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. They said they were assaulted by members of Somalia’s US-trained counter-terrorism police unit and taken to be questioned by police. All three were released in the early hours of Saturday morning.

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Venice Biennale opens without a jury amid strife over Russian and Israeli participation – AP News

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  1. Venice Biennale opens without a jury amid strife over Russian and Israeli participation  AP News
  2. At the Venice Biennale I saw anger at Russia and Israel – and its leadership pretending everything was fine  The Guardian
  3. Dozens of Venice Biennale Artists Withdraw From Awards En Masse  Hyperallergic
  4. Without Its Expert Jury, Venice Biennale Lets the Public Choose Its Prize Winners  The New York Times
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