On Sunday, The European Union will launch a humanitarian air bridge to support the fight against coronavirus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said.
France?€?s foreign minister, Jean-Yves le Drian, his Belgian counterpart Philippe Goffin and European commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarcic will travel to Kinshasa on the flight from Brussels.
The Chinese city of Wuhan has announced it had cleared all hospital cases of coronavirus where patients have shown symptoms.
State newspaper Global Times said that ?€?the last three Covid-19 patients in Wuhan have recovered and been discharged from hospital?€?.
Hydroxychloroquine does not work against Covid-19 and should not be given to any more hospital patients around the world, say the leaders of the biggest and best-designed trial of the drug, which experts will hope finally settle the question.
?€?If you are admitted to hospital, don?€?t take hydroxychloroquine,?€? said Martin Landray, deputy chief investigator of the Recovery trial and professor of medicine and epidemiology at Oxford University. ?€?It doesn?€?t work.?€?
The EU has pledged to lift border controls inside its territory by the end of the month, while extending a ban on travellers coming from outside the bloc.
The extension of the ban on non-essential travel by foreign nationals into the EU?€?s border free-travel zone was approved by the EU?€?s 27 home affairs ministers on Friday by video conference.
The politicization of the coronavirus crisis and the Brazilian government?€?s deliberate ?€?torpedoing?€? of social distancing efforts has condemned South America?€?s largest country to a historic tragedy that will most punish the poor, Brazil?€?s most respected medical voice has said.
Christian Br�ckner may be linked to 2015 disappearance of Inga, five, in eastern Germany
German prosecutors are investigating whether the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was involved in a similar case of a five-year-old who went missing in Germany in 2015.
The development comes as newly emerged police reports show that the suspect, a 43-year-old German rapist and child sex offender identified by Portuguese sources on Thursday as Christian Br�ckner, allegedly fantasised about abducting and sexually abusing minors in a 2013 online chat.
Lawmakers from EU parliament and eight other countries create new body
International cooperation is needed to protect democratic values from an increasingly assertive communist China, a new group made up of lawmakers from eight countries and the EU parliament has said.
The legislators, representing parties across the political spectrum, have formed a global alliance, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, to push their governments to take a stronger stance on relations with the country.
Downing Street welcomes lastest move after week of stuttering trade negotiations
Michel Barnier has signalled that he is ready to drop the EU?€?s most contentious demand that its rules limiting government subsidies to businesses are inserted into British law after another week of stuttering negotiations over a future trade and security deal.
In a move immediately welcomed in Downing Street, the bloc?€?s chief negotiator declined to publicly back the EU?€?s opening demand that the UK incorporate Brussels?€? state aid rules into its domestic legislation.
Simon Schama and Sir Malcolm Rifkind among those warning that annexation ?€?would have grave consequences?€? for Palestinians
Some of the most prominent and respected names in British Jewry have raised alarm over the Israeli government?€?s plans to annex parts of the West Bank, saying such a move would be an existential threat to Israel.
Among more than 40 signatories of an unprecedented letter to the Israeli ambassador to the UK are Sir Ben Helfgott, one of the best-known Holocaust survivors in Britain; the historians Sir Simon Schama and Simon Sebag Montefiore; the former Conservative foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind; the lawyer Anthony Julius; the philanthropist Dame Vivien Duffield; the scientist Lord Robert Winston; the former MP Luciana Berger; the Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein; and the author Howard Jacobson.
Embassy planted story that Prague mayor and other politicians in danger of ricin deaths, prime minister says
Allegations of a Russian poisoning plot against the mayor of Prague were invented by Russian diplomats during an internal feud, the Czech prime minister said, as he expelled two Russian embassy officials.
In April, Prague?€?s mayor, Zden?k H?ib, said he was under police protection after reports surfaced of the alleged plot against three Czech politicians. Czech media reported that a Russian diplomat had brought a suitcase of ricin into the country to carry out the assassinations.
Girls were allegedly told they were to have Covid-19 vaccinations but were cut by doctor after being sedated
Egypt?€?s public prosecutor has ordered the immediate trial of a father on charges of forcing his three young daughters to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), after he told them they were going to be vaccinated against coronavirus. The doctor involved will also go on trial.
The procedure was banned in 2008 and criminalised in 2016.
Agency faces criticism over its capacity to de-escalate situations involving racial minorities or those with mental health issues
Police in Canada are facing growing scrutiny after two women - both members of ethnic minorities and both suffering mental health problems - died following encounters with officers.
The deaths come as tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the US in protest over police violence against racial minorities, prompted by the police killing of George Floyd.
Military called in to fire artillery rounds at wellhead in Siberia that has been ablaze for nearly a week
A Russian oil company has asked the military to bombard a wellhead fire with anti-tank artillery rounds in a last-ditch effort to extinguish the blaze after nearly a week.
Russian troops will deploy to rural Siberia and fire shells from a 100mm anti-tank gun to cut off the wellhead and allow the oil well to be sealed, Russian state news agencies reported.
The actor has sustained a ?€?nick to the head?€? in what she told former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard was a minor incident
Cate Blanchett has sustained a cut to the head following a chainsaw accident at her home in East Sussex.
The Oscar-winning actor, who relocated from Sydney to Crowborough last year, was asked how lockdown was going by former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard on her podcast last week.
In an exclusive interview, the model and activist discusses brands?€? responses to the death of George Floyd and the protests surrounding it
The model and activist Munroe Bergdorf has hit out at fashion companies for attempting to align themselves with the worldwide protests against racism without getting their own houses in order first.
Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, Bergdorf said: ?€?You can?€?t use a marginalised movement for capital gain or to improve your public image. White people need to see the humanity in us - I don?€?t think society ever got over us being property [as slaves].?€?
Man convicted of 1985 killings wants to see items relating to possible discovery of second silencer
Jeremy Bamber, who is serving a whole life sentence for one of Britain?€?s most notorious multiple murders, has been refused access to documents that he believes could help clear his name.
Mr Justice Knowles upheld an earlier high court decision in January that backed the Crown Prosecution Service?€?s refusal to grant Bamber?€?s request for post-conviction disclosure of items relating to the possible existence of a second silencer found at the at White House farm in Essex where the murders took place in 1985.
Activists welcome move but say government is still dragging its feet over crackdown on waste in lakes and waterways
The Malawian government this week ordered the closure of factories belonging to two major plastic producers for flouting the country?€?s plastics ban.
The companies - OG plastics and City Plastics - were found to still be manufacturing thin plastics, often used to make plastic bags, despite a ruling last year that banned its production, import and use.
DC mayor Muriel Bowser responded to Trump calling her ?€?incompetent?€? by criticizing the president?€?s response to the George Floyd protests.
?€?You know the thing about the pot and the kettle??€? Bowser said of Trump?€?s tweet, during a press conference on the coronavirus crisis.
Trump is lashing out against the mayor of DC, after Muriel Bowser sent a letter to the president requesting that all additional law enforcement officials brought to the city in response to the George Floyd protests be removed.
In a tweet, Trump described Bowser as ?€?incompetent?€? and said the National Guard troops sent to DC had ?€?saved her from great embarrassment.?€?
HSBC and Standard Chartered?€?s support for security law challenged by Lisa Nandy and Anneliese Dodds
Labour frontbenchers have criticised the chief executives of HSBC and Standard Chartered banks for supporting China?€?s political leaders, urging them to revoke their support for Beijing?€?s controversial security law, which they say threatens democratic rights in Hong Kong. They warned the banks that they could face a boycott.
In letters sent to the HSBC boss Noel Quinn and Standard Chartered?€?s chief executive, Bill Winters, on Friday, the shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, and the shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, said they had ?€?profound concerns?€? that both banks had backed Beijing?€?s new rules, which violate Joint Declaration treaty commitments and could limit freedoms for HK citizens.
Planned protests at a time of social distancing draw criticism, including from Scott Morrison, as Melbourne school student tests positive. This blog is now closed
From children in Kabul to Taliban chiefs, the sweet, caffeine-heavy drinks are wildly popular, defying fears on nutrition
They are sold outside schools, in hospital lobbies, on street corners and in every supermarket; served at wedding receptions and ministerial meetings, while television adverts and billboards praise their qualities.
Energy drinks have taken over Afghanistan, and the high-caffeine sweet beverages are enjoyed by all ages - including toddlers and pregnant mothers - without much attention being paid to potential health risks.
In a busy Kabul neighbourhood, Salim Wahidi, 22, has dozens of different brands stacked up next to his small roadside stand. The supplies run out fast.
?€?We sell a couple of hundred each day, but that?€?s not even much because there are so many vendors like me,?€? he says, sharing one of the drinks with his 13-year-old cousin, Mustafa, who works with him. ?€?People love energy drinks, it?€?s often their first choice. Every child drinks them, every adult.?€?
Relatives of prisoners held in a sprawling complex outside Riyadh say they fear prison conditions and denial of medical treatment are risking the lives of detainees including members of the Saudi royal family.
Two sources close to the family of Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud say the senior royal, known as an outspoken advocate for reform, is in a life-threatening condition inside al-Ha?€?ir prison south of Riyadh. Concerns grew following the death in a Riyadh hospital last month of prominent rights activist Abdullah al-Hamid, formerly held in al-Ha?€?ir.
Based on true stories, Rubaiyat Hossain?€?s Made in Bangladesh challenges stereotypes while revealing the relentless pressure of fashion?€?s supply chain
Rubaiyat Hossain?€?s latest film, Made in Bangladesh, opens with a scene of pure, visceral panic: young garment workers trapped in a burning factory. Alarms blare, women scream and smoke fills the stairwells.
?€?A fire or a building collapse is every garment worker?€?s greatest fear,?€? says Hossain. When filming the scene, the women seen desperately running for their lives didn?€?t need much direction.
Threatened job losses follow announcement of 1,500 redundancies internationally and closure of offices in 18 countries
More than 200 UK jobs could be lost at Oxfam, after the charity?€?s funding plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic.
The threatened UK job cuts are in addition to the loss of almost 1,500 staff roles internationally and the closure of offices in 18 countries, announced by the aid organisation in May.
And in one bound she was transformed. For Angela Merkel, the days of being lampooned as the archetypal Swabian housewife keeping tight control over the purse strings are over. Now, courtesy of a ?130bn (�116bn) stimulus package, she is the spend, spend, spend chancellor.
Make no mistake, much of the past criticism of Germany?€?s frugal approach to government spending and budget deficits was justified. Saving some money for a rainy day is one thing but running surpluses worth 8% of national output was unnecessary and harmful to the global economy.
Despite the pandemic, the president can?€?t wait to get back packed rallies while his Democratic rival practices caution. Each thinks he has a winning strategy
Donald Trump wants to be nominated by a Republican national convention with all the trappings of a normal, packed event: the thronging crowds, the balloon drop, the scores of sideshow events. Meanwhile, former vice-president Joe Biden and senior Democratic officials are strongly considering a partially or completely virtual convention.
?€?It?€?s not enough to just be better than Trump?€?, Democratic hopeful told, amid anti-racist uprising sparked by killing of George Floyd
Hours before peaceful protests against police brutality were forcibly dispersed so Donald Trump could pose with a Bible in front of St John?€?s, Joe Biden also went to church.
Head bowed, Biden prayed with community leaders at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal church in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware. For days the nation had been convulsed over the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man pinned under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer for a fatal eight minutes and 46 seconds.
Some scientific papers stop the world in its tracks. In the middle of a raging pandemic, a study in the world?€?s leading global health journal that seemed to prove President Trump wrong to laud the drug hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19 was always going to have a massive impact. It did. When the paper flagged a higher risk of death on the drug, trials were stopped all over the world, including one by the World Health Organization.
Donald Trump has claimed it is a ?€?great day?€? for George Floyd, after the US posted better than expected job numbers. ?€?Hopefully, George is looking down right now and saying: ?€?This is a great thing happening for our country,?€??€? the US president said of Floyd, who died while being restrained by police last week
Amid this unfolding disaster, we have seen countless acts of kindness and solidarity. It?€?s this spirit of generosity that will help guide us out of this crisis and into a better future. By Rebecca Solnit
The Rev Al Sharpton gave a eulogy at a memorial service for George Floyd in Minneapolis and hit out at Donald Trump for posing with a Bible in front of a church in Washington DC. 'We cannot use Bibles as a prop,' Sharpton said. 'For those that have agendas that are not about justice, this family will not let you use George as a prop.' The US president sparked outrage from religious leaders, top Democrats in Congress and others when he visited the church across from the White House and posed holding a Bible after law enforcement officers cleared protesters using teargas
Delivering the eulogy at a memorial service for George Floyd in Minneapolis, the Reverend Al Sharpton said: 'George Floyd's story has been the story of black folks.' In an emotive speech punctuated by several standing ovations, Sharpton said the sight of diverse crowds of protesters across the world gave him hope that real change would come to the criminal justice system
Protesters in Hong Kong have defied a police ban to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown with a vigil, as the city?€?s legislature passed a law criminalising the mocking of China?€?s national anthem. Many fear this year?€?s commemoration might be Hong Kong?€?s last, as the proposed imposition of Chinese laws on the special administrative region would prevent and punish activities that threaten national security.
Eight houses have been swept into the sea in Norway after a powerful landslide near the town of Alta. The landslide was filmed by a local resident, Jan Egil Bakkedal - one of the houses that was lost belonged to him - who said he ran for his life when he realised what was happening.
Face coverings on public transport will be compulsory from 15 June in England to reduce the spread of coronavirus, Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has said.
People can be fined if they do not wear a covering on buses, trains, airplanes and ferries from that date, when non-essential shops are likely to reopen
Large number of US citizens demonstrated against the war in Iraq (and the possible war in Iran) during this October weekend. Massive turnout in Boston and San Fransisco, and also in Chicago, LA and DC people took to the streets. The message was: NO more war in Iraq! NO to a war with Iran!
