Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva warned that the global economy continues to face challenges despite some signs of recovery due to the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19, and urged governments to keep their support programs in place. Activity “has started to gradually strengthen… But we are not out of […]
The prevalence of the novel coronavirus in Spain has risen three-fold over the last three weeks as authorities struggle to contain a rash of fresh clusters, mainly in the Catalonia and Aragon regions, Health Ministry data showed on Monday. After registering thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths per day during an early April peak, […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered officials to fully restore the country’s labour market, hit by the coronavirus crisis and economic shutdowns, in 2021. During a federal budget meeting, Putin said around 3 million people were registered as unemployed, which he called a high figure. This week the government said the unemployment rate was seen increasing […]
Australia’s Victoria state reported a record daily increase in COVID-19 cases on Friday while neighbouring New South Wales said it was banning dancing, singing and mingling at weddings as authorities struggle to contain a new wave of infections. Victoria, which has forced nearly 5 million people in the country’s second most populous state into a […]
Britain’s Princess Beatrice, the eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York, married her fiance Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in Windsor, in a small, COVID-19 secure ceremony attended by Queen Elizabeth. The couple originally planned to marry in May, but the coronavirus lockdown forced them to reschedule. “The private wedding ceremony of Princess Beatrice […]
The World War Two veteran raised a record 33 million pounds ($41 million) by walking 100 laps of his garden with the aid of a walking frame in April in the run-up to his landmark birthday. At an open-air investiture at Windsor Castle, the 94-year-old queen smiled as she dubbed Moore on both shoulders with […]
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that he will return a fourth of his salary to help the country weather the coronavirus crisis that has battered the economy, encouraging public servants also to donate from their earnings. Based on the president’s monthly salary of about 108,000 pesos ($4,806), the contribution amounts to some 27,000 […]
Just 27 days have passed since Brazil, which has the world’s second-largest outbreak after the United States, reached a million cases. It has accelerated since then, hitting a plateau of nearly 40,000 confirmed new cases per day in recent weeks, according to government figures. Despite the rapid spread of the virus, Bolsonaro, a far-right former […]
Tokyo raised its coronavirus alert to the highest “red” level, alarmed by a recent spike in daily new cases to record highs, with Governor Yuriko Koike describing the situation in the Japanese capital as “rather severe”. The resurgence of the virus in Tokyo could add to the growing pressure on policymakers to shore up the […]
New Zealand must prepare for new coronavirus outbreaks as the pandemic spreads globally but will not drop its elimination strategy if community transmission was discovered, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. Ardern said the epidemic was now “exploding” outside New Zealand and countries that had been models in the fight against COVID-19 had now experienced further […]
Saudi Arabian officials said the kingdom has seen a decrease in the number of new coronavirus cases over the past seven days. The kingdom recorded 2,692 new infections on Tuesday, the fourth day in a row the numbers have stayed below 3,000. Saudi Arabia has recorded a total of 237,803 cases with 2,283 deaths. The […]
Egypt has started offering reusable cotton face masks at around $50 cents each alongside the food items provided in its state subsidy programme, as it seeks to make protective gear more widely available to curb the coronavirus. Egypt subsidizes items such as bread, rice and sugar for more than 60 million people and has added […]
European Union (EU) countries remain divided over the scale of emissions cuts they are prepared to deliver over the next decade, with some still hesitating to commit to bigger curbs. The bloc has pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions 40% against 1990 levels by 2030, but that target needs upgrading because scientists say far more […]
Zindzi Mandela, the daughter of South Africa’s anti-apartheid icons Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, has died, public broadcaster SABC has reported. She died in Johannesburg on Monday morning aged 59. The death has been confirmed by a family source, SABC reports. She was the South African ambassador to Denmark at the time of her death. […]