IRELAND
Varadkar to help as medic
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has rejoined the medical register to help the health service during the coronavirus crisis, a government spokesman said on Sunday. Local media reported that Varadkar — who graduated with a medical degree from Dublin’s Trinity University in 2003 — is to work assessing patients over the telephone. “Many of his family and friends are working in the health service,” a spokesman said. “He wanted to help out even in a small way.” The son of a doctor and nurse, Varadkar’s partner and his two sisters are also practicing health workers.
RUSSIA
Case numbers rise by 954
The nation’s COVID-19 case tally has risen to 6,343 in the past 24 hours, a record daily increase of 954, the Crisis Response Center said yesterday. Cases have been recorded widely, but Moscow remains the epicenter of the outbreak with 591 new cases, the center said. Forty-seven people have died across the country, it said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Top Scottish doctor resigns
Scotland’s chief medical officer resigned after flouting guidelines as part of the nation’s lockdown to tackle the coronavirus. Catherine Calderwood on Sunday evening said she would step down following a conversation with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Earlier in the day, Calderwood had issued an apology for traveling to her second home outside of Edinburgh. “We have agreed that the justifiable focus on my behavior risks becoming a distraction from the hugely important job that government and the medical profession has to do in getting the country through this coronavirus pandemic,” Calderwood said.
INDONESIA
Big jump in new cases
The government yesterday confirmed 218 new COVID-19 cases, the biggest daily jump since the first cases were announced a month ago, taking the total number of infections to 2,491, Ministry of Health official Achmad Yurianto said. Eleven deaths had been recorded, taking the total to 209, while 192 people had recovered, he said. The report came shortly after Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati told lawmakers in Jakarta that as many as 95,000 people in the nation could be infected by next month before the epidemic eases, based on a projection by the nation’s intelligence agency, the University of Indonesia and the Bandung Institute of Technology.
UNITED STATES
Fired captain tests positive
The US naval commander whose widely publicized plea for help for his coronavirus-affected crew led to his dismissal has reportedly himself tested positive for the disease. Captain Brett Crozier’s test result was reported Sunday by the New York Times, which cited two of his former classmates at the US Naval Academy. It said he had begun exhibiting symptoms before leaving the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Thursday in Guam.
MALAYSIA
Brewers’ approval rescinded
The Cabinet yesterday revoked approvals for brewers Heineken and Carlsberg to restart operations during a month-long curb on travel and non-essential business after a backlash in the country that has the highest number of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia, with 3,662 cases and 61 deaths. “If producing Heineken is deemed ‘essential services’ then I can think of another 200 services more worthy of that designation,” opposition politician Zaid Ibrahim said on Twitter.
IRAQ
No casualties from attacks
Rockets landed near a site connected with foreign oil firms and state-run companies in the southern city of Basra early yesterday, without causing damage or casualties, oil and police sources said. The rockets, which police said were three Katyusha and were launched at about 3am, hit the Burjesia residential and operations headquarters west of Basra, they said.
BRAZIL
Forest activists under attack
Maranhao State is asking the federal government to send National Guard troops to the Arariboia Indigenous Territory after a string of attacks, including five killings since November, targeting tribesmen known for their fight against illegal deforestation. State authorities said they decided to seek federal help after Antonio Filho Providencia Guajajara, a member of the Guajajara tribe, was shot in the head on Saturday. He was found alive and taken to a nearby hospital. This follows the March 31 murder of Zezico Guajajara, a teacher who had repeatedly denounced illegal logging who was found shot to death on a road near his village.
COLOMBIA
Venezuelans returning home
Hundreds of Venezuelans who fled across the border because of the economic crisis are now returning home, pushed by the novel coronavirus. Migration officials on Sunday said 600 people — including 35 children and 167 women — crossed the main border point at the Simon Bolivar International Bridge in Cucuta one day earlier. Another group of 160 departed Bogota on their way back home on Sunday, officials said. Although the border is officially closed as a measure taken to halt the spread of the virus, the government has opened a “humanitarian corridor” to allow Venezuelans to return home.
CANADA
Actress Shirley Douglas dies
Actress and civil rights activist Shirley Douglas died on Sunday at the age of 86, her son actor Kiefer Sutherland said. Douglas died following a bout of pneumonia, Sutherland wrote on Twitter, specifying that it was not related to the novel coronavirus pandemic. “My mother was an extraordinary woman who led an extraordinary life,” Sutherland wrote. “Sadly she had been battling for her health for quite some time and we, as a family, knew this day was coming.” Douglas spent her acting career between Canada and Hollywood, where she worked with big-name directors such as Stanley Kubrick and David Cronenberg. She is also known for campaigning for several progressive causes, including the civil rights movement and the Black Panthers in the 1960s, and later defending Canada’s public healthcare system.
UNITED STATES
Day auction raises US$3m
An auction of actress Doris Day’s four Golden Globe awards and 1,000 other items from her life generated more than US$3 million over the weekend, far outpacing original estimates, Julien’s Auctions said on Sunday. The top sellers in the live online auction included a 1930 Ford convertible that was seen in the opening of Day’s 1980s talk show Doris Day’s Best Friends, which sold for US$96,000. A Golden Globe award she received in 1962 went for US$25,600. All proceeds from the sale would benefit the Doris Day Animal Foundation. Julien’s Auctions had estimated the sale would bring in between US$300,000 and US$600,000. The auction featured Day’s piano, gowns, furniture and dozens of artifacts reflecting her passion for animals, including numerous ceramic dogs, birds and decorative pigs.
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
‘DOWNSIZE’: The Trump administration has initiated sweeping cuts to US government-funded media outlets in a move critics said could undermine the US’ global influence US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after the US Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial and US
RSS