https://www.cfact.org/2024/11/13/day-2-azerbaijan-president-says-fossil-fuels-a-gift-from-god-un-parades-world-leaders/ By Craig Rucker Day two of the UN Conference of the Parties meeting (COP 29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, saw numerous heads of state roll into town to pay homage to he global warming cause. In all, some 100 world leaders were represented, with many ushered into the main plenary stage to deliver short testimonials on how […]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/opinion/climate-change-politics-trump-cop29.html By David Wallace-Wells When the COP29 climate conference comes to an end next week, it will have concluded without an appearance by President Biden. This is not because Donald Trump just won the election, supplanting the outgoing American head of state on the world stage. The president-elect isn’t attending, either. Neither is Vice President […]

US President Joe Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Peru on Saturday for the last of three in-person sit-downs between the leaders during the US president's term in office.

US President Joe Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Peru on Saturday for the last of three in-person sit-downs between the leaders during the US president's term in office.

On International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, AJK president condemns BJP-RSS regime

Messages of congratulations from world leaders began pouring in after former President Donald Trump’s historic political comeback and election victory. Here's a list of five reactions from around the world.

Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel for military or energy purposes.

National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau will provide remarks on behalf of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board during a virtual event on May 4 to launch an online pledging effort, the Coronavirus Global Response.

Organizers of the recent Nobel Prize Summit shared a statement titled “Our Planet, Our Future - An Urgent Call for Action” — issued by the summit’s steering committee and co-signed by 126 Nobel laureates — with leaders of the G-7 countries and the U.N. secretary general, as well as other groups.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/11/climate/cop29-climate-talks-trump/index.html Leaders snub another petrostate summit The COP29 talks were already shaping up to be lackluster. It’s the third year in a row that they’ve been held in a petrostate. Mukhtar Babayev, a state-oil company veteran, will preside over the event. More striking than the list of leaders making opening remarks is the list of […]

World leaders and officials sent their best wishes to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on Friday for a swift recovery after he announced early Friday morning that the First couple tested positive for COVID-19. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that he and his wife Sara, along with “millions of Israelis” are wishing […]

The post World Leaders React To Trump’s COVID-19 Diagnosis appeared first on Hispolitica.

Expert

BAKU, Azerbaijan — World leaders are converging Tuesday at the United Nations annual climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan although the big names and powerful countries are noticeably absent, unlike past climate talks which had the star power of a soccer World Cup. But 2024's climate talks are more like the International Chess Federation world championship, lacking recognizable names but big on nerd power and strategy. The top leaders of the 13 largest carbon dioxide-polluting countries will not appear. Their nations are responsible for more than 70% of 2023's heat-trapping gases. The world's biggest polluters and strongest economies — China and the United States — aren't sending their No. 1s. India and Indonesia's heads of state are also not in attendance, meaning the four most populous nations with more than 42% of all the world's population aren't having leaders speak. “It’s symptomatic of the lack of political will to act. There’s no sense of urgency,” said climate scientist Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics. He said this explains “the absolute mess we’re finding ourselves in.” Transition to clean energy The world has witnessed the hottest day, months and year on record “and a master class in climate destruction,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the world leaders who did show up. But Guterres held out hope, saying, in a veiled reference to Donald Trump's re-election in the United States, that the “clean energy revolution is here. No group, no business, no government can stop it.” United Nations officials said in 2016, when Trump was first elected, there were 180 gigawatts of clean energy and 700,000 electric vehicles in the world. Now there are 600 gigawatts of clean energy and 14 million electric vehicles. Host Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev kicked off two scheduled days of world leaders' speeches by lambasting Armenia, western news media, climate activists and critics who highlighted his country's rich oil and gas history and trade, calling them hypocritical since the United States is the world's biggest oil producer. He said it was “not fair” to call Azerbaijan a “petrostate” because it produces less than 1% of the world's oil and gas. Oil and gas are “a gift of the God” just like the sun, wind and minerals, Aliyev said. “Countries should not be blamed for having them. And should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market because the market needs them.” As the host and president of the climate talks, called COP29, Aliyev said his country will push hard for a green transition away from fossil fuels, “but at the same time, we must be realistic.” Lack of star power Aliyev, United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are the headliners of around 50 leaders set to speak on Tuesday. There'll also be a strong showing from the leaders of some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. Several small island nations presidents and over a dozen leaders from countries across Africa are set to speak over the two-day World Leaders’ Summit at COP29. As a sense of how the bar for celebrity has lowered, on Tuesday morning photographers and video cameras ran alongside one leader walking through the halls of the meeting. It was the emergency management minister for host country Azerbaijan. United Nations officials downplayed the lack of head of state star power, saying that every country is represented and active in the climate talks. One logistical issue is that next week, the leaders of the most powerful countries have to be half a world away in Brazil for the G20 meetings. The United States recent election, Germany's government collapse, natural disasters and personal illnesses also have kept some leaders away. The major focus of the negotiations is climate finance, which is rich nations trying to help poor countries pay for transitioning their economies away from fossil fuels, coping with climate change's upcoming harms and compensating for damages from weather extremes. Nations are negotiating over huge amounts of money, anywhere from $100 billion a year to $1.3 trillion a year. That money “is not charity, it's an investment,” Guterres said. “Developing countries must not leave Baku empty-handed,” Guterres said. “A deal is a must.”

India is not attending the two-day World Leaders Climate Action Summit (WLCAS) beginning Tuesday with country statements at the 2024 UN climate conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan that is focussed heavily on securing a new climate finance target for countries most vulnerable to climate impacts.

More than 75 leaders are expected in Baku over two days but the heads of some of the most powerful and polluting economies are not attending this year’s summit

Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel for military or energy purposes.

National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau will provide remarks on behalf of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board during a virtual event on May 4 to launch an online pledging effort, the Coronavirus Global Response.

This is simply stunning! The Vatican has just made an unprecedented, audacious overture for religious unity.

Expert

Thunberg has become a leading voice for action on climate change, inspiring millions of students to join protests around the world.

This blog is now closed.

• Follow the latest global coronavirus blog for live news and updates

12.22am BST

We’ve launched a new blog at the link below. Head over there for live developments in the pandemic worldwide:

Related: Coronavirus live news: WHO and Five Eyes reject Chinese lab theory as global deaths pass 250,000

11.55pm BST

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is taking the lead in pressing a hard line against Beijing over the coronavirus pandemic, AFP reports.

Pompeo, in an interview Sunday on ABC, said there was “enormous evidence” that the new coronavirus came out of a Wuhan lab - not a wet market, as most scientists suggest.

11.49pm BST

The World Health Organization said Monday that Washington had provided no evidence to support “speculative” claims by the US president that the new coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab, AFP reports.

“We have not received any data or specific evidence from the United States government relating to the purported origin of the virus - so from our perspective, this remains speculative,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual briefing.

11.27pm BST

11.20pm BST

In the UK, a review will analyse how factors such as ethnicity, obesity and gender can affect people’s vulnerability to coronavirus, health leaders have said.

Public Health England (PHE) said thousands of health records of people who have had Covid-19 will be examined to establish more “robust” data on what can have an impact on the number of cases and health outcomes for different groups within the population.

Related: PHE to review how ethnicity affects vulnerability to coronavirus

11.15pm BST

Hello, Helen Sullivan with you now and for the next few hours. Get in touch any time on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

11.02pm BST

According to research by both the Reuters news agency and Johns Hopkins University, at least a quarter of a million people are now known to have died as a result of the pandemic.

North America and European countries account for most of the new deaths and cases reported in recent days but numbers are rising from smaller bases in Latin America, Africa and Russia, Reuters reports.

10.49pm BST

Workers in the UK may refuse to turn up or stage walk-outs unless the government helps guarantee their safety, trade unions have warned amid anger over guidance designed to ease the lockdown.

As ministers prepare to urge the country back to return to work, Rowena Mason and Heather Stewart write that Labour has joined a string of trade unions in criticising draft guidelines for being vague, inadequate and putting staff at risk because employers can choose how closely to follow them.

Related: UK unions criticise guidance on returning to work for being inadequate

10.42pm BST

Italians were allowed out as the toughest quarantine measures were lifted throughout the country after almost two months on 4 May. About 4m people returned to work as the prime minister Giuseppe Conte appealed to the public in a Facebook post on Sunday night to “act responsibly”.

10.24pm BST

Germany’s state premiers will agree on further measures to ease restrictions during a telephone call with the chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, Reuters reports citing two people familiar with the preparations.

The state premiers are expected to give the green light for large shops to reopen, probably from 11 May, Reuters says.

10.21pm BST

Tim Bray, a top engineer and vice-president at Amazon, is resigning “in dismay” over the company’s firing of employee activists who criticised working conditions amid the pandemic.

Bray’s resignation comes as Amazon faces increased scrutiny and employee activism surrounding its internal response to coronavirus. Amazon workers on Friday participated in a nationwide sick-out to protest working conditions and inadequate safety protections.

Related: Amazon executive resigns over company’s ‘chickenshit’ firings of employee activists

10.02pm BST

In the UK, the virus’ devastating spread among care homes has led to a growing number of families seeking legal advice about bringing their relatives home, Amelia Hill and Diane Taylor write.

One law firm said it had received at least 10 calls a week from families wanting to overturn guidance that prevents them from withdrawing their loved ones.

Related: Coronavirus fears leading families to remove relatives from UK care homes

9.53pm BST

Paraguay has become one of the first Latin American countries to start relaxing its lockdown, Will Costa writes from Asunción.

The landlocked nation, which has reported some of the lowest numbers of cases in the region with 396 cases and 10 deaths, has launched a four-phase plan under which some public freedoms and economic activities will gradually be reintroduced over a period extending until early July.

Paraguay must keep moving while following the hygiene protocols and using our intelligence to take responsibility for the quarantine so that we can keep the curve flattened.

9.36pm BST

A row has erupted among scientists over a new report into the use of face masks by the general public as an approach to managing the spread of Covid-19 in the community.

The report from a multidisciplinary group convened by the Royal Society called Delve – Data Evaluation and Learning for Viral Epidemics – has weighed up the evidence and come out in favour of the public wearing face masks, including homemade cloth coverings, in a bid to tackle Covid-19. The report notes:

Our analysis suggests that their use could reduce onward transmission by asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic wearers if widely used in situations where physical distancing is not possible or predictable, contrasting to the standard use of masks for the protection of wearers. If correctly used on this basis, face masks, including homemade cloth masks, can contribute to reducing viral transmission.

Related: Report on face masks' effectiveness for Covid-19 divides scientists

9.13pm BST

There have been 4,075 new cases and 263 deaths over the last 24 hours in Brazil, the country’s health ministry has said.

Brazil has now registered 105,222 confirmed cases and 7,288 deaths. New cases increased roughly 4% from the previous day, and deaths rose roughly 3.7%.

9.08pm BST

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 1,152,372 cases in total, and said the number of deaths has risen to 67,456.

Over the weekend, the CDC updated its case count to 1,122,486 and said 65,735 people had died across the country, but that the numbers were preliminary and had not been confirmed by individual states. The figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.

8.55pm BST

Kigali traders have resumed work as Rwanda partially lifted the strict lockdown measures adopted six weeks ago.

Businesses in the capital were flooded with customers hurrying to finish their shopping before an 8pm (CAT) curfew, AFP reported.

We are now two waitresses. It has been really good to return to work because we had no other source of income.

We are going back to work slowly. Usually we are eight people working as a team here. But today we work in shifts at only three at a time to respect the social distancing.

After three hours, a colleague will replace me. We don’t earn much, but it is still better than staying at home.

8.36pm BST

The government is using the pandemic to transfer key public health duties from the NH S and other state bodies to the private sector without proper scrutiny, critics are warning.

Doctors, campaign groups, academics and MPs raised the concerns about a “power grab” after it emerged on Monday that Serco was in pole position to win a deal to supply 15,000 call-handlers for the government’s tracking and tracing operation.

Related: UK government 'using crisis to transfer NHS duties to private sector'

8.09pm BST

In photographs together and with their families, the five men smile, or hold their loved ones close. All 50 or older, their friendships ranged over decades, their passions running from philanthropy to cycling, their duties from activism to business. A little over two weeks ago, they were pillars of the Pakistani community in the small pocket of Birmingham in which they all lived, with 41 grandchildren between them. Now they are all dead, victims of coronavirus.

Related: Five friends, five victims: how Covid-19 tore a hole in one Pakistani community

7.41pm BST

There must be equal access for developing countries to medicine to combat the pandemic, the Indonesian president Joko Widodo has said.

We need to fight for just and timely access to affordable Covid-19 medicine and vaccine.

Debt relief and debt repayment obligations from official creditors (for developing countries) need be rediverted into financing the handling of Covid-19.

7.26pm BST

French hospital discovers Covid-19 case from December. The hospital retested old samples from pneumonia patients and discovered that it treated a man who had Covid-19 as early as 27 December, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.

Italy’s death toll far higher than reported. Statistics bureau ISTAT said its analysis showed an extra 11,600 deaths were unaccounted for, and it was reasonable to assume these people either died of Covid-19 without being tested or that the extra stress on the health system due to the epidemic meant they died of other causes they were not treated for.

7.08pm BST

Former Chelsea attacker Salomon Kalou has been suspended by German club Hertha Berlin after posting a video showing him breaking coronavirus social distancing rules by shaking hands with teammates.

The Facebook video of Kalou, 34, greeting Hertha players and club employees with handshakes was condemned by the German league, which has put in place stringent hygiene measures as it attempts to secure the political green light to restart its interrupted season.

6.57pm BST

Coronavirus funding pledges must require any vaccine to be patent-free, campaigners have said.

Reacting to reports that today’s Coronavirus Global Response Summit has raised $8bn for the research and development of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, Heidi Chow, of Global Justice Now said:

We welcome the funding that has been pledged today and the commitment of the hosts to make any Covid-19 vaccine available, accessible and affordable to all.

But what is not clear is how the hosts of today’s summit intend to achieve the aim of universal access. Recent history tells us that it will not happen by default.

Ruling out pharmaceutical monopolies will not only prevent corporate profiteering but will also enable mass production at a scale that will be required by global demand.

The challenge of our time is not just to develop a vaccine but to also take the bold steps needed to ensure new Covid-19 vaccines and treatments are affordable for all countries and free to the public.

6.50pm BST

Auction house Christie’s will hold a sale to help raise money for The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) Covid-19 fund after the pandemic forced the cancellation of the charity’s famous Cannes Film Festival gala.

Leading collectors and artists have donated several contemporary artworks, some of which have never been seen before, Christie’s and amfAR said in a statement.

6.43pm BST

The World Health Organization has stressed that contact-tracing apps and other technology cannot replace old-fashioned “boots-on-the-ground” surveillance measures as many countries begin easing lockdowns imposed to curb the coronavirus.

“We are very, very keen to stress that IT tools do not replace the basic public health workforce that is going to be needed to trace, test, isolate and quarantine,” the WHO’s top emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, told journalists at an online briefing in Geneva.

6.37pm BST

The number of people who have died after contracting coronavirus in France increased by 306 to 25,201 on Monday, the sharpest rate of increase in four days, government data showed.

On Sunday, only 135 new deaths were reported, but on Sundays the data reporting from nursing homes is often delayed, leading to a catch-up during the week.

6.35pm BST

European Union lawmakers said the coronavirus pandemic should not soften the bloc’s long-term climate goals, although some called for a “beefed up” fund to help coal-dependent regions move towards a greener economy.

Europe is facing a recession and governments are pumping out cash to keep economies afloat, but the EU’s executive Commission has pledged not to roll back its climate ambitions.

I understand that some would like to delay this goal due to the economic challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But, in my view, the pandemic provides a unique opportunity to transform and rebuild our economies based on the European Green Deal.

6.30pm BST

Mexican medical staff treating Covid-19 patients will be housed in the country’s former presidential palace – a luxurious abode, in which the austere president Andrés Manuel López Obrador refuses to live.

Staff from three Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) hospitals will be offered temporary residence in the mansion known as Los Pinos, which was turned into a cultural centre after López Obrador (commonly called Amlo) took office in late 2018.

6.20pm BST

Turkey will start easing coronavirus containment measures as of Monday, president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, lifting intercity travel restriction in seven provinces and easing a curfew imposed for senior and youth citizens after weeks.

The country has around 130,000 confirmed cases, the highest total outside Western Europe, the United States and Russia.

6.14pm BST

As Canada’s Yukon territory braces for coronavirus, residents have been asked keep one caribou’s length apart from each another. (For those not familiar with the dimensions of the reindeer, that’s roughly equivalent to two husky lengths or eight loaves of sourdough bread.)

The light-hearted advice is part of a viral public health awareness campaign that seeks to inform residents and pay homage to the region’s cultural history.

6.10pm BST

Carnival Cruise Line has announced plans to resume operations at the beginning of August despite dozens of deaths on cruise ships during the Covid-19 pandemic and investigations into the industry’s possible role in spreading the disease around the planet.

In a statement on Monday, the operator said eight cruise ships would resume operations from 1 August, sailing from Galveston, Texas, and Miami and Port Canaveral in Florida, once a no-sail order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had expired.

6.06pm BST

Studies in Britain show that most people who have had Covid-19 develop antibodies, England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said, but it was too early to say whether this gave them immunity.

The overwhelming majority of people so far called back who’ve had definite Covid-19 infection have got antibodies in their blood stream.

By and large the signal is that people get antibodies. The next question is, do those antibodies protect you from further infections?

6.02pm BST

Finland will lift some coronavirus restrictions, allowing restaurants to reopen and public services including libraries and sports facilities to start operating again from 1 June, the government has said.

A ban on public meetings will be relaxed from a maximum of 10 people to 50 people from 1 June but emergency powers will be kept in place, it said.

6.01pm BST

The head of the World Health Organization has urged the world to unite to defeat the new coronavirus.

WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a virtual briefing in Geneva:

This virus will be with us for a long time and we must come together to develop and share the tools to defeat it.

We will prevail through national unity and global solidarity.

5.57pm BST

Apple and Google have said they would ban the use of location tracking in apps that use a new contact tracing system the two are building to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Apple and Google, whose operating systems power 99% of smartphones, said last month they would work together to create a system for notifying people who have been near others who have tested positive for Covid-19.

5.53pm BST

Tanzania has suspended the head of its national health laboratory in charge of testing for the coronavirus and ordered an investigation, a day after president John Magufuli questioned the tests’ accuracy, Reuters reports.

Magufuli said on Sunday the imported test kits were faulty as they had returned positive results on a goat and a pawpaw - among several non-human samples submitted for testing, with technicians left deliberately unaware of their origins.

5.46pm BST

Bulgaria will not extend a state of emergency past its 13 May expiry date but some coronavirus restrictions will remain in force for two more months, finance minister Vladislav Goranov has said.

Bulgaria, which declared a state of emergency on 13 March, has so far confirmed 1,652 cases of the illness and 78 deaths.

5.44pm BST

France might allow religious services to resume before the end of the month if a gradual easing of lockdown rules from 11 May did not result in the rate of coronavirus infections increasing, prime minister Edouard Philippe has said.

The government had indicated religious ceremonies would be banned until 2 June at the earliest, but Philippe told the Senate this might be advanced by four days. He said:

Many faiths have made proposals to reconcile how their meetings are held with social distancing rules

I know the May 29 - June 1 period is for several faiths an important date on the religious calendar.

5.39pm BST

Britain needs new cases of Covid-19 to fall further, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, has said, even as data indicates that the peak of the coronavirus outbreak has passed.

“It’s now very clear in the data that we are past the peak,” Van-Tam said at a daily news conference. “New cases need to come down further ... we have to get cases lower.”

Related: UK coronavirus live: Matt Hancock launches track and tracing app test on Isle of Wight; death toll reaches 28,734

5.36pm BST

A plane carrying aid supplies has crashed in Somalia’s southern Bay region, killing seven people on board, a security official said.

State-run Somalia News Agency said the plane belonged to African Express Airways and was ferrying supplies for use in the fight against coronavirus. It said there were six crew members on board.

5.34pm BST

The world economy may have dramatically dipped and the price of oil crashed, but one commodity is seeing an unprecedented boom: the face mask.

Samanth Subramanian explores the newly distorted marketplace for masks and the lengths some will go to get them in the latest episode of our Today in Focus podcast.

Related: The global race for face masks – podcast

5.31pm BST

France’s prime minister has stood by a plan for lifting the country’s coronavirus lockdown next week, despite concerns the government is moving too fast to reopen schools, as well as doubts over the availability of face masks.

The French are due to emerge on 11 May from a lockdown that began in mid-March to combat the virus, and in a strategy different to other European countries, some schools are set to reopen.

This confinement was necessary to meet the emergency, but its social and economic cost is colossal.

We’re at a decisive moment, we cannot remain in confinement.

5.26pm BST

New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, has outlined a phased reopening of business activity in the state hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, starting with select retailers, wholesale suppliers and the construction and manufacturing industries.

Cuomo, speaking at a daily briefing, did not put specific dates to the outline, which envisions allowing finance, insurance, retail, administrative support and real estate businesses to restart in a second phase of reopening.

5.24pm BST

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has warned that the country could face a “real catastrophe” if coronavirus cases spike and overwhelm health services.

The current low level of infections did not mean Syria had gone out of the “circle of danger”, Assad said in an address to the government committee that oversees measures to curb the pandemic.

5.23pm BST

World leaders promised $8bn on Monday for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said at the end of a pledging event that she chaired.

In the space of just few hours we have collectively pledged €7.4bn euros ($8.07bn) for vaccine, diagnostics and treatment.

This will help kick-start unprecedented global cooperation.

5.19pm BST

Britain’s Covid-19 death toll has risen by 288 to 28,734, according to figures announced by health secretary Matt Hancock.

The increase was the smallest since late March, Hancock said, adding that he expected it to rise in coming days as the numbers tended to be lower over the weekend.

5.18pm BST

Coronavirus deaths in Italy climbed by 195 on Monday, up from 174 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, but the daily tally of new infections declined to 1,221 from 1,389 on Sunday.

Italy’s daily death toll in recent weeks has always fallen on Sundays and risen the following day, while the underlying trend has been steadily declining since a peak above 900 daily fatalities around the end of March.

5.13pm BST

US senators returned to Washington for the first time in nearly six weeks on Monday, amid concerns that their legislative sessions could put lawmakers and staff at risk of contracting Covid-19.

The Senate was due to reconvene to address partisan differences over the next step in legislation to combat the pandemic and to scrutinize a series of nominations for senior government posts put forward by president Donald Trump.

5.00pm BST

There were feelings of relief and trepidation as people in Italy returned to the streets after almost two months indoors under a strict lockdown.

Rina Sondhi, who lives in the Umbrian town of Orvieto, said:

I literally haven’t been out of the house. The biggest shock for me was the fresh air.

Today I feel liberated, but with caution – that’s the important thing, we can have the freedom but we must be really careful.

In some ways, I’m more afraid than when we closed, as a lot will now depend on people managing the moment in a responsible way.

Related: ‘The biggest shock was fresh air’: Italy begins cautious exit from virus lockdown

4.52pm BST

The Czech government has agreed to lift a ban on international bus and train travel from 11 May, a member of the government said.

The measure was put in place on 14 March in an effort to control the spread of Covid-19.

4.49pm BST

4.46pm BST

Yemen has reported two new coronavirus infections in Hadhramout, the national emergency coronavirus committee said on Monday, raising the number of diagnosed infections in the war-town country to 12, with two deaths.

The province of Hadhramout was where Yemen recorded its first case of Covid-19 on 10 April.

4.41pm BST

A French hospital has retested old samples from pneumonia patients and discovered that it treated a man who had Covid-19 as early as 27 December, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.

Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation at the Avicenne and Jean Verdier hospitals in the northern suburbs of Paris, told BFM TV that scientists had retested samples from 24 patients treated in December and January who tested negative for the flu.

He was sick for 15 days and infected his two children, but not his wife, who works in a supermarket.

He was amazed, he didn’t understand how he had been infected. We put the puzzle together and he had not made any trips. The only contact that he had was with his wife.

4.32pm BST

So far 6.3 million workers in Britain have been furloughed, with £8bn ($9.9bn) claimed from the government to sustain their wages during the coronavirus lockdown, tax authorities said on Monday.

HM Revenue and Customs said on Twitter that 800,000 employers had furloughed their staff, citing figures up to midnight on Sunday.

The Job Retention Scheme launched on 20 April.

By midnight 3 May a total of:

➡️ 6.3m jobs furloughed *
➡️ 800K employers furloughing **
➡️ Total value of claims £8bn

Apply for a grant to cover the wages of your furloughed staff now: https://t.co/bx1Nszshsr pic.twitter.com/29n9h0RB2k

4.30pm BST

The major Canadian province of Quebec, among the worst hit by the coronavirus, started gradually restarting its economy on Monday, while prime minister Justin Trudeau maintained his cautious stance.

Quebec is allowing stores with an outside entrance for customers to reopen but this does not apply to Montreal, Canada’s second largest city, where retail establishments must wait until 11 May.

4.23pm BST

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the number of unemployed Austrians to historically high levels, according to official figures released on Monday, with a year-on-year rise of almost 60%.

The blow to the economy dealt by the virus – and the lockdown brought in to combat it – means 571,477 people are out of work, Austria’s AMS employment service said.

4.15pm BST

Italy’s coronavirus death toll is much higher than reported, statistics bureau ISTAT said on Monday, in an analysis pointing to thousands of fatalities that have never been officially attributed to Covid-19.

In its first report of the epidemic’s impact on Italy’s mortality rate, covering 86% of the population, ISTAT said that from 21 February, when the first Covid-19 deaths occurred, until 31 March, nationwide deaths were up 39% compared with the average of the previous five years.

4.09pm BST

Chemicals manufacturer INEOS said it has built two hand sanitiser plants in the United States in response to greater demand amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The plants are in Arkansas and Pennsylvania and they will each produce one million bottles of hand sanitiser a month.

INEOS gets #HandsOn.

Within 10 days, INEOS sets-up two new factories in Arkansas and Pennsylvania to provide FREE hand sanitizer to hospitals in hotspot states: https://t.co/yyXxK6utc3

MILLIONS of bottles will be produced every month to fight #COVID19 in the United States. pic.twitter.com/c66igxy9Qq

4.07pm BST

The number of coronavirus cases in Chile has exceeded 20,000, the health ministry said on Monday.

Paula Daza, the health ministry subsecretary, said there were now 20,643 confirmed cases, 980 more than the previous day, and 10 new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 270.

4.01pm BST

Belarus will hold a military parade this week to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany, its president has said, despite having one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Europe.

Alexander Lukashenko said in televised remarks that he did not want to cancel the parade in part because people “would say we were scared”.

3.50pm BST

It is a mystery that has left doctors questioning the basic tenets of biology: Covid-19 patients who are talking and apparently not in distress, but who have oxygen levels low enough to typically cause unconsciousness or even death.

The phenomenon, known by some as “happy hypoxia” (some prefer the term “silent”) is raising questions about exactly how the virus attacks the lungs and whether there could be more effective ways of treating such patients.

It’s intriguing to see so many people coming in, quite how hypoxic they are.

We’re seeing oxygen saturations that are very low and they’re unaware of that.

Related: 'Happy hypoxia': unusual coronavirus effect baffles doctors

3.43pm BST

In a break from tradition caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the US Supreme Court for the first time heard arguments in a case by teleconference.

The case was a trademark dispute involving popular hotel reservation website Booking.com – and even typically silent Justice Clarence Thomas asked questions.

3.34pm BST

The US president, Donald Trump, is planning executive orders to increase the production of medical products and energy components in the country, the White House said on Monday.

Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, told Fox News in an interview that an order would soon require federal agencies to purchase US-made medical products, saying the Covid-19 outbreak had exposed the nation’s reliance on China.

3.30pm BST

Bangladesh authorities said on Monday they will gradually open up more factories, as well as farms and logistics operations, as they try to diminish the economic impact of a coronavirus lockdown which they extended to 16 May.

Shopping malls were given permission to reopen with shorter than usual hours.

3.22pm BST

Kuwaiti authorities dispersed a “riot” by Egyptian workers who demonstrated on Monday to demand repatriation amid the coronavirus crisis, state media said.

Such protests are rare in the tightly controlled Gulf countries, where there is a large population of foreign workers.

3.16pm BST

One of Brazil’s most celebrated composers and lyricists has died at the age of 73 after contracting Covid-19.

Aldir Blanc, whose mastery of the Portuguese language made him a legend of 20th-century Brazilian music, had been in hospital in Rio de Janeiro since 10 April and died in the early hours of Monday.

3.13pm BST

Scores of sheep crossed empty streets in Samsun, northern Turkey, as people stayed indoors over the weekend during the coronavirus lockdown.

3.11pm BST

Participants have started enrolling in a study to find out the infection rate of Covid-19 in children and their families in the United States.

The government-funded study, which will be conducted completely remotely, looks to determine how many children infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, develop symptoms of the disease.

3.07pm BST

Spain will pledge €125m ($136.58m) to developing a global response to the coronavirus pandemic, prime minister Pedro Sanchez has said.

Speaking at a virtual pledging conference today, Sanchez said Spain would contribute €50m to the Global Vaccine Alliance and €75m to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

3.00pm BST

A street artist called Msale has taken it upon himself to create giant murals bringing public health messages directly to the overcrowded Mathare slum in Nairobi. With half a million people living in such ‘a squeezed area’ social distancing is quite impossible to achieve, says Msale, so he is providing information for people on how to keep safe from Covid-19 in the ‘simplest, clearest’ way he knows

2.54pm BST

Related: ‘My soul is dancing’: Spain comes out to play after Europe's strictest lockdown

2.50pm BST

Hearings in the US extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will resume in September after being postponed from later this month because of the coronavirus outbreak, a London court said on Monday.

Reuters reports from a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday where it was agreed that September would be the most convenient date for the hearings to resume, although an exact date and an appropriate venue was yet to be decided, a spokesman said.

2.35pm BST

A phased easing of a five-week lockdown on Abuja, Lagos and Ogun State in Nigeria has begun today, even as a rise in new cases of Covid-19 across Nigeria continues to accelerate.

Infections have almost doubled in the last week to 2,500. Over 2000 cases are active infections, with 87 people dying from the virus and 400 having now recovered.

Movement is permitted providing face masks are worn. Several businesses including restaurants, viewing centres and places of worship will remain closed. Gatherings of more than 20 remain banned.

Yet the easing of restrictions has drawn sharp criticism. This weekend, the head of the Nigerian Medical Association said: “The easing of the lockdown even in phases is very premature,” and could portend a “frightening scenario”.

Many African countries including Nigeria, swiftly adopted restrictive lockdowns, travel bans and other measures to curb Covid-19, far earlier than in many other parts of the world.

Yet a worsening economy, and stretched security services, have diminished the limit of Nigeria’s ability to withstand the effects that the lockdown has wrought.

The government has provided support to only a small fraction of millions most affected.

During the lockdown, the number of testing laboratories have significantly improved to 18 from four two months ago. But low levels of testing in Nigeria have only slowly risen, with 17,500 tests administered in total.

Heightening fears further are hundreds of additional deaths in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city, which have now been confirmed as linked to Covid-19.

Local media reports of residents fleeing Kano despite a ban on inter-state travel have heightened concerns that a potential epicentre is not secure.

A two-week lockdown was imposed on Kano by President Buhari but the state governor has since declared that the measures would be suspended on Monday and Thursday this week to help residents during Ramadan.

2.33pm BST

The European Union pledged €1bn ($1.09bn) on Monday for the global search for vaccines and treatment for the novel coronavirus, the European commission president Ursula von der Leyen told a pledging conference, Reuters reports.

Norway pledged to give $1bn to support the distribution worldwide of any vaccine developed against Covid-19 as well as for vaccines against other diseases, prime minister Erna Solberg said on Monday.

2.29pm BST

England reported 204 new coronavirus hospital deaths, the lowest daily increase since 30 March.

The new hospital deaths bring the total figure of confirmed deaths in hospitals to 21,384.

2.26pm BST

Related: Share your tributes and memories of UK coronavirus care home victims

2.23pm BST

Downing Street has published the names of the more than 50 scientists who sit on its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies to discuss coronavirus, after criticism of the secrecy surrounding the group and the Guardian’s revelation that the No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings had attended meetings of the group.

The list of names was made available on the government’s website, showing that around half of the experts come from universities and another half are made up of government chief scientific advisers, public health officials or NHS senior staff.

Related: Government names dozens of scientists who sit on Sage group

2.18pm BST

Migrant labourers in Indian cities whose incomes have plummeted as a result of anti-coronavirus lockdown measures have been told that they will have to pay to board special trains taking them back to their homes in the countryside.

The decision has prompted derision in India, where most labourers live off what they earn in a day and have been surviving on state handouts.

Related: Destitute migrant workers in India forced to pay train fares home

2.01pm BST

Mass deaths in a northern Nigerian state were caused by coronavirus, authorities said after a preliminary investigation into the phenomenon.

Gravediggers in the state of Kano have reported burying dozens of corpses per day, in what the authorities had called “mysterious deaths”.

1.55pm BST

Hundreds of South African health workers were given a century-old tuberculosis vaccine on Monday in a trial to see whether the venerable formula can protect against coronavirus.

Devised at France’s legendary Pasteur Institute 100 years ago, the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is one of the world’s oldest and most trusted immunisations.

1.48pm BST

Millions of people were allowed to return to work in Italy on Monday as Europe’s longest lockdown started to ease.

Italy, the first European country hit by the pandemic and a nation with one of the world’s highest death tolls, started stirring after its two-month shutdown.

1.38pm BST

The Pulitzer prizes in journalism and the arts will be announced on Monday after being postponed by the coronavirus outbreak.

The initial Pulitzer ceremony, which was scheduled for 20 April, was pushed back to give Pulitzer board members who were busy covering the pandemic more time to evaluate the finalists.

1.35pm BST

Germany, which is part of Europe’s open-border Schengen area, will extend its border checks until 15 May, a spokesman for the interior ministry has said.

The measure is in line with the European commission, he added. “Of course, we are guided by the European spirit not to act unilaterally or in an uncoordinated way.”

1.26pm BST

A street artist called Msale has created giant murals bringing public health messages directly to the overcrowded Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya.

With half a million people living in such “a squeezed area” social distancing is quite impossible to achieve, says Msale, so he is providing information for people on how to keep safe in the “simplest,

EU-hosted talks tout cooperation but is not addressed by India, Russia or US

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

World leaders, with the notable exception of Donald Trump, stumped up nearly €7.4bn (£6.5bn) to research Covid-19 vaccines and therapies at a virtual event convened by the EU, pledging the money will also be used to distribute any vaccine to poor countries on time and equitably.

But in a sign of the fractured state of global health diplomacy, the event was not addressed by India, Russia or the US. After a weekend of persuasion, China was represented by its ambassador to the EU.

UK data from the Office for National Statistics has revealed that men are almost twice as likely to die from the disease as women. The trend was first seen in China, where one analysis found a fatality rate of 2.8% in men compared with 1.7% in women. Since then, the pattern has been mirrored in France, Germany, Iran, South Korea and Italy, where men have accounted for 71% of deaths.

UK data from the Office for National Statistics has revealed that men are almost twice as likely to die from the disease as women. The trend was first seen in China, where one analysis found a fatality rate of 2.8% in men compared with 1.7% in women. Since then, the pattern has been mirrored in France, Germany, Iran, South Korea and Italy, where men have accounted for 71% of deaths.

Global leaders marked 75 years since the end of World War II in Europe on Friday, urging citizens to draw inspiration from the historic victory ...

Donald Trump has not donned one. Emmanuel Macron boasted a small French flag on his. Slovakia’s president made a fashion statement by sporting a fuchsia-coloured one to match her outfit.As the world starts emerging from coronavirus lockdowns, political leaders are being closely scrutinised over their choice to wear a mask – or not – with many people questioning the seemingly mixed messages about the value of face coverings as infection barriers.Many Western governments counselled against face…

PARIS: Donald Trump has not donned one. Emmanuel Macron boasted a small French flag on his. Slovakia´s president made a fashion statement by sporting a fuchsia-coloured one to match her outfit.As the world starts emerging from coronavirus lockdowns, political leaders are being closely...

Global leaders marked 75 years since the end of World War II in Europe Friday, urging citizens to draw inspiration from the historic victory as the world battles against the coronavirus pandemic.

Theresa May has hit out at world leaders for failing "to forge a coherent international response" to the coronavirus pandemic.

Video meeting seen as global endorsement of WHO and sign of Trump’s isolation on world stage

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

Global leaders have pledged to accelerate cooperation on a coronavirus vaccine and to share research, treatment and medicines across the globe. But the United States did not take part in the World Health Organization initiative, in a sign of Donald Trump’s increasing isolation on the global stage.

The cooperation pledge, made at a virtual meeting, was designed to show that wealthy countries will not keep the results of research from developing countries.

Related: The hunt for a coronavirus vaccine – a perilous and uncertain path

Related: ‘Please don’t inject bleach’: Trump’s wild coronavirus claims prompt disbelief

Provide access to new treatments, technologies and vaccines across the world.

Commit to an unprecedented level of international partnership on research and coordinate efforts to tackle the pandemic and reduce infections.

Reach collective decisions on responding to the pandemic, recognising that the virus’s spread in one country can affect all countries.

Learn from experience and adapt the global response.

Be accountable, to the most vulnerable communities and the whole world.

Experts says $20bn needed to vaccinate global population

The WHO and world leaders commit to a fund to accelerate development of vaccines, tests and treatments for COVID-19.

Editor's Note: For Campaign 2012, Ted Gayer wrote a policy brief proposing ideas for the next president on climate change. The following paper is a response to Gayer’s piece from Katherine Sierra. Charles Ebinger and Govinda Avasarala also prepared a response identifying five critical challenges the next president must address to help secure the nation’s energy…

The 16-year-old climate activist holds nothing back when addressing the UN Climate Action Summit – this speech shows why she is having such an impact.

Singer Madonna and world leaders have raised over $8 billion for Covid-19 relief to help those impacted during this pandemic. Recently, she also revealed that she had tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.

Taking to her Instagram on May 6 to clarify certain things, she wrote, "“I’m Grateful that I can be a part of supporting Research to Find the cure for Covid -19!! And just to clear things up for people who would rather believe sensationalist headlines than do their own research about the nature of this virus—I am not currently sick."

“When you test positive for anti-bodies it means you HAD the virus which I. clearly did as I was sick at the end of my tour in Paris over 7 weeks ago along with many other artists in my show but at the time We all thought we had a very bad flu. Thank God we are all healthy and well now. Hope that clears things up for the band wagon jumpers!! Knowledge is Power," Madonna added.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Im Grateful that I can be a part of supporting Research to Find the cure for Covid -19!! ???????? And just to clear things up for people who would rather believe sensationalist headlines than do their own research about the nature of this virus— I am not currently sick. When you test positive for anti-bodies it means you HAD the virus which I. clearly did as I was sick at the end of my tour in Paris over 7 weeks ago along with many other artists in my show but at the time We all thought we had a very bad flu. Thank God we are all healthy and well now. Hope that clears things up for the band wagon jumpers!! Knowledge is Power! #covid19

A post shared by Madonna (@madonna) on May 6, 2020 at 10:18am PDT

Madonna has donated $1.1 million for the relief fund. She has also joined hands with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to find a drug that will prevent or treat COVID-19.

EU hosts online pledging event but €7.5bn target for vaccines, testing and treatment will only be first step

Live coverage of the UK election campaign.

As the world’s largest carbon emitter, China will be in the spotlight at this week’s UN climate summit in New York.  Beijing has taken steps to tackle its pollution problems in recent years, but is it working? Pilita Clark puts this question to Leslie Hook, environment correspondent, and Lucy Hornby, deputy Beijing bureau chief. 

Contributors: Pilita Clark, business columnist, Leslie Hook, environment correspondent, and Lucy Hornby, deputy Beijing bureau chief.  Producer: Fiona Symon

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Two hundred heads of state and tens of thousands of delegates will gather for the Conference of the Parties summit at the Scottish Event Campus (pictured) in November.

Claude Chirac bowed her head towards the tombstone at the Paris cemetery where France 's former head of state was laid to rest today.

'We must continue to prioritize women's economic empowerment and place it at the very heart of the G-20 agenda,' she said, watched on by her dad, as well as Justin Trudeau and Theresa May.

Leonardo DiCaprio took aim at President Trump and other world leaders while calling for climate action over the weekend. Trump will be officially removing the U.S. from the Paris climate pact in 2020.

Volodymyr Zelensky, who once played a hapless President on TV but was elected to the real-life presidency in April, put on the mock presentation for guests at a summit in Yalta earlier this month.

World leaders are continuing to shake hands (including Prince William and Kate, pictured in Dublin) across the globe despite health officials suggesting the gesture should be banned.

ISIS has revealed a guide to killing world leaders, urging lone wolves to masquerade as journalists so they can smuggle bombs near to politicians like President Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message to Prime Minister Boris Johnson today that he wanted to 'express my sincere support at this difficult moment for you', according to the Kremlin.

Body language expert Judi James told MailOnline there was a 'sense of intimidation' coming from other leaders while Boris had 'an air of happy oblivion' at the G7 in Biarritz, France.