Simon Mayo reveals the secret of his and Mark Kermode's podcast success

Single parent Beverley Cohen, 55, from Brighton, pictured with her seriously disabled daughter Liora, left, has felt abandoned by the care system since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.

PETER HITCHENS: We will not escape from this misery until the Government has been forced to admit that it made a foolish mistake and over-reacted wildly to Covid-19.

Kirstin Coutney, pictured with her daughter Tilly, contracted Covid-19.  The 49-year-old mother of two from Bath is still suffering crippling fatigue, six weeks after developing the virus.

ROBERT MUIR-WOOD: Containment - isolating those who are ill and infectious - is the oldest known response to mass infection, dating back thousands of years.

Thousands of vital coronavirus 'contact tracers' are only now being recruited by the Government - two weeks after the Health Secretary first announced they would be hired.

Britain does not have the worst Covid-19 death toll in Europe. And the Government's critics know it. Unlike the UK, other nations' coronavirus statistics don't include deaths outside of hospital.

Deeply worried about Beijing's insatiable desire for land and the way its military has occupied areas by stealth, Washington has sent three warships to the region.

Matt Hancock is living on 'borrowed time' as Health Secretary following clashes with the three most powerful members of the Government over the Covid crisis, The Mail on Sunday has been told.

Alec Baldwin reprised his imitation of President Trump on the season finale of Saturday Night Live - this time with the Commander in Chief giving a commencement speech via Zoom.

German publication Der Spiegel published the bombshell claims that come from their country's Federal Intelligence Service known as the 'Bundesnachrichtendienst', or BND.

Tottenham will do everything they can to provide new signing Ryan Sessegnon with the platform he needs to flourish, says manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Technology firm Accesso - whose clients include Thorpe Park and Alton Towers - is working on the roll-out of a system that will let customers book timeslots on rides via their mobile phones.

Jessica Mauboy is separated from her mother Therese while the Northern Territory keeps its borders closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Beyonce and her BeyGOOD Foundation have been aiding in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.

Nicole Kidman has revealed how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting her family. 

She welcomed her first child, a son named Oscar, with husband Peter Stefanovic on February 6.

Like the rest of us, Nicole Kidman has had to find unique ways to entertain herself while in self-isolation.

The vote was held on Ligue 1's official Twitter account, with Drogba receiving 51 per cent of the 40,094 votes that were cast.

Adrian Oros, ministrul Agriculturii, a declarat, sâmbătă, că din primele evaluări există aproape un milion de hectare de culturi afectate de secetă în România, iar unii fermieri se gândesc să reînsămânţeze pentru a-şi diminua pierderile, informează Agerpres.

The post Un milion de hectare de culturi sunt lovite de secetă appeared first on Forbes.ro.

Sports stars are refusing to let the coronavirus lockdown stop them from keeping fit with many coming up with unique 'stay at home' training methods.

Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka has heaped praise on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for helping him perform this season. He says Solskjaer 'wants every player to improve'

Mangaluru, May 10 () The Yenepoya medical collegehospital at Deralakatte here has become the first privatehospital in Dakshina Kannada district to get coronavirus(COVID-19) testing approval.The laboratory at the hospital has received the nod fromthe Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct testsfor COVID-19, a release here said.Dakshina Kannada will now have two centres forcoronavirus tests, the first one being the district Wenlockhospital, the designated hospital for Covid-19. ICMR has approved 33 testing centres in the state ofwhich 21 are government hospitals and 12 are privatehospitals. MVGAPRRAVINDRANATH MVGAPRRAVINDRANATH

New York, May 10 () Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg and Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House have joined hands to provide food to the city's healthcare workers and first responders.The Boston-based burger chain Wahlburgers - run by Wahlberg brothers, Mark, Donnie and Paul - has been shipping its patties to the steak house in Midtown to be cooked up, and the city's legendary firefighter themed sports bar Bravest have been helping deliver the meals."They wanted to honour the hospital workers and first responders," Gerard Fitzgerald, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, told Page Six.The meal deliveries started in Manhattan last week and end in Staten Island on Monday.The 'Jason Bourne' star said it was nice to help champion for someone else and give them the credit they deserve.

Dubai, May 10 () The first batch of 88 nurses from India arrived in the UAE to help the country's stretched healthcare professionals amid a surge in the number of COVID-19 infections in the Gulf nation that has crossed 17,000, according to media reports.The Ministry of Health and Prevention said the UAE reported 624 new cases on Saturday, taking the total number of infections to 17,417.The number of fatalities reached 185 after 11 deaths were reported on the day.The nurses, who are from Aster DM Healthcare hospitals in the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra, will be put under quarantine for 14 days after which they will be assigned to various field hospitals as per requirement, the Khaleej Times reported.They arrived on a special flight at the Dubai airport on Saturday.India's Ambassador

New Delhi, May 10 () Former India opener Gautam Gambhir doesn't see major changes in the way cricket is played in the post COVID-19 scenario besides the ban on using saliva on the ball. The International Cricket Council is considering legalisation of the usage of artificial substances to shine the ball instead of saliva."I don't think a lot of rules and regulations will be changed, you can probably have an alternate for the usage of saliva – apart from that I don't think so many changes will happen," Gambhir told Star Sports. "Players and everyone else need to live with this virus; probably they have to get used to it that there is a virus and that it will be around. Players might end up catching it, and you got to live with it." Though social distancing is possible in cricket to a certain

Mumbai, May 10 () Nearly a month after recovering from the coronavirus, actor Zoa Morani says she has donated her blood plasma to do her bit in helping the patients currently suffering from the novel virus.The actor, who was quarantined and kept under medication in April, also urged those who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma."Donated my blood today for the Plasma therapy trials at Nair hospital. It was fascinating! Always a silver lining I suppose. The team there was so enthusiastic and careful. There was a general physician on standby just incase of emergency and the equipment brand new and safe (sic)," Zoa wrote on Instagram on Saturday.She thanked the doctors for taking care of her and hoped patients benefit from the donation."All #Covid19 recovered people can be a part

New Delhi, May 10 () Plans are in place to start outdoor training in premier centres in India later this month and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government had to tread a careful path to ensure that athletes remained free from COVID-19. Rijiju had already said that his ministry was devising a plan for a phased resumption of national camps for Olympic-bound athletes, starting with the athletes currently based at NIS Patiala and SAI Centre in Bengaluru by the end of this month. "A roadmap is being prepared. If something happens to top athletes it will be a set back and so we are careful and that's why there are no positive coronavirus cases for our athletes till now. Players are pride of our country and so we can't risk anything," Rijiju said. "Medical experts, technical committee are

Uttarkashi, May 10 () Uttarkashi on Sunday reported its first COVID-19 case, raising Uttarakhand's coronavirus tally to 68.Uttarkashi district falls in the green zone. The red, orange and green zone classification is based on the number of coronavirus cases, doubling rate of coronavirus cases, and the extent of testing and surveillance The man, who tested positive, hails from Dhanaripatti village in Dunda block and had returned recently from Surat in Gujarat, Chief Medical Officer DP Joshi said.Three persons who came along with him in separate two wheelers from Gujarat have been kept in isolation, he said, adding contact tracing is underway.The 32-year-old man's swab sample was tested at AIIMS, Rishikesh, Joshi said. Corr ALM DVDV

Los Angeles, May 10 () With many celebrities and even former president Barack Obama taking part in virtual graduation ceremonies in times of social distancing, actor Alec Baldwin's President Donald Trump turned keynote speaker for this year's class of seniors in the remotely filmed season finale of "Saturday Night Live".Kate McKinnon, who portrayed the principal of a fictitious school, mentioned that he was the class' eighth choice, behind such favourites as Obama, murder hornets and the "Elon Musk-Grimes baby"."Hello, everyone, I'm Principal O'Grady. Welcome to the St Mary Magdalene By The Expressway class of 2020 virtual graduation," she said in a video shared on "SNL" Twitter page."I know this isn't how you expected your high school career to come to an end, but we're all making sacrifices.

By Uzmi Athar New Delhi, May 10 () Several NGOs working in the disability sector are facing severe financial crunch as most of the funds and donations they would earlier get has been diverted towards tackling the COVID-19 crisis.Prashant Verma, general secretary, National Association for the Blind, says he could just pay 65 per cent salary to his employees in the last two months due to financial crunch and if no fresh donations are made he does not have any money to pay his 120 staff members this month."We feel as if we are at the end of the line," he told .Verma said his organisation used to get grants from many companies under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and even from individuals, especially during March as it was the end of the financial year."But this year we didn't get any money.

New Delhi, May 10 () Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said 75 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the city are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms.The chief minister said the government has also issued an order for requisition of ambulances of private hospitals, adding that the decision has been taken in the wake of shortage of state-run ambulances."They (private ambulances) will have to be pressed into service when the government requires their service," Kejriwal said while addressing an online media briefing.The government has made arrangements for treatment of those at their homes with mild COVID-19 symptoms in accordance with the Centre's guidelines."Out of 6,923 COVID-19 patients, only 1,476 are admitted at hospitals, rest getting treatment at their homes and COVID-19 centres,"

Amaravati, May 10 (): The Chennai Koyambedu connectionhad a clear reflection on the number of fresh coronaviruscases in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday as the border districts ofChittoor and SPS Nellore reported 16 and five in the last 24hours as the states overall tally shot up by 50 to 1,980. The official bulletin showed one fresh Covid-19 death inKurnool district and put the overall count at 45, as the onefatality reported in Vizianagaram on Saturday was not added tothe table.Over 160 people with contacts to people who returned fromthe Koyambedu wholesale market in Chennai were traced inChittoor district and tests so far revealed 27 COVID-19positive cases in the last two days, official sources heresaid. With the fresh additions, the number of active cases inChittoor rose to 38.SPS Nellores

Turkey reported 50 new COVID-19 deaths and 1,546 fresh cases on Saturday as it prepared steps to return to normal life. Total fatalities stand at 3,739, while infections number 137,115. According to figures posted on Twitter by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, 89,480 patients have recovered. Shopping malls, barber shops, hairdressers and beauty salons will open for business on Monday as Turkey starts easing restrictions. Meanwhile, one of Turkey's biggest soccer clubs, Besiktas, announced a player and a club employee had tested positive for the new coronavirus. Earlier this week, the Turkish Football Federation said matches behind closed doors would resume next month, prompting the resumption of limited training sessions.

Former President Barack Obama harshly criticized President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an absolute chaotic disaster during a conversation with ex-members of his administration. Obama also reacted to the Justice Department dropping its criminal case against Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, saying he worried that the basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. More than 78,400 people with COVID-19 have died in the United States and more than 1.3 million people have tested positive, according to the latest estimates from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Obama's comments came during a Friday call with 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association, people who served in his administration. Obama urged his supporters to back his former vice president, Joe Biden, who is trying to unseat Trump in the Nov. 3 election. What we're fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being

The US PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament will use radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in spectator badges to ensure fans maintain social distance at the July 16-19 event, Golf Digest reported. Dan Sullivan, director of the tournament hosted by 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus in Ohio, said on Saturday a Zoom presentation conducted by the Greater Columbus Sports Commission that the high-tech badges were just one measure that will be used to maintain safety amid the coronavirus pandemic. "At any time we can know around the golf course how many people are collecting in a certain area," Sullivan said of the benefits of the tracking technology. "We're going to use that technology to make sure that we're protecting everyone around us, protecting the folks that are inside those various venues and make sure that we're monitoring effectively and producing a tournament that everyone can be comfortable with." In a phone interview with Golf Digest Sullivan explained that a small group of

South Korea's president says his proposal to North Korea on jointly tackling infectious diseases such as the COVID-19 illness remains valid, though the North hasn't responded. President Moon Jae-in told reporters Sunday that he believes the North is suffering various difficulties over the coronavirus pandemic. Moon didn't elaborate. His spy agency recently told lawmakers the virus pandemic resulted in sharply shrinking the North's external trade and causing panic buying in Pyongyang, the North's capital. Moon says he'll try to persuade North Korea to accept his offers for reconciliation projects after the pandemic is stabilized. Moon has proposed reconnecting severed railways, resuming reunions of families split by war and sending South Korean tourists to North Korea. North Korea has been taking intense anti-virus quarantine steps but it has steadfastly claimed there hasn't been a single case of the coronavirus on its territory. Many foreign experts are skeptical of the North's claim.

Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg and Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House have joined hands to provide food to the city's healthcare workers and first responders. The Boston-based burger chain Wahlburgers - run by Wahlberg brothers, Mark, Donnie and Paul - has been shipping its patties to the steak house in Midtown to be cooked up, and the city's legendary firefighter themed sports bar Bravest have been helping deliver the meals. "They wanted to honour the hospital workers and first responders," Gerard Fitzgerald, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, told Page Six. The meal deliveries started in Manhattan last week and end in Staten Island on Monday. The 'Jason Bourne' star said it was nice to help champion for someone else and give them the credit they deserve. "Not being able (to have our restaurants) fully operational these past several weeks has been heartbreaking for our entire organization. But that hasn't stopped our commitment to supporting the communities we ...

The first batch of 88 nurses from India arrived in the UAE to help the country's stretched healthcare professionals amid a surge in the number of COVID-19 infections in the Gulf nation that has crossed 17,000, according to media reports. The Ministry of Health and Prevention said the UAE reported 624 new cases on Saturday, taking the total number of infections to 17,417. The number of fatalities reached 185 after 11 deaths were reported on the day. The nurses, who are from Aster DM Healthcare hospitals in the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra, will be put under quarantine for 14 days after which they will be assigned to various field hospitals as per requirement, the Khaleej Times reported. They arrived on a special flight at the Dubai airport on Saturday. India's Ambassador to UAE Pavan Kapoor said that this would further strengthen the long-standing friendship between the two countries. "India and the UAE are showing how a strategic partnership translates into concrete ...

Pavle Jovanovic, who competed in bobsleigh for the United States at the 2006 Olympics, took his own life last weekend at the age of 43, the US Bobsled and Skeleton federation said Saturday. "The winter sports community has suffered a tragic loss," said federation chief executive Aron McGuire, a former teammate of Jovanovic. "Pavle's passion and commitment towards bobsled was seen and felt by his teammates, coaches, competitors, and fans of the sport. He lived life to the fullest and had a lasting influence on all those who had the opportunity to spend time with him." Jovanovic, who competed in bobsleigh for the United States at the 2006 Olympics, took his own life last weekend at the age of 43, the US Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said Saturday. "The winter sports community has suffered a tragic loss," said federation chief executive Aron McGuire, a former teammate of Jovanovic. "Pavle's passion and commitment towards bobsled was seen and felt by his teammates, coaches, competitors,

With many celebrities and even former president Barack Obama taking part in virtual graduation ceremonies in times of social distancing, actor Alec Baldwin's President Donald Trump turned keynote speaker for this year's class of seniors in the remotely filmed season finale of "Saturday Night Live". Kate McKinnon, who portrayed the principal of a fictitious school, mentioned that he was the class' eighth choice, behind such favourites as Obama, murder hornets and the "Elon Musk-Grimes baby". "Hello, everyone, I'm Principal O'Grady. Welcome to the St Mary Magdalene By The Expressway class of 2020 virtual graduation," she said in a video shared on "SNL" Twitter page. "I know this isn't how you expected your high school career to come to an end, but we're all making sacrifices. I have had to share my child's Adderall with him," McKinnon said to a zoom conference of the entire class playing students. Baldwin's Trump appeared wearing a red "Make America Great Again" cap in a call from ...

Pakistan reported a record number of 1,991 coronavirus cases in a single day, taking the total number of infections to over 29,000, the health ministry said on Sunday as the country began easing the month-long lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the deadly disease. Despite a surge in the number of COVID-19 infections, the first phase of the easing of the lockdown began on Saturday. The government announced removing restrictions by allowing more businesses to open and operate from dawn to 5pm. However, doctors have warned against easing the restrictions. The Representative of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) have demanded that the government observe the World Health Organization protocols and implement a strict lockdown. The Ministry of National Health Services said that 21 new deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 639. A total of 8,023 people have recovered so far. Punjab registered 11,093 cases, Sindh 10,771, ...

The governor of a province that surrounds Seoul ordered the two-week shutdowns of all nightclubs, hostess bars and other similar entertainment facilities in his province to guard against a possible new surge in coronavirus cases. Lee Jae-myung, the Gyeonggi province governor, announced the steps Sunday, a day after Seoul shut down more 2,100 nightclubs, hostess bars and discos in the capital city as dozens of fresh infections linked to clubgoers have been reported in recent days. The province and Seoul form the Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea's 51 million people reside. Earlier Sunday, South Korea reported 34 additional virus cases over the past 24 hours, the first time the country's daily jump has marked above 30 in about a month. Health authorities said that 24 of the 34 cases were those who had visited clubs in Seoul's Itaewon entertainment neighborhood in the past several days or people who came in contact with them later. New cases linked to the Itaewon ..

Air India crew members, who reside in Gautam Buddh Nagar and are involved in flight operations to evacuate Indian citizens stuck abroad due to lockdown, can return home from Delhi only after their COVID-19 test results are found negative, officials said on Saturday. The crew would be examined for COVID-19 through the real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction or the RT-PCR test, considered a gold standard but costly and time-consuming process as against the rapid anti-body tests, and put on duty again if found fit, the officials said. The Gautam Buddh Nagar police had requested the management of the national carrier to accommodate its crew members that reside in Noida and Greater Noida in Delhi for the duration of the Centre's Vande Bharat Mission. The request was made because Gautam Buddh Nagar in western Uttar Pradesh falls in the Red Zone' and the to and fro movement of the flight crew could increase the risk of COVID-19 infection, the officials said. "A letter from .

Dubbing Congress' criticism of the central government's handling of COVID-19 crisis as "absurd", the BJP on Saturday said the opposition party is weakening the country's fight against COVID-19 instead of extending cooperation. BJP's national media incharge Anil Baluni said Congress leaders, on a regular basis, are making "absurd statements on the behest of their party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, to remain relevant in news". Baluni said the BJP-led government at the Centre welcomes Opposition's constructive suggestions in the battle against COVID-19, but "the opposition party should not do politics" over the pandemic. "Rather than becoming a part of the battle against COVID-19, the Congress is unfortunately resorting to politics and its leaders are trying to weaken the fight by making absurd statements, Baluni said. Underscoring that India has done relatively well than other countries and has been praised for effectively handling the coronavirus, Baluni said the Congress ..

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Saturday said the BJP is in favour of reservation in promotion and against introducing the creamy layer provision for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe categories. The central government headed by Narendra Modi is committed to protect the rights of SCs and STs, he said and expressed support to the demand of the states SC and ST MLAs to include "reservation" meant for them in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution so that they cannot be challenged in courts. The demand of the legislators belonging to SC and ST categories from all parties came in the wake of the recent Supreme Court order asking the Centre to revise the list of reserved categories for providing quotas so that benefits trickle down to the needy. The MLAs said the apex court judgment virtually advocated for implementing the provision of creamy layer in the reservation meant for SCs and STs. Sushil Modi said, When two Constitution benches ruled in ...

A teacher of a civic body-run school, who was involved in distributing ration during the lockdown, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said on Saturday. The teacher was posted at a primary school in Wazirabad under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. The teacher had last come to school on April 28 and started showing COVID-19 symptoms from May 2. His test report came on Friday, an official of North Delhi Municipal Corporation said. "We traced his six primary contacts and they have been sent into quarantine. Since they are completely asymptomatic, no test has been done yet," he said, adding the school building has been sanitised.

Sixteen more people including two minors from nine districts tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, taking the total number of cases to 595 in Bihar, a top health department official said. Seven of the 16 fresh cases are migrant people from other states, Health Departments Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar said in a tweet. "We are ascertaining their further infection trail," Kumar said. Of the 16 new cases, three each are from Muzaffarpur and Arwal, two each from Begusarai, Munger, Nalanda and one each from Vaishali, Bhojpur, Siwan, Sheikhpura districts, the Principal Secretary said. Five people have died of the disease so far in Bihar which is now left with 272 active cases while 318 have recovered. The number of samples tested so far at seven facilities in Patna, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga is 32,767.

Doctors at the government-run ESIC Hospital here committed a "mistake" by not testing samples of a 16-year-old girl, who later died of Covid-19, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday. The girl breathed her last on Thursday at the B Barooah Cancer Institute. Her samples, which were taken after her death, tested positive for coronavirus infection/ "The girl first went to ESIC Hospital with all symptoms like fever and pain in legs. It was a mistake by doctors that her samples were not sent for testing... It is a matter of concern," Sarma told reporters here. Talking about the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), which was closed for new patients after a doctor at the facility tested positive on Thursday, he said a total of 529 samples have been collected from doctors, nurses, professors and superintendent of the institute for testing "Out of those, reports of 357 samples came out negative and one was positive. Results of the rest of the samples are awaited," .

Twenty-three Surat returnees were among 24 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Saturday, taking the total cases in the state to 294, the Health and Family Welfare department said. Of the 24 fresh Covid cases, Ganjam reported 18, while three came from Mayurbhanj and one each from Nayagarh, Bhadrak and Sundergarh. Nayagarh district reported its first novel coronavirus case when a 40-year-old Surat returnee tested positive to the disease. With this, the COVID-19 has now spread to19 of the 30 districts of Odisha. At present, there are 224 active cases in the state and 68 people have recovered. Two people from Bhubaneswar have succumbed to the disease, an official said adding that 343 persons are in hospital isolation. The state health department had on Friday conducted 3,348 tests for COVID-19, he said, adding that Odisha has so far tested 56,322 samples. As per an analysis by the department, 246 of the state's total 294 cases have been reported from five ...