Australia to refocus international aid to health security on doorstep
Australia will divert A$280 million ($185.25 million) in overseas aid this year to bolster the response of its closest neighbours to the coronavirus pandemic, with Canberra warning the stability of the Indo-Pacific region is at risk.
China parliament advances Hong Kong security law as tensions with U.S. rise
China’s parliament approved a decision on Thursday to go forward with national security legislation for Hong Kong that democracy activists in the city and Western countries fear could erode its freedoms and jeopardise its role as a global financial hu…
For Lebanese families made poor by crisis, dinner means bread and no meat
At a street market in southern Beirut, Lebanese crowd around volunteers handing out free rations of bread and pasta, staples that have become a lifeline to families whose living standards have plunged during a financial crisis.
Taiwan pledges help for fleeing Hong Kongers, riles China
Taiwan promised on Thursday to settle Hong Kongers who flee the Chinese-ruled city for political reasons, offering help from employment to counselling, and prompting angry condemnation from Beijing as it pushes security legislation for Hong Kong.
UK police to take no action against PM’s adviser Cummings: Telegraph
British police said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings did breach the coronavirus lockdown but that it was minor and so they will take no further action, the Telegraph reported.
Coronavirus patients flood hospitals in Indonesia’s second-largest city
Hospitals in Indonesia’s second largest city of Surabaya have been overwhelmed by a surge of new coronavirus cases, forcing them to turn patients away, the Indonesian Medical Association said on Thursday.
Russian village building LNG supply plant to get new hospital after COVID-19 outbreak
Russia’s Arctic region of Murmansk plans to build a new temporary hospital in a village where a vital liquefied natural gas supply plant is being built after an outbreak of the new coronavirus.
WHO official: European deaths spike since March linked to COVID-19
About 159,000 more people in 24 European countries have died since early March than would have ordinarily been expected, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday, with a “significant proportion” of the spike linked to COVID-19.
Africa hit by sustained community spread of coronavirus: disease centre
Cases of community transmission of the new coronavirus are growing in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, and a new strategy for testing is needed to prevent this, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
Opening schools in Denmark did not worsen outbreak, data shows
A partial reopening of Danish schools did not lead to an increase in coronavirus infections among young students, a doctor of infectious disease epidemiology and prevention at the Danish Serum Institute said on Thursday, citing new data.
