UK looking at air bridges; criticises airlines on job cuts
The United Kingdom is looking closely at air bridges to enable some people to travel but airlines should not be using the government’s job retention scheme as a way to cut jobs, a junior transport minister said on Wednesday.
Mexico’s COVID-19 death toll could surpass 30,000: deputy health minister
Mexico’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic may reach 30,000, a senior health official said in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday, while suggesting fatalities could be even higher if social distancing measures were relaxed too fast.
HSBC and StanChart back China security law for Hong Kong
HSBC and Standard Chartered banks gave their backing to China’s imposition of a national security law on Hong Kong on Wednesday in a break from their usual policy of political neutrality.
Magnitude 6.8 earthquake hits northern Chile; copper, lithium mines unaffected
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck in the mine-heavy northern Chile early on Wednesday, monitoring groups confirmed, though mining companies told Reuters their operations were not impacted.
Canada to require most airport workers, flight crews to wear masks
Canada will require most airport workers and flight crews to wear non-medical masks from June 4, but pilots will be exempt while they are on the flight deck, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said on Wednesday.
Police tell thousands at Dutch anti-racism protest to go home because of overcrowding
Dutch police on Wednesday asked several thousand protesters in the port city of Rotterdam to go home because the anti-racism rally was too crowded and participants could not keep to social distancing rules.
UK’s Johnson tells EU workers to come back but quarantine
Workers from the European Union who left Britain while the coronavirus lockdown shut much of the economy should come back, but must quarantine like other travellers, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan will reimpose some restrictions to halt virus after rise in infections
Azerbaijan’s government plans to reimpose some restrictions this weekend to stop the spread of the coronavirus after the number of infections in the ex-Soviet country rose, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Brazil’s Sao Paulo state suspends cuts in utilities services for poorest amid COVID-19
Sao Paulo will suspend water supply, electricity and gas cuts until July 31 for the Brazilian state’s poorest residents who are unable to pay bills during the coronavirus pandemic, state governor Joao Doria said on Wednesday.
Germany bans digital doppelganger passport photos
Germany will outlaw the ‘morphing’ of passport photos, in which pictures of two people are digitally combined, making it possible to assign multiple identities to a single document.
