Cabinet to meet as PM tries to move past leaks

BBC News says PM Boris Johnson is preparing to chair a cabinet meeting later as he attempts to shift the focus from a series of claims and questions over his conduct.

Among them is an accusation the PM once said he would rather see “bodies pile high” than approve a third lockdown.

Boris Johnson and No 10 strongly denied he said the phrase, as the PM described multiple reports as “total rubbish”.

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Tributes to hero who died trying to rescue woman from River Thames

The Independent says Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole’s dad hailed his son a ‘heor’ after he jumped into the River Thames to rescue a woman who had fallen in.

Folajimi ‘Jimmi’, 20, was one of two men who dived into the river in an attempt to save the woman, who fell in around midnight.

One man and the woman were rescued but were unable to locate the other man until six hours later, when a body was found.

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Schools reopen across France despite spike in ICU admissions

France24 says schools reopened on Monday across France after a three-week closure in the first step out of the country’s partial lockdown, despite numbers of COVID-19 patients in ICU reaching their highest level since last spring. 

Authorities argue that daily numbers of new infections have started decreasing in the country, providing encouraging signs about the impact of restrictions that were imposed at the beginning of the month. 

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Houthis deprive medical workers of COVID-19 vaccines as disease spreads

Arab News says Yemen’s health minister has urged heath workers who live in Houthi-controlled areas to head to liberated provinces to receive COVID-19 vaccines after the Iran-backed group refused to run an inoculation program in densely populated areas.  

“Health colleagues who were deprived of the coronavirus vaccine in the Houthi-controlled areas can get vaccinated in the provinces under the authority of the legitimate government,” Dr. Qasem Buaibeh said.

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Fighting erupts in eastern Myanmar near Thai border

Aljazeera says the Karen National Union said its forces had captured an outpost of the Myanmar army close to the border with Thailand after witnesses in Thailand reported heavy fighting

The camp had been occupied and burned down and the group was still checking on deaths and casualties, the armed group’s head of foreign affairs, Padoh Saw Taw Nee, told Reuters.

Gunfire could be heard from across the Salween river, which follows the border between the two countries, and video posted on social media showed fires and smoke rising from the forested hills.

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Erdogan asks Biden to reverse ‘wrong step’ on Armenia declaration

TRT World says Turkey’s President Erdogan has denounced Joe Biden’s “genocide” label of the 1915 Armenian events as “groundless” and called for Washington to reverse the “wrong steps”. 

“The US president has made comments that are groundless and unfair,” Erdogan said in televised remarks on Monday, warning that they could have a “destructive impact” on Turkish-US ties.

“We believe that these comments were included in the declaration following pressure from radical Armenian groups and anti-Turkish circles. But this situation does not reduce the destructive impact of these comments.”

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California Recall Has Enough Signatures to Reach the Ballot

VOA says Organizers of the recall effort against California Governor Gavin Newsom collected enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.  

The California secretary of state’s office announced Monday that more than 1.6 million signatures had been verified, about 100,000 more than needed to force a vote on the first-term Democrat.  

People who signed petitions now have 30 days to withdraw their signatures, though it’s unlikely enough will do so to stop the question from going to voters.  

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