Tuesday 6 October
- Nearly 500,000 redundancies planned Covid crisis.
- India cases rise by 61,267 in the past 24 hours.
- Paris to shut bars and clubs to curb Covid-19 spread as infections rise.
- Israeli minister urged to step down after travelling despite Covid lockdown & revealing Covid-19.
- Iran virus ‘red alert’ over record death toll.
- 10% of the world’s population may have Covid-19 says WHO.
- Trump mounts bizarre and misleading White House return despite warnings.
Nearly 500,000 redundancies planned Covid crisis
BBC News says British employers planned 58,000 redundancies in August, taking the total to 498,000 for the first five months of the Covid crisis.
966 separate employers told the government of plans to cut 20 or more jobs, compared to 214 last August, a more than fourfold increase.
However, the figures were down from the levels seen in June and July, which both saw 150,000 job cuts planned.
Read the full story on BBC News
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India cases rise by 61,267 in past 24 hours
The Guardian says India’s total coronavirus cases rose by 61,267 in the last 24 hours to 6.69 million on Tuesday morning, data from the health ministry showed.
Deaths from Covid-19 infections rose by 884 to 103,569, Reuters reported the ministry as saying.
Read the full story on the Guardian
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Paris to shut bars and clubs to curb Covid-19 spread as infections rise
France24 says bars and cafes in Paris, placed on maximum coronavirus alert Monday, will be shuttered for two weeks under new measures to fight the rapid spread of the epidemic, but restaurants will remain open, officials said.
With the rate of new infections, hospitalisations and deaths accelerating months after the lifting of a nationwide lockdown, new rules on social distancing will enter into force starting Tuesday.
Read the full story on France24
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Israeli minister urged to step down after travelling despite Covid lockdown & revealing Covid-19
RT News says Israel’s environment minister has apologised after coming under fire for testing positive for Covid-19 days after apparently disregarding national lockdown rules to travel some 140 kilometres from home on Yom Kippur.
She announced on October 3 that she’d contracted the virus, following her journey a week earlier from her Tel Aviv home to a synagogue in the city of Tiberias.
Read the full story on RT News
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Iran virus ‘red alert’ over record death toll
Arab News says almost the whole of Iran was on a coronavirus “red alert” on Monday as cases and deaths rose to record levels.
Authorities reported 3,902 new cases in 24 hours, a new daily high, taking the total to 475,674. The death toll rose by 235, equaling the record set on July 28, to a total of 27,192.
A Health Ministry spokeswoman said 26 of Iran’s 31 provinces were now “red” zones, the highest alert level, and four were at the next “orange” level.
Read the full story on Arab News
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10% of the world’s population may have Covid-19 says WHO
Aljazeera says the WHO has said hundreds of millions of people may have already been infected with the new coronavirus, far more than the current tally of more than 35 million.
“Our current best estimates tell us that about 10 per cent of the global population may have been infected by this virus,” Mike Ryan, the WHO’s emergency operations chief, told the global health agency’s executive board on Monday.
Read the full story on Aljazeera
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Trump mounts bizarre and misleading White House return despite warnings
CNN says a strongly medicated President Trump bolted from his VIP hospital bubble Monday, staging a bizarre White House comeback that included an irresponsible mask removal and a reckless pronouncement there is nothing to fear from Covid-19, which has already killed 210,000 Americans.
His actions show him, if anything, entrenched deeper in denial over the virus than ever before and more committed to trashing scientific protocols that could slow the pandemic.
Read the full story on CNN
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A quick look at other top stories
Texas cop charged with murder in Jonathan Price shooting
Fox News says the Texas police officer allegedly involved in a shooting at a gas station on Saturday that resulted in the death of Jonathan Price was arrested and charged with murder, reports said.
The Czech Republic is officially called Czechia, why hasn’t it caught on
Euronews says the Czech PM was halfway through an interview with the Wall Street Journal in March when an aide had to inform him that his country had another name in English.
“I didn’t know this. I don’t like it at all,” he said, the WSJ reported, adding his feeling that the shortened name in English, Czechia, could be confused with Chechnya.
Mali: Army plays key role in new government
Africanews says Mali’s Transitional President Bah Ndaw has appointed on Monday the new government.
In a special address on the national television, the Presidency’s secretary-general Sékou Traoré has detailed the composition of the government, where Army members have obtained key ministries.
Israel DM: Turkey, Iran oppose peace deal in the Middle East
MEM says Israel’s Defence Minister and alternate PM, Benny Gantz, accused Turkey and Iran of destabilising the region and working against efforts to achieve peace, reported Reuters.
The criticisms came during a Zoom session yesterday with journalists and communication professionals from the Arab world, in which Gantz described Turkey and Iran as “denying promotion of peace and supporting regional aggression”.
North Korea’s Kim orders 80-day battle to boost economy
CNA says Kim Jong Un has ordered a nationwide drive to boost the ailing economy ahead of a key party congress in January, state media reported Tuesday.
The decision was made during a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party and comes as the Covid-19 pandemic and recent floods have added yet more pressure on the isolated country’s flagging economy.
