Six In The Morning Wednesday 22 April 2020

UN warns of 'biblical' famine due to Covid-19 pandemic

The head of the U.N. food agency warned Tuesday that, as the world is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, it is also “on the brink of a hunger pandemic” that could lead to “multiple famines of biblical proportions” within a few months if immediate action isn’t taken.

World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley told the U.N. Security Council that even before COVID-19 became an issue, he was telling world leaders that “2020 would be facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.” That’s because of wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, locust swarms in Africa, frequent natural disasters and economic crises including in Lebanon, Congo, Sudan and Ethiopia, he said.

Beasley said today 821 million people go to bed hungry every night all over the world, a further 135 million people are facing “crisis levels of hunger or worse,” and a new World Food Program analysis shows that as a result of COVID-19 an additional 130 million people “could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020.”

Covid-19 investigations

Revealed: Private firm running UK PPE stockpile was sold in middle of pandemic

Movianto was also involved in legal disputes with firm that built warehouse to store equipment

by Harry Davies

Wed 22 Apr 2020 10.00 BST

The warehouse appears unremarkable, except for its size. Just off a motorway on an industrial estate in Merseyside sits a 35,000 sq m (377,000 sq ft) purpose-built warehouse with 20 loading docks to enable the storage and rapid distribution of hundreds of millions of face masks, aprons, gowns, gloves and body bags.

For security reasons, the Guardian has been asked not to disclose the precise location of the UK’s stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) for use in a pandemic. It is being stored on a site where builders moved the equivalent of more than 90 Olympic–size swimming pools of earth to make way for a vast, climate-controlled warehouse.

North Korea: Kim Jong-un in ‘fragile’ condition after heart surgery – reports

South Korean officials say they are looking into reports but are yet to see any 
‘unusual signs’ regarding Kim’s health

Adam WithnallAsia Editor @adamwithnall

The South Korean government says it is investigating reports that North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is in a “fragile” condition after undergoing an unspecified surgical operation.

Officials from the South Korean intelligence services said they were looking into a CNN report that said the North’s leader was “in grave danger”, citing unnamed US intelligence sources.

An earlier report by Seoul-based news outlet Daily NK said Mr Kim was staying at a countryside villa outside Pyongyang while he recovered from heart surgery, and that his condition was improving.

Coronavirus latest: Germany approves human vaccine trials

Germany's first human trials of a coronavirus vaccine have been given the green light. It's only the fourth vaccine of its kind in the world to get approval for clinical testing.

• Germany will start the country's first clinical tests of a possible coronavirus vaccine.
• Pope Francis says cooperation is the only way to confront the enormous challenges posed by the coronavirus.
• President Trump said the issuing of US green cards, or permanent residency cards, will be suspended for at least 60 days — but with "certain exceptions" yet to be defined.
• The UN has warned that vulnerable countries could face famine over the fallout of the pandemic.

Dissident artist Ai Weiwei says virus has only strengthened China's 'police state'

Written byStephy Chung, CNN

As the world grapples with unprecedented lockdown measures, Ai Weiwei finds himself in familiar territory. The outspoken artist spent nearly three months in a tiny room while detained by authorities in China in 2011.

He was later accused of tax evasion, a charge widely interpreted as punishment for his political activism. Following his release, Ai's passport was confiscated, and he was placed under close surveillance in Beijing.

Coronavirus: US health official warns of dangerous second wave

A second wave of coronavirus cases in the US could be even worse than the first, the country's top health official has warned.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Robert Redfield said the danger was higher as a fresh outbreak would likely coincide with the flu season.

It would put "unimaginable strain" on the US health care system, he said.

The US has seen more than 800,000 cases - the highest in the world.