Top story: ‘People will see green lights, not red lights’
Good morning – Warren Murray bringing you the latest on the coronavirus situation and other news shaping the day.
Boris Johnson’s government is facing fierce criticism and warnings that it is priming the public to give up on the lockdown, after a rash of headlines pointed to a significant easing next week. One of the government’s Sage scientific advisers told the Guardian: “It’s incredibly damaging … If people are primed to look at things in a certain way, it will shape how they receive the information. So on Sunday they will be looking for the green lights and they won’t notice the red lights. It’s a really powerful way of influencing people.” Johnson is due on Sunday to detail how restrictions will actually be eased, with the confusion prompting Dominic Raab to stress that changes will be modest and people should continue to follow physical distancing guidelines over the bank holiday weekend.
China has said it is “always open to cooperate” with World Health Organization investigations into the origins of the coronavirus, despite the WHO saying it has made repeated requests to be involved and had no response. The conflicting statements come amid a deepening row between China and the US over accusations the outbreak began in a Chinese laboratory – a claim China denies and for which the US is yet to provide evidence. An editorial in the Communist party’s Global Times newspaper said: “To win in the elections, there is nothing else White House can do than to pass the buck to China.”
Australia has outlined a three-step plan for easing restrictions. Step one will include gatherings of 10 people, the return of interstate travel and the reopening of playgrounds and small cafes. And the eyes of the football world will be on the Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Korea tonight when the K-League becomes the first major competition to resume play. Our live blog coverage continues and here is how things look at a glance.
There’s more in our Coronavirus Extra section further down … and here’s where you can find all our coverage of the outbreak – from breaking news to factchecks and advice.
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Here’s to victory in Europe – RAF jets will roar over Britain to mark this 75th anniversary of VE Day. The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will lead a two-minute silence from Scotland on a day of celebration and commemoration which also includes a “national toast”, an address by the Queen, and a nationwide sing-a-long of Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again. Original plans for VE Day 75 were cancelled due to Covid-19, so national events have been adapted.
The public in lockdown is encouraged to celebrate Victory in Europe from their gardens, doorsteps and living rooms. Here is a timeline of official events. Boris Johnson visited Westminster Abbey on Thursday to pay his respects, and will observe Friday’s two-minute silence from Downing Street, from where he will also speak with second world war veterans via video call.
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Evacuations widen after Indian gas leak – Indian officials have evacuated more people from the area around a chemical plant in Andhra Pradesh that leaked toxic gas, killing at least 11 people and sickening hundreds more. LG Chem said there was not a second leak but it had asked for a widened evacuation as a precaution because of concerns tank temperatures could rise: “We are taking necessary measures, including putting water into the tank.” Gas from styrene, a principal raw material at the plant, leaked during the early hours of Thursday, authorities said. People were exposed in their homes and collapsed in the streets. A local police commissioner, RK Meena, said that by Thursday afternoon 11 people had been confirmed dead. The Times of India said 5,000 people had fallen sick.
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Two charged with black jogger’s murder – A white ex-policeman and his son have been arrested over the death of Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old black man who was shot while jogging in Georgia, US. Overnight the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, had been arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. Arbery was killed on 23 February just outside the port city of Brunswick. The men, who pursued him in a pickup truck, told police they believed Arbery was a burglar.
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Andrew faces chalet lawsuit – Prince Andrew is caught in a dispute over a Swiss ski chalet with reports legal proceedings have been launched against him over an unpaid bill. Le Temps newspaper said Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, bought the holiday home in the Verbier ski resort for £18.3m in 2014. They did not meet a December 2019 payment deadline for part of that sum, the newspaper reported. A spokeswoman for the Duke of York said: “We can confirm there is a dispute between the two parties in this matter. The contractual details remain the subject of a confidentiality agreement and prevent further discussion.” It is understood they intended to sell the chalet and use proceeds to clear any outstanding debt.
Coronavirus Extra
Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister, writes that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is campaigning full-bore to get Donald Trump re-elected, seeding the China coronavirus laboratory theory across its empire, in news reports based on a shady “intelligence” dossier about the Wuhan laboratory. “The bitter lessons of Iraq appear to have been lost on Trump and the Murdoch empire that supports him.”
The Covid-19 pandemic could “smoulder” in Africa for several years after killing as many as 190,000 people in the coming 12 months, the World Health Organization has said. It predicts between 29 million and 44 million people could become infected in the first year if containment measures fail.
Today in Focus podcast: Blind dates in lockdown
Lockdown has changed the way we date. Is it possible to form the same kind of connection through a screen? To find out, we set up six strangers on three virtual blind dates.
Lunchtime read: Battle-scarred Britain must again find its way
“We celebrate VE Day with the need to forge new trading relationships and with the grotesque economic burden of the coronavirus.” Patrick Wintour on the significance of the 75th anniversary of victory in Europe.
Sport
Joe Root says England are ready to go into isolation to save this summer’s Test series against the West Indies and Pakistan. Top-flight players are to hold talks with Premier League executives next week, before any attempt to restart the football season can be signed off. The England No 8 Billy Vunipola is among five Saracens players who have been forced to apologise for flouting physical-distancing rules during lockdown.
An independent review into UK Athletics has found the crisis-hit organisation “couldn’t get any worse” – and demanded changes to its structures, culture and ethical approach. And the lawyer for the wife of NFL player Earl Thomas said she is being subjected to an “unfounded ongoing investigation” by Texas police after she allegedly pointed a gun at her husband’s head upon finding him in bed with another woman last month.
Business
Remarkably, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index in New York has regained all the losses incurred since the crisis began earlier this year. Wall Street looks like rising even further today by around 1.5% and Asian shares have shown healthy gains overnight as well. The FTSE100 will be closed for the bank holiday. The pound is buying $1.239 and €1.142.
The papers
The Guardian splash is “Fears No 10 has lost grip on lockdown exit plans”. The Mail has the Duke of York story: “Andrew sued for £6.7m over ski chalet debt”. “On yer bike” – the i says millions will be urged to cycle to work, rather than taking public transport, when lockdown restrictions begin to ease. “PM to keep Britain in lockdown until June” – the Times says the PM has been told the situation in care homes and hospitals would make any significant rollback of precautions too dangerous.
VE Day is prominent and the Telegraph chews up some ink tying it together with Covid-19: “Starmer: We owe it to the VE Day generation to protect them from virus in care homes”. “Keep smiling through” – that’s the Express which has a special pullout to mark the 75th anniversary, which the Mirror celebrates as “A day of hope”.
The Sun demands “Give it back”, as it cottons on that JustGiving got £300,000 out of “Captain Tom Moore’s fundraising heroics”. The FT has “Britain on brink of worst recession since great frost of 1709, BoE warns” – but presumably without the chance to stroll on a frozen Thames.
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