France's health minister wants to limit use of a popular malaria drug as a coronavirus treatment after a new study found it ineffective and warned of increased health risks.
Olivier Veran tweeted Saturday that he asked France's public health council to draft new rules for prescribing hydroxychloroquine and other treatments within 48 hours.
He specifically cited a study of 100,000 patients worldwide, published Friday in the Lancet, saying hydroxychloroquine and related drug chloroquine were ineffective against the virus and were tied to a greater risk of death and heart rhythm problems.
Prominent French virologist Dr. Didier Raoult drew international attention  including from U.S. President Donald Trump  for his research early in the pandemic suggesting hydroxychloroquine reduced virus symptoms. Raoult's office didn't comment on the minister's move.
France included the drug in a trial of multiple treatments and allowed its use for hospitalized patients.

France health minister: Limits on malaria drug

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Republicans are brandishing the latest weapon in their uphill fight for House control this November: votes by moderate Democrats to pass a USD 3 trillion coronavirus relief bill promising benefits for immigrants who entered the US illegally.
They're also celebrating their recent capture of a Democratic-held House seat north of Los Angeles. They say it shows they can win suburban districts whose centrist voters fled the GOP two years ago, costing it the chamber's majority.
Moderate districts ringing American cities are still the key House battleground. Yet five months from Election Day, Republican prospects for winning control seem slim.
GOP candidates are burdened by President Donald Trump's lingering unpopularity with suburban voters, his slow and erratic handling of the pandemic and an economy with only the faintest heartbeat. They face a potentially crippling fundraising disadvantage against pivotal Democratic incumbents.
Coping with those disadvantages is all the more difficult ...

Virus, economy, Trump and cash hamper GOP's bid for House

When Zain Polani was flying back to Karachi from Lahore on Friday with his wife and three sons to celebrate Eid together, little did he know that it would be the last journey for the five-member family.
Polani and his family were among 99 passengers on board the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus A-320 aircraft that crashed in Karachi's thickly populated residential area Model Colony on Friday, killing 97 people, including nine children.
The banker had come to Lahore from Karachi on Thursday to take home his wife and three children, who had arrived in Lahore from London after being stranded in the UK capital for two months due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
"Polani was my college friend. At present, he was working for Standard Charted Bank in Karachi as head of the Credit Cards and Personal Loans," Zaiban Ahmad, Polani's friend, told PTI over phone.
"His wife and three beautiful boys were stuck in London for two months due to COVID-19 lockdown and they finally they succeeded in ..

Pak family planning to celebrate Eid after months-long separation perishes in plane crash

President Donald Trump's administration has discussed holding the first US nuclear test since 1992 as a potential warning to Russia and China, the Washington Post reported Friday.
Such a test would be a significant departure from US defense policy and dramatically up the ante for other nuclear-armed nations. One analyst told the newspaper that if it were to go ahead it would be seen as the "starting gun to an unprecedented nuclear arms race".
The report, citing one senior administration official and two former officials, all who spoke anonymously, said the discussion had taken place at a meeting on May 15.
It came after some US officials reportedly claimed that Russia and China were conducting their own low-yield tests. Moscow and Beijing have denied the claims, and the US has not offered evidence for them.
The senior administration official said that demonstrating Washington's ability to "rapid test" would be a useful negotiating tactic as the US seeks a trilateral agreement with ...

US discussed holding first nuclear test in decades: Report

Like students across the US, Christa Schall was working toward graduation when the coronavirus closed her school. But unlike many, she can't finish her classes online  her cosmetology programme, like the coursework at many technical and trade schools, requires hands-on training.
Schall needs to cut, paint and style hair at the Aveda Institute in Ohio to graduate and get her license to practice, but weeks of closures have put her behind. Her last client, a woman who got her highlights retouched every two weeks, panicked when she learned the salon was closing after her mid-March appointment. Schall had her own moment of panic, realizing her life would be on hold.
Now, instead of graduating in September, she must wait until spring.
Traditional students "can take that learning anywhere. For us, we have to do it a certain way, she said.
For Schall and other students at technical and trade colleges, the coronavirus is disrupting their education in a very different way than that of more ...

For trade students, online classes can't replicate hands-on

Iran's president on Saturday warned the United States not to interfere with a shipment of oil bound for Venezuela after the South American nation said it would provide an armed escort for the tankers.
In a statement posted on his website, Hassan Rouhani said the United States had created unacceptable conditions in different parts of the world, but that Iran would by no means be the one to initiate conflict.
If our tankers in the Caribbean or anywhere in the world face any problems caused by the Americans, they will face problems as well," he added. We hope the Americans will not make a mistake. Rouhani made the remarks in a call with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the ruling emir of Qatar, which has close relations with both Iran and the United States.
The five Iranian tankers now on the high seas are expected to start arriving in Venezuela in the coming days. They are carrying gasoline to alleviate severe fuel shortages in the country that have caused days-long lines at service ...

Iran warns US not to interfere with Venezuela oil shipment

Time is running out on an arms control treaty that, if it's allowed to expire, will leave the world with no legal restrictions on US and Russian nuclear weapons for the first time in nearly half a century.
If President Donald Trump doesn't extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty  only remaining US-Russia arms control pact  or succeed in negotiating a replacement treaty, it will expire on February 5. That's just 16 days after Trump begins a second term or his successor is sworn into office.
Russia has offered to extend New START for up to five years, but Trump is holding out. He thinks China, which is expected to double its stockpile of nuclear weapons in the next decade, should have to sign on to a nuclear arms control accord, too.
The future of New START was further called into question with Trump's announcement Thursday that the US intends to withdraw from another treaty that permits observation flights over the US, Russia and more than 30 other nations.
Trump voiced his ...

Time running out on the last US-Russia nuclear arms treaty

A police constable was shot dead and a 16-year-old girl was left grievously hurt in a suspected honour killing incident in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said.
Shafi Muhammad indiscriminately shot at his sister's lover after he found them in a 'compromising position' at their home in Cherat Palosai Payan in Nowshera district, officials said.
Muhammad is currently on the run. His 16-year-old sister (name withheld) is in critical condition at the hospital after receiving eight bullet injuries during the firing.
The police have recorded the girl's statement and investigation is underway.

Police constable killed in honour killing incident in Pakistan's KPK

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday that La Liga can resume from its coronavirus lockdown on the week of June 8.
"The resumption of major professional sporting competitions and in particular La Liga will be allowed from the week of June 8," Sanchez told a press conference.
More than two months after the COVID-19 pandemic halted the season in Spain, players have begun training in small groups as they aim to be as ready as possible for the planned reboot next month.

La Liga can resume week of June 8 - Spanish Prime Minister

It all started with the dream of growing a rose on Mars.
That vision, Elon Musk's vision, morphed into a shake-up of the old space industry, and a fleet of new private rockets.
Now, those rockets will launch NASA astronauts from Florida to the International Space Station -- the first time a for-profit company will carry astronauts into the cosmos.
It's a milestone in the effort to commercialize space. But for Musk's company, SpaceX, it's also the latest milestone in a wild ride that began with epic failures and the threat of bankruptcy.
If the company's eccentric founder and CEO has his way, this is just the beginning: He's planning to build a city on the red planet, and live there.
What I really want to achieve here is to make Mars seem possible, make it seem as though it's something that we can do in our lifetimes and that you can go, Musk told a cheering congress of space professionals in Mexico in 2016.
Musk is a revolutionary change in the space world, says Harvard University ...

First commercial space taxi a pit stop on Musk's Mars quest

Egypt said Saturday that security forces killed 21 militants in two separate raids in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula.
The Interior Ministry said the militants were plotting attacks during the Eid el-Fitr holiday, which begins Sunday and marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramzan.
It said two Egyptian officers were wounded in the raids.  It said security forces exchanged fire with Islamic militants as they stormed a farm used as a hideout, killing at least 14 militants.
In a simultaneous raid, security forces killed seven militants in a shootout as they stormed a house used as a hideout in another area, the ministry said. It added that police found weapons, explosive devices and suicide belts.
The details could not be independently corroborated as Egyptian authorities heavily restrict access to that part of Sinai.
The ministry did not say when the raids occurred. Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, said the 

Egypt says raids on hideouts in Sinai kill 21 militants

Animation giant Pixar for the first time has created a LGBTQ lead character in its latest short film Out.
The nine-minute short film premiered on Disney Plus on Friday as a part of the streaming service's SparksShorts series.
Written and directed by Steven Clay Hunter, Out revolves around a man named Greg, who struggles with coming out to his parents as he plans to move to the city with his boyfriend, Manuel.
When Greg's parents come to visit him at his new apartment, he tries to hide his relationship, but his fairy god-pets, a magical dog and cat, motivate him to tell his parents the truth.
The animated short film also features a same-sex kiss.
Earlier this year, Disney-Pixar created its first animated LGBTQ character for Onward. The role of Officer Specter, voiced by Lena Waithe, was the animation studio's first self-identified LGBTQ character in its history.

Pixar's first gay lead character arrives in short film Out'

A parish leader says that several members of a congregation have tested positive for the coronavirus after a church service in Frankfurt.
News agency dpa reported Saturday that Wladimir Pritzkau, the deputy head of the Evangelical Christian Baptist congregation involved, as saying the service took place on May 10.
He did not say how many people were affected but said that most are at home and six are in hospital.
Religious services have been allowed in the region since May 1, with conditions that include a 1.5 meter (5-foot) distance between worshippers and the provision of disinfectant.
Pritzkau said rules were adhered to. The church has canceled all gatherings and is now conducting services online.
The head of the city's health office wouldn't confirm or deny the case, citing medical confidentiality.

Several members of Christian congregation test positive for coronavirus

The Syrian government has announced the largest single day jump of recorded cases in the country, where so far testing has been limited.
The health ministry said Saturday that 11 people tested positive upon their return from Kuwait, and that they were among Syrians repatriated from the Gulf country.
It brings the total recorded infections in Syria to 70 and four deaths. The war-torn nation has limited testing capabilities and a heavily damaged health system.
Two regions in the country's north with a population of nearly 8 million people are outside of government control, so testing there has also been even more limited.
Health authorities have reported no infections in the rebel-held northwest.
In the northeast, the Kurdish-led government began carrying out its own testing and has so far recorded three infections and one death.

Syrian govt announces largest single-day jump of coronavirus cases

Several thousand followers of Spain's far-right Vox party gathered Saturday in their cars and on motorbikes in the center of Madrid and other Spanish cities to protest the Spanish government's handling of the nation's coronavirus crisis.
The party accuses the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Snchez of lying about the impact of the health crisis and for violating Spaniards' rights by confining people to their homes and closing business during the lockdown.
Vox called for protesters to attend the protests in their vehicles and thus skirt the current prohibition on social gatherings in effect under the nation's two-month long state of emergency designed to reduce contagion risks.
Vox called the protest the "Caravan for Spain and Liberty."
"We will never forget what they have done," Vox leader Santiago Abascal said from the open-top bus leading the car caravan as it inched down a Madrid boulevard.
"Do not doubt that we will make them face justice. They know it and fear our ...

Spain's far-right holds car protest against virus lockdown

Barcelona coach Quique Setien says he would love to coach Neymar and would be "delighted" if the Brazilian returns to the club from Paris Saint-Germain.
Barca tried to re-sign Neymar last year but were unable to agree a deal with French champions PSG, whom he joined for a world-record fee of 222 million euros ($264 million at the time) in 2017.
An agreement may even harder to strike this summer given the financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic, although reportedly Barcelona could offer players in exchange.
"I would love to be able to coach him some day," said Setien, speaking to beIN Sport on Friday night.
"We are talking about an exceptional level. Fortunately I have already fulfilled one of my dreams, which was to coach (Lionel) Messi but I would be delighted if Neymar comes."
Neymar previously formed a successful attacking trio with Luis Suarez and Messi at Barcelona but the future of Suarez is uncertain.
The 33-year-old has not played since January when he underwent ...

Setien keen on Neymar Barca return

China is preparing to set up national security agencies in Hong Kong to deal with pro-democracy agitators, the state media reported on Saturday, a day after Beijing introduced a controversial national security law to firm up control over the former British colony.
Currently, a Chinese Military garrison comprising over 10,000 troops -- mainly a symbolic presence for external defence -- is stationed in Hong Kong. The public order is maintained by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.
The draft bill on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to safeguard national security was submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC) during its week-long session here and is expected to be passed on May 28.
The bill is a political bombshell for the former British colony as China has decided to bypass the local legislative council to bring about a new national security law, tailor-made ..

China to set up national security agencies in Hong Kong to back up controversial security law

A Pakistani police officer was killed and another injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on them in the country's restive northwestern tribal region, officials said.
Station House Officer of Laachi police station in Kohat district Nazir Abbas was on routine patrolling when the assailants targeted him and his security official, they said.
The officer was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
The condition of the security official is stated to be critical as he was shot multiple times.
During a search operation, police killed one of the assailants in an encounter while another managed to flee in an injured condition.

Pak police officer killed, another injured as gunmen open fire

Violet Manuel hastily abandoned her uncle's funeral and grabbed two empty containers when she heard a boy running down the dirt road shouting, "Water, water, water! The 72-year-old joined dozens of people seeking their daily ration in Zimbabwe's densely populated town of Chitungwiza.
"Social distancing here?" Manuel asked tartly. She sighed with relief after getting her allotment of 40 liters (10.5 gallons) but worried about the coronavirus.
"I got the water, but chances are that I also got the disease, she told The Associated Press. And yet her plans for the water did not include hand-washing but more important tasks such as cleaning dishes and flushing the toilet.
Such choices underscore the challenges of preventing the spread of the coronavirus in slums, camps and other crowded settlements around the world where clean water is scarce and survival is a daily struggle.
Some 3 billion people, from indigenous communities in Brazil to war-shattered villages in northern Yemen, have ...

Virus spread feared where water is scarce around the world

The legendary Shane Warne believes Cricket Australia should force the states to pick a spinner in every first class game to improve the quality of spin bowling in the country which is currently "going downhill fast" due to the increase in drop-in wickets.
"A spinner should play every single game, no matter what the conditions are like, so that particular spinners can learn how to bowl on day one or day four. At the moment, they (states) only pick them when the conditions suit," Warne was quoted as saying by 'The West Australian'.
"How are they going to learn if you don't allow them to play state cricket? There has to be a responsibility on the states to pick one specialist spinner in every game. And if they don't, well maybe Cricket Australia has to step in. Otherwise spin bowling will go downhill, and is going downhill fast."
Warne, one of the greatest leg-spinners the game has produced, said there is a dearth of quality spinner who can fill in the shoes of Nathan Lyon and urged CA ..

Australia's spin bowling going downhill fast: Warne

The ICC has advised its member nations to exercise caution while resuming cricket activities, fearing a spurt in local transmission with many countries still struggling to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
As member nations ease restrictions imposed to contain the pandemic, the International Cricket Council on Friday issued comprehensive guidelines aimed at getting the sport up and running around the world while at the same time maintaining the highest safety protocols.
'Safety first' is one of the primary considerations of the ICC's back-to-cricket guidelines and involving the governments at all stages is a must.
"The resumption of cricket activities should begin only if there is no perceived or known risk that doing so might result in an increase in the local transmission rate," the ICC said in its guidelines.
While England remains one of the most affected countries, major cricket-playing nations such as India and Pakistan have seen a spike in the number of coronavirus positive cases ..

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