A Zimbabwe spokesman warned people against flocking to church Sunday in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and even claimed that worshippers risked going to hell. “A quick survey around town (in the capital Harare) shows a lot of religious activity above 100 people,” government spokesman Nick Mangwana said on Twitter. “Let’s be responsible. All […]

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Sunday his government would ask parliament to extend for another 15 days until April 11 a state of emergency it imposed this month to try to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The nationwide state of emergency was first announced on March 14 and it bars people in […]

Cameroon held by-elections Sunday in the country’s troubled anglophone areas where unrest forced a postponement six weeks ago. Some 400,000 people were eligible to vote in the polls, which the head of the election commission Elecam, Erik Dessousse, said were proceeding well, with “voters arriving gradually”. The constitutional council had annulled results from  February 9 […]

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei said Sunday his country would never accept any aid to fight the novel coronavirus from arch-enemy and “charlatans” the United States, as Tehran announced 129 new deaths. Speaking in a televised address, Khamenei charged in a message directed at Washington: “No one trusts you. You are capable of bringing into […]

A 15-year-old boy has died and dozens of people have been injured after a 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit Croatia this morning, sparking blazes, cracking buildings and crushing cars under falling slabs of concrete. People dashed onto the streets of Zagreb, the capital, at 6.23am (5.23am GMT) as their homes were shaken violently by the tremor. […]