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Australian Julian Assange, who has been in a UK prison for more than a year, has had hearings in his US extradition case delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
This story is being updated regularly throughout Tuesday. You can also stay informed with the latest episode of the Coronacast podcast.
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Coronavirus forces delay in US extradition case against Assange
Hearings in the US extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will not go ahead next month as scheduled due to the coronavirus lockdown preventing lawyers from attending court, a British judge decided on Monday.
The 48-year-old is being held at London's Belmarsh Prison where he is fighting a request by the United States to send him to stand trial for conspiring to hack government computers and espionage.
Mr Assange was dragged from the Ecuador embassy in London in April last year after a seven-year stand-off. He says he could spend decades in prison if convicted, and calls the case against him political and a threat to free speech.
The United States says he put the lives of informants in danger by publishing secrets.
In February, hearings took place for a week and the case was adjourned until May 18 for a further three weeks of arguments, but Britain has since imposed restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
"Remote attendance by the parties in this case will not be appropriate. Mr Assange and the lawyers on both sides will need to be physically present in the courtroom," Judge Vanessa Baraitser said.
She adjourned the case until May 4 when a new date will be fixed, noting that the Woolwich Crown Court where hearings last took place had availability for a three-week period only in November.
What the experts are saying about coronavirus:
UK citizens can ask politicians for COVID-19 answers
Britain's Government said on Monday it will give a member of the public the chance to ask ministers, scientific and medical officers a question at its daily briefing on the fight against coronavirus.
Just hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to give the public "the maximum possible transparency" over ministers' thinking on measures to ease the coronavirus lockdown, the Government asked the public to get involved.
"The coronavirus is the biggest health crisis the UK public has faced in a generation. We know people across the UK are making significant sacrifices every day in order to stay at home," a spokesman for Mr Johnson said.
"We recognise the huge disruption it is having on their lives, jobs and businesses, so it's absolutely right that the public get the chance to put their questions on the virus and the measures that we've put in place directly to the government and to its experts."
Only one question would be chosen each day.
The Government said in a statement that anyone could apply on the Government website as long as they were over 18 and that the question would be reviewed at midday on the day of the news conference.
Adidas suffers 611 million Euro sales drop
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Adidas's net profit from continuing operations fell 97 per cent. (AP: David Zalubowski, file)
Sports apparel and shoe company Adidas saw its earnings fall sharply in the first quarter as the virus outbreak closed 70 per cent of its global store base.
Net profit from continuing operations fell 97 per cent to only 20 million euros [$33 million] from 631 million euros [$1 billion] in the same period a year ago.
The German company said on Monday that first quarter revenues fell 19 per cent in currency neutral terms. E-commerce did pick up as the outbreak shutdowns spread in March, rising 55 per cent in March and was continuing to climb.
"Our results for the first quarter speak to the serious challenges that the global outbreak of the coronavirus poses even for healthy companies," said adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted.
The company said the situation regarding the outbreak was so uncertain that it could not provide an outlook for earnings for the full year.
"Despite the current situation, I am confident about the attractive long-term prospects this industry provides for Adidas. Consumers are developing an increased appreciation of well-being. They want to stay fit and healthy through sports," Mr Rorsted said in a statement.
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Controversy swirls over French tracing app
MPs from France's ruling party accused their own Government of withdrawing a vote on a planned coronavirus tracing app, saying they had been robbed of a chance to raise privacy concerns.
The Government last week bowed to pressure and promised a parliamentary debate and vote on the "StopCovid" smartphone software, which is designed to warn users if they come into contact with infected people.
But over the weekend, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe wrote to the lower house speaker, saying he wanted to broaden the debate scheduled for April 28–29 to cover the Government's entire strategy on ending coronavirus lockdowns.
"Marginalising and erasing the debate about digital tracing shows how illegitimate using it will be," tweeted Sacha Houlie, an MP from President Emmanuel Macron's party who had told Reuters earlier he would vote against the app.
A Government source defended the decision on Monday (local time), telling Reuters the Government needed to move on quickly with its plans. Commentators said the move would also avoid a public display of division in the ruling party over the app.
Some across France's political divide have said the software raises serious issues about state surveillance and privacy. Civil liberties groups have raised similar questions about apps being considered and used across the world to try and contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Yemen's COVID-19 mystery
A Yemeni port official, known only as Saleh, is the sole confirmed case of coronavirus in the country.
But it is proving impossible to identify so-called "patient zero", an important step in tracking and tracing all those potentially exposed to infection and containing an outbreak.
Saleh was tested first tested on April 7 and health officials then scrambled to identify more than 150 people who had met and dealt with the 60-year-old in the two weeks before he was diagnosed.
"All the close contacts were monitored and some showed some symptoms but were negative when they were tested," Ali al-Walidi, the head of the national coronavirus committee, said.
Instead, their coughs and fever were normal flu.
The information gap reflects Yemen's inability to detect, let alone repel, an infection humbling far wealthier nations.
Split into rival power centres, its medical infrastructure shattered by war and seen by the United Nations as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, Yemen is handicapped by its own destitution in its fight against the new coronavirus.
Your questions on coronavirus answered:
Russia tallies more cases than China
Russia overtook China in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday when its tally climbed above 87,000, as pressure rose on the Government to consider easing lockdown restrictions for businesses to help shore up the rattled economy.
Russia, the world's largest country by territory, has been in lockdown since President Vladimir Putin announced the closure of most public spaces on March 25.
These measures are due to expire on April 30 and Mr Putin has not yet said if he plans to extend them, but the head of a safety watchdog said the lockdown should continue until May 12.
On Monday, the authorities reported 6,198 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 87,147, with 794 deaths.
Mainland China, where the virus first emerged, reported a total of 82,830 cases on Monday. China is now fighting an increased number of new cases coming from Russia.
Worldwide cases are approaching 3 million.
What you need to know about coronavirus:
ABC/wires
Topics: infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, covid-19, australia, russian-federation, france, united-kingdom, yemen
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