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Coronavirus

Who has the UK nuclear button? No comment

When the leader of a nuclear power falls ill, one of the first questions is: Who has their finger on the button? In the case of Britain, the current official answer is that the public doesn't need to know.

When asked by the BBC if Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had been handed the nuclear codes while Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in intensive care with COVID-19 symptoms, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said: "There are well developed protocols which are in place."

"I just really cannot talk about national security issues," Gove said.

Peer pressure

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared a state of emergency with a difference: while it will give authorities more power to press people to stay at home and businesses to close, he stressed it would stop short of imposing a formal lockdown as seen in other countries and instead rely on peer pressure for its effect.

"If each of us can reduce contact with other people by at least 70%, and ideally by 80%, we should be able to see a peak in the number of infections in two weeks," he said.

The state of emergency will last through May 6 and apply in the capital, Tokyo, and six other prefectures - accounting for about 44% of Japan's population.

A city traumatized

You'd think the residents of Wuhan would be delighted with the prospect of an end to a lockdown that has trapped millions for more than two months. Not all are, however, underlining just how many are still coming to terms with the scars of once being the world epicenter of the outbreak.

"When I heard about the lifting of the lockdown, I didn't feel particularly happy," said Guo Jing, a resident who runs a hotline for women facing workplace discrimination.

"I actually felt very anxious. There are many issues that we are not sure can be resolved: employment, will patients continue to experience long-term effects, and for those who died, how will we remember them?"

Europe strives for solidarity

The finance ministers of the European Union tonight try again to overcome national differences over the type of economic support to be offered to those hit hardest by the pandemic.

The popularity of the bloc in polls has been ebbing in Italy and the leaders of Spain and France have expressed varying degrees of impatience; above all the EU does not want to be seen to come late to help as many critics argued it did after the 2008/09 global financial crisis.

China marks a milestone - no new deaths

For the first time since the coronavirus outbreak began, China reported no new deaths on Tuesday. The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China stood at 81,740 as of Monday, while 3,331 people have died.

With mainland China well past the peak of infections in February, authorities have turned their attention to imported cases and asymptomatic patients, who show no symptoms but can still pass on the virus.

U.S.

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Louisiana pointed to tentative signs on Monday that the coronavirus outbreak may be starting to plateau in their states, but warned against complacency as the US death toll approached 11,000 nationwide.

Track the spread with our interactive graphic and curated coverage

Breakingviews - Corona Capital: LVMH, Cinema, Malaysia Airlines
Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe.

Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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World

India’s 21-day lockdown is set to end next week but several state leaders have called for an extension or only a partial lifting of restrictions, saying is the only way to avoid a coronavirus epidemic that will be difficult to tackle. India has so far escaped a big surge in cases after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked its 1.3 billion people to stay indoors in the world’s biggest lockdown last month that authorities have enforced tightly.

Australia’s highest court acquitted former Vatican treasurer George Pell of sexually assaulting two teenaged choirboys in the 1990s, freeing the 78-year-old cardinal after 404 days in jail. The High Court ordered Pell’s convictions be quashed and verdicts of acquittal be entered in their place, ending the most high profile case of alleged historical sex abuse to rock the Roman Catholic Church.

The body of Maeve Kennedy Townsend, the granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, was recovered and the search for her son will continue, the Maryland Natural Resources Police said. The daughter of former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, 40, and her son, Gideon McKean, 8, went missing on Friday after drifting out into the Chesapeake Bay on a canoe.

Spring graduation ceremonies in Japan have been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but students at one school were able to attend remotely by controlling avatar robots while logged on at home. The robots, dubbed “Newme” by developer ANA Holdings, were dressed in graduation caps and gowns for the ceremony at the Business Breakthrough University in Tokyo.