Europe

LONDON, April 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A British lorry driver on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 39 people found dead in a refrigerated truck in southeast England.

Northern Ireland man Maurice Robinson, 25, was arrested shortly after the bodies of 31 men and eight women from Vietnam were discovered in the truck in an industrial zone in Grays, east of London, in October.

The lorry arrived on a ferry from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge in the early hours of Oct 23, carrying the victims, who included two 15-year-old boys.

GENEVA, April 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization pleaded for global unity in fighting the coronavirus, following US President Donald Trump’s stinging attack on its handling of the pandemic.

As the WHO prepares to mark 100 days on Thursday since it was first notified of the outbreak in China, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hit back at accusations that it had been too close to Beijing.

ROME, April 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Italian ports cannot be considered safe because of the coronavirus epidemic and will not let charity migrant boats dock, the government has ruled.

The decision was taken after a ship operated by the German non-governmental group Sea-Eye picked up some 150 people off Libya and headed towards Italy.

“For the entire duration of the national health emergency caused by the spread of the COVID-19 virus, Italian ports cannot guarantee the requisites needed to be classified and defined as a place of safety,” the decree said.

GENEVA, Apr 9 (NNN-WAM) – Today marks 100 days since the World Health Organisation, WHO, was notified of the first cases of “pneumonia with unknown cause” in China.

In the daily media briefing on COVID-19, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, reflected on how dramatically the world has changed, in such a short period of time and gave an overview of what WHO has done in the past 100 days, and what will be done in the near future, to alleviate suffering and save lives.

LONDON, April 8 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of those hospitalized in Britain who tested positive for the novel coronavirus reached 7,097 as of Tuesday afternoon, a record daily increase of 938 since the outbreak began, the Department of Health and Social Care said Wednesday.

As of Wednesday morning, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Britain hit 60,733, up 5,492 in the past 24 hours, said the department.

GENEVA, April 8 (Xinhua) -- "Please quarantine politicizing COVID. If we want to win, we shouldn't waste time pointing fingers," World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged here on Wednesday, saying "Unity is the only option to defeat this virus."

Answering a question from the press about U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to freeze U.S. funding to the WHO, Tedros said his message for the world at this moment is unity and solidarity, instead of politicizing the virus.

GENEVA (AP) — In a heartfelt plea for unity, the World Health Organization’s chief sought Wednesday to rise above sharp criticism and threats of funding cuts from U.S. President Donald Trump over the agency’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The vocal defense from the WHO director-general came a day after Trump blasted the U.N. agency for being “China-centric” and alleging that it had “criticized” his ban of travel from China as the COVID-19 outbreak was spreading from the city of Wuhan.

MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/: Moscow is not going to change its stance on Crimea and the Ukrainian crisis no matter what, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday, commenting on the remarks by former US ambassadors to Kiev.

"This viewpoint [that Russia could change its position] is unrealistic and absurd in many ways," Peskov said, commenting on a suggestion that the coronavirus outbreak and the plunging oil prices could force Moscow to review its stance on the Ukrainian settlement and hand over Crimea to Ukraine.

KIEV, April 8. /TASS/: Firefighters have extinguished a recent fire at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exclusion zone, but the blaze is still smoldering, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said on Wednesday.

"As of 07:00 on April 8, there is no open flame on the territory of Kotovsky forest in the exclusion zone and the resettlement between the Polesskoye village, the Tarasy village and the Vladimirovka village, but smoldering fires are still being spotted in some areas," the service said.

MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. Russia has supplied its coronavirus test systems to over 30 countries, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a session of the presidium of the Government’s Anti-Coronavirus Coordination Council on Wednesday.

"The Russian Federation has already supplied its test systems to over 30 countries of the world, first of all, to its partners in the Eurasian Economic Union, the CIS and other countries," the premier noted.

"These measures are required, first of all, to minimize the threat of the infection’s penetration into our country," Mishustin said.