OPEC+ APPROVES HISTORIC OIL DEAL AMID CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Opec producers and allies have agreed a record oil deal that will slash

global output by about 10% after a slump in demand caused by coronavirus

lockdowns.

The deal, agreed on Sunday via video conference, is the largest cut in oil

production ever to have been agreed.

Opec+, made up of oil producers and allies including Russia, announced plans

for the deal on 9 April, but Mexico resisted the cuts.

Opec has yet to announce the deal, but individual nations have confirmed it.

The only detail to have been confirmed so far is that 9.7 million barrels

per day will be cut by Opec oil producers and allies.

On Monday in Asia, oil rose over $1 a barrel in early trading with global

benchmark Brent up 3.9% to $32.71 a barrel and US grade West Texas

Intermediate up 6.1% to $24.15 a barrel. Shares in Australia jumped 3.46% on

Monday led by energy exporters, but Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.35% on

continued concerns of poor global demand because of the spread of the

coronavirus.

US President Donald Trump and Kuwait's energy minister Dr Khaled Ali

Mohammed al-Fadhel tweeted the news, while Saudi Arabia's energy ministry

and Russia's state news agency Tass both separately confirmed the deal on

Sunday.

TRUMP PLAYED DOWN CORONAVIRUS CRISIS AMID WARNINGS FROM INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH

OFFICIALS: NYT

US President Donald Trump was warned about the potential for a pandemic but

he repeatedly played down the seriousness of the virus and focused instead

on controlling the message, protecting gains in the economy and batting away

warnings from senior officials, a lengthy investigative report in a leading

American newspaper has said.

The report in The New York Times revealed that there were warnings from the

intelligence community, national security aides and government health

officials about an impending pandemic and its consequences but Trump played

down the crisis.

"An examination reveals the president was warned about the potential for a

pandemic but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his

own instincts led to a halting response," the NYT said. The US is the

worst-hit country in the world with over 530,000 COVID-19 cases and 20,608

fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

"Top White House advisers as well as experts deep in the Cabinet departments

and intelligence agencies all sounded alarms and urged aggressive action to

counter the threat from the coronavirus, but President Trump remained slow

to respond," it said.

Trump's views were "coloured" by long-running disputes inside the

administration over how to deal with China and his own suspicion of the

motivations of officials inside what he viewed as the "Deep State." Further,

recommendations from public health officials often competed with economic

and political considerations in internal debates, slowing the path toward

belated decisions.

The NYT report said that the National Security Council officials received

the warnings in early January about the potential dangers from a new virus

in Wuhan, China.

The NYT examination also found that the US lost three weeks at a crucial

time.

Trump has in turn lashed out at NYT. "The @nytimes story is a Fake, just

like the "paper" itself. I was criticized for moving too fast when I issued

the China Ban, long before most others wanted to do so," he has tweeted.

"I am working hard to expose the corruption and dishonesty in the Lamestream

Media. That part is easy, the hard part is WHY?" Trump said in his other

tweet.

BORIS JOHNSON THANKS NHS STAFF FOR CORONAVIRUS TREATMENT

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has praised the NHS staff who treated him for

coronavirus in hospital.

In a video message posted on his Twitter account, Boris Johnson singled out

and named two nurses who had stood by his bedside for 48 hours at the most

critical time.

He added the doctors and nurses had made decisions that he would be

"grateful for [for] the rest of my life".

Mr Johnson spent a week at St Thomas' Hospital and will recover at Chequers

before returning to work.

IMRAN KHAN URGES WORLD COMMUNITY TO GRANT DEBT RELIEF AS PAK'S CORONAVIRUS

CASES REACH 5,230

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday urged the global community to launch an

initiative to give debt relief to developing countries that are fighting the

novel coronavirus, as Pakistan reported nearly 450 fresh cases, bringing the

total number of the COVID-19 patients to 5,230.

In a video message, Khan said that highly indebted countries are facing a

"lack of fiscal space" that was inhibiting their efforts to prevent the

coronavirus from spreading and, at the same time, providing relief to

people.

He said a global pandemic cannot be contained without strong, coordinated

and well-crafted global response.

"The Global Initiative on Debt Relief will bring together stakeholders on a

platform to promote coordinated health and economic response," he said.

Noting that COVID-19 posed unprecedented health and economic challenges,

Khan underlined that a global recession worse than the Great Depression was

certain.

He noted that during the past week, various announcements have been made by

multilateral actors such as the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the

World Bank, including an initial relief packages of USD 1.4 billion by the

IMF and USD 1 billion by the World Bank.

Khan invited the UN Secretary General to work with him in advancing the

objectives of a coordinated response.

"The proposed Global Initiative aims to lay ground for urgent debt relief to

the developing countries, at their request, and without onerous

conditionalities," he said.

While proposing the Initiative, Khan highlighted that his Government had

provided USD 8 billion stimulus package to help the most vulnerable people

in Pakistan.

CHINA RECORDS SHARP RISE IN IMPORTED CASES, SOME CHINESE TARGET AFRICANS

China reported 97 new imported Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the

highest in a single day with more than half of the cases reports said

stemming from a Russian flight to Shanghai the day before.

No death was reported on Saturday in China.

The sharp rise in imported cases in China daily over the weekend was

preceded by several African ambassadors in China writing to the country's

foreign ministry to address their concerns over the reported discrimination

of Africans in the southern city of Guangzhou hours after African Union

Commission lodged a formal protest on the issue in Johannesburg with Chinese

diplomats.

On Saturday, the African Union Commission Chairperson also tweeted that his

office had summoned the Chinese envoy to the AU over the recent reports.

The ambassadors' note, according to a Reuters report, highlighted a number

of reported incidents, including that Africans were being ejected from

hotels in the middle of the night, the seizure of passports, and threats of

visa revocation, arrest or deportation.

The US embassy in China had also issued a security alert on Saturday for

African-Americans living and working in after several reports said members

of the large black community in the city were being targeted and harassed

amid Covid-19 fears.

The Chinese government denied targeting any community.

TALIBAN TO RELEASE 20 AFGHAN GOVT PRISONERS ON SUNDAY, SAYS SPOKESPERSON

The Taliban will release 20 Afghan government prisoners it was holding, a

spokesperson of the Islamist militant group said on Sunday, the first

handover since the beginning of a peace process.

"Today, 20 prisoners of the Kabul administration will be released by the

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and handed over to ICRC in Kandahar," the

spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, said on Twitter.

Since Wednesday, the Afghan government has released 300 Taliban prisoners as

part of a swap after a February pact between the United States and the

Taliban that offers the best chance yet of ending the 18-year U.S. military

involvement in Afghanistan.

ITALY ORDERS RESCUED MIGRANTS ON TO QUARANTINE SHIP

Italy has ordered migrants and refugees on board a rescue ship off its coast

to be quarantined on another vessel to test them for the coronavirus before

allowing them to disembark.

The Alan Kurdi, run by the German non-governmental group Sea-Eye, is sailing

in international waters off the western coast of Sicily after rescuing 150

people off Libya's coast last Monday.

On Sunday, Italy's transport ministry said in a statement that those on

board would be screened by health authorities after being transferred and

quarantined on that ship.

The transport ministry statement said allowing the migrants to disembark

without being screened would put too much pressure on already stretched

health services in Sicily.

It gave no details on the planned transfer, its timing or location.

SRI LANKA MAKES CREMATIONS COMPULSORY FOR CORONAVIRUS DEATHS

Sri Lanka has made cremations compulsory for coronavirus victims, ignoring

protests from the country's Muslim population which says the rule goes

against Islamic tradition.

Three Muslims are among the seven people who have so far died from the

infectious disease in the country. Their bodies were cremated by the

authorities despite protests from relatives.

"The corpse of a person who has died or is suspected to have died, of ...

COVID-19 shall be cremated," Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said on

Sunday.

The decision has also been criticised by rights groups.

"At this difficult time, the authorities should be bringing communities

together and not deepening divisions," Amnesty's South Asia Director Biraj

Patnaik said earlier this month.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said people dying from coronavirus "can

be buried or cremated".

SRI LANKA CATHOLIC CHURCH 'FORGIVES' 2019 EASTER SUICIDE BOMBERS

Sri Lanka's Roman Catholic Church said on Sunday it had forgiven the suicide

bombers behind the attacks that killed at least 279 people last Easter.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith told an Easter mass that "we offered love to the

enemies who tried to destroy us". "We forgave them," he said, adding that

instead of retaliating, the nation's Catholic minority had contemplated

Jesus's message of hope, and reduced tensions.

JULIAN ASSANGE'S LAWYER SPEAKS UP ON RELATIONSHIP, CHILDREN

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children with one of his

lawyers while holed up in Ecuador's Embassy in London for much of the past

decade, according to a report on Sunday confirmed by the mother.

The 48-year-old Australian is the dad of two boys, aged two and one, with

lawyer Stella Morris, to whom he is engaged, she confirmed following a Mail

on Sunday report.

Mr. Assange is currently being held in London's high security Belmarsh

prison as he fights an extradition request by the United States to stand

trial there on espionage charges.

Ms. Morris detailed the revelations shortly after the report emerged, in a

video posted on social media by Wikileaks chronicling her five-year

relationship with Mr. Assange and the arrival of their two children. Ms.

Morris wants the one-time hacker released under British government plans to

allow some prisoners temporary release, amid fears COVID-19 could sweep

through jails.

But Assange last month failed in a bail bid based on his risk of catching

the virus, with a British judge saying there were "no grounds" for his

release.