ITALIAN DEATH TOLL OVERTAKES CHINA AS CORONAVIRUS SPREADS The death toll in Italy from the coronavirus overtook china’s on Thursday in a stark illustration of how the outbreak has pivoted toward Europe and the United States. Italy, with a population of 60 million, recorded at least 3,405 deaths, or roughly 150 more than in China – a country with a population over 20 times larger. The cumulative positive cases reached 41,035 according to new data released by the Civil Protection Department. A lockdown imposed on 12 March in Italy has been extended beyond the original 25 March end date. Nearly all Italians have been told to stay at home. Italy reached the bleak milestone the same day that Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged three months ago, recorded no new infections, a sign that the communist country’s draconian lockdowns were a powerful method to stop the virusÂ’ spread. On Thursday, a visiting Chinese Red Cross team criticised ItaliansÂ’ failure to properly quarantine themselves and take the national lockdown seriously. NEW ZEALAND DECRIMINALISES ABORTION New Zealand’s parliament decriminalised abortion on Wednesday, with members voting 68 to 51 in favour of reforming the country’s 1977 abortion legislation. The new law is expected to be signed by the nation’s governor general. “For over 40 years abortion has been the only medical procedure considered a crime in New Zealand,” Justice Minister Andrew Little said in statement. “But from now abortions will be rightly treated as a health issue.” “Today change has finally come, ” Little continued, “and safe abortion is legal in New Zealand.” Jackie Edmond, the chief executive of Family Planning, the country’s largest referrer of women to abortion services, hailed the vote and the fact that women were finally being trusted to make their own health decisions. ”Its fantastic Parliament has addressed something that they should have addressed 40 years ago, ” Edmond said. CHINA REPORTS NO NEW CORONAVIRUS LOCAL INFECTIONS China has reported no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases for the first time since the pandemic began, marking a major turning point in the global battle to contain Covid-19. At a news conference on Thursday morning, officials from China's National Health Commission announced there had been just 34 new cases in the past 24 hours -- all imported from overseas -- and eight new deaths, all in Hubei, the province where the virus was first identified. There were there no new reported cases in Hubei at all on Wednesday. Just last month, mainland China was reporting thousands of new cases every day, and was considered the most high-risk infection area in the world. In the weeks following the early spread of the virus, the government enacted draconian quarantine measures and strict travel restrictions affecting hundreds of millions of citizens. In some hard-hit cities, residents have been unable to leave their apartments for more than a month, while transport between major population hubs has been limited or halted altogether. The unprecedented nature of the measures has exacted a steep toll, however, both on the many millions of ordinary Chinese forced to endure life under lockdown. TRUMP INVOKES DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT TO SPEED MEDICAL SUPPLY PRODUCTION Describing himself as a “wartime President”, Donald Trump that he will be invoking the Defense Production Act to help make up for potential medical supply shortages and deploy two hospital ships as the US battles the coronavirus pandemic. Trump said that he sees the country on wartime footing and himself as a wartime president amid the coronavirus crisis. "I view it -- in a sense as a wartime president," Trump said after announcing he was invoking the Defense Production Act, which was established in 1950 in response to production needs during the Korean War. The Federal Emergency Management Agency describes the act as "the primary source of presidential authorities to expedite and expand the supply of resources from the US industrial base to support military, energy, space and homeland security programs." An executive order issued Wednesday afternoon indicated that the President will use the act to obtain "health and medical resources needed to respond to the spread of COVID-19, including personal protective equipment and ventilators." IRANÂ’S SUPREME LEADER TO PARDON 10,000 PRISONERS, INCLUDING POLITICAL ONES IranÂ’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will pardon 10,000 prisoners including political ones in honour of the Iranian new year on Friday, state TV reported. “Those who will be pardoned will not return to jail almost half of those security-related prisoners will be pardoned as well,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told state TV on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Esmaili said Iran had temporarily freed about 85,000 people from jail, including political prisoners, in response to the coronavirus epidemic. Esmaili did not say whether British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who was temporarily released on Tuesday for two weeks was among those who would be among those who will be pardoned. The United States has urged Iran to free dozens of dual nationals and foreigners held mainly on spying charges, saying Washington would hold the Tehran government directly responsible for any American deaths. PUTIN SAYS HEÂ’S NOT A ‘TSARÂ’ AFTER 20 YRS IN POWER Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed comparisons to a tsar on Thursday, arguing he “works every day” and listens to what people want. “Well, this is not true,” Putin said when asked about being described as a Russian imperial-era ruler. “Maybe someone else can be called a tsar. But in my case, I donÂ’t reign, I work every day,” he told the state-run TASS news agency. The interview aired on Thursday as part of a series rolled out by TASS to mark 20 years since Putin took the helm of Russian politics. CORONAVIRUS: TRUMP TO HOST G7 SUMMIT VIA TELECONFERENCE Donald Trump will host the G7 summit via video-teleconference due to the coronavirus crisis, instead of inviting the leaders of the other six powers to Camp David as originally planned. The White House said the decision to host the June summit over video link was taken so that the other G7 nations – Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and the UK – could save resources to tackling the coronavirus health crisis and economic turmoil. “National Economic Council Director and US sherpa for the 2020 G7 Larry Kudlow has informed his sherpa colleagues that the G7 summit will now be done by video-teleconference,” said Judd Deere, deputy White House press secretary, who added that Mr Trump would hold advance meetings with the leaders over video in April and May. SRI LANKA PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS POSTPONED Sri LankaÂ’s general elections, which was scheduled to be held on April 25, have been postponed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. It was not possible to hold polls amid the coronavirus crisis, Chairman of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka told media persons on Thursday, when the number of positive COVID-19 cases in the island rose to 59. A new date for the polls will be announced in the coming weeks, officials said. A public holiday has been in force in Sri Lanka this week and on Thursday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a “work from home” week until March 27 for both, the public sector and the private sector. The measure, a statement from his office said, sought to prevent congregation of people.