Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Putin says Russia may need the army to help battle coronavirus

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia might need to call in the army to help tackle the coronavirus crisis and warned the contagion was getting worse after the number of confirmed cases rose by a record daily amount. Russia reported 2,558 new cases on Monday, bringing the overall nationwide tally to 18,328. Eighteen people diagnosed with the virus died overnight, pushing the death toll to 148. Though rising, the number of deaths remains much lower for now than in countries such as the United States and Italy. UK to remain in lockdown as coronavirus deaths rise above 11,000

The death toll from COVID-19 in British hospitals rose to 11,329 on Monday and the government, which is having to operate without its convalescing leader Boris Johnson, signalled that there would be no easing of lockdown measures this week. The British death toll is the fifth highest globally and a senior scientific adviser to the government has said the country risks becoming the worst-hit in Europe. Israel's Netanyahu, Gantz say near unity deal to end political deadlock

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival Benny Gantz were nearing a deal on Tuesday to form a national emergency government to battle the coronavirus crisis and end the country's unprecedented political deadlock. Gantz's 28-day mandate to put together a ruling coalition after last month's inconclusive election was due to expire at midnight, but President Reuven Rivlin, who is overseeing the coalition talks, extended it for two days. Kiev authorities seal off Orthodox monastery that became coronavirus hotspot

Authorities in Kiev sealed off a 1,000-year-old Orthodox Christian monastery on Monday after reporting that two of its members had died and more than 90 had contracted the coronavirus, accounting for around a fifth of the Ukrainian capital's cases. The city administration has dispatched doctors and mobile X-ray machines to the sprawling Kiev Pechersk Lavra complex, the headquarters of the Russian-backed wing of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church known as the Moscow Patriarchate. U.S., Taliban officials meet to discuss prisoner release dispute: Taliban spokesman

The chief U.S. negotiator and the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan held talks on Monday with Taliban officials in Doha on a prisoner release dispute that helped stall U.S.-led peace-making efforts, a Taliban spokesman said. The discussions, held despite the global coronavirus pandemic, followed some movement on prisoner releases, with Kabul freeing some 300 insurgent detainees and the Taliban releasing a first batch of government prisoners. Argentine city digs hundreds of graves amid pandemic even as curve flattens

A city government in the central Argentine province of Cordoba has dug around 250 graves, anticipating a death toll increase from the coronavirus pandemic, even as a nationwide lockdown appears to be flattening the rise in new cases. Gravediggers at the cemetery in San Vicente on the outskirts of the provincial capital now plan to add a further 250 burial plots in the coming days, the local union that represents the workers who carried out the job told Reuters. Fire raging near Ukraine's Chernobyl poses radiation risk, say activists

A huge forest fire in Ukraine that has been raging for more than a week is now just one kilometre from the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant and poses a radiation risk, Greenpeace Russia warned on Monday, citing satellite images. Ukraine's Emergency Situations Service said it was still fighting the fires, but that the situation was under control. Brazil moves to protect indigenous tribes from coronavirus

The Brazilian government has banned non-indigenous people from entering tribal lands to stop the spread of coronavirus in their villages and will distribute masks, gloves, test kits and food to their communities, officials said on Monday. The epidemic has raised fears that Brazil's 850,000 indigenous people risk being decimated by the virus because they have no defenses against diseases brought from outside and many live in communal houses where social distancing is not possible. Promising 'better days,' Macron extends France's lockdown until May 11

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced he was extending a virtual lockdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak until May 11, adding that progress had been made but the battle not yet won. Following Italy in extending the lockdown but announcing no immediate easing of restrictive measures as in Spain, Macron said the tense situation in hospitals in Paris and eastern France meant there could be no let-up in the country. Forces aligned with Tripoli government advance along west Libyan coast

Forces aligned with Libya's internationally recognized government seized two towns west of the capital Tripoli on Monday after heavy clashes and drone strikes, military sources and residents said. If held, the towns of Surman and Sabratha would represent a significant gain for forces trying to fight off a year-old campaign against Tripoli by rivals loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar.