Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. France's Macron says major foreign travel to be limited this summer

French President Emmanuel Macron said it was unlikely that French people would be able to undertake major foreign trips this summer and that even trips within Europe may have to be limited in order to reduce the risk of a resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic. "It is too soon to say whether we can take holidays. What I can say is that we will limit major international travel, even during the summer holidays. We will stay among Europeans and, depending on how the epidemic evolves, we might have to reduce that a little more. We will know early June," Macron told reporters during a visit to a school outside Paris. Philippine telecoms body orders TV broadcaster that irked Duterte to shut

The Philippines' telecoms body ordered the country's leading broadcaster ABS-CBN Corp to cease operations on Tuesday, as a parliament dominated by President Rodrigo Duterte's loyalists dragged its feet over renewing its license. Duterte has repeatedly threatened to block the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise, after the channel angered him during the 2016 presidential election by refusing to air his campaign commercials. Britain outpaces Italy with Europe's highest official coronavirus death toll

Britain has overtaken Italy to report the highest official death toll from coronavirus in Europe with more than 32,000 deaths, figures released on Tuesday showed. The high death toll could increase political pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who waited longer than other European leaders to order a lockdown to curb the spread of the virus in March. Hong Kong to relax some restrictions as new coronavirus cases dwindle

Hong Kong's government said on Tuesday it will relax restrictions on public gatherings and allow gyms, cinemas and beauty parlours to re-open later this week as only a handful of new coronavirus cases have been reported in recent weeks. The Chinese-ruled city has not reported any local transmissions for more than two weeks and recorded zero cases for seven of the past 10 days. It discovered one new imported case on Monday, which took the total to 1,041 patients, four of whom have died. Prison contagion in Americas 'deeply worrying', U.N. says

Overcrowded, unhygienic prisons in Latin America and the spread of the new coronavirus both in regional prisons and in the United States are a source of "major concern", the U.N. rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday. In some cases, fear of infection has led to riots, killing dozens of inmates in Venezuela, Peru and Colombia in recent weeks. OHCHR called for prompt, independent investigations into these incidents. Venezuelan authorities detain U.S. citizens allegedly involved in incursion

Venezuelan authorities have detained two U.S. citizens working with a U.S. military veteran who has claimed responsibility for a failed armed incursion into the oil producing country, President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday. In a state television address, Maduro said authorities arrested 13 "terrorists" on Monday allegedly involved in a plot he said was coordinated with Washington to enter the South American country via the Caribbean coast and oust him. Poland's May 10 presidential election hangs in balance

The Polish Senate starts an acrimonious debate on Tuesday on legislation that would allow a presidential election scheduled for May 10 to be held entirely by postal ballot instead of at polling stations because of the coronavirus pandemic. How parliament votes on the government-backed plan will affect whether the ballot is held on time, or later, and could determine the future of Poland's ruling coalition led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party. Moroccan medics isolated from families have lonely Ramadan

The holy Muslim month of Ramadan is proving particularly lonely and challenging for 30 Moroccan doctors and nurses who have been living in a luxury hotel now for nearly seven weeks to avoid the risk of infecting their families with the new coronavirus. They shuttle back and forth every day between the five-star Hotel Dawliz and the Moulay Abdellah hospital in Sale, located on the other side of the Bouregreg river from the capital Rabat. Masked and standing apart, the world tiptoes out of lockdown

Italy and the United States were among a slew of countries tentatively easing coronavirus lockdowns on Monday to revive economies as global deaths surpassed a quarter of a million. World leaders and organisations pledged $8 billion to fund a possible vaccine and treatments, many hoping explicitly to ensure that no country on Earth would be left out, but the United States did not contribute. France's early COVID-19 case may hold clues to pandemic's start

A study by French scientists which suggests a man was infected with COVID-19 as early as Dec. 27, nearly a month before France confirmed its first cases, could be important in assessing when and where the new coronavirus emerged, experts said on Tuesday. French researchers led by Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation at the Avicenne and Jean Verdier hospitals, retested samples from 24 patients treated in December and January who had tested negative for flu before COVID-19 developed into a pandemic.