Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. UK's COVID-19 death toll tops 40,000, worst in Europe

The United Kingdom's COVID-19 death toll now exceeds 40,000, by far the worst yet reported in Europe, raising more questions about Prime Minister Boris Johnson's handling of the coronavirus crisis. Figures published by the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales brought the United Kingdom's official death toll to 38,289 as of May 3, according to a Reuters tally of death registrations that also includes Scotland and Northern Ireland. South Korea's LG Chem sends delegation to India to probe deadly gas leak

South Korea's LG Chem said on Wednesday that it had sent a delegation to India to investigate the cause of a toxic gas leak at its chemical plant there that killed 11 people and forced 800 into hospital for treatment from poisoning. LG Chem said the eight-member delegation, led by its petrochemicals business head, will brief support measures to affected residents and meet with India government officials. Trump Senate ally seeks China sanctions over COVID-19 probe

A leading U.S. Republican senator proposed legislation on Tuesday that would authorize the U.S. president to impose far-reaching sanctions on China if it fails to give a full account of events leading to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of President Donald Trump, said he was convinced that had it not been for "deception" by China's ruling Communist Party, the virus would not be in the United States, where it has now killed more than 80,000 Americans. Polish opposition threatens to block plans for rescheduled election

Poland's main opposition grouping threatened on Tuesday to block planning for a delayed presidential election, accusing the ruling coalition of rushing a voting plan through parliament for political gain. The presidential election had been due to take place on May 10, but planning for it collapsed at the last minute over rifts within the coalition and with its opponents over how to hold the vote amid the coronavirus pandemic. On tape, Bolsonaro cites protecting his family in push to swap top Rio cop: source

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said in an April cabinet meeting that he needed to change Rio de Janeiro's chief of the federal police to protect family members under investigation, a person with knowledge of a video of the meeting told Reuters. The video was shown on Tuesday to investigators looking into accusations by former Justice Minister Sergio Moro, who resigned two days after the cabinet meeting, alleging Bolsonaro was trying to interfere in law enforcement for personal motives. EU will push to unlock borders as coronavirus ravages travel and tourism

The European Union executive will recommend on Wednesday that border restrictions be gradually lifted and travel stalled by the coronavirus pandemic allowed to restart in order to revive tourism, a major industry across the 27-country bloc. Nearly all travel has been halted in Europe, a devastating blow for the tourism sector, which normally contributes almost one-tenth of the EU's economic output. Newborns among 16 dead in Kabul hospital attack; 24 killed in funeral bombing

Gunmen disguised as police attacked a hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, killing 16 people including two newborn babies from a maternity clinic run by the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders. In a separate attack the same day, a suicide bomber struck the funeral of a police commander, attended by government officials and a member of parliament, in the eastern province of Nangahar, killing at least 24 people and injuring 68. Authorities said that toll could rise. Russia slams U.S. assertion at U.N. that it remains party to Iran nuclear deal

Russia's U.N. ambassador slammed the United States on Tuesday as "ridiculous" for arguing it was still a member of the Iran nuclear deal two years after it quit, so Washington could trigger a return of all United Nations sanctions on Tehran. The United States, Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France in 2015 agreed to the deal with Iran that prevents Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in return for sanctions relief. Facebook reports spike in takedowns of hate speech, terrorism

Facebook Inc on Tuesday reported a sharp increase in the number of posts it removed for promoting violence and hate speech across its apps, which it attributed to technology improvements for automatically identifying text and images. The world's biggest social media company removed about 4.7 million posts connected to hate organizations on its flagship app in the first quarter, up from 1.6 million in the 2019 fourth quarter. It also deleted 9.6 million posts containing hate speech, compared with 5.7 million in the prior period. As coronavirus crisis saps his popularity, Brazil's Bolsonaro courts former foes

Facing a criminal investigation that could oust him from office, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro is courting political power brokers he once decried as corrupt in a bid to survive a crisis worsened by his handling of the coronavirus epidemic. The dramatic resignation last month of Bolsonaro's star justice minister, who accused the far-right leader of seeking to meddle in police enquiries, prompted an investigation authorized by the Supreme Court, which may test the president's threadbare coalition.