People in the Indian state of West Bengal are voting in the final phase of elections despite soaring Covid cases. Long queues were seen outside polling booths, raising concerns about further spread of the virus amidst a deadly second wave. Experts fear West Bengal could be the next epicentre. Cases rose by 17,000 on Wednesday – a state record. In total, India reported 379,257 new infections on Thursday, the world’s highest single-day total. The state has already seen seven phases of voting. West Bengal is one of the few where Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not have a majority of parliamentary seats. There has been a lot of criticism that he continued to hold large rallies there even as the virus began overwhelming the country.(BBC)…[+]

A Russian prosecutor has ordered that the network of offices supporting jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny must suspend all activities across Russia. The prosecutor also applied to a court to suspend the work of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). It is a move to label the groups as “extremist”, which would give the authority to jail activists and freeze the groups’ bank accounts. The German government has condemned the move as contrary to the rule of law. Last week Navalny – Russia’s most prominent opposition figure – announced he was ending a hunger strike after 24 days of refusing food in jail. Hours earlier his private doctors had appealed to him to eat to preserve his life and health. The BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Moscow says that with Navalny now in a penal colony east of the city, authorities are moving to close down all his team’s activities. Some of his supporters have been planning to run in parliamentary elections in September.(BBC)…[+]

Americans may be able to travel to the EU this summer – if they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the New York Times this should be possible as both sides have approved the same jabs. However, she gave no exact timetable and said it would depend on the “epidemiological situation”. European nations have restricted non-essential travel from the US for more than a year.

The EU toughened its recommendations on foreign visitors in January – but each member state must put the measures in place. Greece, for example, has already said Americans with proof of negative tests can enter.The UK, which is now outside of the EU, is introducing a traffic light system on 17 May that will set out its travel restrictions on countries around the world. Which countries get which traffic light is yet to be finalised.(BBC)…[+]

All driving test examiners have been suspended across Ivory Coast while the government “cleans up” the sector. Fraud, corruption and a rise in road accidents are of concern, it says. Police officers will take over and officiate driving tests for a period of three months from next week, announced Transport Minister Amadou Koné. He said the country enjoys “better quality roads” after recent investment but said human error was behind many of the latest accidents. “This is not an incrimination of the licence as such but there are a great number of matters on which we have decided to be uncompromising.”Around 1,400 people die each year in road accidents in Ivory Coast. At least 38 people have been killed this month alone, including eight who burned to death after a car and a minibus collided on a main road 149 km (92 miles) from the biggest city Abidjan.(BBC)…[+]

Three members of the Catholic clergy kidnapped in Haiti earlier month this have been released, officials say. But seven other people – including a French nun and a French priest – abducted in the town of Croix-des-Bouquets remain in captivity. The kidnappers had demanded $1m (£722,000) as a ransom payment after they seized the group on 11 April. Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse has vowed to “do everything the law allows” to secure their release. “Three of the seven clergy kidnapped on April 11 were released,” Father Loudger Mazile, spokesman for the Bishop’s Conference of the island nation, told the AFP on Thursday. “The French were not released. There were no lay people among those released,” he said. It is not known whether any ransom has been paid. The attack happened when the Catholic clergy were on their way to the installation of a new parish priest.(BBC)…[+]

At least 82 people have been killed in a fire at a hospital treating coronavirus patients in the capital of Iraq, Baghdad. More than 100 others were injured in the blaze, which erupted at the Ibn Khatib hospital on Saturday night. Reports say an accident had caused an oxygen tank to explode, sparking the blaze. Videos on social media show firefighters scrambling to extinguish the flames as people flee the building. Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called for an immediate investigation into the causes of what he called a “tragic accident”.The head of Iraq’s Civil Defence, Gen Kadhim Bohan, said the fire had broken out in the hospital’s intensive-care unit, on a floor “designated for pulmonary resuscitation”.(BBC)…[+]

Joe Biden has become the first US president to issue a statement formally describing the 1915 massacre of Armenians as a genocide. The killings took place in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, the forerunner of modern-day Turkey. But the issue is highly sensitive, with Turkey acknowledging atrocities but rejecting the term “genocide”. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday that Turkey “entirely rejects” the US decision. “We will not take lessons from anyone on our history,” he tweeted. Later the Turkish foreign ministry said it had summoned the US ambassador to convey Ankara’s “strong reaction”. Previous US administrations have not used the term genocide in formal statements amid concerns over damaging relations with Turkey, a Nato ally.(BBC)…[+]

Russia’s main opposition figure Alexei Navalny has announced he is ending his hunger strike after 24 days of refusing food in jail. Hours earlier his private doctors had appealed to him to take food to preserve his life and health. Navalny began refusing food on 31 March to demand better medical care. He said he had twice been seen by civilian doctors and “given the progress and circumstances, I am ending my hunger strike”. The process would be gradual, he added in an Instagram post. His doctors had warned at the weekend he could die “at any minute”. Late on Thursday they warned him that “further starvation” could significantly harm him and lead to his death.(BBC)…[+]

A female police employee has been fatally stabbed in a knife attack at a police station in Rambouillet, south-west of Paris. Anti-terror prosecutors have taken over the inquiry, and the killing is being treated as a possible terrorist attack. The 49-year-old unarmed administrative officer was stabbed in the neck.

The 36-year-old attacker, who reportedly came to France from Tunisia several years ago, was shot and later died in hospital. The stabbing took place in the secure entrance to the police station on Friday afternoon as the worker was returning from her break at 14:20 (12:20 GMT). Witnesses said the man had been seen walking around while on his mobile phone outside the police station and he seized his chance to go in as the woman went through the security doors. He reportedly lunged at the officer, and her colleagues then opened fire on him. Prosecutors said the way the attack had unfolded, as well as remarks made by the attacker and the fact that the victim was a police official had persuaded them to launch an anti-terror investigation.(BBC)…[+]

India’s healthcare system is buckling as a record surge in Covid-19 cases puts pressure on hospital beds and drains oxygen supplies. Families are left pleading for their relatives who are desperately ill, with some patients left untreated for hours. Crematoriums are organising mass funeral pyres. On Friday India reported 332,730 new cases of coronavirus, setting a world record for a second day running. Deaths were numbered at 2,263 in 24 hours. Dr Atul Gogia, a consultant at the Sir Ganga Ram hospital in Delhi, told the BBC there had been a “huge surge” in patients, leaving no space in the emergency room. “We do not have that many oxygen points. Whatever oxygen points are there, they’re full. Patients are coming in with their own oxygen cylinders or without oxygen. We want to help them but there are not enough beds and not enough oxygen points even to supply them oxygen if it is there,” he said. (BBC)…[+]