Morning mail: EU condemns US ban, shares plunge, Grand Prix in doubt
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Version 0 of 1. Friday: European leaders urge cooperation as FTSE suffers second worst day in history and Australian F1 race reportedly postponed Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 13 March. Coronavirus The EU has condemned Donald Trump’s unilateral ban on travel from 26 European countries due to the coronavirus, with leaders issuing a joint statement urging “cooperation rather than unilateral action” to contain the disease’s global spread. Citizens from the Schengen zone, which excludes Britain and Ireland, will not be able to enter the US for 30 days from midnight on Friday. The news came as Italy’s death toll passed 1,000 and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, announced he would be self-isolating as his wife undergoes testing. In London overnight the FTSE 100 index of leading shares suffered its second worse day in history, plunging 11%, with about £160bn wiped off the value of Britain’s biggest blue-chip companies. Trading on Wall Street was briefly suspended for the second time this week as shares plunged 8.5%. It followed a horror day on the Australian stock market where shares also plummeted more than 7%, with more than $520bn wiped off the Australian market – a quarter of its total value – since 21 February. In Melbourne the Australian Grand Prix has reportedly been postponed, after McLaren withdrew from the event after one of its team members tested positive for coronavirus, with the team saying it had a “duty of care” not only to itself but to competitors and fans. In NSW healthcare workers have been told to prepare for as many as 8,000 deaths, as up to 1.6 million people could be affected statewide. And across Australia homelessness advocacy agencies are calling for more temporary housing to be available before the spread of Covid-19, with the homeless especially vulnerable. Meanwhile, scientists have found that the majority of new infections could come from people not showing symptoms of the virus, undermining the effectiveness of isolation as a containment strategy. So what happens to people’s lungs when they get the coronavirus? A respiratory physician, John Wilson, speaks with Guardian Australia, explaining the range of Covid-19 impacts – from no symptoms to severe pneumonia. “The lining of the respiratory tree becomes injured, causing inflammation. This in turn irritates the nerves in the lining of the airway. Just a speck of dust can stimulate a cough.” And what can parents and children do to survive self-isolation, and each other? Celina Ribeiro speaks with a family living in lockdown in Lombardy, as well as Dr Carly Johnco and Prof Lea Waters about tips for getting through imposed isolation. With viruses able to be active outside the body for hours, soap is proving to be the best line of defence against the coronavirus. As Prof Pall Thordarson explains: “Wipes or rubbing a gel on the hands does not guarantee that you soak every corner of the skin on your hands effectively enough” but “a fairly small amount of soapy water” with rubbing “covers your entire hand easily”. Australia Bridget McKenzie has been asked to front the Senate committee examining the sports rorts controversy, with an inquiry hearing expected during the final parliamentary sitting week in March. The former sports minister has been warned by constitutional law experts that “ignorance of the law is no excuse”, with several arguing that the program may have been unconstitutional. The departmental head of the prime minister’s office, Phil Gaetjens, is expected to give testimony on Monday. The head of ACT corrective services has apologised to an Aboriginal inmate who was left traumatised by a “deeply racist and hateful” picture drawn by prison officers at the Alexander Machonochie detention centre in Canberra. The 2019 Booker prizewinner, Bernardine Evaristo, is to headline the Sydney Writers festival, with the festival lineup announced on Thursday evening, including the Three Women author, Lisa Taddeo, the essayist Leslie Jamison and the historian Bruce Pascoe. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have tested positive for the coronavirus while in Australia, prompting calls from the Queensland premier for any fans who spent considerable time with the Hollywood couple to self-isolate. The world Greece has been told by the EU that it must uphold the right to asylum as leaders travel to Athens for crisis talks. Migrants have been offered up to €2,000 to return home on a voluntary basis, with thousands, predominantly from Syria, living in squalid camps on the Greek border with Turkey. Germany’s intelligence agency chief has placed part of the country’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party under surveillance, describing far-right terrorism and extremism as the biggest danger facing democracy in the European nation. The chef who “changed the face of British dining”, Michel Roux Snr, has died aged 78. The inspiration behind the first UK-based restaurant to win a Michelin star, Roux influenced such chefs as Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White. Recommended reads Writing can be a cathartic process but when you’re dealing with rape, consent and grey areas that shouldn’t exist, as Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore writes, it can be a powerful way for survivors like Sophie Hardcastle to reclaim their voice. “This idea of a grey area exonerates perpetrators of sexual violence because it allows them to slip into this watery place where the boundaries aren’t clear.” “I’m not sick. I’m just being careful. It’s called social distancing.” After returning from Thailand and Cambodia, Brigid Delaney opts for caution. But it turns out that social distancing quickly gets tricky. Listen Months after the story broke, Australians are no closer to knowing what really happened in the sports rorts saga. In this episode of Full Story, Katharine Murphy joins Laura Murphy-Oates to talk about what questions the prime minister is avoiding. Sport The opening game of the NRL season went ahead last night in Parramatta but how is Australian sport likely to be impacted by the coronavirus over the coming weeks and months? Mike Hytner takes a look. And it wouldn’t be Friday without David Squires on … the Central Coast Mariners’ fading star. Media roundup Major European airlines could go under because of Donald Trump’s European travel ban, reports the Age, with a leading aviation expert saying the closure of “the biggest and most valuable” route is devastating for the industry. The Australian government is cautiously optimistic that a stimulus package worth $17.6bn will help Australia avoid recession, writes the Financial Review. And South Australian residents from Mount Barker will have to pay for their own bushfire recovery after the council missed out on a $1.4m funding grant, the Adelaide Advertiser reports. Coming up Scott Morrison will meet state premiers at a Coag meeting in Sydney today. A cyclone is set to develop over the Coral Sea today and, while it won’t touch land, the coastline from Cairns to northern NSW will be hit with high winds and heavy waves. And if you’ve read this far … Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has stunned US TV viewers by rapping Baby Got Back while dressed as a furry bear. Nope, that’s really about the guts of it. |