World Briefs

MONACO The palace of Monaco says its ruler, Prince Albert II, has tested positive for the new coronavirus but his health is not worrying. Albert, 62, appeared to be the first head of state who has publicly said he contracted the virus. In a statement, the palace said he is being treated by doctors from the Princess Grace Hospital, named after his U.S. actress mother. It says Albert is continuing to work from his home office in the palace.

IRAN has granted a medical furlough to a U.S. Navy veteran who has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured) announced yesterday. Michael White of Imperial Beach, California, is now in the custody of the Swiss Embassy and must remain in Iran as a condition of his furlough, which was granted as Iran works to curb the spread of coronavirus. The U.S. government will seek his full release.

EU Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief negotiator for the bloc’s future relationship with Britain after Brexit, has been infected with the new coronavirus. The 69-year-old Barnier said in a Twitter video message yesterday that he is doing well and has a good morale.

UK The Bank of England slashed its main interest rate to 0.1%, the lowest level since its founding in 1694, and reactivated a bond-buying stimulus program in response to the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic. The bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee said yesterday that the moves were designed “to meet the needs of U.K. businesses and households in dealing with the associated economic disruption.”

AFRICA More African countries closed their borders yesterday as the coronavirus’ local spread threatened to turn the continent of 1.3 billion people into an alarming new front for the pandemic. “About 10 days ago we had about five countries” with the virus, WHO’s Africa chief Dr. Matshidiso Moeti told reporters. Now 35 of Africa’s 54 countries have cases, with the total close to 650. It’s an “extremely rapid evolution,” she said.

INDONESIA Thousands of people attended an ordination ceremony for a Catholic bishop on the Indonesian island of Flores despite calls from authorities to avoid mass gatherings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Images of the ordination ceremony posted on social media showed people inside the Ruteng cathedral seated next to each other and not complying with social distancing measures. A priest who attended the ceremony estimated that about 4,000 people gathered inside and around the church.

INDONESIA halted a mass congregation of nearly 9,000 Muslim pilgrims and began quarantining them and checking their health yesterday to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus amid a spike in cases. The four-day gathering at a boarding school in a rural area in south Sulawesi province wasn’t approved by authorities and drew fears it could spread the virus widely in the world’s fourth most populous nation.