Eight British Muslims detained in India for more than two months face criminal charges after getting caught up in a court case in which thousands of foreign Muslims are accused of violating the coronavirus lockdown.

The men allege they are victims of religious persecution by the Indian government, which is led by the rightwing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), known for its anti-Muslim agenda. According to a petition filed to Delhi high court on 20 May, their treatment is “tantamount to illegal detention”.

More than 2,500 foreign Muslims, from 35 different countries, are being charged in the case. Last week, the Indian government agreed to release and deport detained foreign Muslims but only if they accepted guilt for visa violations and “wilfully” disobeying lockdown orders.

You can read the full story here –

Morning from London. This is Frances Perraudin and I’ll be bringing you the latest news from the coronavirus pandemic around the globe. If you think there’s anything I’m missing, please email me on [email protected] or contact me on twitter @fperraudin.

Wednesday briefing: Ardern blasts ‘failure’ of New Zealand quarantine

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has brought in the defence force to oversee the quarantine of new arrivals after two women who were allowed to travel freely turned out to have coronavirus and came into “close contact” with at least 320 other people. Ardern, who weeks ago announced New Zealand was free of coronavirus, said it was an “unacceptable failure … It should never have happened and it cannot be repeated.”

Families have hailed as “a game-changer” how a campaign by the footballer Marcus Rashford on free school meals shamed Boris Johnson into announcing a “summer food fund” for children in need in England. Families entitled to the meals will receive a one-off voucher at the end of the school term to spend in supermarkets, worth £15 a week for the six-week break. It has emerged that more than 100,000 carers have had to rely on food banks during lockdown.

More than nine in 10 universities have told a Universities UK poll they will provide some in-person teaching at the start of term this year. The survey also suggests 87% are planning to provide in-person sporting, fitness and wellbeing activities. Healthcare charities have called for clarity over when there will be an end to coronavirus shielding in England, which affects roughly 2.2 million “clinically extremely vulnerable” people who are having to stay isolated. The government has said it is considering “next steps” for the programme beyond the end of June and a final decision has not yet been made.

Global report: six US states report most ever new coronavirus cases

New coronavirus infections have soared to record highs in six American states, marking a rising tide of cases for a second consecutive week as authorities in Beijing said another 31 people had been infected in a fresh outbreak in China.

Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas all reported their most ever new cases on Tuesday after all-time highs last week and as they continued to reopen their economies. Nevada also reported its highest single-day tally of new cases on Tuesday, up from a previous high on 23 May.

Donald Trump is planning to hold an indoor campaign rally in Oklahoma this weekend despite the state recording 591 new coronavirus cases on Monday, a 7.7% increase and the highest in the United States. According to Reuters cases in Oklahoma rose 68% last week.

The vice-president, Mike Pence, said officials were considering outdoor venues for the rally in Tulsa which would be Trump’s first since the virus took hold in the US in March.

On Tuesday Oklahoma health officials urged anyone attending the rally to get tested for coronavirus before arriving and then to self-isolate following the event and get tested again. The health commissioner urged those over 65 or at higher risk of coronavirus-related complications to stay home.

Pence said in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that alarm about the continued rise in infections was “overblown”.

However, hospitalisations have continued to rise.

Pandemics such as coronavirus are the result of humanity’s destruction of nature, according to leaders at the UN, WHO and WWF International, and the world has been ignoring this stark reality for decades.

The illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade as well as the devastation of forests and other wild places were still the driving forces behind the increasing number of diseases leaping from wildlife to humans, the leaders told the Guardian.

Here’s the latest on Beijing: China’s capital has raised its emergency level as dozens of new coronavirus cases emerged and residents were barred from any “unessential” travel outside Beijing following a new outbreak of the virus that is yet to be brought under control.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled, schools suspended and all residential compounds ordered to reinstate strict screening after authorities raised the city’s four-tiered Covid emergency response system from three to two on Tuesday evening. All movement in and out of the city will be “strictly controlled”, officials said at the briefing.

Authorities reported 31 new cases of the virus in Beijing as of Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections to 137 over the past six days.

The new outbreak, linked to a sprawling wholesale food market in the south-eastern district of Fengtai, has spread to nine of the city’s 17 districts. On Tuesday, at least 1,255 inbound and outbound flights were cancelled, according to state media.

Authorities called on employers to continue regular operations but encourage remote working and ask employees to stagger their arrivals at work. All primary and secondary schools were ordered to stop attending classes on Tuesday, while kindergartens were closed. Officials also ordered that traffic to parks as well as indoor public spaces like museums and libraries be limited.

The Guardian

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