Malawi to hold vote re-run on July 2: electoral commission

19:22, March 23, 2020

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  Virus-era voting: France holds local elections despite fears

  A man washes his hands during the first round of the municipal elections, in Lille, northern France, Sunday March 15, 2020. (Photo: AP)French voters queued up Sunday in polling stations across the nation to choose all their mayors and other local leaders. But others decided not to go amid concerns over how public gatherings spread the new coronavirus.Voting stations opened just as a drastic new order came into effect shutting down all of France’s restaurants, museums and most stores tostem the spreading coronavirusthat has hit the world economy hard.France has around 4,500 cases of the virus, including 91 people who have died. Worldwide, over 156,000 people have been infected, 5,800 have died and nearly 74,000 have recovered. The disease for most people causes only mild or moderate symptoms but for some, including the elderly and the sick, it can cause more severe illness.French President Emmanuel Macron decided against delaying the election amid concerns that would be undemocratic. But the virus hurting Sunday’s turnout, which was 38% by 5 p.m., compared to 54% at the same time in 2014.“I believe it is important that that democratic moment take place,” Macron said after voting in his hometown of Le Touquet in northern France. He said people should go vote “with precautions” but that it was “idiotic” to keep going to restaurants and cafes.Macron said he keeps hydro-alcoholic gel in his pocket and that he hasn’t been tested for the virus because he has no symptoms.Those who showed up to the poll stations described a feeling of duty, despite the challenges.“It’s not ideal, but it’s important we go vote. Life in this city and in society shouldn’t stop,” said Laure Marie Diers, a manager in Paris.The government ordered unprecedented sanitary measures at polling stations.Organizers were told to impose a one-meter (about three-foot) gap between people in lines, and to provide soap or hydro-alcoholic gel and disinfectant wipes for voting machines. Voters were t...

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  Italy plans to re-nationalise Alitalia airlines: govt

  File photoThe Italian government said it intends to re-nationalise the bankrupt Alitalia airline under an emergency economic rescue plan for the coronavirus pandemic.The government will create "a new company wholly controlled by the ministry of economy and finance, or controlled by a company with a majority public stake, including an indirect one" to take over the airline, the Italian government said in legislation published late Monday.

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  Cannes Film Festival postponed, potentially to June or July

  This May 13, 2019 file photo shows a view of the Palais des festivals during the 72nd international film festival, Cannes, southern France. (Photo: AP)France’s Cannes Film Festival, arguably the world’s most prestigious film festival and cinema’s largest annual gathering, has postponed its 73rd edition due to the coronavirus pandemic.Organizers of the French Riviera festival, scheduled to take place May 12-23, said Thursday that they are considering moving the festival to the end of June or the beginning of July.“Several hypotheses are being studied to preserve the festival, the main one of which would be a simple postponement,” the festival said in a statement. “As soon as the development of the French and international health situation will allow us to assess the real possibility, we will make our decision known.”Organizers had been extremely reluctant to cancel Cannes. For weeks, its organizers deflected questions and tried to push through its selection process. But as the pandemic spread through France, it became all but inevitable that a massive gathering like Cannes would be canceled. On Saturday, France’s Prime Minister Édouard Philippe ordered the closure of all restaurants, cafes and cinemas in France to increase social distancing and combat the virus.Other major film festivals, including South by Southwest and the Tribeca Film Festival, have already been scuttled. But some hope held out that Cannes, taking place closer to summer, might yet survive.Cannes has greater ramifications for the film industry, which annually convenes on the Cote d’Azur not just for the festival’s gala screenings but for the world’s largest movie market. Every year, countless production and distribution deals are hatched in Cannes. Film executives fly in from all over the world and gather at the Marche du Film in the basement of Cannes’ hub, the Palais. Every country with a film industry erects a pavilion at Cannes’ international village.The postponement is also especially painful ...