Jonathan Rugman , Foreign Affairs Correspondent

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has criticised EU countries for looking out for themselves in the early stages of the crisis and giving what she called an ‘only for me’ response.

Coronavirus has now claimed 16,000 lives across 195 countries – and the United Nations says individual countries can’t respond alone – calling for the world’s richest nations should provide $2 billion to help the world’s poorest survive.

As infections continue to rise, more than one and a half billion people – that’s a fifth of the world’s population – have been asked or ordered to stay at home.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France and most European Union partners will close their borders to non-European countries for 30 days from tomorrow at noon. 

India has announced a suspension of all entry visas for a month, as well as restricting return travel for its citizens who are currently abroad.

Three senior Saudi Arabian princes have been arrested for reportedly plotting a coup.

Turkey and Russia have declared a ceasefire in north west Syria, scheduled to begin tonight.

With the virus now reaching every corner of the world, countries are putting in place increasingly aggressive counter measures.

Libya’s UN-backed government has pulled out of peace talks in Geneva after the port of Tripoli was shelled by forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar, the Libyan general laying siege to the capital for ten months.

EU foreign ministers have agreed to launch new sea patrols in the Mediterranean to try to enforce an arms embargo in war-torn Libya.

Today, hundreds of thousands of Syrians are again fleeing an upsurge in violence and the ongoing attacks on healthcare facilities. Since December Russian-backed Syrian government forces have upped their assault on Idlib province, slowly chipping away at its southern edge. The offensive has pushed over half a million people out of their homes in the…

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he’s very confident that Britain and the United States can get over their differences about the involvement of the Chinese tech giant Huawei.

They were two embattled leaders standing side by side, hailing a new peace deal for Israel and the Palestinians. 

United Nations’ human rights investigators have called for an immediate investigation into the possibility that a video file sent on WhatsApp from the account of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, or MBS, may have hacked the phone of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post.

The Iranian President has rejected a suggestion by Boris Johnson that President Trump should replace the 2015 nuclear accord with a new “Trump deal”.