Cricket bosses are confident they can salvage the international summer insisting they can be good to go ‘behind closed doors' in just four weeks.

The £500,000 donation by England's centrally-contracted players is equivalent to a three month 20 per cent pay cut.

England cricket superstar Ben Stokes has praised all NHS workers involved in fighting coronavirus every day.

Moeen Ali has opened up on the return of cricket but has sent a stark warning to his fellow players and the decision-makers on the sport.

The England cricket team are ready to play Test matches behind closed doors this summer.

Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa and his Elland Road staff are worried that they won't see the best of striker Jean-Kevin Augustin before the end of the season due to his numerous injury problems, as the promotion race hots up in the Championship.

Arsenal have been told the kind of funds they must commit to sign Odsonne Edouard from Celtic in the summer transfer window.

CORONAVIRUS will quickly culminate before vanishing almost overnight, an astrologer has bizzarely claimed.

THE End of the world is said to follow the construction of a third Jewish Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which according to some, will be a prophetic sign of the biblical apocalypse.

NOSTRADAMUS is hailed as the world's greatest prophetic mind, with three predictions people think he got right. Did he predict the coronavirus outbreak?

CORONAVIRUS has sparked a global health crisis, prompting many to seek comfort in the Bible - but what does the Bible have to say about COVID-19?

AN ALIEN hunter believes he has spotted a UFO over Spain, which he claims intelligent extraterrestrials are using to monitor the coronavirus situation.

THE Ark of the Covenant has been lost for more than 2,000 years but one expert believes the holy relic could be lurking deep beneath Jerusalem.

Ross Brawn has uncovered the masterplan to get F1 going again in July.

Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have enjoyed some interesting battles over the years.

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have a fight on their hands in F1 with Max Verstappen.

In these unprecedented times, we have published the following open letter thanking those working in the meat industry for their co-operation.

TWENTY-three British citizens left stranded in Morocco as a result of the coronavirus pandemic have been returned to their homes in Gibraltar on two specially commissioned vessels.

GEORGE GALLOWAY has claimed the circumstances that set off the First World War could be repeating themselves in 2020, as he warned of a conflict between the US and China.

A RAT virus has mutated and made the jump from animal to human infecting a total of 11 people in Hong Kong.

POPE BENEDICT is "making Francis' life a misery" as rumours of a major row between the two Vatican titans continue to boil, an expert has warned.

GLENN MILLER mysteriously disappeared several months before VE Day - but one expert claims his death was due to determination to win World War 2.

SCIENTISTS believe the coronavirus pandemic could have started as early as October and participants at the Military World Games, held in Wuhan that month, could have unwittingly helped transmit the lethal virus around the world.

TWO of Germany's local authorities will bring back certain lockdown measures in some areas following an increase in infections after the government's easing of restrictions.

MY mother was born in 1928 and grew up in Kent.

SO enough with the panic buying, already. Now that we're all settling down into quarantine and accepting that the new normal is going to be never seeing anyone, ever again, now is the time to reflect on the last few weeks. And what the last few weeks have revealed to me is that the contents of my cupboards have changed beyond all comprehension.

Profits of £2.6million have been donated to NHS Charities Together after Saturday's Virtual Grand National.

GEORGE SOROS made a chilling warning about the state of global markets in 2012 that has fresh relevance today as world leaders grapple with the unprecedented challenge of rebuilding the post-coronavirus economy.

MELANIA TRUMP, 50, has been the US First Lady since 2017. A style expert has explained how she ensures she stands out when she steps out with Donald Trump, 73.

MELANIA TRUMP may be in one of the most controversial families in the White House's history but her fashion and beauty style is almost always impeccable. But what's the secret to her thick, lustrous hair?

THE QUEEN has one of the most extensive jewellery collections in the world, and is particularly noted for her tiaras. The Belgian Sapphire is a particular favourite of Her Majesty's - and it has a scandalous former royal owner.

LASH extensions may be a distant memory for some as the UK lockdown continues and salons remain closed. But there are ways to give yourself longer lashes at home if you're missing the fuller flutter.

PRINCESS ANNE, 69, appeared in a video on the Royal Family Instagram to celebrate the International Day of the Midwife. A video of the Princess Royal, the Queen's only daughter, was posted to the IGTV of the account.

Leeds continues their Premier League promotion push with a dominant 4-0 win against Hull on Saturday.

Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa has admitted that he faces a selection headache for the Whites' Championship game against Huddersfield on Saturday, and he could drop striker Patrick Bamford in favour of youngster Tyler Roberts, with the 21-year-old scoring twice against Hull last weekend.

The relationship between health and poverty is reasonably well known; one can exacerbate and contribute to the other in a vicious cycle.

This update, as well as including a few health stats updates, provides further information on noncommunicable diseases (which cause some two-thirds of all deaths each year) and more details on the relationship with poverty.

Read full article: Global Health Overview

In the US the protest movement is symbolically against the top 1%. Income data from the US Congressional Budget Office, however, shows that it isn’t just the top 1% benefiting far more than the rest of American society, but the top 0.1% in particular.

High levels of inequality is generally believed to affect social cohesion. Some findings suggest that once nations are industrialized, more equal societies almost always do better in terms of health, well-being and social cohesion and that large income inequalities within societies destroys the social fabric and quality of life for everyone.

This update to the poverty page adds a section on inequality in the US, as well as adding some additional information about research showing globally some 147 multinational companies having core global influence and power.

Read full article: Poverty Around the World

A recent IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program was portrayed by most Western mainstream media and politicians as new proof Iran is close to building nuclear weapons. The US Senate passed sanctions on Iran targeting its central bank in response.

However, the report does not say what the mainstream media and politicians claim. It has been much more guarded and much of it is about the state of Iran’s program up to 2003. After that period, the report is much more uncertain. Furthermore, many experts contend that the speculations (not definitive proof) that are in the report are misguided, too, leaning on unreliable sources, for example.

This update to the page on Iran has more information about this. Although the page is long, look for the new section about half way down under the heading of Regurgitating old stories as new information to justify sanctions?

Read full article: Iran

US campaign financing rules have been relaxed even further in recent years, making a worrying problem about the state of American democracy worse (because those with money have even more ability to try and buy votes or influence policy).

Media coverage of this issue, though it may pop up from time to time, seems quite limited. Perhaps because it is estimated that television stations this year could make as much as eight billion dollars from political campaigns.

The state of US mainstream media has unfortunately been lamentable for many years, and after the issues around hurricane Katrina, it was thought that the media would be rejuvenated. Unfortunately it does not seem that way.

This page has been updated with further information about campaign financing issues and how limits in the US have been lifted making the problem worse. Also added were notes on US press freedom, and an info graphic on media ownership concentration.

Read full article: Media in the United States

Twenty years ago at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, countries adopted Agenda 21 — a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection. Marking that anniversary, this year sees Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, with aims to get bold agreements to address things like poverty, sustainable development, decent jobs, etc.

This page provides coverage of recent events via Inter Press Service’s news feed.

Read full article: Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development

For a while now many European governments have resorted to austerity measures to deal with the recession and financial crises affecting them. This may have either been by choice, or pressured from the outside.

However, as has been warned countless times, excessive austerity rarely works. Furthermore, focusing on debts and deficits appears to miss the point that the economic problems were caused by a collapse in markets and banking sector in particular, resulting in less revenues for governments; not necessarily an excessive overspend by governments.

Some of the policies being forced through even when evidence appears to show they do not work lead many to think that austerity and structural adjustment policies are being ideologically pushed for — just as they were on most of the developing countries for almost 2 decades with devastating results.

Indeed, in the US, investigations have found billionaires pouring hundreds of millions of dollars on campaigns to fix the debt making it appear as a grassroots movement. Fixing the debt of course happens to leave the elite less affected, so it works to their advantage to push for something like that.

Without more focus on appropriate economic growth, there is a real risk in going backwards, and even undermining democracy.

The global financial crisis page on this web site has been updated with new sections and videos on this issue.

Read full article: Global Financial Crisis

In recent years, global military expenditure has increased again and is now comparable to Cold War levels. Recent data shows global spending at over $1.7 trillion, despite the global economic conditions. It is still approximately 1% increase since 2008 when the financial crisis began, for example.

Not all nations have felt the impacts of the global financial crisis in the same way. Some have grown economically, including many Asian countries, which has allowed some of them to increase their military spending. There are geopolitical interests at stake for various powers, so economic troubles or not, military spending is seen as important to maintain, or at least to minimize possible reductions.

The highest military spender is the US accounting for 39% of the world’s spending, more than the next top 10 countries combined, and more than all its potential enemies, combined. But this represents a slight decline over previous years as other nations, especially China and Russia, increase their spending. At the same time, the US has reduced military spending for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Western Europe’s austerity programs affect their military spending budgets.

This update includes new and updated figures, graphs and charts exploring this further.

Read full article: World Military Spending

In these unprecedented times, we have published the following open letter thanking those working in the meat industry in Wales for their co-operation.

The British Open has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Masters is all about the roars that sweep around Augusta National on the back nine on a Sunday but sometimes it is a different noise that carries through golf's most evocative landscape. The collective gasps of thousands of patrons; the soundtrack to calamity.

The Ryder Cup remains scheduled to take place in September despite other major golf tournaments being postponed.

EXCLUSIVE: Justin Rose opens up on applauding the NHS from afar, supporting online fundraising efforts with fellow celebrities and why the Ryder Cup should not take place behind closed doors.

The PGA Tour has been disrupted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - but will player eligibility be affected?

HOWEVER idyllic the destination, some things are always the same. You're going to get sunburnt - even if you lather on the factor 50. At one point you will long for a British cup of tea. And that scavenging local wildlife - such as the obligatory one-eyed cat - are always a reliable constant.

NATWEST customers are being warned to watch out for potential scams, as fraudsters attempt to take advantage during the coronavirus crisis.