Conspiracy theories linking 5G technology to coronavirus have resulted in dozens of phone masts across the UK being vandalised in recent weeks. Theories about the dangers of 5G had already been circulating, despite regulators confirming that the radiation levels of the new technology are well within safe boundaries. So how did the conspiracy incorrectly linking it to 5G start? And is 5G really dangerous? We explain why 5G has nothing to do with Covid-19

As lockdown continues, Owen Jones speaks to private renters about how the pandemic has affected them. From activists in tenants' unions and NHS workers struggling to find accommodation to students who’ve had their final terms disrupted and are left unsure about what to do with their accommodation, he asks them if they are worried about what comes next 

A street artist called Msale has taken it upon himself to create giant murals bringing public health messages directly to the overcrowded Mathare slum in Nairobi. With half a million people living in such 'a squeezed area'  social distancing is quite impossible to achieve, says Msale, so he is providing information for people on how to keep safe in the 'simplest, clearest' way he knows

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The spread of Covid-19 in India has been catastrophic for millions of its poorest and marginalised residents who are bearing the brunt of the world's biggest shutdown. Hannah Ellis-Peterson tells us how coronavirus and the lockdown is further dividing the country along class and religious lines

• In the most vulnerable countries, poverty could be as deadly as the coronavirus crisis
• Destitute migrant workers in India forced to pay train fares home

• This video was amended on 7 May 2020 to clarify that there are millions of migrant workers in India, but not 480 million as an earlier version suggested.
  

Despite a decade-old financial crisis that has crippled its hospitals, Greece appears to be keeping its coronavirus outbreak under control, with a far lower death toll than many other European nations. Dr Yota Lourida, Infectious Diseases specialist at Sotiria hospital in Athens, explains how it dealt with the crisis, and the steps taken by the country to mitigate against potentially catastrophic outcomes

Lebanon’s coronavirus lockdown has sent an economy already in deep trouble into freefall, and many are struggling to survive. Gino Raidy is an activist who was prominent during the October 2019 anti-government corruption protests. Now, with many fearing hunger and believing there is nothing left to lose, he is helping to keep demonstrators safe as they demand real and lasting change

• You think we care about masks?': anger and poverty grip Lebanese city

Resuming the season is absurd and the ‘safety’ ideas are terrible, but whatever football decides it must decide together

“You eat alone, you choke.” During the years of plenty it became a habit to compare the Premier League’s wielding of power – always with a note of admiration – to the structures of a mafia family.

It isn’t hard to see why: the hierarchy of captains, the beautifully ruthless sense of unity, of a cartel of self-propelling interests. And yet the thing about mafia families is that now and then those interests start pulling in different ways. In mob lore breaking ranks is sometimes referred to as “eating alone”, with a certainty that bad things follow – and worst of all that bad business follows.

The broadcaster, 58, on God, privacy, Mini convertibles, the rudeness of Madonna and her school nickname, Vanessa the Undresser

Even aged two, I was a child of great perspicacity. At nursery we had to answer the register by saying “Yes, Auntie” or “Present, please”, which I found deeply confusing. First, I thought, you’re not my auntie. And if I’m asking politely for a present every day, where on earth is it?

Vanessa the Undresser was my nickname at school, and I put that down to my parents. When a sex scene started on TV I was banished to the hall. I’d stand with one ear against the door desperately trying to work out who was doing what to whom and in what position. Thus was aroused in me an unshakable thirst for sex in all its permutations. I’ve never tired of it, menopause or not.

They have a middle-class reputation, but one outdoor school near Nottingham is reconnecting disadvantaged 10-year-olds with nature and a sense of freedom

When Kate Milman was 21, she paused her English degree at the University of East Anglia to join protests against the Newbury bypass. It was 1996, and the road was being carved out through idyllic wooded countryside in Berkshire. She took up residence in a treehouse, in the path of the bulldozers, and lived there for months. It was a revelation. She lived intimately with the catkins, the calling birds, the slow-slow-fast change in the seasons. Despite being in a precarious position as a protester, she felt completely safe and her brain was calmed.

“You know when you go camping and go back to your house, and everything feels wrong? The lighting is harsh and everything seems complicated indoors. It just got under my skin, this feeling – that [living in the woods] is like being at home.”

She is the oldest person to grace the fashion bible’s cover – and she’s a hit on social media. Who says that getting older signals an end to vitality?

You can’t call Judi Dench lazy when it comes to contributing to society, but she’s been particularly dedicated to boosting morale of late. Who knows, perhaps she felt pressured to make up for her turn in the unhinged Cats film, where her feline character horrified viewers by appearing to wear a coat made of its own fur. Dench has provided vital comic relief during this time of crisis, predominantly with silly social media clips – a Twitter video of her wearing a novelty dog hat with pop-up ears in which she instructs us to “keep laughing” racked up 5.4 million views. Now she has supplied a far meatier pick-me-up by becoming, at 85, British Vogue’s oldest cover star.

Related: Judi Dench becomes British Vogue's oldest cover star

The story of global conflict is all the more powerful when it isn’t seen in black and white. Artist Marina Amaral explains her latest work

On a stretcher lies a patient; his ashen face protrudes from under a green blanket, eyes closed. Two uniformed women carry the stretcher, wearing face masks. It looks as if it’s a lovely day: the sun is shining, the shadows dark, the sky blue. But this is not a happy picture. Is the casualty even alive, or has he already been taken by the killer virus that has wrapped itself around our planet like a python, squeezing the life from it?

The photograph was taken at an ambulance station in Washington DC. Within the past couple of months? It could have been, if it weren’t for the uniforms (I don’t think today’s nurses wear lace-up leather boots) and the stretcher. In fact, it was taken more than a century ago, in 1918, during the Spanish flu epidemic, which killed so many millions. The photographer is unknown, forgotten. But the black and white picture was recently “colourised” by Marina Amaral.

Teenagers affirm evidence that suggests they are particularly struggling with coronavirus crisis

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When, in late February, Betsy Sheil turned 16, she thought she was staring down the end of secondary school, not the beginning of global pandemic.

“I was going to finish year 11 and do my GCSEs, then I was going to have a really long summer with my friends, hopefully go abroad – have that summer that everyone has.”

Horn was famed for introducing a pet cheetah to the magic show and was mauled on stage by a tiger in 2003

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Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy, the duo whose extraordinary magic tricks astonished millions until Horn was critically injured in 2003 by one of the act’s famed white tigers, has died from coronavirus complications. He was 75.

Horn died of on Friday in a Las Vegas hospital, according to a statement released by his publicist Dave Kirvin.

Decca Classics’ youngest-ever signing, Christian Li, has been hailed a ‘superstar’ who is already up there with the greats

The classical music world is no stranger to young talent. The 19th century virtuoso Niccolò Paganini started playing aged seven, while Yehudi Menuhin caused a sensation with his performance, at the same age, of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Now, however, there’s a new kid on the block, whose backers say transforms from “normal child” to “absolute superstar” the moment the lights dim. Christian Li, a 12-year-old schoolboy violinist from Melbourne, recently became the youngest-ever artist signed by the Decca Classics record label. He will release a new recording later this month, a contemporary adaptation of a traditional Chinese folk tune.

Systemic flaws within Glynn county’s district attorney offices led to a lack of action against the men involved in this ‘modern lynching’

In the days and weeks after Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed, multiple Glynn county law enforcement officials failed to thoroughly investigate his death and, in one case, refused to allow police officers to make arrests, the Guardian has learned.

Related: Ahmaud Arbery is dead because Americans think black men are criminals | Benjamin Dixon

If you would like to take part in a project about love and loss, we’d like to hear from you

After losing his father and younger sister in recent years, photographer Simon Bray has an appreciation of what it feels like to lose someone close to you, and through his photography project Loved&Lost, he offers the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate those who are no longer with us.

If you have lost someone through coronavirus and would like to take part, we’d like to hear from you.

This week the Upside reflects on the community spirit felt in our current crisis and the one that ended in 1945

Guardian colleagues have been up to all sorts during lockdown – when they’ve not been working hard that is. At least three have acquired pets and many are digging up the garden or allotment. Potato printing, street chalk drawing, spring cleaning, DIY, it’s all going on. One particularly ingenious staffer is knitting woollen hats for boiled eggs.

Islanders are coming to terms with unexpected publicity from the contact-tracing pilot project

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Last Sunday, we woke to the news that the Isle of Wight really had been chosen as the pilot location for the NHS coronavirus contact-tracing app, the idea having been floated by the leader of the council at the start of the previous week.

Thus a manic week began here at News OnTheWight, where we’ve been pumping out stories as usual, taking part in national media briefings, delving into details of the app and exploring privacy issues while dealing with queries from media outlets from around the world. All sorts of organisations started pushing press releases supporting the app – the most unexpected being the Church of England.

When Matt Hancock, the health secretary, announced at last Monday’s press conference, “Where the Isle of Wight goes, Britain follows”, there was a collective spitting out of tea on the island and beyond. Of course there were the predictable jibes – “How do I install the app on my fax machine?” was one of the best we heard, and once again, creativity was ignited with memes and T-shirts.

With such attention, locally it felt like little else but the app was discussed.

How has the app gone down? Lots of people seem to be jumping on board, claiming any perceived privacy downsides as a small price to pay. Others, with earlier smartphones, were excluded. Older residents overheard in the post office said they really wanted to use the app but their steam-powered mobile phones weren’t capable.

Epidemiologists use the term to describe tragic excess deaths – but for Covid-19 it seems to be the de facto government policy

There’s a term we use in epidemiology to capture the essence of increases in deaths, or excess mortality, above and beyond normal expectations: “harvesting”. During heatwaves, or a bad season of influenza, additional deaths above what would be normally seen in the population fit this description. Harvesting usually affects older people and those who are already sick. Generally, it is viewed as a tragic, unfortunate, but largely unpreventable consequence of natural events. It carries with it connotations of an acceptable loss of life. It is, in a sense, what happens as part of a normal life in normal times. But the word also has darker connotations: those of sacrifice, reaping, culling. As such, while it may appear in textbooks of epidemiology, it doesn’t occur in national influenza strategic plans or national discourse. The concept of harvesting is restricted to epidemiological circles.

But what if politicians promote the notion of harvesting (while declining to use the term) where it is not a “natural” consequence of events but a direct consequence of government policy? What if the medical and nursing world do not accept harvesting in these circumstances? What if a policy that results in harvesting cannot be articulated because it is unacceptable to the broader population? This is where we have got to with the coronavirus pandemic. Nowhere better exemplifies this tension between a policy and its popular acceptance than the effects of coronavirus in nursing homes.

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Britain is a latecomer to decarbonising transport but changes under lockdown and initiatives abroad could spark a revolution

It was a grim irony that the best transport news in ages was buried in the first few days of the coronavirus lockdown. On 26 March, the government published a document, Decarbonising Transport, which went further in facing up to the problem of emissions from air and vehicle traffic than most campaigners had dared to hope for.

The challenge is enormous. In 2016, transport overtook energy to become the single biggest source of domestic emissions. Motor vehicles on their own are responsible for around a fifth of the total. On aviation, the UK is the world’s third-worst polluter, behind China and the US.

• GoFundMe page for Navajo and Hopi aid lists many Irish names
• Choctaw Nation sent donation in 1847 for potato famine victims

The list of recent donors reads like an Irish phone book. Aisling Ní Chuimín, Shane Ó Leary, Sean Gibbons, Kevin Boyle, Kevin Keane, Clare Quinn, Eamonn McDonald, on and on down a GoFundMe page that by Friday had raised $3.15m of a $5m goal.

The individual amounts are not remarkable – $10, $20, $30, some exceeding $100 – but the story behind the donations stretches back two centuries and encompasses a singular act of generosity that forged a bond between Native Americans and Ireland, a bond now renewed in the coronavirus era.

Country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko boasts of holding only parade in former Soviet Union

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Thousands of people, including elderly veterans of the second world war, turned out for Belarus’s Victory Day military parade despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Images from the parade showed crowds packed on to parade bleachers as the country’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko, boasted of holding the only parade in the former Soviet Union to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany.

They believed insurance would cover the pandemic but have received demands for thousands

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Couples who have been unable to get married because of the coronavirus lockdown have had their wedding insurance claims rejected – in some cases despite being assured they were covered before buying their policy.

The Guardian has heard from people who have lost thousands when claims were turned down by provider WeddingPlan Insurance.

Would-be cyclists keen to exercise during the lockdown have cleared stores of their stock

Isabel had not ridden a bike since university 10 years ago when lockdown motivated her to seek out two wheels. But half a dozen cycle shops in south London gave her the same answer: no chance. We’re out of stock.

One or two said they could sell her a high-spec racing bike for a price in the region of £1,000. The others advised her to place an order, wait a couple of weeks for the bicycle to be delivered from the manufacturer, then another week or so for it to be built by the store. And there was no option to try before buying.

Your questions answered on what type of mask to wear to cut the risk of getting Covid-19

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Yes. Different types of mask offer different levels of protection. Surgical grade N95 respirators offer the highest level of protection, preventing the user from becoming infected with Covid-19, followed by surgical grade masks. However, these masks are costly, in limited supply, contribute to landfill waste and are uncomfortable to wear for long periods. So even countries that have required the public to wear face masks have generally suggested such masks should be reserved for health workers or those at particularly high risk.

Inaccuracies in the testing, such as false negatives and false positives, are potentially harmful

A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak

• Follow our latest coronavirus blog for live news and updates

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

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• How to protect yourself from infection

Please note: these are government figures on numbers of confirmed cases – some people who report symptoms are not being tested, and are not included in these counts.

Belarus leader holds parade prompting safety concerns as other nations curb WW2 events; Russia records 10,000 new Covid-19 cases; Spain’s daily death toll continues to fall. Follow the latest updates

• Global report: Trump says Covid-19 will ‘go away without vaccine’
• Mike Pence press secretary tests positive to Covid-19
• Brazil’s Bolsonaro must ‘drastically change course’, says The Lancet
• Coronavirus at a glance
• Australia – live news

3.54pm BST

A child was among sixteen migrants rescued four miles off the coast of France when their makeshift vessel bound for Britain ran into difficulties in the middle of the night, authorities said.

The group was picked up 3.8 miles off the French port of Calais after calling for help, French maritime authorities confirmed to AFP. A French maritime surveillance vessel rescued the migrants at around 5am and transported them to the Channel port of Dunkirk, where they were handed over to border police.

3.21pm BST

Vladimir Putin has told Russians they are invincible when they stand together, as he sought to send a message of unity after the country’s tally of Covid-19 cases reached the fifth highest in the world.

Addressing the nation in a speech as he presided over Victory Day celebrations, a sombre Putin invoked the memory of the country’s veterans who fought in the second world war.

We are united by our shared memory, hopes and aspirations, as well as a sense of shared responsibility for the present and the future. We know and strongly believe that when we stand together, we are invincible.”

Mike Pence’s press secretary tests positive to coronavirus; China reports one new case; Russia reports 10,000 new cases for sixth day in a row

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Donald Trump has said coronavirus will “go away without a vaccine” and is expecting 95,000 or more deaths in the US, as Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for coronavirus.

The president’s comments, at an event with Republican lawmakers, capped a horror week in the US, in which it was revealed unemployment had risen to 14.7%, up from 3.5% in February, with 20 million people losing their jobs in April.

Campaigners call for redesign of transport system to help prevent bounce-back in air pollution

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The government is expected to unveil a £250m investment in UK cycle lanes to encourage commuters to ride to work instead of using public transport, as part of the effort to prevent a resurgence of coronavirus.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, is expected to make the funding announcement during his appearance at the Downing Street coronavirus briefing on Saturday.

Travellers into UK will be quarantined for two weeks when they arrive as part of measures to prevent a second peak, Boris Johnson is expected to say. Follow the latest updates

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• UK arrivals will be required to self-isolate for two weeks

3.47pm BST

The transport secretary Grant Shapps will lead the government’s daily coronavirus press conference, which is due to begin shortly.

He will be joined by the deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam.

3.36pm BST

Tributes have been paid to a learning disabilities nurse who died after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Augustine Agyei-Mensah, known to his colleagues as Gus, was a highly regarded team member at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Our hearts break today for Augustine’s wife and young family. We remain committed to supporting them through this time.

Augustine epitomised what we stand for here at NHFT. He was committed to making a difference and giving people a second chance.

The floods that submerged one-fifth of Pakistan's territory took more than six months to recede.

One of the most affected regions was the Sindh region, located in the western corner of South Asia. 

At their peak, the floodwaters were up to 20 feet deep. About 20 million people were displaced.

But apparently, people were not the only ones seeking shelter from the devastating floods. 

One of the unexpected side-effects of the flooding has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising floodwaters, turning them into futuristic-looking trees cocooned in spiders' webs.

The people living in that area claimed they have never seen this phenomenon before but were glad to discover that those cocooned trees were actually significantly reducing the numbers of mosquitos and thereby, the risk of malaria. 

It is thought that the mosquitoes were getting caught in the spiders' webs which would be one blessing for the people of the area, facing so many other hardships after the floods. 

Check out some of the stunning photos, released by the department of international development.

People all over the world are now being advised to wear face masks to slow the spread of coronavirus. 

Luckily, Disney is here to bring a spark to this new corona fashion wear, especially for kids who are more frightened these days. 

In a statement on its home page, the company expressed its commitment to serving the communities during these challenging times by creating a new line of family-friendly reusable cloth face masks featuring its timeless stories and beloved characters.  

Disney announced it will donate one million cloth face masks for children and families in underserved and vulnerable communities across the U.S. and pledged to donate all the profits to the non-profit organization, Medshare, which specializes in redistributing medical supplies to hospitals in need. 

From Baby Yoda to Winnie The Pooh and Mickie Mouse, the masks are aimed at kids and kids at heart who can finally have a chance to let out their inner character. 

You can purchase a four-pack of face masks for $19.99 in small, medium, and large sizes. 

Check out some of the cool designs. 

Artist Cotton Valent has created a brilliant cat comic series called, "Creepy Cat."

Creepy Cat is the purrfect combination of creepiness and cats! Honestly, what more can you want in life? The story begins when Flora, the human, moves into an old house. Turns out, the old house is occupied by a "creepy cat." And that is where their story begins! 

You can follow the amazing series on Manga Mutiny! We love "Creepy Cat!"

According this is video, there are 7 stages in which a Maine Coon slowly falls in love with a newborn. Or at least in this case.

What are the stages?

Stage 1: "Ewww, what is it?"

Stage 7: "I'll take it from here, thanks."

Just kidding, but not really. Watch the see the delevoping love between the two! 

We could all use a daily dose of uplifting these days. And when we think of the word "uplifting," many things come to mind such as; cats, cats, cats, and more cats. 

But if we places that aside we also think of @TheLatestKate, the Instagram Queen of positivity through beautiful animal illustrations. 

If you're in need of a pick-me-up, take a moment and read through these lovely inspirational messages. And if you need even more, you can also follow @TheLatestKate on Instagram for daily motivation. 

So cute, so wholesome! 

Welcome to Cat Cafe Comics, a place filled with adorable and uplifting animal comics! Created by the talented Matt Tarpley, you can follow the cafe's Instagram page here for comics that will make you feel "warm and floofy!"

Get ready to smile! 

The hunt for an effective treatment for COVID-19 has led one team of researchers to find an improbable ally for their work: According to US and Belgian scientists, a four-year-old llama named Winter who lives in a secret location in Belgium could hold the key to a cure and help scientists find a treatment for COVID-19. The team — from The University of Texas at Austin, the National Institutes of Health and Ghent University in Belgium — reports their findings of a potential avenue for a coronavirus treatment involving llamas on May 5 in the journal Cell.

Our pets are our children, and they deserve to be spoiled as such.

That's why we had to share with you these tiny crochet cat couches created by the crafty people on the subreddit r/crochet.

Sure, you could go and just buy a cat bed without exerting much effort, but they're not as fun or cute as this too cute to handle cat couch.

So, if you're looking for a new crochet project to tackle, this has got to be it! 

The couches are shaped with thick foam and polyester filling to really give it that comfy sofa look.

There are a few craft stores online who are offering the crochet patterns if you like. 

This is neat! We've never given much thought as to what "sounds" languages around the world would give certain animals. 

Not to sound naive but we definitely thought "meow" was universal for the sound a cat makes... turns out, not so much. 

Creator of this super interesting and well-drawn graphics is freelance illustrator James Chapman. You can follow his Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and/or Twitter to be kept up-to-date with these fanasinating graphics! Did you know, in English, we say dogs go "Woof," but in Romanian they go "Ham Ham?"

Just something to think about. 

Let's bask in the warm sunshine that is wholesome and silly animal photos.

Let the images soak into your skin and heart, and just let that warmth spread to every inch of you. 

It's what you need. It's what we all need. And if for some reason this measurable dump of wholesomeness doesn't satisfy you, there's always more wholesomeness to be found. 

Trailer previews sci-fi action game from Tales of Vesperia team

Convention considers online replacement of September event

Online event still takes place on same September 2-4 schedule as previously planned physical event

Kana Hanazawa, Mariko Kouda, Ayaka Ohashi return from smartphone game

12-episode series previously set to premiere this fall

The Magnificent KOTOBUKI film's dialogue recording completed

Out-of-studio recordings continue from cast, crew's homes