World review: Trump’s sister spills beans, Ramaphosa ANC attack, 10 nations without Covid

US President Donald Trump’s eldest sister, a former federal judge, has said her brother is a liar who “has no principles”, secret recordings reveal.

The critical remarks by Maryanne Trump Barry were recorded by her niece, Mary Trump, who last month published a book excoriating the president.

“His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God,” Ms Barry is heard saying. “It’s the phoniness and this cruelty.”

Mary Trump said she had taped her aunt to protect herself from litigation.

Mr Trump responded to the latest revelations in a statement issued by the White House, saying: “Every day it’s something else, who cares.”

The recordings were first reported by The Washington Post, after which the Associated Press obtained them.

The man who killed 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand in 2019 had plans to target a third mosque, his sentencing hearing has heard.

Brenton Tarrant also planned to burn down the mosques, wanting to “inflict as many fatalities as possible”.

The Australian has pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 attempted murders and one charge of terrorism.

Tarrant, 29, faces life in prison, possibly without parole – a sentence never before imposed in New Zealand.

The attacks, parts of which the gunman streamed live online, saw him open fire at two mosques in Christchurch on 15 March last year.

He first drove to the Al Noor mosque, firing on people taking part in Friday prayers. He then drove about 5km (3 miles) to the Linwood mosque and killed more people.

The attack sent shockwaves around the world and prompted New Zealand to make swift changes to its gun laws.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a scathing attack on corruption by some members of the governing African National Congress.

In a letter to all its members he referred to recent scandals of the awarding of tenders for equipment to deal with coronavirus, as well as accusations of awarding jobs as favours and the issue of state capture.

The president said: “We must acknowledge that our movement, the African National Congress (ANC), has been and remains deeply implicated in South Africa’s corruption problem.”

He added that though there are others involved in the problem the ANC “does stand as accused number one”.

One issue he highlighted was local ANC leaders using “food parcels meant for the poor to buy political favours from those people in the branch or broader community”.

He said that the government was now taking action but the fight against corruption required a commitment from all members.

Covid-19 has infected almost every country in the world – apart from 10. So what do they do now?

The Palau Hotel is so named because, when it opened in 1982, it was the Palau Hotel. There were no others.

Since then, this tiny nation, surrounded by the sky-blue Pacific Ocean, has enjoyed a tourism boom.

In 2019, 90,000 tourists came to Palau, five times the total population. In 2017, IMF figures showed, tourism made up 40% of the country’s GDP.

But that was pre-Covid.

Palau’s borders have been, in effect, closed since late March. It is one of the 10 countries in the world with no confirmed cases (excluding North Korea and Turkmenistan).

Countries with no recorded Covid-19 cases

• Palau
• Micronesia
• Marshall Islands
• Nauru
• Kiribati
• Solomon Islands
• Tuvalu
• Samoa
• Vanuatu
• Tonga

To keep the country Covid-free, boats that have been in infected countries are banned from entering the country’s ports.

Other boats, including fuel tankers and container ships, must spend 14 days at sea before entering. Fishing licences are unsold, and cargo flights have been cut.

The effect is clear. The Marshall Islands specialise in aquarium fish – the most popular is the flame angel fish – but exports fell by 50%, according to one US report.

The shore-based shipment of sashimi tuna fell by the same amount. Other fishing industries expect a 30% fall during the year.