New York

From now on, people in the US state will be able to apply for marriage licences remotely and clerks allowed to conduct ceremonies virtually.

Mr Cuomo joked that the decision meant there was now "no excuse" for couples not to tie the knot.

"You can do it by Zoom. Yes or no?" he said in his briefing on Saturday.

The decision comes after New York state extended lockdown measures until 15 May. More than 13,000 people have died of coronavirus in New York city alone.

Social media reaction to the decision was mixed.

From now on, people in the US state will be able to apply for marriage licences remotely and clerks allowed to conduct ceremonies virtually.

Mr Cuomo joked that the decision meant there was now "no excuse" for couples not to tie the knot.

"You can do it by Zoom. Yes or no?" he said in his briefing on Saturday.

The decision comes after New York state extended lockdown measures until 15 May. More than 13,000 people have died of coronavirus in New York city alone.

Social media reaction to the decision was mixed.

The state's confirmed caseload of Covid-19 jumped by 10,000 on Thursday to 159,937, placing it ahead of Spain (153,000 cases) and Italy (143,000).

China, where the virus emerged last year, has reported 82,000 cases.

The US as a whole has recorded 462,000 cases and nearly 16,500 deaths. Globally there are 1.6 million cases and 95,000 deaths.

While New York state leads the world in coronavirus cases, its death toll (7,000) lags behind Spain (15,500) and Italy (18,000), though it is more than double the official figure from China (3,300).

New York has been hit hard by coronavirus, with more than 3,500 deaths and the number of recorded cases exceeding 113,000.

In collaboration with the Knicks, Nets and Huang, the NBA is moving to help New York's workers.

"The @NBA is contributing 1 million desperately needed surgical masks for New York's essential workers in collaboration with @nyknicks, @BrooklynNets and China's Consul General Huang Ping," governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

"New York thanks you. We are beyond grateful for this gift of critically needed PPE."

New Rochelle has seen "probably the largest cluster" of US cases, he said.

National Guard troops will be used to clean schools in the town and deliver food to any quarantined individuals.

The death toll in Italy, one of the countries worst hit by the virus, rose to 631 as the authorities placed the whole country in lockdown.

The latest increase in deaths in Italy - 168 - is the biggest the country has recorded in a single day, and the total number of cases went from 9,172 to 10,149.

The Pacific was chosen for the session because the region had pressing issues affecting children's rights, including the climate crisis and access to health care and education, according to committee chair Luis Ernesto Pedernera Reynasession.

The committee said it would allow members to hear directly from governments, charities and others including children themselves.

The meetings are due to take place on 2-6 March.

The house in Monsey, north of New York City, was hosting a religious celebration when the attacker burst in, according to the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC).

The suspect fled but was later taken into custody, police said. The motive was not immediately clear.

One of the victims was stabbed at least six times, OJPAC said in a tweet.

The attack came a day after New York city police said officers were stepping up patrols in heavily Jewish districts following a spate of anti-Semitic threats and attacks.

Energy company Con Edison said more than 70,000 homes and businesses lost power in Manhattan, the most densely populated of the city's five boroughs.

The outage lasted for about five hours.

It came on the anniversary of a massive power failure in 1977 that plunged the New York skyline into darkness and triggered widespread looting and arson.

Shortly before midnight (04:00 GMT Sunday) Con Edison head John MacAvoy said all six networks which had been affected were now up and running.

They appear to have been taken by an as yet unidentified construction worker who helped to clear up the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers and surrounding area.

The CDs were in poor condition but the data was ultimately retrievable.

The archivists have uploaded the photos to Flickr.

The digital albums include images of Ground Zero itself taken both at ground level and from above, construction staff at work and the damaged interiors of the blocks surrounding the towers.

Speaking in Auckland on Monday Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said it had eight firm orders for the new aircraft and an agreement with Boeing includes an option to increase the number of aircraft from eight to up to 20. 

The deal is worth US$2.7 billion (NZ$4.12b). Air New Zealand has negotiated a significant discount on current list prices and the parties have agreed not to disclose the actual purchase price.