Canada's worst mass shooting erupted from an argument between the gunman and his girlfriend, who survived the attack, a police official said. The official confirmed to The Associated Press that the weekend shooting rampage in Nova Scotia stemmed from a domestic dispute involving the couple. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more details would be provided at a news conference.

Police have said 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman acted alone in the shooting spree that killed at least 22 people across northern and central Nova Scotia on April 18. There are 16 crime scenes in five different rural communities throughout northern and central Nova Scotia. The suspect was shot to death the next morning, about 13 hours after the attacks began.

UK retail sales fell a record 5.1% in March as many stores shut up shop in the face of the coronavirus lockdown. The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the steepest sales fall since it started collecting the data in 1996. Food and online shopping rose, and alcohol sales also jumped. But clothes sales tumbled by 34%. Online shopping as a proportion of all retail reached a record high of 22%, the ONS said.

"Retailers are in crisis mode as the impact of Covid-19 has obliterated sales to new record-lows," said Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics. Off-licences, which were added to the government's list of essential UK retailers last month, saw sales rise 31.4% in volume terms, although with most drinkers buying from supermarkets, they only contribute less than 1% of alcohol sales. The data comes amid dire estimates for the performance of the UK economy amid the lockdown.

Japanese officials are investigating an outbreak of the coronavirus among crew members of a cruise ship in Nagasaki, which has puzzled authorities because the southern port city has a relatively low number of infections and the vessel has been docked for almost three months. The outbreak on the Italian-operated Costa Atlantica surfaced Tuesday when officials from Nagasaki and Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, which is in charge of repairs and maintenance on the ship, announced that a crew member developed a cough and fever.

By Thursday, 47 crew had tested positive for the virus, a Nagasaki prefectural official Hironori Hashiguchi said. The ship has 623 crew, including a Japanese translator, and no passengers. It came to Nagasaki after changing its repair plan in China due to the pandemic. Officials did not disclose the nationalities of the crew.

A malaria drug widely touted by President Donald Trump for treating the new coronavirus showed no benefit in a large analysis of its use in U.S. veterans hospitals. There were more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, researchers reported.

The nationwide study was not a rigorous experiment. But with 368 patients, it's the largest look so far of hydroxychloroquine with or without the antibiotic azithromycin for COVID-19.

Researchers analyzed medical records of 368 male veterans hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infection at Veterans Health Administration medical centers who died or were discharged by April 11. About 28% who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone. About 22% of those getting the drug plus azithromycin died too, but the difference between that group and usual care was not considered large enough to rule out other factors that could have affected survival.