European Union finance ministers agreed Thursday on a half-a-trillion euro ($550-billion) rescue package for European nations hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The chairman of the Eurogroup, Mário Centeno, confirmed the deal following marathon talks in Brussels where Italy warned the EU would collapse without financial solidarity.
Powerful cyclone Harold slammed into the South Pacific island nation of Fiji Wednesday, cutting off communications, causing buildings to collapse and injuring residents in Suva, the capital. The category 5 cyclone has already killed 27 people in the Solomon Islands and wreaked havoc in Vanuatu. The cyclone crisis in the South Pacific comes as local Island nations brace for the coronavirus pandemic.
Worldwide debt reached 322% of GDP last year, according to new figures which will worry governments planning post-coronavirus economic recoveries.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) rushed to defend his agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic after President Donald Trump threatened to cut U.S. funding to them. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed for unity and a halt to “politicization” of the global health crisis, saying China and the United States should show “honest leadership.”
Cyclone Harold tore through the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu for the second day on Tuesday. Buildings collapsed and communications were cut off in some parts of the island. As of Tuesday afternoon, no casualties had been reported.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was rushed to the intensive care unit at a London hospital after his condition worsened in a battle with the new coronavirus, COVID-19. “Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened, and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital,” said his Downing Street office in a statement. “The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputize for him where necessary.”
The United States and Britain braced Monday for what officials viewed as one of their darkest weeks in post-war memory as the social and financial toll of the coronavirus pandemic mounted and the British prime minister was in the hospital with the virus. Monday’s glooming scenario came as Italy, Spain, and France saw signs that they were flattening the pandemic curve, despite many people still dying there.
Efforts to combat the spread of locust swarms in East Africa are facing serious challenges as a result of border closures, flight shutdowns, and increased shipping prices, with the current swarms expected to grow 500 times by June.
A former European Commission president has said the coronavirus crisis may result in the break-up of the European Union. In a rare statement last weekend, Jacques Delors said the lack of European solidarity in dealing with the crisis presented “a mortal danger” to the EU. Others have expressed similar concerns.
Thirteen European Union nations say they fear that emergency measures to contain the new coronavirus pandemic could threaten “democracy and fundamental rights.” Their statement came after EU-member Hungary introduced coronavirus legislation that allows the increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to rule by decree without parliamentary approval.
Saudi Arabia and Russia signaled on Thursday they were ready to cooperate to help stabilize the oil market after calls with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the slump in prices triggered by the end of a deal to curb output and a collapse in demand.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon has been accused of helping to bring coronavirus to the nation. Opponents of the powerful group point out that Lebanon took three weeks to block flights from Iran, after a woman who had just returned from there tested coronavirus positive on February 20. Hezbollah is accused of causing the delay to ensure its supporters could return home. Denying the claims, Hezbollah is trying to show the Lebanon Shiite community that it is working to protect them from the outbreak.
The world’s largest investment bank and financial services company warns of a “deep global recession” due to the new coronavirus pandemic. New York-based Morgan Stanley says worldwide economic growth could slow by as much as 0.9 percent this year. “[The virus] COVID-19 is at once a human tragedy and unparalleled synchronous shock, affecting both the demand and supply sides of the global economy,” writes Morgan Stanley chief economist Chetan Ahya in a note.
President Trump warned that Iran and its allies are planning to attack American troops “and/or assets” in Iraq.
With roughly half the world in lockdown and many politicians weak or ill, the largest Dutch daily concludes in a headline: “World searching for LEADER.” De Telegraaf (The Telegraph) also expresses that “Nobody takes the lead in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.” Its commentator, Frank van Vliet, complained: “While the world is on fire, international politicians are running in one direction to put out their fire. No leader has taken the lead, and solidarity is lacking. They did not read author Alexander Dumas’ Three Musketeers because “one for all and all for one” has been replaced by “own people first.”
The Trump administration on Monday renewed several waivers on U.S. sanctions against Iran, allowing Russian, European and Chinese companies to continue to work on Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities without drawing American penalties.
North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the ocean off its east coast on Sunday, the latest in an unprecedented flurry of launches that South Korea decried as ‘inappropriate’ amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S.-led coalition withdrew on Sunday from a military base in northern Iraq that nearly launched Washington into an open war with neighboring Iran.
Ex-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is calling for a “temporary” one-world government as a supposed relief effort for economies hit by fear of spreading disease.
Iran’s theocratic regime could crumble under the pressure of the coronavirus outbreak that has spread through elite ranks and the broader population alike, according to the European Union’s top diplomat.