Several European Union member states are slowly reopening their doors in lockdowns that have impacted millions of people, many of them children. The lockdowns were introduced by authorities citing concerns about the spread of the new coronavirus disease COVID-19.
European countries hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as New York, the epicenter of the outbreak in the US, have reported progress in fighting the coronavirus. There have been reports of lower daily death counts, slowing rates of infection and reductions in the numbers of patients admitted to intensive care units.
President Donald Trump said Sunday negotiations with Democrats continue on another coronavirus relief package to replenish funding for small business loans, also known as the Paycheck Protection Program.
Adhering to social distancing regulations aimed at stemming the coronavirus outbreak, thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv’s emblematic Rabin Square on Sunday night for the latest ‘black flag’ demonstration against an alleged erosion of Israeli democracy under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser yesterday ordered a one-month extension of the state of emergency, as cases in the region grow at a rapid pace. Federal officials in the nation’s capital expect a New York-like epidemic in the District, Maryland and Virginia, one that could potentially cripple the government.
Orthodox believers in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia held church services, despite warnings that they complicated efforts to halt the new coronavirus pandemic. Worldwide, millions of Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter – the most important festival in their calendar, amid a series of restrictions and bans to prevent more infections.
Europe’s death toll from the new coronavirus COVID-19 approached 100,000 on Sunday, and over 1 million Europeans were infected, a European health agency announced.
Christians and other minorities in Pakistan face starvation as they are denied food aid for refusing to convert to Islam, aid workers say. The Emergency Committee to Save the Persecuted and Enslaved (ECSPE) confirmed that authorities and government-backed groups refuse to provide relief to non-Muslims despite a nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Germany’s health minister says the month-long lockdown has brought the coronavirus outbreak in his country under control. Jens Spahn spoke while several other European Union nations struggled to contain the new virus disease COVID-19.
The chief of the European Union’s executive has made ‘a heartfelt apology’ to Italy for the block’s slow response in handling the coronavirus pandemic. Italy suffered more than 21,000 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest toll in Europe, officials say.
Christians in Pakistan have been denied food by authorities since the country’s COVID-19 lockdown began on March 21, Arutz Sheva 7 reports. In four incidents recorded this month by International Christian Concern (ICC) and Jihad Watch, Christians were told food aid was for Muslims only.
With much of Hungary in lockdown, a minister attended a quite ceremony to remember the 600,000 Hungarian Jews killed in the Holocaust. At a time when much attention focuses on the coronavirus pandemic, Justice Minister Judit Varga made clear those who died should never be forgotten. Dressed in black, she placed pebbles, flowers, and candles at the Shoes on the Danube embankment monument in Budapest, the capital.
All signs are pointing to a global economic crisis of proportions not seen in decades in the face of the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
China reported that its first-quarter GDP contracted by 6.8% in 2020 from a year ago as the world’s second-largest economy took a huge hit from the coronavirus outbreak, data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China showed.
Hungary has condemned global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for saying that an ‘Orwellian law’ has imposed an ‘information police state’ in the country. RSF urged two United Nations rapporteurs to condemn the governments of Hungary and dozens of other nations for ‘violating the right to information’ about the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. President Donald Trump has told governors that some could begin reopening their states by May 1 or earlier if they wanted despite ongoing coronavirus infections, according to audio recordings distributed Thursday.
Protests continue in the United States against the perceived ‘tyrannical’ lockdown orders to halt the coronavirus pandemic. In Richmond, Virginia, dozens of people gathered outside the state legislature Thursday in defiance of stay-at-home rules, which the governor instituted until June 10. ‘STOP the MADNESS! It’s just a COLD VIRUS! End the shutdown for the GOOD of U.S. all!’ read one sign.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that some big decisions will be announced Thursday about how parts of the U.S. economy will begin to reopen after stay-at-home orders closed businesses and led to millions of lost jobs across the country.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral arguments by telephone for the first time since it first convened in 1790.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns of global social unrest if government measures to halt the coronavirus pandemic are seen as unfairly favoring the rich.