Trump, Congress agree on new stimulus package
President Donald Trump and congressional leaders have agreed on a new, nearly $500 billion stimulus package to help small businesses impacted by stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Donald Trump and congressional leaders have agreed on a new, nearly $500 billion stimulus package to help small businesses impacted by stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a Hill-HarrisX poll published on Monday, 74% of adults in America were concerned about losing personal freedoms to COVID-19. The survey also showed that 83% of respondents were concerned about infection from the coronavirus.
President Trump announced on Monday night that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he will be ordering a temporary suspension on immigration to the US. In a post on Twitter, the President said: ‘In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!’
Indonesia’s hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) group broke up a house church meeting in the country’s West Java province, prompting an angry response from the governor. Video footage obtained by Worthy News showed two men bursting into a home Sunday in Cikarang, 48 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Jakarta, the nation’s capital.
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.
A federal judge in Kansas issued a temporary restraining order Saturday, giving churches exemption from Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order banning gatherings of more than 10 people. The governor’s order was issued on March 23 to slow the spread of COVID-19, but was not extended to houses of worship until just before Easter as the virus infection rate climbed to a projected peak.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
America’s top law enforcer has warned state and local government officials against targeting the faithful amid distancing and lockdown measures to combat the new coronavirus pandemic. Attorney General Bill Barr said his Department of Justice condemns cases such as in the U.S. State of Mississippi where worshipers were fined for attending drive-in church service.
U.S. President Donald Trump has come under evangelical pressure to release people from immigration detention centers amid concerns the new coronavirus will spread in the overcrowded facilities. Nine leaders of evangelical groups urged the Trump administration to release those “who do not pose a threat to public safety” during the coronavirus pandemic.