Brasília, Brazil | AFP | A 99-year-old World War II veteran in Brazil was released from hospital with military honors Tuesday after recovering from COVID-19. Second Lieutenant Ermando Piveta, who served in the Brazilian artillery in Africa during World War II, was brought out of the Armed Forces Hospital in Brasilia to a burst of …
Read More »Trump suspends WHO funding over COVID-19
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump announced Tuesday a suspension of US funding to the World Health Organization because he said it had covered up the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak in China before it spread around the world. Trump told a press conference he was …
Read More »Pandemic causing deep recession, and it could get worse: IMF
Washington, United States | AFP | The coronavirus pandemic is pushing the global economy into its deepest recession in a century, cutting world output by three percent this year, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. If the virus is contained and economies can begin operating again, 2021 should see a rebound …
Read More »McDonald’s apologises after China store bans black people
Beijing, China | AFP | US chain McDonald’s has apologised after a sign telling black people they were banned from entering a branch in southern China prompted outrage online, following reports of discriminatory treatment towards Africans in the city. Tensions have flared between police and Africans in the southern metropolis of …
Read More »Cardinal Pell threatened online a week after leaving jail
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Australian Cardinal George Pell, released from prison last week after a court overturned his child sex conviction, was warned by police Tuesday of online threats against him, as new abuse allegations also emerged. Pell walked free last week after the Australian High Court cleared him …
Read More »Gold shoots to seven-year peak on weaker dollar
Just after 1230 GMT, gold rallied to $1,731.25 an ounce on the London Bullion Market, striking a peak last seen in November 2012. The dollar slid against main rivals Tuesday in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s ongoing stimulus policies that are aimed at cushioning the blow to the world’s …
Read More »Auschwitz online: raising Holocaust awareness in the digital age
Oswiecim, Poland | AFP | Every day, Pawel Sawicki, head of social media at the Auschwitz Museum, posts several photos of victims of the former Nazi German death camp on a Twitter account that has become a powerful tool in Holocaust education. A recent post to the account, which has a …
Read More »From father to son, the shared experience of the Holocaust
New York, United States | AFP | Daniel Terna experienced neither the Holocaust that nearly killed his father nor the war that spawned it, but since childhood he has been immersed in the inherited trauma. It’s been 75 years since the liberation of concentration camps in Nazi Germany, four of which …
Read More »Russia’s small businesses buckling under virus restrictions
Moscow, Russia | AFP | When President Vladimir Putin announced a paid holiday for the month of April to keep Russians home and prevent the coronavirus from spreading, many small business owners braced themselves. How would they keep to the president’s promise of paying employees while they were shut down? The …
Read More »US eyes virus ‘plateau’ as world weighs cautious reboot
Washington, United States | AFP | Coronavirus deaths in the hard-hit United States were flat for a second consecutive day, with New York’s governor saying the “worst is over” as many countries weigh a gradual reopening of their shattered economies. Since emerging late last year, the coronavirus pandemic has killed around …
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