Paris, France | AFP | As Europe and the United States struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic, aid groups warn that without measures millions could die in low-income countries and war zones such as Syria and Yemen, where hygiene conditions are already dire. The outbreak has infected some 580,000 people …
Read More »International tourism to plunge up to 30% due to virus: UN
Madrid, Spain | AFP | International travel will likely fall by 20-30 percent in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, putting millions of jobs in the global tourism sector at risk, the World Tourism Organization said Friday. This revises sharply lower a forecast made on March 6 of a …
Read More »Xi tells Trump China and US must ‘unite to fight virus’
Beijing, China | AFP | China and the United States should “unite to fight” the deadly coronavirus pandemic, President Xi Jinping said in a call with Donald Trump on Friday, as he called for the US to improve relations. The two countries have clashed in recent weeks over the virus, and …
Read More »Boris Johnson tests positive for COVID-19
London, United Kingdom | AFP | British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday that he is self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. “Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus,” he said on Twitter, posting a video message. “I am now self-isolating, …
Read More »Spectre of coronavirus quarantine haunts Hungarian democracy
Budapest, Hungary | AFP | A “dictatorship” at the heart of the EU? A draft law to grant anti-coronavirus emergency measures set for adoption by Budapest has alarmed observers who fear it will hand Prime Minister Viktor Orban unlimited power. “Hungary is a special case, nowhere else have you the kind …
Read More »Mardi Gras a ‘perfect storm’ for virus spread in New Orleans
Washington, United States | AFP | New Orleans, the Louisiana city known as the “Big Easy” famed for its jazz and nightlife, has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic gripping the United States. Bourbon Street, the normally bustling heart of the French Quarter, is eerily quiet, its music silenced and …
Read More »US tops world in virus cases and logs record unemployment
Washington, United States | AFP | The United States now has more COVID-19 infections than any other country, and a record number of newly unemployed people, as the coronavirus crisis deepens around the world. Healthcare systems in even the most developed nations are being stretched to breaking point with grim warnings …
Read More »Trump proposes dividing US by coronavirus risk levels
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump, keen for an early lifting of economically costly social distancing measures against the coronavirus, said Thursday he would propose dividing the United States by risk levels. In a letter to state governors released by the White House, Trump said that better testing now allows the mapping …
Read More »Coronavirus: latest global developments
Paris, France | AFP | Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: – US Senate passes huge rescue package – The US Senate unanimously approves the nation’s largest-ever rescue package, a $2 trillion lifeline to suffering Americans, depleted hospitals and an economy ravaged by the pandemic. The measure must …
Read More »Pope reportedly tests negative for virus after Vatican scare
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis was reported Thursday to have tested negative for the novel coronavirus after a person in his residence was said to have contacted COVID-19. Several Italian newspapers with reputable sources in the Vatican said the Italian clergyman who got sick had lived for …
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