Month: September 2020

Swiss health authorities have ordered a quarantine for a staggering 2,500 students at a prestigious hospitality management school in the city of Lausanne after “significant outbreaks” of the coronavirus that are a suspected byproduct of off-campus partying.     Authorities in Switzerland’s Vaud canton, or region, said all undergraduates at the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, …

Read more “Quarantine Ordered for 2,500 Students at Elite Swiss School”

As the European Union introduces a new migration and asylum plan after a blaze at an overcrowded camp in Greece left thousands without shelter, a FILE – Venezuelan migrants on their way to Peru sleep along the Pan-American Highway between Tulcan and Ibarra in Ecuador, after entering the country from Colombia, Aug. 22, 2018.”Many of …

Read more “World Becoming Less Accepting of Migrants, Poll Finds”

Britain became the latest European country to impose restrictions on socializing Wednesday following a sharp rise in coronavirus transmission rates. The number of new cases is roughly doubling every week – and the Chief Medical Officer has warned of 50,000 new infections daily if the pattern continues. Britain has suffered the highest number of coronavirus …

Read more “Britain Imposes Pub Curfew as Coronavirus Cases Soar”

Belgium’s prime minister announced Wednesday she was lifting the nation’s mandatory outdoor mask requirement and easing other COVID-19-related restrictions, despite recent surges in new virus cases in the nation. At a news conference Wednesday, Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes told reporters that beginning October 1, Belgians no longer will be required to wear a mask outdoors, except …

Read more “Belgium Eases COVID-19 Restrictions Despite Surging Cases”

Germany’s health ministry Wednesday said its coronavirus smartphone app has been downloaded more than 18 million times and transmitted 1.2 million test results from labs to users during the first 100 days of use.Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin that while the “Corona Warn App” is far from perfect, it should be considered …

Read more “German Coronavirus App Transmits 1.2 million Test Results in First 100 Days, Officials Say”

For over a month, protesters in Belarus have demanded an end to the quarter century rule of longtime authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.  That follows what demonstrators say was a rigged presidential election and police crackdown aimed at keeping Lukashenko in power. And, as Charles Maynes reports, among those increasingly in police crosshairs are the 1.6 …

Read more “Belarus Government Targets Catholic Protesters as Struggle for Power Continues”

Leaked documents allege that some of the world’s biggest banks have allowed $2 trillion  worth of suspicious or fraudulent activity to take place – including money laundering for criminal gangs and terrorists. The so-called “FinCEN files” consist of more than two thousand Suspicious Activity Reports or SARs sent by banks to the U.S. Treasury, alerting …

Read more “Dirty Money, Criminal Cash: Bank Leaks Reveal Vast Scale of Global Fraud”

A spokesman for European Council President Charles Michel says a summit of European Union leaders scheduled for Thursday and Friday has been postponed, after Michel was forced to go into COVID-19 quarantine following contact with an infected security guard.  EU council spokesman Barend Leyts tweeted that Michel learned on Tuesday that a security officer, with …

Read more “EU Summit Postponed After Council President Quarantined”

Italy’s fragile coalition government breathed a collective sigh of relief Tuesday after voters denied the country’s populist leader Matteo Salvini the major electoral breakthrough he was seeking in hotly contested regional elections.  The center-left Democratic Party, PD, managed a comfortable victory in Tuscany, a region the left has ruled without interruption since regional governments were …

Read more “Italy’s Coalition Government Fends off Salvini”

The U.S. Justice Department and European law enforcement agency Europol Tuesday announced that 179 people were arrested following a nine-month operation aimed at disrupting opioid trafficking on the dark web. Most of the arrests took place in the United States, while others were apprehended in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Austria and Sweden, according to a …

Read more “US, Europol: Operation Disrupted Dark Web Opioid Trafficking “

Turkey is in the midst of a major naval construction program, seeking to restore regional maritime influence lost since the collapse of the Ottoman empire, and the project is already generating regional tensions.”Turkey will get back its fair share in the Mediterranean, Aegean and the Black Sea,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared last month. …

Read more “ Turkey Embarks on Naval Buildup, Stoking Tensions”

For the first time in its 75-year history, leaders of the United Nations’ 193 member states will deliver their annual speeches on the opening day of the world body’s General Assembly on videotape instead of in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Tuesday’s session will commence with a pre-taped message from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in …

Read more “United Nations General Assembly Opens Historic Session Tuesday”

The United Nations marked the 75th anniversary of its founding on Monday, amid a global pandemic and other serious challenges that the U.N. secretary-general said highlight the urgency for stronger international cooperation. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer has more.Produced by: Jesusemen Oni    …

Britain’s health minister went before parliament Monday to discuss the government’s response to a surge in positive COVID-19 cases in the nation.Matt Hancock acknowledged what the government’s top medical and science advisers had said earlier in the day – that COVID-19 has been surging across age groups throughout much of Britain.Among the steps the government …

Read more “British Health Minister Lays Out COVID-19 Response as Cases Surge”