worldwide news
I knew I was in trouble a few days ago when I looked in the mirror and saw a sheepdog looking back.Giselle, who has been keeping my shaggy hair in reasonable shape for years, is now in forced retirement until April 19. She is not alone.VOA Geneva reporter Lisa Schlein poses for a selfie at …
Read more “COVID-19 Diaries: Stories of Desperation Are Going Unheard”
Fifty crew members aboard France’s sole aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, have tested positive for the new coronavirus and parts of the ship have been put in lockdown, the armed forces ministry said on Friday. A ministry statement said that three sailors had been evacuated by air to a military hospital in Toulon, …
Read more “France Reports 50 COVID-19 Cases Aboard Aircraft Carrier”
One January lunchtime in a car parts company, a worker turned to a colleague and asked to borrow the salt.In that instant, they shared the coronavirus along with the saltshaker, scientists have since concluded.That their exchange was documented at all is the result of intense scrutiny, part of a rare success story in the global …
Read more “Pass the Salt: The Minute Details that Helped Germany Build Virus Defenses”
Finance ministers from the 19 eurozone countries Thursday agreed on a package worth more than half a trillion euros to help companies, workers and health care systems mitigate the economic consequences of the coronavirus outbreak.Mario Centeno, president of the Eurogroup of eurozone ministers, called the package of measures “totally unprecedented.””The package we approved today is …
Read more “Eurogroup Strikes Half-Trillion Euro Deal to Help Members Cope with COVID-19”
Governments from the 19 countries that use the euro overcame sharp differences to agree Thursday on measures that could provide more than a half-trillion euros ($550 billion) for companies, workers and health systems to cushion the economic impact of the virus outbreak.Mario Centeno, who heads the finance ministers’ group from euro countries, called the package …
Read more “Euro Countries Agree on Half Trillion Euros in Support”
Amid their anxiety and mourning for friends and family in their virus-stricken homeland, the diplomats at Italy’s embassy in Washington are working earnestly to secure help from afar.“We are all concerned by the situation in Italy. Our thoughts are constantly with relatives and friends, some of whom live in the hardest-hit areas of the country,” …
Read more “Italian Envoys in Washington Muster Help for Homeland”
Many people in Italy are calling for the government to begin easing restrictions now that the coronavirus spread is showing what some see as signs of slowing down. The daily death toll has been dropping steadily, as have admissions to intensive care units. But with about 500 people still dying each day, the country’s prime …
Read more “Italian Prime Minister: It’s Too Early to Relax Coronavirus Measures”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has moved out of intensive care as he continues to recover from COVID-19, a spokesman said on Thursday.”The Prime Minister has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery,” the spokesman said.”He is in …
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that the nation’s latest coronavirus statistics give some reason for hope but cautioned against a “false sense of security.”Germany has confirmed 113,296 COVID-19 infections and over 2,300 deaths as of Thursday, the Johns Hopkins University reported.At a news briefing in Berlin, Merkel said the figures indicate the increase in …
Read more “German Chancellor Expresses Cautious Hope over Latest Coronavirus Data”
Two planeloads of Eastern European farmhands arrived Thursday in Berlin and Duesseldorf amid strict precautions to protect the country from the new coronavirus, as an ambitious German program to import thousands of seasonal agricultural workers got underway.Seasonal workers had been caught up in the country’s ban on travel after the outbreak of the coronavirus. That …
Read more “Germany Flies in Seasonal Farm Workers Amid Virus Measures”
With humans away, the whales will play.In another sign that wild animals are roaming more freely while locked-down people are sheltering indoors from the coronavirus, a maritime patrol has filmed remarkable images of whales powering through Mediterranean waters off the coast of southern France.The graceful pair of fin whales was filmed Tuesday in waters off …
Read more “Whales Filmed Having Whale of a Time During Lockdown”
After a brutal 10-year financial crisis, Greece was on course to a promising rebound. Businesses and exports were slowly but consistently growing, and tourism was booming. With the coronavirus, however, the biggest money-making industry for Europe’s poorest economy, is in peril.This was supposed to be a record year, with this tiny, sun-kissed nation and its …
Outside wartime nothing like it as ever been seen before in modern Western history. The lockdowns by democratic states with their draconian constraints on civil liberties and private enterprise fly in the face of an historical progression that’s seen the size and roles of governments shrunk and individual liberty boosted.As governments mobilize resources and coerce …
Read more “In Global Life-Death Struggle, Democracy Changes Course”
A year after a fire that shocked the world and destroyed the roof of Paris’ ancient cathedral of Notre Dame, France is marking the first anniversary amid the coronavirus pandemic. Workers who were removing lead contamination ahead of reconstruction were sent home as part of efforts to contain the spread of the virus.It has been …
Read more “Rebuilding of Paris’ Notre Dame Stalled as Pandemic Rages”
It is usually the most crowded week of the year in the Eternal City, but for the first time in recorded history, Rome — including the Vatican — are deserted on Holy Week as travel and fear of contagion keep thousands of pilgrims away. For VOA, Sabina Castelfranco reports. …
Maddalena Ferrari lets herself cry when she takes off the surgical mask she wears even at home to protect her elderly parents from the coronavirus that surrounds her at work in one of Italy’s hardest-hit intensive care units.In the privacy of her own bedroom, where no one can see, the nursing coordinator peels away the …
Read more “Italy, Spain ICU Pressures Decline, but Emotional Toll Rises”
European markets reversed course Wednesday after two days of gains, as optimism about the trend of the coronavirus pandemic was tempered with news of a mounting death toll.Britain’s FTSE, the CAC-40 in Paris and the DAX in Frankfurt were all trending down over 1% by late Wednesday afternoon. The selloff followed Asia’s mixed trading session, …
Read more “European Markets Fall Wednesday as Coronavirus Optimism Fades”
A British official said Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in stable condition Wednesday after spending a second night in the intensive care unit at a London hospital for coronavirus disease treatment. Junior Health Minister Edward Argar said Johnson was “comfortable and in good spirits.” The prime minister has been hospitalized since Sunday after his symptoms persisted during …
Read more “PM Johnson Spends Second Night in Intensive Care”
Tuesday saw an increase in deaths and new COVID-19 cases in Britain, France, some eastern European countries, Sweden, Japan and the United States, while China, South Korea and a handful of other countries reported a decline in deaths and new infections. China on Tuesday ended the 76-day lockdown in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, where …
Read more “Countries Worldwide in Different Stages of COVID-19 Trajectory”
Russia and Saudi Arabia meet with other countries Thursday on cutting oil production while they continue a price war that has driven down U.S. gasoline and oil prices.The talks could calm prices that declined in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Russian television several days ago that the coronavirus crisis is one of the principal causes of what he called the …
Read more “OPEC Meeting Could End Oil Tug-of-War Between Russia, Saudi Arabia”
Across a locked-down France, strawberries, lettuce and asparagus are ripening, near-ready for picking. Other plants are poking through the warming soil, thanks to rising temperatures and generous sunshine. But the tens of thousands of Polish, Romanian and Moroccan workers who normally flood in for spring harvest are nowhere in sight.France is not the only country …
Read more “To the Farms, Citoyens! France Urges Citizens to Fill Labor Gaps”
Local authorities in Ukraine have dismissed residents’ concerns that forest fires near the Chernobyl nuclear power station have led to unsafe radiation levels.The radiation levels in the capital Kyiv and the exclusion zone established around the plant in 1986, after an explosion there that caused the world’s worst nuclear accident, “did not exceed natural background …
Read more “Ukraine Fights Fires in Chernobyl Zone, Says no Radiation Jump”
After dropping for straight days, Spain’s health ministry announced Tuesday both the coronavirus daily rate of new infections and the death rate were higher overnight.At news briefing in Madrid, the health ministry’s Dr. Maria Jose Sierra reported the number of new infections grew at a faster pace from Monday, rising 4.1 percent to 140,510 total …
Read more “Spain Sees Uptick in Spread of COVID Cases, Overnight Deaths”
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has announced a $434 billion package of additional economic aid for Italian companies of all sizes struggling in the wake of the coronavirus crisis that has hit Italy especially hard.At a news conference with his cabinet in Rome Tuesday, Conte said the funds will be split between aiding the domestic …