Worldwide news. The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique while others talk of a “plurality of worlds”
Christian Etchebest’s Parisian bistro is a shadow of its usual bustling self. Five lunch specials sit in neat paper bags on the bar awaiting takeout customers — a tiny fraction of his normal midday business before the coronavirus. A skeleton staff rotates in daily at La Cantine du Troquet near the banks of the Seine River, …
Read more “Europe’s Employment Aid Keeps Jobs from Vanishing — for Now “
Britain Thursday went all out to honor the 100th birthday of a World War II veteran who has become a national hero for his $37 million fundraising effort for the nation’s health service.A retired engineer and captain in the British Army during World War II, Tom Moore wanted to do something nice for the National …
Read more “Britain Honors Fundraising WWII Vet on 100th Birthday”
Russia is warning that any U.S. attempt to use a low-yield nuclear weapon against a Russian target would set off a massive nuclear response.The Russian foreign ministry was reacting to a State Department paper released last week that says placing low-yield nuclear weapons on ballistic missiles launched from submarines would counter what it sees as …
Read more “Russia Threatens Massive Response if US Deploys Low-Yield Nukes on Subs “
Poland’s prime minister said Wednesday that the presidential election must be held in May despite the coronavirus pandemic to meet the requirements of the constitution. Mateusz Morawiecki said, however, that the May 10 election date may be pushed back by a week or two. “Constitutional experts say that the election is also possible on successive dates: …
Read more “Polish Leader Insists on May Vote, Even if Delayed Slightly “
British people love to talk about the weather. Never more so than when they’re locked in their houses, it seems. With perfect irony, the sun hasn’t stopped shining since the coronavirus lockdown began on March 23 – and everyone’s talking about it. It’s been unseasonably warm, with temperatures in London topping 25 degrees Celsius. For those …
Read more “COVID-19 Diaries: After Pandemic, What Kind of World Will Emerge?”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds announced the birth of a son on Wednesday, just two days after Johnson returned to work following hospitalization for the coronavirus. Johnson’s office said Symonds gave birth to a “healthy baby boy at a London hospital” on Wednesday morning, and both mother and infant were …
Read more “UK Leader Boris Johnson, Fiancee Announce Birth of Baby Boy”
The coronavirus crisis risks becoming an existential crisis for the European Union, say diplomats and analysts, as the EU struggles to coordinate a financial response to the pandemic. Last week, the EU’s national leaders struck an interim agreement on a recovery deal with an emergency fund of about $581 million (a half-billion euros), which the hardest hit member states can …
Read more “EU Leaders Remain at Loggerheads Over Economic Solidarity”
Ready or not, Greece is opening back up. But it is not happening all at once, as the government plans to lift coronavirus restrictions in phases, keeping a ban on religious services to contain new outbreaks of COVID. The plan has infuriated the Greek Orthodox Church and it is now demanding preference over businesses like …
Read more “Greek Church Demands Government Ease Controls on Religious Services”
The U.K. held a minute’s silence Tuesday for all front-line workers who have died from the coronavirus, as official figures showed a new weekly high in the total number of deaths in England and Wales. As clocks struck 11 a.m., senior political leaders, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, joined hospital and nursing home staff in …
Read more “UK Mourns Front-Line Workers Who Have Died from Coronavirus”
Germany’s farmers, foresters, and firefighters are eagerly awaiting widespread rain forecast for later this week, as a warm, dry spring has raised fears of a third summer drought in as many years. Ahead of a virtual climate meeting Tuesday for officials from 30 countries, German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said the previous two years of …
Read more “Germany Hopes for Rain to Avoid 3rd Straight Summer Drought”
Doctors in Britain, Italy, Portugal and Spain are exploring a possible link between a severe inflammatory disease in children and the coronavirus. A growing number of children of various ages in several European countries have been admitted to hospitals with high fever and heart issues. Some also have suffered from gastrointestinal problems, such as vomiting and diarrhea. The children appear to be suffering from Kawasaki disease, which is more common in parts of Asia where it afflicts children younger …
Read more “COVID Link Suspected in Children’s Inflammatory Disease”
Scientists at Oxford University are racing to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus well ahead of the standard medical timeline. The scientists have expressed confidence in their ability to do it quickly, raising hopes around the world that a vaccine will not have to wait until next year. The first injections of the vaccine being developed by the university’s Jenner Institute in …
Read more “Scientists at Oxford Take Early Lead in Race to Create Vaccine “
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock expressed cautious optimism Monday about the COVID-19 outbreak in that country, but said the government is sticking with its lockdown restrictions to continue “flattening the curve.” Speaking at a news briefing in London, Hancock said the nation is coming through a peak in the outbreak but said it would “count for nothing if we let things slip now and risk a second peak.” He urged …
Read more “British Health Secretary Says Nation ‘Coming Through Peak’ of COVID-19 Outbreak “
Firefighters in Ukraine continue to battle a series of fires near the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant nearly a month after they broke out.The State Service for Emergency Situations said on April 27 that brigades were still working to extinguish fires in the Lubyanskiy, Paryshivskiy, Dytyatkivskiy, and Denysovytskiy forest districts in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.”The …
Read more “Ukraine Continues Fighting Fires Near Defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Plant”
The holy month of Ramadan is underway, and the Central Jamia Mosque Ghamkol Sharif in Birmingham should be full of worshippers. But this year, the main arrivals are the dead. While the mosque in the central England city has been closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic, its parking lot has been transformed into a …
Read more “Mosque’s Makeshift Morgue Shows Virus Toll on UK Minorities”
In Spain the confinement began on March 14. Since then we have not been out on the street, except to buy food and throw away the garbage. There are 45 apartments in the building where we live with our young son, 200 meters from the sea in the Poblenou neighborhood of Barcelona. It was built …
Read more “COVID-19 Diaries: In Spain, Routine Keeps Adults and Children Sane”
European markets are starting the trading week in positive territory as governments around the world begin to gradually lift restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus epidemic. London’s benchmark FTSE was trading 1.4% higher in Monday’s late-afternoon session, the CAC-40 in Paris had gained 1.9%, and Frankfurt’s DAX index was 2.8% higher. All of Asia’s indexes made significant …
Read more “European Markets Begin Week in Positive Territory “
The Dutch national birthday party for their king was a muted affair Monday, dubbed King’s Day at Home because of coronavirus restrictions. King Willem-Alexander was celebrating his 53rd birthday with his family at home in their palace in a forest on the edge of The Hague after a mass celebration in the southern city of …
Read more “King’s Day at Home: Dutch Monarch’s Birthday Muted by Virus”
Greeted by relieved parents, pet dogs, flares and a cloud of orange smoke, a group of 25 Dutch high school students with very little sailing experience ended a trans-Atlantic voyage Sunday that was forced on them by coronavirus restrictions.The children, ages 14 to 17, watched over by 12 experienced crew members and three teachers, were …
Read more “Dutch Students Complete Atlantic Crossing Forced by Virus”
The Russian Agriculture Ministry announced Sunday that it was suspending its export of most grains until July 1, seemingly ignoring warnings from international organizations who are asking countries not to disrupt global food supply chains during the current COVID-19 pandemic.The ministry said the Russian cutoff affected shipments of wheat, corn, rye, barley and meslin, which …
The itch to dance, to break out of coronavirus lockdown and bust a few moves in the fresh air, out on the street, has proved too strong for some to resist in Paris after weeks of staying home.Video of Parisians dancing in the street this weekend, some wearing face masks, triggered buzz and criticism on …
Read more “Parisians Defy Lockdown by Dancing, Briefly, in the Street “
The United Nations says persistent and serious long-term consequences remain more than 30 years after the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.The world body is marking International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day on April 26, the 34th anniversary of the accident that spread a radioactive cloud over large parts of Belarus, …
Read more “UN: Consequences Remain Decades After Chernobyl Disaster”
The Netherlands is sending urgent medical supplies to Greece to help shield tens of thousands of migrants and refugees following a series of COVID-19 outbreaks in Greek refugee camps. The government in Athens is boosting controls there, but it is also tightening lockdown rules for migrants, stripping violators of asylum rights and slapping them with …
Italians on Saturday celebrated the 75th anniversary of Liberation Day — and the end of World War II fascist rule — under a national lockdown.Stranded at home, they went out on their balconies waving flags, singing, clapping and cheering. Among them were elderly Italians who participated in the resistance movement in the 1940s against German …
Read more “Italians Mark Anniversary of Liberation Under Lockdown”