British Lawmakers Grill Government on COVID-19 Response

The new opposition leader in the British Parliament accused the government Wednesday of being slow in every aspect of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.New opposition Labor Party Leader Keir Starmer made the comments during a “hybrid” session of Parliament, with half the members participating through videoconference and the members who were present practicing social …

Greece, Cyprus Lash Out at Turkey for ‘Illegal’ Drilling in Eastern Mediterranean

Turkey has been flying F-16 fighter jets over the Libyan coast as it steps up its intervention in the country’s civil war. It also has sent a vessel to drill for oil off the coast of Cyprus, angering the island republic and its sister state, Greece. The two EU members states have placed their militaries …

Britain Says 2 Research Teams Progressing on Potential COVID Vaccines

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced Tuesday that two separate British research teams are making significant progress on a COVID-19 vaccine, with one them planning to run trials on people on Thursday.At a news briefing in London, Hancock said researchers at both the Imperial College of London and Oxford University had are moving into the …

From Cycle Couriers to Fruit Sellers: Hungary’s Workers Adapt to COVID-19 Crisis

As Europe counts the human and economic costs of the coronavirus lockdowns, Hungary appears to have gotten off lightly. It has nearly 2,100 reported cases and 213 deaths so far, compared to tens of thousands in the worst-hit countries. Nevertheless, economists predict the country’s GDP will shrink by close to 10 percent. As Henry Ridgwell reports, many workers are having to adapt quickly to the dramatically changing labor market in …

Spain’s COVID-19 Cases, Deaths Show Slight Increase Overnight 

Spain’s Health Ministry said the country saw deaths attributed to the new coronavirus rise on Tuesday, with 430 new fatalities, bringing the total death toll to 21,282. At a news briefing in Madrid, Fernando Simon, director of the Health Ministry’s Coordination Center for Health Alerts, told reporters that as of Tuesday, 204,178 people were infected, up …

Police Battle Uptick of Unrest in Locked-Down Paris

Paris police are facing a modest uptick of unrest in the oft-troubled suburbs of the locked-down French capital, making a small number of arrests after fires were set and fireworks lobbed to shatter the calm imposed by stay-home measures to counter the coronavirus.   A scattering of vehicle and trash can blazes and firework explosions …

Hungary’s DC Ambassador Back in Budapest to Run Pro-Orban Media Group 

Hungary’s ambassador to Washington has stepped down and returned to Budapest on short notice to take charge of a beefed up messaging operation in support of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling party.The party, Fidesz, announced last week that it was launching an Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Dec. 12, 2019.The …

Countries Reopen After Flattening Coronavirus Curve 

Several countries in Europe and Asia are gradually easing their coronavirus lockdowns this week. From extensive testing to strict social distancing, these countries took aggressive measures before cautiously lifting some restrictions. On Monday, South Korea lifted closure advisories on high-risk venues such as churches, bars and sporting facilities. The number of new infections had dropped to a single digit the day before.“We have the room to consider balancing infection control and economic activities,” said South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, …

COVID-19 Diaries: Living With the Unknown as Pandemic Widens in Istanbul

COVID-19 came late to Turkey, compared to its European neighbors, but the reality of the threat is increasingly impacting life — and with it fears that we are in it for the long term.Turks are accustomed to living through turbulence and, invariably adapt quickly to change. Dramatic change soon becomes the norm, and life moves …

Turkey Blocks Saudi and UAE News Websites 

Turkish authorities blocked Saudi and United Arab Emirates news websites on Sunday, days after the sites of Turkey’s state broadcaster and news agency were blocked in Saudi Arabia. The apparently reciprocal moves come four weeks after Turkish prosecutors indicted 20 Saudis over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a killing …

US Navy Complains of Another ‘Unsafe’ Russian Jet Interception 

U.S. military officials have complained that a Russian fighter jet came dangerously close to a U.S. surveillance plane in the Mediterranean Sea, the second such encounter in four days in the region. In its statement on Sunday, the U.S. Navy did not say where exactly the encounter occurred, only that it happened over international waters. Several aircraft …

Pandemic Forces First-ever Digital Holocaust Remembrance Day

Berthe Badehi, who hid from the Nazis as a child during World War II, has become one of the many Holocaust survivors confined in their homes to evade the coronavirus. “It’s not easy, but we do it to stay alive,” the 88-year-old said of her current self-isolation at home in Israel. “One thing I learnt during the …

Global Health Crisis Pits Economic Against Health Concerns

The global health crisis is taking a nasty political turn with tensions worsening between governments locked down to keep the coronavirus at bay and people yearning to restart stalled economies and forestall fears of a depression.Protesters worrying about their livelihoods and bucking infringements on their freedom took to the streets in some places. A few …

World Cruise, Begun Before Virus Pandemic, Approaching Spain 

Passengers on a luxury liner’s around-the-world cruise, begun before the globe was gripped by the coronavirus pandemic, are finally approaching the end of their odyssey after 15 weeks at sea. The ship, the Costa Deliziosa, was heading Sunday toward a port in Spain before ending its journey in Italy — both countries devastated by the coronavirus …

Orthodox Churches Hold Diminished Easter Services Amid Pandemic 

Orthodox Christians observed the Easter holiday amid extraordinary coronavirus-related restrictions on services that forced many parishioners to watch services on TV or online. Church leaders have struggled to figure out how to observe the April 19 holiday — the holiest day in the Orthodox calendar — while avoiding spreading the coronavirus. Some local parishes have defied orders from public …

2.3 Million COVID Cases Around the World 

Coronavirus cases rose to 2.3 million around with world, with the U.S. seeing steady increases but several other countries reporting declining numbers. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center says over 735,000 cases and nearly 40,000 deaths have been recorded in the United States, now the epicenter of the virus that first broke out in China late …

Hundreds of Parishioners Attend Orthodox Easter Vigil in Georgia

Hundreds of Christian parishioners went to churches in ex-Soviet Georgia to attend Orthodox Easter Vigil despite a state of emergency and calls from the government and doctors to stay home amid outbreak of the coronavirus.Dozens went to the South Caucasus country’s main Sameba (Saint Trinity) cathedral in Tbilisi, where 87-year-old Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II held the …

Greece Relocates 50 Migrant Minors to Germany Amid Coronavirus

Fifty unaccompanied minors have been transferred from Greece to Germany. They are the second group of relocations in a week and hundreds more are expected to follow as Greece moves ahead with a plan to ease overcrowded conditions at camps on the front line of Europe’s lingering refugee crisis.      Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis …

Germany Staggers World With Low COVID-19 Death Rate

BREMEN, GERMANY — While countries around the world struggle with a lack of hospital beds and equipment for coronavirus patients, German cities such as Bremen have taken in patients from neighboring countries.     On a recent Saturday, Bremen received its first two French coronavirus patients from Strasbourg as Germany’s neighbor France struggles with hospitals …

Lockdown Weighs Heavily on Orthodox Christians During Easter

For Orthodox Christians, this is normally a time of reflection and mourning followed by joyful release, of centuries-old ceremonies steeped in symbolism and tradition.But this year, Easter — by far the most significant religious holiday for the world’s roughly 300 million Orthodox — has essentially been canceled.There will be no Good Friday processions behind the …