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”
Julian Assange’s partner revealed Sunday that she had two children with him while he lived inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and she issued a plea for the WikiLeaks founder to be released from prison over fears for his health during the coronavirus pandemic.Assange has been imprisoned at London’s Belmarsh prison since police dragged out …
Read more “Assange’s Partner Reveals They had 2 Children and Urges Bail”
Greek forces are on heightened alert as reports have surfaced that Turkey is preparing to push through a fresh wave of migrants to Europe. Officials in Athens say, they fear that refugees infected with the coronavirus may be among the new wave of asylum seekers.Greek government officials contacted by VOA say the heightened alert follows …
Pope Francis addressed a world severely tested by the coronavirus, saying this is not a time for indifference because everyone is suffering and must be united. In his Easter message, he said that for many this is a time of worry about an uncertain future, about jobs that are at risk and about other consequences …
Read more “Pope: At This Time of Pandemic, No Time for Indifference and Division”
Elderly people may have to be kept isolated until the end of the year to protect them from the coronavirus, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in comments published Sunday.”Without a vaccine, we have to limit as much as possible contact with the elderly,” she told the Germany daily Bild.”I know it’s difficult and …
Read more “EU Chief: Social Isolation for Elderly May Last Until Year’s End”
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson was making “very good progress” Saturday in his recovery in a hospital from coronavirus, officials said, as the country’s death toll from the disease approached the grim milestone of 10,000.The 55-year-old leader was spending his second full day out of intensive care at London’s St. Thomas’ Hospital, where he has …
Read more “Britain’s Johnson Makes ‘Good Progress’ in Virus Recovery”
One inmate has been found dead after a riot and a blaze swept through a Russian prison under a coronavirus lockdown in eastern Siberia, authorities said on April 11.Independent news outlets reported that about 300 inmates were injured in the incident at Prison No. 15 in Angarsk, Irkutsk region.Trouble erupted on April 9 with authorities …
Read more “One Dead, Hundreds Injured in Russian Prison Riot, Fire”
Greek health officials have quarantined one of the country’s biggest Gypsy, or Roma, camps, scrambling to contain the spread of the coronavirus after multiple cases were detected there. The squalid settlement of 3,000 on the outskirts of the city of Larissa, 216 kilometers north of Athens, was locked down after at …
Read more “Greek Roma Camp Quarantined to Limit Spread of COVID-19”
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”