A Russian court has ordered a delay in the trial of journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva, who faces terrorism-related charges for publishing an online commentary that linked a suicide bombing with the country’s political climate. The Pskov court on April 20 ordered the trial postponed due to the coronavirus epidemic now sweeping through Russia, “until the normalization of the sanitary and epidemiologic situation in the country.” Prokopyeva, a freelance contributor to RFE/RL’s Russian Service, called the decision “correct, because what we need is an open trial accessible to all.” Her lawyer, Vitaly Cherkasov, said it was impossible to say exactly when the trial may start due to the coronavirus restrictions imposed by the government. The charges of “justifying terrorism” stem from a November 2018 commentary published by the Pskov affiliate of Ekho Moskvy radio in which she discussed a bombing outside the Federal Security Service offices in the northern city of Arkhangelsk. Russian media reported that the suspected bomber, who died in the explosion, had posted statements on social media accusing the security service of falsifying criminal cases. In her commentary, Prokopyeva linked the teenager’s statements to the political climate under President Vladimir Putin. She suggested that political activism in the country was severely restricted, leading people to despair. Prokopyeva has described the case against her as an attempt to “murder the freedom of speech” in Russia. If found guilty, she faces up to seven years in prison. The case has drawn criticism from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and media rights groups like Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the European Federation of Journalists. RFE/RL President Jamie Fly called the charges “a cynical effort to silence an independent journalist.” 
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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 that soured relations between Ankara and Riyadh. Internet users in Turkey trying to access the sites of Saudi news agency SPA, the UAE’s WAM news agency and more than a dozen other sites saw a message saying that they were blocked under a law governing internet publications in Turkey. A spokesman at Turkey’s Justice Ministry declined to comment on the actions and Saudi Arabia’s government media office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Turkish website of the U.K.-based Independent newspaper, which is operated by a Saudi company, was one of the sites to blocked on Sunday, in a move that its editor said reflected political tensions between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. “We believe the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Turkey reflected on us,” editor Nevzat Cicek told Reuters. Sunday’s decision appeared to be “retaliation against Saudi Arabia,” he said. Saudi Arabia had blocked access to several Turkish media websites a week earlier, including state broadcaster TRT and the state-owned Anadolu agency. Residents in the United Arab Emirates, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, said the Turkish websites were accessible on Sunday. FILE – In this Oct. 10, 2018 photo, people hold signs during a protest at the Embassy of Saudi Arabia about the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in Washington.Tensions between Turkey and Saudi Arabia escalated sharply after Saudi agents killed Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. Last month Istanbul prosecutors indicted one of the prince’s close aides and a former deputy head of Saudi general intelligence on charges of instigating Khashoggi’s killing, as well as 18 men it said carried out the operation. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the killing was ordered at the “highest levels” of the Saudi government. Prince Mohammed has denied ordering the killing but said he bore ultimate responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto leader. 
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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 war was how to take care of myself.” Movement and travel restrictions in place to contain the pandemic have forced this week’s Holocaust Remembrance Day — Yom HaShoah in Hebrew — to be exclusively digital for the first time. In a normal year, symbolic events are organized at various locations, notably with survivors at the sites in Europe where the Nazis built concentration and extermination camps. This year, testimonials from survivors will be streamed online and featured in a pre-recorded ceremony to be broadcast in Israel by Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center, when Yom HaShoah begins on Monday evening. The limitations on organizing events this year served as a reminder that in the not-too-distant future ceremonies with survivors will no longer be possible because the last of them will have passed away. “We have talked a lot about what happens when survivors are not here,” said Stephen Smith, who heads the Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California. This week’s scaled-back commemorations, “made us realize what the future might be like,” Smith told AFP. “It is a test of our resolve…” “Maybe it is an opportunity to say… we won’t get 10,000 people at Auschwitz, but maybe we can get a million people (watching) online,” he added, referring to the Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Poland. ‘Attacking the Memory’ For survivors like Badehi, any comparison between COVID-19 isolation and Nazi-era confinement in ghettos and camps is inappropriate. “In France, during the war, we lived in fear, we hid our identity and we lost contact with our parents…” “Today, we may be locked inside, but we have contact with our children and grandchildren through the phone and internet,” added Badehi, who volunteered at Yad Vashem until it closed due to the virus. Dov Landau, a 91-year-old Auschwitz survivor, said it was “indecent” to make comparisons between the two eras. “Today we are neither hungry nor thirsty. Men, women and children are unlikely to be burned alive. Sure, I’m bored… but it’s nothing serious,” he told AFP. He regularly travelled from Israel to Auschwitz to speak to school groups, but those trips came to a stop because of the pandemic. Beyond cancellation of educational events, COVID-19 has posed a particularly grave threat to Holocaust survivors, given their age. The virus “is absolutely attacking the memory of the Holocaust because it is attacking the elderly,” Smith said, adding that he is aware of several survivors who have died from coronavirus-related complications. “It is also attacking our ability to (collect) these stories,” he said. ‘Sense of Urgency’The Shoah Foundation has developed an augmented reality application to document the journey across Europe endured by many Holocaust survivors. One survivor whose experience was scheduled to be documented this year was Eva Schloss, whose mother married Anne Frank’s father Otto after the war. Schloss “has an amazing story,” Smith said. “Very, very similar to Anne Frank, the only difference is that she survived.” “She was literally in the kitchen watching Otto prepare the diary for publication,” he said. Because of the pandemic, the foundation had to cancel plans to collect material with Schloss in Vienna, Amsterdam and Auschwitz. The foundation is partnering on the augmented reality project with The March of the Living, the prominent educational program that brings young people to the sites of concentration camps. Eli Rubenstein, a Toronto-based rabbi who heads March of the Living Canada, said he has spoken to many survivors who insisted they will be available to give testimonials next year. “They are very strong people, full of optimism,” he told AFP. But, he added, the delay forced by the pandemic “gives us a new sense of urgency.” 
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Some 180 migrants rescued at sea will be held in isolation on an Italian ferry off the coast of Sicily, the coast guard said Sunday.Italy has refused to take in saved migrants due to the coronavirus epidemic, saying the outbreak, which has killed over 23,000 people, meant it could no longer be considered a port of safety.Thirty-four people pulled to safety by Spanish NGO rescue vessel Aita Mari were being transferred Sunday to the Rubattino ferry, which is anchored outside the port of Palermo and staffed by 22 Red Cross volunteers.They join 146 migrants who were transferred to the ferry on Friday from the The Alan Kurdi rescue vessel, run by the German NGO Sea Eye.     They will be tested for the virus and redistributed among EU countries once the 14-day isolation period is up, according to Italian media reports.The 180-metre long Tirrenia ferry can carry 1,471 passengers, and has 289 cabins, a medical center, restaurant, bars, and a children’s play area.
 
It was not clear whether the migrants would be confined to individual cabins.                
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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 outbreak. Costa Crociere, an Italian cruise company, said that the Deliziosa, which set sail from Venice in early January with 1,831 passengers, had no cases of COVID-19 aboard.  The Deliziosa, a nearly 300-meter (1,000-foot) vessel, will disembark 168 Spanish passengers on Monday at Barcelona’s port. Then the Deliziosa will head to its final destination, Genoa, Italy, where it is expected to let off the remaining passengers, Italians and those of other nationalities, on Wednesday.  A company spokesman said a passenger left the ship earlier in the week in Marsala, Sicily, for health issues and had a COVID-19 test, which was negative. Being on the liner for weeks during the pandemic “was not surreal, it was incredible,” said passenger Carlos Paya’, who lives in Valencia, Spain, and is sailing with his wife. He added that they have family members in Spain.  “The news that was arriving from home was causing us all a lot of worry and grief,” he told The Associated Press by text message Saturday evening. “For us it was a stroke of good luck to be where we were.”  “From Perth [Australia] given the growth of the pandemic, and of course for those of us who have children in Spain, we would have preferred to return,” he added. “Other passengers, on the other hand, given their old age, wanted to stay on board knowing that the boat was safe and secure.” French authorities had rebuffed a request by Costa for permission to disembark several hundred passengers from France and nearby countries at Marseilles. “The health situation on board the ships, with 1,814 guests and 898 members of the crew, doesn’t present any problem for public health and no case of COVID-19,” Costa’s statement said.  While people infected with the coronavirus often experience mild or moderate symptoms, possible complications like pneumonia can put their lives at risk. The Deliziosa was originally due to return to Venice on April 26. After the U.N. World Health Organization pandemic alert in March, the ship, which had just made a port call in Fremantle, western Australia, made only technical and refueling stops, before the journey back toward the Mediterranean, which took it through the Suez Canal, according to the company. Passenger Jean-Pierre Escarras, from Marseilles, shot a video of their cabin that their daughters shared on social networks, in which he says: “This is our place of confinement. We are lucky to have a window.”  The couple said that after a stop in Sydney, the ship’s activities were “reduced or sometimes canceled. We haven’t been able to get out on land since March 14 — that’s 34 days.” The passengers said that ports in Oman, along the Suez Canal, as well as in the Seychelles and Indian Ocean ports, refused to let the ship dock. The Spanish passenger, Paya’ praised the captain and crew.  Costa said the passengers were confined to their cabins only for the period until the ship heard back that the ill guest who got off in Sicily had tested negative. It didn’t say how long that period lasted. The company said, because the ship is Italian-flagged, it followed Italian precautionary measures used in the pandemic, including safety distancing between guests such as managing the numbers of who could enter food areas at any one time, and transmitting entertainment to cabin TV sets.  A French woman whose in-laws are aboard the Costa Deliziosa garnered about 100 signatures on an online petition to urge the French government to intervene to get them home. But French authorities barred the Deliziosa from disembarking more than 1,000 passengers before its final destination in Italy. The regional administration for Bouches-du-Rhone in southern France cited a nationwide ban on allowing foreign cruise ships to dock, as part of France’s virus-related confinement measures. Italy has also barred foreign cruise ships as it battles the virus outbreak. The French administration has granted exemptions to six other cruise ships in recent weeks to allow French passengers to get off, but refused this time, saying the previous stops overstretched local police and health authorities already mobilized to fight France’s severe virus crisis. Last month, two other Costa cruise ships pulled into Italian ports, including one that earlier had aboard passengers who tested positive for COVID-19 before being disembarked in France. It was unclear if or where the passengers who were due to finally step aboard land after weeks of sailing aboard the Deliziosa would be quarantined as a precaution. 
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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 health officials and church leaders and vowed to allow people to attend services in person. In Russia and Ukraine, two of the biggest Orthodox denominations, priests in St. Petersburg and Kyiv held services beginning late on April 18 that were televised and shown online. Police deployed outside churches in Ukraine to ensure that anyone who came remained outside and observed regulations calling for social distancing and a ban on large gatherings. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Ukrainians to celebrate from home. Most church leaders complied and agreed to broadcast their services. One exception was the famed Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, where police regulated entry to the church to one worshipper at a time. The complex was placed under quarantine after more than 90 of its monks were identified as infected with the coronavirus. At least two have died. The monastery is controlled by a rival Orthodox denomination in Ukraine that is loyal to the Russian church in Moscow. The Russian Orthodox Church ordered churches to close their doors to large groups during the week leading up to the holiday. Patriarch Kirill led the Russian church’s main service on April 18 at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. In an Easter sermon, he said Orthodox Christians should not despair in difficult circumstances and should not panic. President Vladimir Putin, who has regularly attended the nighttime rituals in the past, did not attend this year. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin stayed at his suburban presidential residence and lit a candle at a chapel on the property. The most contentious debate over Orthodox Easter occurred in Georgia, where church leaders and the government agreed to allow parishioners to attend dusk-to-dawn Easter vigil services. The agreement meant worshippers were allowed to attend overnight services in large cathedrals despite a curfew, but they were required to maintain a distance of 2 meters. Those who attend small churches had to remain outside. Dozens went to the main cathedral in Tbilisi, where Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II said that the virus had caused fear among many people. In Bulgaria, the government urged people not to attend services but didn’t ban them. Hundreds flocked to outdoor services late on April 18, but many opted to watch on television. “In the current situation, we must be better and more humble,” Prime Minister Boyko Borisov wrote in Facebook. “Let’s do everything we can to be proud of our decisions and actions in years to come.” Easter for the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christian is celebrated about a week after Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians observe the holiday.     
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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 service.More attended services in big churches across the country, although some bishops in different regions called on their flocks to stay at home, encouraging them instead to tune in to Easter services streamed live on TV or Facebook.Crowds were unusually small everywhere compared with the tens of thousands who normally attend this service every year.The Catholicos-Patriarch said in his Easter address that the problem of the new virus had caused fear among many and their gaze had turned to God.”We should not be afraid of temptation, the Christian takes problems with gratitude and sees God’s hand in everything … and at the same time tries to find the right solution in the current situation,” he said.Holy FireHoly Fire had been brought to Georgia on Saturday night by a charter flight from Jerusalem, where the ceremony in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus after his death on the cross, was attended only by Christian clergymen for the first time in centuries.A clergyman and believers wearing protective masks hold candles outside a church during an Orthodox Easter service, amid the coronavirus disease outbreak in Marneuli, Georgia, April 19, 2020.Worshippers came to the Sameba cathedral in Tbilisi before the 9 p.m. start of curfew and planned to stay on church premises until its end at 6 a.m.Violators face a 3,000-lari ($1,000) fine.”It took me more than three hours to come here and I will stay till the morning as my presence demonstrates my dedication and my belief,” Mariam, a 27-year-old Tbilisi resident, said.Almost everyone, including some priests, were wearing face masks.The Georgian Orthodox Church Patriarchy said earlier this month that all Easter services would be held in a traditional manner, but parishioners would be required to maintain social distancing between each other to stem transmission of the virus.Sacrament from same spoonThe Patriarch and majority of Georgian priests were reluctant to call on their flocks to stay at home and have continued to provide the holy sacrament from the same spoon to parishioners, which critics said threatens efforts to contain the coronavirus.Georgia has in place a state of emergency until May 10 entailing a 9 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew, closures of restaurants, cafes, shops, a ban on public transport and on gatherings of more than three people. Grocery stores, pharmacies and petrol stations remain open.Government officials and doctors have pleaded with citizens to refrain from mass gatherings and to stay at home during Easter celebrations.The Caucasus republic of 3.7 million people has reported 388 cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, and four deaths as of early Sunday.
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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 was at the airport in Athens to see the minors off.  
 
The 50 are among the first of at least 350 young refugees who Germany has agreed to resettle from Greece, helping them re-unite with their families after months of separation.
 
Earlier this week, a batch of about a dozen minors aged between 11 and 15 were transferred to Luxembourg, the European Union’s tiniest member state. Eight other EU nations, along with Switzerland, have also agreed to accept youths, resettling a total of 1,600 young migrants.
 
But with Greece hosting more than 100,000 migrants and refugees, can this make a difference? Deputy Migration Minister George Koumoutsakos expressed hope for more such relocations to come.The number of transfers, he said, may seem small. But the expectation, he explained, is that they will pave the way for more resettlements to happen, allowing other EU member states to shoulder the burden of the refugee crisis.
 
A third of the 100,000 migrants and refugees in Greece are children. And of them, more than 5,000 are unaccompanied, left to fend for themselves, living in the rough in abysmal and overcrowded camps on a host of Aegean islands.
 
Most of the 50 young migrants who left Saturday for Germany were relocated from Lesbos’ dreaded refugee camp of Moria, a facility built for some 2,000 people which now is hosting more than 20,000 in appalling conditions.
 
Most of the unaccompanied migrants are from Syria and Afghanistan. separated from their families and left behind in a bid to make the crossing to Europe
 
Koumoutsakos said the transfers will help ease overcrowded conditions in Aegean islands like Lesbos, something required so much more now during the coronavirus outbreak, when social distancing is critical to containing the pandemic.
 
Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch called on Greece to release all unaccompanied minors. It said keeping them in unhygienic detention centers increased the risk of the virus spreading.
 
While cases of COVID-19 have been documented in refugee camps here, officials insist they have managed to keep the virus from spreading to other communities because of draconian lockdown orders.
 
Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the 50 children transferred to Germany on Saturday will need to spend their first two weeks there in quarantine. 
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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 at their limits.
 
The city could theoretically take more patients from abroad, hospital group Gesundheit Nord spokeswoman Karen Matiszick told local news outlet Buten un Binnen – although the situation could rapidly change. Bremen currently has had 567 cases and 24 deaths, according to official statistics.  
 
The capacity to take in patients has been attributed to the lower number of cases that need intensive care, and Germany’s comparatively low death rate has caught the world’s attention.
 
Of the more than 130,000 diagnosed cases in Germany, about 3,900 people have died as of Friday. In contrast, the U.S., Italy, Spain and France have each recorded more than 10,000 deaths linked to the disease. In Italy alone, more than 20,000 deaths have been registered – among 160,000 cases.
 
Susanne Glasmacher, a spokesperson for government’s Robert Koch Institute, pointed to multiple factors.  
 
“At the beginning, the majority of affected people in Germany didn’t belong to a risk group, as many of the transmission paths happened during ski holidays, on international travels, carnival, and other festivities,” she told VOA.
 
The median age of diagnosed cases is comparatively low in Germany at 49, compared to Italy’s 62.  
 
The average age of those who have died from the virus in Germany is about 80, and 87% of the deceased patients were older than 70. Similarly, 83.7% of those in Italy who died were older than 70, according to the Italian National Institute of Health.
 
In recent weeks, though, an increasing number of cases in German nursing homes have raised concern. Forty-one people have died in a single nursing home in the north German city of Wolfsburg as of Thursday. Hundreds of nursing homes across the country have found their first cases.
 
“If more transmissions take place in homes for elderly people or hospitals, it’s to be feared that the rate increases,” Glasmacher said.
 
The current low median age of German cases can to an extent be explained because of the number of tests conducted. Glasmacher said that Germany had tested on a much larger scale than other countries.
 
“Infections get recognized in more people with mild symptoms than in other countries where sometimes only severely ill people in hospitals are tested,” she said.  
 
With a current weekly capacity of about 500,000 tests, Germany is also testing those only showing mild symptoms and those who have not been in known contact with coronavirus cases.FILE – Benches and tables are taped to ensure social distancing protocols, in a courtroom in Bremen, Germany, March 20, 2020.Last month, Germany ordered closure of all nonessential shops to prevent the spread of the disease. Groups of more than two people who don’t live in the same household are not allowed in public.
 
However, the number of deaths has also depended on how strained the health system is, Glasmacher said.
 
“If the hospitals become overcrowded, the ratio of those who cannot be helped will increase,” she said. “The number of deaths can, therefore, change dramatically in the future.”
 
Making similar assessments, Dietrich Rothenbacher, director of the Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry at Ulm University, said the number of deaths depends on how many hospital beds are available for intensive care.
 
He said a 2012 study found that the number of intensive care beds per 100,000 inhabitants was 29.2 in Germany, 12.5 in Italy, 11.6 in France, and 6.6 in England.
 
“This has a positive effect on the treatment options for severe cases and the lethality,” he said.
 
Yet, he, cautioned against comparing death rates among countries, as he said the numbers in different countries were highly distorted and not representative of the true picture.  
 
“Based on representative numbers, the Covid-19 pandemic would look less deadly also in Italy,” he said.  
 
However, all experts warned that death rates would rise in coming weeks as Germany is still at the beginning of the epidemic. Severe cases often lead to death only after a prolonged period of illness.
 
“In two to three weeks (or in later phases of the pandemic) the numbers might look differently in Germany,” Rothenbacher said.   
 
Bremen itself has a lower infection rate than the German average. The national average is about 161 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; Bremen has only 81 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Robert Koch Institute.
 
While Andreas Dotzauer, a University of Bremen virologist, said that reasons for this difference were still unclear, he speculated that the character of the city’s population – known for being reserved – might play a role.
 
“In general … it seems that the population [in Bremen] has implemented all rules and restrictions in a very disciplined manner,” he said.  
 
“Perhaps the typically more distanced, northern German, Bremen character also contributes to this.”
 
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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 flower-bedecked symbolic bier of Christ, to the haunting hymn of the Virgin Mary’s lament for the death of her son. No hugs and kisses, or joyous proclamations of “Christ is risen!” as church bells ring at midnight on Holy Saturday. No family gatherings over lamb roasted whole on a spit for an Easter lunch stretching into the soft spring evening.As the coronavirus rampages around the globe, claiming tens of thousands of lives, governments have imposed lockdowns in a desperate bid to halt the pandemic.  Businesses have been closed and church doors shut to prevent the virus’s insidious spread.For some, the restrictions during Easter are particularly tough.”When there was freedom and you didn’t go somewhere, it didn’t bother you,” said Christina Fenesaki, while shopping in Athens’ main meat market for lamb — to cook in the oven at home in the Greek capital instead of on a spit in her ancestral village. “But now that we have the restrictions, it bothers you a lot. It’s heavy.”In Greece, where more than 90 percent of the population is baptized into the Orthodox Church, the government has been at pains to stress that this year’s Easter cannot be normal.Greek Orthodox priests hold aloft the bier depicting Christ’s preparation for burial during the Good Friday procession of the Epitaphios, held without worshippers in an empty church in Thessaloniki, Greece, during a lockdown April 17, 2020.It imposed a lockdown early on, and so far has managed to keep the number of deaths and critically ill people low — 108 and 71 respectively as of Friday, among a population of nearly 11 million.But officials fear any slippage in social distancing could have dire consequences, particularly during a holiday that normally sees people cram into churches and flock to the countryside. Roadblocks have been set up, and fines doubled to 300 euros ($325), for anyone found driving without justification during the holiday.”This Easter is different. We will not go to our villages, we will not roast in our yards, we will not go to our churches. And of course, we will not gather in the homes of relatives and friends,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said. “For us to continue being together, this year we stay apart.”Easter services will be held behind closed doors with only the priest and essential staff. They will be broadcast live on television and streamed on the internet.One particularly complex issue is how to handle the “Holy Light,” the flame distributed throughout the Orthodox world each year from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to mark the resurrection of Christ.Greek and Russian authorities have arranged to pick the flame up from Israel but won’t distribute it. Cyprus won’t even pick it up; there is “no need,” the island nation’s Archbishop Chrysostomos said.”Today, faith is not at risk but the faithful are,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said.Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox, has urged the faithful to adhere to government measures and World Health Organization guidelines. But keeping people out of churches hasn’t proved easy.In Serbia and North Macedonia, authorities imposed nationwide curfews from Good Friday through Easter Monday. Ethiopia, with the largest Orthodox population outside Europe, also restricted access to liturgies and deployed security outside churches. Liturgies are broadcast live, although several churches outside the capital, Addis Ababa, were violating restrictions, alarming authorities.But in some Orthodox countries, such as Georgia and Bulgaria, limited church services will go ahead.In Greece, after days of delicate diplomacy with the country’s powerful Orthodox Church, the government banned the public from all services after the church’s governing body imposed restrictions but not a full shutdown. Authorities also quickly scotched a Greek mayor’s plans to distribute the “Holy Light” door-to-door throughout his municipality just after midnight on Saturday.The church of Prophet Ilias is illuminated during the Good Friday procession of the Epitaphios, held without worshippers near the port town of Lavrio about 75 kilometers south of Athens on April 17, 2020.Some priests have defied the shutdown. One recently offered communion — where the faithful sip from the same spoon — through an Athens church’s back door. On Good Friday, a handful of churches opened briefly, allowing people in.Russia’s Orthodox Church initially seemed similarly reluctant to impose restrictions. When authorities in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, banned church visits on March 26, the Moscow Patriarchate condemned the move as an infringement on religious freedom. Only three days later did Patriarch Kirill publicly urge believers to “strictly obey the regulations imposed by the health authorities” and “refrain from church visits.”On Friday, Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vladimir Legoida said churches would stay open in some regions, even though the Church urged people to stay home.”The epidemiological situation varies in different regions, and so do rules for attending churches,” he said.Closing churches during Easter has been hard on Russians used to attending services. Many have turned to the internet and video conference prayers.”At first it was just a shock,” said believer Andrei Vasenev. “How is that possible — not go to church? But then we realized it was a matter of finding a way.”Vasenev, two dozen others and a priest from his Moscow parish have started praying via Zoom and plan to do the same during Easter. For him, going to church is about community, and Zoom prayers keep this community together.For Anna Sytina, another participant of the online prayers, the hardest part is being away from people and the warmth of human contact. “There’s a moment in a liturgy when you kiss each other three times,” Sytina said. “Now we see each other on monitors and displays.”Greek Orthodox priests hold aloft the bier depicting Christ’s preparation for burial during the Good Friday procession of the Epitaphios, held in an empty church in Thessaloniki, Greece, April 17, 2020.Both are prepared to pray at home for as long as it takes. “It is a sacrifice in the life of every believer, but it is necessary,” Sytina said.It is a sentiment echoed in Greece.”Each person has the church inside of them,” said Kleanthis Tsironis, who heads Athens’ main meat market. He will spend Easter at home with his wife and two daughters and will miss the resurrection liturgy. But churches will eventually open, he said, and Easter traditions will return.”Souls are being lost,” he said of the virus deaths across the world. “And we’re going to sit and cry because we didn’t roast on a spit? We’ll do that later, when the measures are over.”  
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Two U.S. space agency NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut landed Friday in Kazakhstan after months on board the International Space Station.
 
NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir and Russian space agency Roscosmos Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka undocked from the ISS in the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft early Friday.
 
Just over three hours later, the trio parachuted to Earth in the steppe of Kazakhstan, outside the remote town of Dzhezkazgan. Following post-landing checks, the three were taken by helicopter to the Russian-owned spaceport in Baikonur.
 
Morgan’s 272-day mission began on July 20, 2019, while Meir and Skripochka left Earth Sept. 25 last year.
 
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A public health professor said Friday the British government responded too slowly to the COVID-19 outbreak, and the nation could see as many as 40,000 deaths before the pandemic is over.Speaking remotely, University College London Global Health Professor Anthony Costello told a parliamentary committee the government needs to identify the “system errors” that slowed Britain’s response.Britain imposed a lockdown on business and daily life March 23, about a week after other European countries, and Thursday announced a three-week extension on those measures.Costello told the committee he expects a second wave of the virus to hit the country and urged the government to have a system in place to rapidly test people in the community and get the results back quickly.Costello did say that an Oxford University researcher is 80 percent certain she could have a vaccine to treat the virus as early as September.As of Thursday, Britain reported 13,729 people had died from the virus.
 
 
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On a national discrimination hotline that she helps manage, Rafaelle Parlier hears troubling reports: a veiled woman fined by police for using her veil as a face mask, and a man of North African descent similarly sanctioned for picking up his wife, a nurse, from her hospital shift — although both had appropriate justifications.“These are practices we usually denounce,” said Parlier, who works for anti-discrimination group Stop le Contrôle au Faciès (Stop Racial Profiling). “The confinement just makes it easier.”A woman walks in front of a hotel of the Accor group in Paris, April 16, 2020, during a nationwide confinement to counter the coronavirus. The Accor facilities are taking in people with COVID-19 who show no symptoms but risk infecting others.If COVID-19 touches all of France, its effects are not being felt equally. Poor, ethnically diverse residents are suffering disproportionately, rights activists and local officials say. The fallout varies, from reports of police intimidation and violence to more arduous conditions under lockdown and potentially more coronavirus cases than elsewhere in the country.“The problem with this epidemic is that it underscores all the other pre-existing inequalities,” said Laurent Russier, mayor of Saint-Denis, a working-class Paris suburb with a large immigrant population. “And Saint-Denis is marked by sharp inequalities.”Few areas manifest the national disparities more sharply than the broader Seine-Saint-Denis department, France’s poorest region, where Russier’s town is located. A recent government report found a sharp spike in deaths during the last half of March, when the COVID-19 lockdown began — higher than in neighboring departments.While the government has not linked the uptick to coronavirus, local officials list a raft of underlying weaknesses in the banlieues, as the gritty, working-class suburbs are called.Disparities ‘that kill’In an op-ed piece, Russier joined a half-dozen mayors and elected officials in outlining several disparities “that kill” in the Seine-Saint-Denis department — in justice, security, health, education and jobs.While some Parisians headed to country houses to wait out the pandemic, and a number are telecommuting for work, many of Russier’s residents have “front-line” jobs as health aides, supermarket cashiers and delivery workers, sometimes without protective masks.  Peeling housing projects sometimes pack large, intergenerational families into tiny, unhealthy spaces, creating coronavirus clusters in some cases.“So if someone catches COVID-19 in an apartment that’s multigenerational, the contagion is more rapid,” Russier said, “and the confinement is harder.”Some banlieue graveyards report they are close to saturation, a situation that has not been helped by the recent uptick in deaths.“Usually, I sign three or four burial certificates a week. But over the last few weeks, I’m signing three or four a day,” Sylvine Thomassin, mayor of another working-class suburb, told Le Monde newspaper.FILE – A family watches French President Emmanuel Macron’s televised speech, April 13, 2020, in Lyon, central France. Macron announced an extension of France’s nationwide lockdown until May 11.The message seems to have hit home with the French government. Addressing the nation Monday, President Emmanuel Macron — who has earned underwhelming marks for addressing banlieue grievances — promised nearly $1 billion more in financial aid for poor families.France’s banlieues have long been considered flashpoints for unresolved social and economic grievances. In 2005, they exploded into rioting — a theme of the recent hit movie “Les Miserables” — revealing the tense and violent relationship between police and banlieue youngsters.Old story, new context Today, the coronavirus simply offers a new context for discriminatory treatment, some activists say. Several videos posted on social media show police slapping and otherwise harassing youngsters for allegedly violating tough lockdown measures. In some cases, the young people have filed legal complaints.“The issue of police violence is not new.  It’s the usual targets, this time with the pretext of enforcing the confinement,” said Lanna Hollo, senior legal officer with the Open Society Justice Initiative in Paris.”There are young people terrified to go out,” she added. “They may be the ones charged with the shopping or who have to go to work, and they’re afraid of being abused.”In the Seine-Saint-Denis department, mayors and other officials say residents are largely following lockdown measures. Russier is among them.But he denies excessive police behavior — at least in his town.”There are some youngsters who don’t respect confinement, in some cases, defiantly,” he said. “But police are being careful. The idea is to avoid confrontation. They are very, very vigilant not to pour oil into the fire.”
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The United Nations, the European Union and the United States welcomed the release and exchange of prisoners in eastern Ukraine, which has been torn by a 6-year-old armed conflict.The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he remained hopeful this “humanitarian action” ahead of Orthodox Easter “will serve as a positive step toward more progress, including a permanent cease-fire,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.“Further disengagement of forces and unimpeded humanitarian access across the contact line is expected as part of ongoing peace efforts of international actors,” added Dujarric.Guterres urged all parties engaged in the conflict “to take further measures in order to enable progress” in the implementation of peace agreements.“Full implementation of the Minsk agreements is the only way to reach a sustainable and peaceful solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine,” said Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the EU.“Russia and the armed formations that it backs must also ensure freedom of movement across the contact line for the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission” and other humanitarian actors, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to reach all those still in detention, the statement reads.The EU also reaffirmed its strong support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.Foreign ministers of France and Germany said in a joint statement that the release and exchange of prisoners related to the conflict in eastern Ukraine “represents significant progress” for the implementation of the Minsk agreements, and the conclusions of the summit in Paris on December 9, 2019, “with respect to upholding the cease-fire, mine clearance, the opening of new crossing points and the identification of new disengagement zones.”In a Twitter message, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine welcomed the move and commended the country’s government on its “continued efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to the Russia-instigated conflict in Ukraine.”It is also called on Russia “to immediately release all other Ukrainians who remain unjustly imprisoned and fully withdraw its forces from Ukrainian territory.”Thursday’s prisoner exchange was the third since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was elected in a landslide last year on promises to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which began in 2014. More than 14,000 people have been killed, and it has heightened tensions between Russia and the West.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the postponement of May 9 celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany in World War II, citing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at a security meeting on Thursday, Putin said events including a massive military parade in Red Square would be postponed until a later date. “In order for the parade to be held on May 9, the preparations need to begin right now, but the risks associated with the epidemic, whose peak has not been passed yet, are still extremely high and that does not give me the right to start preparations for the parade and other mass events now,” the president said. Events marking Victory Day in other regions of the country were also postponed. Russia has implemented a partial lockdown across the country until April 30 as coronavirus infections continue to rise. There have been some 28,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 232 deaths, according to official data. Critics say the number of infections and deaths is likely much higher.  
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The British government Thursday said it will extend for three weeks its nationwide lockdown intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Speaking at a remote news briefing in London, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said Britain’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies warned that relaxing any of the safety measures currently in place would risk damage to both public health and the British economy. Raab reported 13,729 people in Britain have now died from the virus, with 103,093 confirmed cases.The foreign minister continues to lead the government response to the pandemic while British Prime Minster Boris Johnson continues to recover from his bout with coronavirus. Britain’s lockdown has been in place since March 23. 
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Amsterdam, in the midst of an unprecedented tourism slump caused by restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, announced Thursday that it is planning to ban people from renting out homes to visitors in three historic downtown neighborhoods.
The move, which is set to come into force July 1, is the Dutch capital’s latest attempt to rein in people renting their homes out on platforms like Airbnb amid complaints from residents that tourists are spoiling their quality of life.
It goes hand-in-hand with a system coming into force July 1 in Amsterdam that will mean anybody renting out their home in the city will have to have a permit. City Hall will not be issuing permits for the three neighborhoods covered by the ban.
In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, Airbnb said 95% of its listings in Amsterdam are outside the areas covered by the ban, and added that the company already has introduced tools to tackle noise and nuisance.
“We remain eager to work with Amsterdam to support long-term solutions on home sharing — rather than short-term fixes that are confusing and damaging for residents and small businesses in these challenging times,” Airbnb said.  
Amsterdam has, in recent years, tightened rules for people renting out their homes, including limiting owners to a maximum of 30 nights a year and to a maximum of four guests on any given night.
The city’s district of picturesque canals and cobbled lanes is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It has been swamped by tourists in recent years, leading to a rising chorus of complaints from local residents.
However, coronavirus restrictions have seen an unusual quiet descend on the city in recent weeks. Streets often choked with tourists are now largely deserted.
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Among the rolling vineyards of France’s southwestern Gironde region, osteopath Chloe Chancelier has found a new calling as she organizes a small volunteer army to sew cotton masks for health workers. Outside Paris, Anthony Seddiki has organized a network to churn out thousands of hospital visors using 3D printers. And in the Loire Valley, a luxury fabric maker is redirecting supplies normally heading to upscale stores to create a more prosaic, if vital, accessory to help slow COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. In France and elsewhere, the widening pandemic has catapulted even ordinary cloth face masks into prized objects, while surgical ones have incited fraud,Preparing an order of face masks in France’s southwestern Gironde region.hoarding, panic buying and political squabbling. But today, soaring demand for masks is generating a new vocation for locked-down populations and businesses — along with a spirit of solidarity and enterprise some hope will continue post-crisis.“I’m very happy to see what’s happening,” Chancelier said of her pro bono startup that uses locally sourced, recycled materials. “For me, it’s the beginning of other things.”A community effortNot so long ago, masks were barely seen on French and other European streets. Today, they are increasingly coveted, sometimes even worn as fashion statements, despite conflicting government signals about their usefulness. In France, at least, a pro-mask consensus is developing. Earlier this week, President Emmanuel Macron pledged that every citizen could access one by May 11 — when authorities hope to start easing France’s lockdown. A BFMTV poll out Wednesday found 94 percent of French respondents now support mask-wearing. A growing number of municipalities are now launching mandatory mask measures — sparking an increase in local production efforts. Chancelier’s initiative began last month, after the lockdown shuttered her health clinic. “I was getting calls from clients and friends who are midwives and nurses and who only had a few days of face mask stocks,” she recalled.Chancelier said she searched online for homemade alternatives, finding a YouTube tutorial for a design fitting government-recommended standards. She launched a Facebook group looking for volunteers and material.Face masks drying in the sun in Gironde, France.So far, Chancelier’s network of roughly 50 sewers has supplied the community hospital and local agencies with hundreds of free masks. She now has orders to make hospital gowns. Residents are donating old sheets and even diapers as material. Local vineyards and municipalities are offering spools of inexpensive elastic normally used to tie up vines.“It’s a real human network,” Chancelier said.Each mask comes with instructions on proper use, she said, and space for wearers to add an extra layer of protection.Putting out the fireSimilar pro-bono efforts are spreading across France. In the Essonne region outside Paris, packaging technician Seddiki also launched a Facebook volunteer drive to make visors for area health workers.“I’m surprised at how big it’s grown,” Seddiki told Le Parisien newspaper of his network, which has distributed more than 100,000 visors free of charge.In the Loire Valley, high-end fabric maker Le Tissus d’Avesnieres is offering material at factory prices, while 200 tailors have formed a nonprofit to meet local needs.The initiatives contrast with less uplifting reports of theft, hoarding and unseemly international free-for-alls to secure scarce supplies. Earlier this month, French and German officials accused the United States of diverting masks and other equipment meant for their own countries — accusations U.S. officials denied. France, too, has been accused of seizing masks bound for Spain and Italy.A woman wearing a face mask in Paris. Many Parisians opt for homemade cloth varieties.Meanwhile, European police announced Tuesday they had foiled a multimillion-dollar scam to sell non-existent masks to Germany, one of many reported in recent weeks.In Gironde, Chancelier is mulling how to keep her pro bono movement alive after she heads back to work next month.She likens grassroots initiatives like hers to an ancient Quechua culture legend of a hummingbird trying to put out a forest fire with tiny beakfuls of water.“Even after this crisis is over,” she said, “I hope people remember they participated in the response. They put in their own drops of water into the fire.” 
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The coronavirus pandemic has brought creativity to the many people around the world under lockdown in their respective nations, as well as an outpouring of support for the health care workers who are caring for those infected with COVID-19.In Britain on Thursday, a war veteran completed his mission of walking 100 lengths of his 25-meter back garden ahead of his 100th birthday to raise money for the country’s National Health Service.An online fundraising campaign initially aimed to get donations of about $624,000.  By the time Tom Moore finished his final trip down the course, an event broadcast on live television, the initiative had brought in more than $15 million.He said he was inspired to take on the challenge by the care he received when he underwent treatment for a broken hip and for cancer.”You’ve all got to remember that we will get through it in the end, it will all be right, it might take time,” Moore said. “At the end of the day, we shall all be OK again.”When and how people will emerge from stay-at-home orders, as well as the restarting of businesses around the world, is a huge question facing governments.Getting economies moving againLeaders have expressed a desire to get their economies moving again, and along with health experts they have cautioned there is a need to not move too early and risk a spike in infections in places that have started to bring the virus under control.German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to allow some schools to reopen beginning May 4, following similar plans in other European countries. She said some shops could reopen next week.In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country is not yet ready to loosen restrictions. He urged Canadians to be patient, saying they still “a number of weeks away.”U.S. President Donald Trump is among those who have been most vocal in pushing to restart the country’s economy, which is the largest in the world. He is expected to announce new guidelines Thursday, though health officials have said dropping restrictions in early May would be too soon and ultimately those decisions will be up to individual state governors.Trump is also set to take part Thursday in a video conference with other G-7 leaders to discuss a coordinated response to the pandemic.He drew fresh criticism Wednesday from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and U.S. billionaire Bill Gates about his decision to suspend funding for the World Health Organization.Carter issued a statement saying the WHO “is the only international organization capable of leading the effort to control this virus.” Gates, a major funder of the WHO, said the decision was “as dangerous as it sounds.”The United States is the world’s largest contributor to the WHO, with its more than $400 million contribution in 2019 amounting to about 15 percent of the organization’s budget.Trump accused the Geneva-based organization of failing to obtain independent reports about the coronavirus originating from China’s central city of Wuhan and relying instead on China’s official reports. Beijing officials initially tried to downplay the dangers of the new strain of coronavirus. Trump said the funding will be suspended pending an investigation into the WHO’s handling of the outbreak.The United States is now the worst-hit country with nearly 640,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, out of more than 2 million infected people worldwide. 
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After more than two weeks of forced quarantine, hundreds of refugees in Turkey have been released haphazardly in recent days, with many being left on the streets in locked down coastal areas.Thousands more are expected to be let go in the coming days and weeks.”A bus dropped us off near the coast,” said Samer Alahmad, 45, a Syrian refugee and father of four. “The driver told us to go find a boat to Greece.”Samer Alahmad sold his furniture to get to the border to try to enter Greece, pictured April 15, 2020. (Photo courtesy of Alahmad)But what Alahmad found was more refugees. They were sleeping outdoors in the middle of a 48-hour coronavirus lockdown.The families could neither find nor afford boats. Even if they could, Greece has been aggressively repelling refugees from its borders since late February, when Turkey announced plans to open the border to refugees trying to get to Europe.After that announcement, as many as 12,000 refugees flocked to Turkey’s land border with Greece hoping to cross. Greece never said it would open its side of the border, and never did. And when refugees tried to cross the small river separating the countries on boats or by swimming, Greek soldiers pushed them back with tear gas, batons and paddy wagons.”I left Syria because of the bombings,” Alahmad said. “Then I sold all my furniture in Turkey to get to the border.”Evacuation and quarantineAlahmad stayed in a squalid camp by the border for 27 days. In the camp, everyone lined up for hours each day, just to get a single serving of soup and bread.By the end of March, the coronavirus was beginning to spread in Turkey, and Turkish authorities sent buses to evacuate the camp.In late March, Turkish authorities evacuated thousands of people from a make-shift camp along the Greek border, as the coronavirus began to spread in Turkey. (Photo courtesy of refugees)Alahmad was brought to a quarantine center, where he was photographed and fingerprinted before surrendering his phone and other belongings. He was crowded into a room that was built for 20 people and holding 25. They were given cleaning materials to try to protect themselves from the virus.Fourteen days later, he was bused to a coastal town where he and hundreds of others walked for five hours before they were arrested for violating lockdown orders, Alahmad said. Later, he was permitted to travel to Istanbul. Now, Alahmad is trying to raise the money to shelter in a family home.”I’ve been wearing the same clothes for a month-and-a-half,” he said, adding, “I will try again to get to Europe.” Caught in the middleCrossing into Greece from Turkey nowadays is almost impossible, according to Mohammad, a volunteer in Izmir, a city long known for being a starting point for refugees trying to cross to Europe on smugglers’ boats.Since the beginning of the year, Greece has said clearly and often that it will not tolerate new refugees, sending military forces to back up the statements.Children sleep in the streets after being released from quarantine in Izmir, Turkey, April 13, 2020. (Photo courtesy of refugees)”I think everyone knows it. Greece won’t let them in,” said Mohammad. “But they will not stop trying.”Greece accuses Turkey of trying to flood Europe with refugees, contradicting a 2016 statement in which Ankara said it would block refugees from Europe in exchange for aid for the roughly 3.5 million Syrian refugees in the country.Turkey maintains that Europe has never fully delivered on the 2016 promises and accuses Greece of human rights abuses against tens of thousands of refugees detained in overcrowded and dangerous camps.As the international community squabbles, refugees continuously risk their lives for even the hope of getting to Europe, according to Mohammad.On Sunday night, he met about 120 refugees near the bus station in Izmir. They were sleeping on the streets after being released from quarantine.”All of them were hungry,” he said. “Women and children were lying on the sidewalks.” Desperation and deceptionBut it’s not always desperation alone that makes families continue to try to get into Europe, according to Abdo Alsad, 37, a refugee from Damascus. He and about 20 other people swam across the river to Greece last month, only to be beaten, robbed and deported the following day.Families crowd together in the streets despite coronavirus fears, in Izmir, Turkey, April 13, 2020. (Photo courtesy of refugees)In the quarantine camp, when officials told the refugees they could go to Europe or stay put, they all said, “Europe,” thinking it could be possible, Alsad said.”We thought maybe Turkey and the European Union made a deal,” he added. “And we didn’t have phones, so we had to believe them.”Now he’s hiding out in a relative’s home, afraid he will be deported if police see him. Like most people in Turkey, Alsad wears a mask if he steps out to buy something, but he said he is not concerned about the coronavirus.”I’m not worried because I’ve nothing to lose anymore,” he said.  
 
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A 106-year-old British woman who believed to be the United Kingdom’s oldest person to survive COVID-19 was released from the hospital Tuesday.Connie Titchen was discharged the Birmingham City Hospital as the staff applauded her.Titchen, who lived through two world wars, was admitted to the hospital in mid-March with suspected pneumonia and was diagnosed with COVID-19 soon afterward.As she departed the hospital, she told a nurse she felt lucky to survive, and that she was looking forward to seeing her grandchildren.
 
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Nations around the world reacted with alarm Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a halt to the sizable funding the United States sends to the World Health Organization. Health experts warned the move could jeopardize global efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic.  At a briefing in Washington, Trump said he was instructing his administration to halt funding for WHO pending a review of its role “in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.” The United States is WHO’s largest single donor, contributing between $400 million and $500 million annually to the Geneva-based agency in recent years.Trump has repeatedly labelled COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” and criticized the U.N. health agency for being too lenient on China, where the novel virus first emerged late last year.Outside experts have questioned China’s reported infections and deaths from the virus, calling them way too low and unreliable. And an investigation by The Associated Press has found that s ix days of delays between when Chinese officials k new about the virus and when they warned the public allowed the pandemic to bloom into an enormous public health disaster.The European Union on Wednesday said Trump has “no reason” to freeze WHO funding at this critical stage and called for measures to promote unity instead of division. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the 27-nation bloc “deeply” regrets the suspension of funds and added that the U.N. health agency is now “needed more than ever” to combat the pandemic.Borrell said “only by joining forces can we overcome this crisis that knows no borders.”Even though they have been traditional allies for decades, the EU has increasingly been critical of the Trump administration over the past years.Worldwide, the pandemic has infected nearly 2 million people and killed over 127,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The virus is spread by microscopic droplets expelled into the air or left on surfaces when people sneeze or cough.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he sympathized with some of Trump’s criticisms of WHO and China but that Australia would continue to fund the U.N. health agency.  “We work closely with them so that we’re not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater here,” Morrison told Perth Radio 6PR. “But they’re also not immune from criticism.”Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, pushed back at Trump’s announcement.  “Placing blame doesn’t help,” he wrote on Twitter. “The virus knows no borders. We must work closely against COVID-19. Strengthening the U.N., in particular the underfunded WHO, is a better investment, for example, to develop and distribute tests and vaccines.”Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, called Trump’s decision “extremely problematic,” noting that the chronically-underfunded WHO is leading efforts to help developing countries fight the spread of COVID-19.  “This is the agency that’s looking out for other countries and leading efforts to stop the pandemic,” Sridhar said. “This is exactly the time when they need more funding, not less.”  Sridhar said Trump’s move was a short-sighted political decision that would likely have lasting consequences.  “Trump is angry, but his anger is being directed in a way that is going to ultimately hurt U.S. interests,” she said.  In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian says the country is “seriously concerned” about the U.S. government’s decision to suspend funding.  “As the most authoritative and professional international institution in the field of global public health security, the WHO plays an irreplaceable role in responding to the global public health crisis,” he told reporters Wednesday.The WHO did not respond to repeated requests from The Associated Press for comment, but its Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other top WHO officials were expected to attend a news conference on the pandemic later Wednesday.  Many analysts have praised the initial response to the pandemic by WHO, which is being challenged as national interests collide with the international cooperation that U.N. agencies must rely on.  But recently, many governments have split with its advice on issues of public health policy, notably on travel restrictions and whether the public should wear masks. 
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Denmark eased its coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday by reopening schools and day care centers, but concerns they might become breeding grounds for a second wave of cases convinced thousands of parents to keep their children at home.
 
The rate of new cases is falling, but the government’s decision has led to a heated debate over how to balance the needs of the economy and the safety of the population – in this case its youngest citizens.
 
“I won’t be sending my children off no matter what,” said Sandra Andersen, the founder of a Facebook group called ‘My kid is not going to be a Guinea Pig’ that has more than 40,000 followers.
 
“I think a lot of parents are thinking, ‘Why should my little child go outside first’,” said the mother of two girls aged five and nine.
 
The month-long lockdown in Denmark, where the virus has infected more than 6,600 people with close to 300 deaths, has also closed shops, bars, restaurants, cinemas and gyms.
 
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen defended the move, undertaken on health authority recommendations, to ease it by resuming teaching up to fifth grade, saying this would allow parents to return to work and “get the economy going again.”
 
Christian Wejse, a scientist at the department of infectious diseases at Aarhus University, said he understood people’s concerns “because we’ve spent a month trying to avoid contact.”
 
But any new infections would be unproblematic in an age group “where few fall ill, and those who do won’t get very sick.”
 
Looking at neighboring Sweden, which has kept schools open without a drastic rise in infections, children also appeared not to be a major driver for transmission of the virus, he said.
 
Teaching staff are under instruction to keep social distancing in place between children and, with many school buildings staying closed, in some cases preparing chalk for pupils to write with on the playground tarmac.
 
“I don’t think it’s right for the kids not to hug their friends,” said Nonne Behrsin Hansen, a mother of two aged two and four.
 
“We keep the kids home, because the situation in the day cares before the COVID-19 outbreak were not okay, and the conditions they are setting up now are even worse.”
 
For now at least, most members of Momster, an online network of thousands of Danish mothers, do not believe authorities have things under control, according to its founder and CEO Esme Emma Sutcu.
 
“Suddenly, these moms feel like they just have to throw their kids to the frontline and I think their reaction is: ‘Don’t mess with our kids’,” she said. (Reporting by Nikolaj
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German prosecutors announced Wednesday the arrest of four Islamic State members accused of planning attacks against U.S. military sites in Germany. A statement said the group had guns and ammunitions needed for their attacks, along with some materials for building explosive devices. The prosecutors said the group had already scouted U.S. Air Force bases in Germany. They identified the four, along with a fifth person in custody since last month, as nationals of Tajikistan who founded a terror cell in Germany after joining the Islamic State group last year. Authorities said they were in contact with and received instructions from high-ranking Islamic State leaders in Syria and Afghanistan. 
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