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 minister is resisting calls to relax strict safe-distance measures.The debate is growing on whether it is time to downgrade the emergency and start easing restrictions after a strict five-week lockdown.Falling daily death rates and fewer admissions to intensive care units are reason for hope.  On top of that, there is pressure to reopen industries and businesses in the face of what could be a massive economic meltdown.Medical staff tends to a patient in the ICU unit of San Filippo Neri Hospital’s Covid department, in Rome, Italy, April 9, 2020.In the face of it all, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is urging caution and says any decision to downgrade the emergency must be taken gradually and together with scientists.He also warned of dire consequences yet to come for the whole of Europe if the EU does not come together and agree on a rescue package.Conte said the future of the European Union is at stake in a challenge he has compared to that of World War II.In a video interview with the German newspaper Bild Conte, the Italian prime minister said Europe must unite and deliver a solid response to head off a devastation of the European economy.He said the sooner financial instruments are created that will allow countries to deal with this crisis, the sooner everyone will emerge from this situation and enjoy economic and social and advantages.Divisions between southern European nations, led by Italy, and northern ones, mainly Germany and the Netherlands, have so far stalled plans for a massive package to help the hardest-hit economies recover from the effects of the pandemic.
…

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 of measures agreed upon “totally unprecedented … . Tonight Europe has shown it can deliver when the will is there.”The deal struck Thursday among the finance ministers did not, however, include more far-reaching cooperation in the form of shared borrowing guaranteed by all member countries.FILE – Italian Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri attends a meeting in Rome, March 3, 2020.The officials left that issue open, pushing the question to their national leaders to sort out down the road as part of a further discussion about a fund to support the economic recovery in the longer term. Still, Italian Finance Minister Robert Gualtieri tweeted that shared borrowing through “eurobonds” had been “put on the table.”FILE – Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra attends a news conference in Paris, France, March 1, 2019.Borrowing together to pay for the costs of the crisis was a key demand from Italy, Spain, France and six other countries. Italy and other indebted members are expected to see their debt load increase because of the recession caused by the virus outbreak. But shared debt was rejected by Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Netherlands Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted that “we are and will remain opposed to eurobonds.”The question now is whether the package will be seen as big enough to impress markets and enable eurozone governments to handle new accumulations of government debt from the recession. The concern is that increased borrowing could in the longer term trigger a new eurozone financial crisis like the one that threatened the currency union in 2010-2015. For now, bond-market borrowing costs of indebted countries such as Italy are being held in check by the European Central Bank, which has launched an 870 trillion-euro bond purchase program. But that program is so far limited in size or duration.The ministers agreed that hard-pressed governments such as Spain and Italy could quickly tap the eurozone’s bailout fund for up to 240 billion euros ($260 billion), with the condition that the money is spent on their health care systems and the credit line expires after the outbreak is over. A dispute over conditions had held up a decision at a conference Tuesday.The agreement also provides for up to 200 billion euros in credit guarantees through the European Investment Bank to keep companies afloat and 100 billion euros to make up lost wages for workers put on shorter hours.Centeno said that countries would work on a recovery fund for the longer term and as part of that would discuss “innovative financial instruments, consistent with EU treaties.” He said that some countries support shared borrowing and that others oppose it.The deal overcame bitter disagreement between Italy and the Netherlands over the conditions for loans from the bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism. Italy had rejected the idea of using the fund because of the ESM’s requirement that the money come with conditions to reform. That recalled the tough conditions imposed on Greece, Ireland and other indebted eurozone countries that were bailed out during the eurozone debt crisis.The compromise struck in the final statement says that countries could borrow up to 2% of annual economic output at favorable rates to finance “direct or indirect” costs of the current health crisis. Centeno said during a post-decision video news conference that he expected countries to be able to identify enough health costs to access the money.The package comes on top of extensive spending measures at the national level by member governments. The European Union has also taken the unprecedented steps of setting aside its limits on debts and subsidies by national governments to their home companies. 
 
…

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,” said Ambassador Armando Varricchio, who answered questions by email in accordance with the new social distancing norms.Italy was the first European country to see a large spike in cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and remains among the most severely affected, with more than 143,000 cases confirmed and more than 18,000 deaths as of Thursday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.Armando Varricchio, Italy’s ambassador to the United States, is photographed while taking part in a virtual discussion organized by the Meridian Center, April 2, 2020. (Italian Embassy photo)Varricchio, whose staff is working long hours to address the needs and concerns of Italian citizens in the United States, told VOA his country was deeply grateful for $100 million worth of aid recently announced by President Donald Trump. He described the assistance as “a testament to a deeply rooted friendship that unites us.”Trump announced the aid, which he said would consist of “surgical and medical and hospital things,” at a White House event on March 30, adding that the people of Italy “are having a very hard time.”The U.S. business community has also stepped up with donations totaling more than 25 million euros, the ambassador said, “and we have also seen great support coming from nonprofit organizations.”Beyond that, Varricchio and his colleagues have teamed up with an organization comprising North America-based Italian scholars and scientists to raise money on GoFundMe for a research institute in Rome that focuses on infectious diseases, as well as hospitals in Milan and Naples.Despite the urgency of the situation, Varricchio is already looking ahead to what can be done to help his country emerge from the crisis.“What will be most needed in the long run,” Varricchio said, “is rebuilding our society, our economy and achieving robust growth.” He identified transatlantic trade, along with ties in economic activities and in finance, as “crucial.”
…

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 extremely good spirits.”Johnson, 55, was admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital on Sunday evening with a persistent high temperature and cough, and was rushed to intensive care on Monday where he has since spent three nights receiving treatment.  
…

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 left a massive deficit in personnel available to pick asparagus, which has already sprouted, and plant other crops in German fields, where some 300,000 such workers were employed last year.Most came from Eastern European countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Hungary, where wages are much lower than in Germany, which is Europe’s largest economy.Under the new program, workers need to fly to the country in controlled groups — to prevent the possible infection of others en route — and are subject to medical checks upon arrival. They then must live and work separately from other farmhands for two weeks, and wear protective gear.Announcing the program, Agriculture Minister Julia Kloecker said it was a “pragmatic and goal-oriented solution” that would allow up to 40,000 seasonal workers into the country in April, and another 40,000 in May. She said the hope was to find an additional 20,000 over the two months among Germany’s own unemployed, students or resident asylum seekers.”This is important and good news for our farmers,” she said. “Because the harvest doesn’t wait and you can’t delay sowing the fields.”Ahead of time, interested workers have to register online and have their information checked by federal police. Farmers needing help register online with Eurowings, the airline contracted to bring the workers in, saying when they’re needed and where.So far, 9,900 people had registered for April and another 4,300 for May.Flights are then organized to bring in groups, and the first group of workers, 530 people from Romania, arrived on Thursday in Duesseldorf and Berlin, Eurowings said. Further flights were already planned to Duesseldorf, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Nuremberg and Frankfurt.
…

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 the Calanques national park, a protected reserve of outstanding natural beauty next to the usually bustling but now locked-down Mediterranean port city of Marseille.Didier Reault, who heads the park board, told France Info radio on Thursday that it is “very, very rare” for fin whales to be spotted and filmed at such close quarters in the reserve’s waters. He said the whales usually stay further out in deeper Mediterranean waters.Fin whales are among the largest of the species, weighing as much as 70 tons and growing past 20 meters (65 feet) in length.Wild animals venturing into places vacated by humans have also been spotted elsewhere around the world, as hundreds of millions of people are locked down and limited in their movements to try to slow the coronavirus pandemic.For most people, the coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and death.Other places where animals have taken advantage of the peace of less human activity include Llandudno, a town in North Wales. There, mountain goats have been filmed roaming in frisky clumps through the streets and chomping on plants in people’s front yards.
…

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 idyllic islands expecting three times as many travelers as its population of 11 million.Now, not even a single tourist with a hat and camera can be seen.Lyssandros Tsilidis, the president of the Federation of Hellenic Associations of Travel and Tourist Agencies, described a devastated tourism industry.From inexpensive hostels to five-star resorts, he said, no one has been spared. All trips have been canceled. All flights have been grounded. It’s impossible to predict how and when it could all start up again, he said.For a country for which tourism accounts for 25 percent of gross domestic product and  where 1 in 5 jobs is linked to the trade, COVID-19 is exacting huge financial losses.The Greek economy is the European Union’s second-most reliant on tourism, after Cyprus, which makes it much more vulnerable and adds more hardship to a nation still reeling from a brutal 10-year recession.To offset some of the pain, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government has stepped in, affording billions of euros to businesses while subsidizing employees’ salaries to prevent massive layoffs.On the popular island of Rhodes, though, where more than 2 million mainly British, German and American tourists flock each summer, resort owners are now considering staying shut beyond the mandatory lockdown that ends later this month, through the summer.The super moon rises in the sky in front of the Apollo’s temple about 80 kilometers southwest of Athens on Tuesday, April 7, 2020.Manolis Markopoulos, the head of the island’s hotel owners, said resorts may have no other option than to shut down entirely for the season. He said cancelations are running at nearly 100 percent for May, and operating costs are too high to maintain in a crisis that has no clear end date.Early and rigorous actions taken by the Greek government have helped contain the spread of the coronavirus here.However, for travel to resume and tourism to kick off again, all countries must be free of the coronavirus, Tsilidis said.Quarantines and travel just don’t mix, he said. What British national, or German or American is going to travel halfway around the globe for a week’s vacation in Greece, knowing he’ll be quarantined for at least 14 days? he asked.To head off a complete collapse of the country’s multibillion-dollar industry, officials said they will target domestic tourism more than ever — encouraging Greeks to rediscover their country once the virus is brought under control and travel regulations ease.Tsilidis said, though, it may take as much as 18 months for foreign travelers to set foot here again in organized forms of travel.Normality, he said, can only resume when people feel it is safe to travel again. That, he said, can only come from health experts and the World Health Organization when they announce a cure or vaccine for the coronavirus. 
…

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 a year since the iconic towers of Notre Dame were engulfed in flames and smoke, its ceiling collapsing and leaving the ancient building weakened.It has also been a year since French President Emmanuel Macron promised to rebuild the Paris landmark quickly.  In an address last year, Macron said French people are made of builders and that Notre Dame would be rebuilt even more beautifully, within five years. He assured the French it could be done.A year later, Parisians, tourists and Christian pilgrims are still mourning the loss of one of France’s best-loved monuments, which attracted 12 million visitors in 2018.Cedric Burgun is priest and a vice dean at the Paris Catholic Institute. He remembers the dramatic scene a year ago.FILE – The steeple and spire of the landmark Notre-Dame Cathedral collapses as the cathedral is engulfed in flames in central Paris on April 15, 2019.He said the memories of the fire are still vivid when walking around Notre Dame. He sees many people next to the building to see it or pray outside to remember that shocking event for French people.The scaffolding is still visible from outside the building. It was present on the building prior to the April 15th fire due to restoration work – the heat of the blaze welded it together.There are an estimated 551 tons of metal are still on top of the cathedral.The issue has become an important hazmat concern after last spring’s huge fire which released thousands of kilograms of toxic lead dust into the atmosphere.Decontamination efforts took months to make sure the neighborhood around Notre-Dame was safe and workers have to wear protective equipment to operate on the site.Lately, the site has been silent. The removal of the melted scaffolding on the cathedral’s roof – originally scheduled to begin March 23 – cannot take place under the country’s coronavirus measures.Father Benoist de Sinety, oversees the constructions efforts for the Paris diocese.He explains to VOA that the work is ongoing to conceive the cathedral’s future and what will happen around the building during the reconstruction to welcome visitors, pilgrims.No sooner had firefighters extinguished the flames when pledges of donations for restoration poured in. French authorities say that by November, donors had pledged more than $1 billion.FILE – A hole is seen in the dome inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France, April 16, 2019.The Fondation Notre-Dame already spent nearly $23 million on efforts to secure the building. Christophe Rousselot is the president of the institution.He explains to VOA these are large amounts of money but they are a necessity to ensure the building does not collapse.According to him there is no way currently to build a frame and put a roof on top of it without being absolutely sure of that the building is solidThere is a debate on the types of materials that will be used to rebuild the 900-year-old structure.Christophe Rousselot said it is more than likely that a spire will be built but its shape remains unclear. In his view, architects will not go crazy. New materials will be used for a modern cathedral, he said, in a sense that it will stand better against potential fires, which is good news, he thinks.To mark the first anniversary, the clergy planned a small religious ceremony with only seven people inside the damaged cathedral.The Archbishop of Paris was to display the relic of Christ’s crown of thorns for veneration during a Good Friday broadcast.However, the bells were to remain silent on Easter Monday. 
…

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 people in a life-and-death struggle to contain the coronavirus and mitigate its impact, the state has been unbound. People have been confined indoors, police powers have been expanded, data-surveillance increased and businesses shuttered.  All with little debate.The size and scope of the state’s role in the economy prompted by the coronavirus dwarfs anything mounted to handle the 2008 financial crash. Britain, France and other European countries have offered so far loans and subsidies worth around 15% of their GDPs. America’s stimulus package is at around 10% of GDP. The U.S. fiscal stimulus package was dubbed by Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump’s economic adviser, “the single largest Main Street assistance program in the history of the United States.”Municipal police officers check documents as they patrol in a street of Sceaux, south of Paris, France, during nationwide confinement measures to counter the Covid-19, April 8, 2020.In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s government not only passed legislation giving it the legal right to control the movement of people, it also seized the power to manage prices and requisition goods. In the United States, President Trump has used the Defense Production Act to prevent the export of surgical masks and gloves.State power is now at its most intrusive since the Second World War. For die-hard advocates of free markets and limited government the abrupt change in direction is horrifying. For others it is less so, even something to be embraced, a harbinger of the future, a turning point that will end up re-reordering their countries.For those on the progressive left, the reemergence of state power is a vindication of long-held beliefs that market-based models for social organization fail the majority of people. They hope the crisis will provide the opportunity to refashion along less market-oriented and more socialist lines. In the United States, supporters of Bernie Sanders say the crisis has exposed for all to see America’s threadbare social-safety net and the need for a government-run single-payer health care system.Last week, Britain’s former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said that the government’s massive and unprecedented underwriting of the British economy and labor market vindicated his pre-coronavirus election manifesto, the most left-wing program ever presented by the modern Labour Party.On Europe’s far right, too, there is self-preening as well as hope that the eventual political outcome from the coronavirus will be along lines more to their liking. A future of strong nation states and powerful central governments far less hedged in by Brussels is what they hope the coronavirus will lead to.Europe’s nationalist populists have long demanded more border controls and have advocated for a break with the Schengen system of passport-free travel. They hope the imposition of temporary border controls, in the face of the disapproval of Brussels, will lead to the break-up of Schengen permanently. Luca Zaia, governor of Italy’s hard-hit Veneto region and a member of Matteo Salvini’s populist Lega party, told reporters last month that “Schengen no longer exists” and forecast, “it will be remembered only in the history books.”Some are not waiting for history to reward them. FILE – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban replies to an oppositional MP during a question and answer session of the Parliament in Budapest, Hungary, March 30, 2020.Hungary’s firebrand populist Viktor Orbán, a proponent of what he dubs ‘illiberal democracy,’ has seized the moment to accrue more power. Since his reelection in 2010 civil libertarians have denounced him for initiating a concerted erosion of democratic checks and balances, including the curbing of judicial independence, the politicization of the civil service and state interference in media and civil society. Last week, the country’s parliament, which is controlled by his right-wing nationalist party, gave Orbán the power to rule by decree indefinitely, shrugging off opposition demands for at least an end-date to his one-man-rule in the heart of the European Union. “The Hungarian situation offers us a glimpse of how world politics may function during and after the coronavirus crisis unless we give it careful thought,” frets Umut Korkut, a politics professor at Scotland’s Glasgow Caledonian University. Tom Palmer, a vice president at the Atlas Network, a non-profit which advocates for free-market economic policies and limited government, agrees. The Hungarian example — as well as the unbinding of the state elsewhere in the West — prompts his alarm. “There is a rising tide of authoritarian statism coming,” he says.Coffins arriving from the Bergamo area are being unloaded from a military truck that transported them in the cemetery of Cinisello Balsamo, near Milan in Northern Italy, March 27, 2020.But some governments appear just to be trying to manage public fear with no aim to prolong intrusive power. Others are exploiting it. In many cases established democracies are giving people enough confidence to accept restrictions in exchange for health security. Positive examples include South Korea and Israel, where the introduction of tough measures reflect a strong public consensus for action. In Britain, an opinion poll this week showed that two-thirds of the public back police enforcement of lockdown measures. Italy’s Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, got overwhelming public approval for his nationwide shut-down.But the unbinding of the state does raise serious questions about government overreach and individual rights.Other analysts and commentators remain more sanguine, pointing out that while many Western governments have taken emergency powers during this viral outbreak, no other democracy has given a leader full control as in Hungary. Faced with the prospect of tens of thousands – even hundreds of thousands – of deaths, Western governments have had little option but to expand their authority. People want governments to do whatever is needed to save lives. Once the acute phase of the pandemic is over, everything can revert to how it before, they say. The crisis may even allow for an improvement of democracy — a renewal involving reform of hidebound bureaucracy and a reduction in red tape as well as a greater nimbleness and responsiveness by government. The fight against the Coronavirus has exposed bureaucratic inertia in the West, a leaden-footedness and a failure to act quickly enough. Critics say bureaucracies have become arthritic, adjusting too slowly to the burgeoning crisis and have been reluctant to embrace innovation and flexibility. FILE – A laboratory technician prepares COVID-19 patient samples for semi-automatic testing at Northwell Health Labs, March 11, 2020, in Lake Success, New York.With the exception of Germany, many Western states have bungled virus testing and been sluggish to embrace the greatest strength of advanced democracies — their industries and manufacturers. As in Britain, so in the United States, commercial and university laboratories were blocked for weeks from developing their own tests for the virus. The government-designed testing kits rolled out at first were faulty.Belatedly, Western governments have started to try to be more responsive and to be smarter in the securing the resources needed to fight the insidious virus, cutting back on red tape, opportunistically embracing innovation, trying to reinvent themselves while tossing aside economic orthodoxy, all for the collective good. That all might leave a lasting legacy.But it remains unclear whether the unbound state will relinquish its expanded authority once the crisis is over. “Some will reassure themselves that it is just temporary and that it will leave almost no mark, as with Spanish flu a century ago,” the Economist magazine editorialized last month. “However, the scale of the response makes covid-19 more like a war or the Depression. And here the record suggests that crises lead to a permanently bigger state with many more powers and responsibilities and the taxes to pay for them,” the editors noted. Governments are never good at handing back powers they have seized. Outside of the democratic states of the West, the picture is gloomier. Dictators and strongman are using the crisis to tighten their grip on power. Many are fearful of political and social revolt triggered by scarcity, fear and an uncontrolled spread of the virus. A member of the non-profit Cambodian Children’s Fund sprays disinfectant to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus in the slum neighborhood of Stung Meanchey in southern Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 24, 2020.In Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev has cited the threat of the coronavirus to crack down even harder on opposition to his rule. So, too, in Cambodia, where Hun Sen has been arresting dissidents on grounds they’re spreading false information about the virus and he’s scapegoating Muslims for its emergence and introducing the contagion into the country. “In Thailand, Cambodia, Venezuela, Bangladesh, and Turkey, governments are detaining journalists, opposition activists, healthcare workers, and anyone else who dares to criticize the official response to the coronavirus,” says Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “For authoritarian-minded leaders, the coronavirus crisis is offering a convenient pretext to silence critics and consolidate power. Censorship in China and elsewhere has fed the pandemic, helping to turn a potentially containable threat into a global calamity. The health crisis will inevitably subside, but autocratic governments’ dangerous expansion of power may be one of the pandemic’s most enduring legacies,” he fears.FILE – Lebanese policemen remove protesters’ tents in Martyrs Square in Beirut, March 28, 2020.The coronavirus has given governments in the Middle East some breathing space from protest movements that have been burgeoning this year. Public demonstrations have been banned on social distancing grounds. But the Virus and food scarcity risks upending regimes.  In Beirut, protesters flouted a curfew last week chanting, “We want to eat, we want to live.” In Tripoli, the country’s second-largest city, protesters shouted: “Dying from the coronavirus is better than starving to death.”A precipitous fall in oil prices risks destabilizing even strong central powers. With revenues plunging, Saudi Arabia’s ruling family is also at risk, say analysts. Few, though, believe another a coronavirus-sparked repeat of an Arab spring would give rise to the emergence of democracy in the region — more likely just a swap out of authoritarians.Speaking to the French nation last month, France’s Emmanuel Macron promised his people,  “The day after we emerge victorious, will not be like the day before.” His words were meant to reassure the French that the virus would give rise to helpful reform. But they could prove prophetic in quite the opposite way for many countries.   
…

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 mask that both protects her and hides her, and weeps for all the patients lost that day at Bergamo’s Pope John XXIII Hospital.”We’re losing an entire generation,” Ferrari said at the end of one of her shifts. “They still had so much to teach us.”The pressures on hospital ICUs in Italy and Spain may have eased in recent days as new virus cases decline. But the emotional and psychological toll the pandemic has taken on the doctors and nurses working there is only now beginning to emerge.  Already, two nurses in Italy have killed themselves, and psychologists have mobilized therapists and online platforms to provide free consultation for medical personnel. Individual hospitals hold small group therapy sessions to help staff cope with the trauma of seeing so much death among patients who are utterly alone.Seven weeks into Italy’s outbreak, the world’s deadliest, the adrenaline rush that kept medical personnel going at the start has been replaced by crushing fatigue and fear of getting the virus, researchers say. With many doctors and nurses deprived of their normal family support because they are isolating themselves, the mental health of Italy and Spain’s overwhelmed medical personnel is now a focus of their already stressed health care systems.”The adrenaline factor works for a month, maximum,” said Dr. Alessandro Colombo, director of the health care training academy for the Lombardy region, who is researching the psychological toll of the outbreak on medical personnel. “We are entering the second month, so these people are physically and mentally tired.”According to his preliminary research, the solitude of the patients has had a grievous impact on doctors and nurses. They are being asked to step in at the bedside of the dying in place of relatives and even priests. The sense of failure among hospital staff, he said, is overwhelming.”Each time it’s a failure,” said Ferrari, the nursing coordinator at the Bergamo’ hospital. You do everything for the patient, and “at the end, if you’re a believer, there is someone above you who has decided another destiny for that person.”Her colleague, Maria Berardelli, said medical personnel aren’t used to seeing patients die after two weeks on ventilators, and the emotional toll is devastating.  “This virus is strong. Strong, strong strong,” she said in a Skype interview with Ferrari, both of them in masks. “You cannot get used to it, because every patient has his own story.”In Italy, the national association of nurses and psychologists asked the government for a coordinated, nationwide response for the mental health care needs of medical personnel, warning the “typical wave of stress disturbances is only going to grow over time.”The situation is similar in Spain.Dr. Luis Díaz Izquierdo, from the emergency service ward in suburban Madrid’s Severo Ochoa Hospital, said the sense of helplessness is crushing for those who watch as patients deteriorate in a matter of hours.”No matter what we did, they go, they pass away,” he said. “And that person knows that they are dying, because breathing becomes more difficult. And they look into your eyes, they get worse, until they finally surrender.”Diego Alonso, a nurse at Hospital de la Princesa, said he has been using tranquilizers to cope, as have many of his colleagues. For Alonso, the fear is especially acute, given that his wife is due to give birth soon.”The psychological stress from this time is going to be difficult to forget. It has just been too much,” he said.Dr. Julio Mayol, medical director at the San Carlos Clinic Hospital in Madrid, said staff will be suffering from “numerous scars” in both the short and long term.  In addition to the many dead and fears for their own safety, Mayol said staff had been traumatized by “the noise surrounding the pandemic,” with daily news of death tolls and suggestions that other countries are faring better than Spain.”The fear, the envy and the fantasy in continuous communication, repeated 24 hours per day in media, has been an obsession that health workers couldn’t forget,” he said, adding that his hospital had mental health professionals working with patients and staff from the start, and that effort will continue.  At San Carlos, nearly 15% of the 1,400-member staff have been infected, in line with medical workers nationwide.  In Italy, over 13,000 medical personnel have contracted the virus. More than 90 doctors and 20 nurses have died.Perhaps no hospital has seen more than Pope John XXIII, where operating rooms were converted to ICUs to add 12 precious beds to meet the influx of patients.  Ferrari, the OR nursing coordinator, remembers March 18, the first day the ORs were open for ICU business. Eight intubated patients were wheeled in over the course of a shift, an overwhelming number for the staff.  Ferrari said she hadn’t had time for any of the group counseling sessions organized by the hospital but allows herself to weep once she gets home and says goodnight to her parents, whom she keeps at a distance behind her mask and latex gloves.One day, the tears were triggered by TV footage of coffins being hauled from Bergamo by an army convoy. On another day, they flowed after she drove by a motorcade of trucks flying Russian flags that were heading to sanitize Bergamo’s virus-ravaged nursing homes.  Ferrari said she cries in the privacy of her bedroom.  “When I remove the mask, it’s like removing a protection (an armor) from my face, it’s like saying with this protection mask I don’t fear anything. It helps me appear strong,” she said. “And when I remove the surgical protection mask, then all my weakness comes out.”
…

An improvised explosive device went off on a road in southeast Turkey on Wednesday, killing five forestry workers traveling to work, officials said.The regional governor’s office blamed the early morning explosion near the town of Kulp, in the mainly-Kurdish populated Diyarbakir province, on Kurdish rebels, who have carried out similar attacks in the past.There was no immediate claim of responsibility.The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has waged a more than three-decade old insurgency in Turkey’s mostly Kurdish southeast region. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since it started in 1984.The group is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.The Diyarbakir governor’s office said Turkey’s military has launched an operation to catch the perpetrators of the attack.Four villagers were killed last year in a similar attack on a road in Kulp, which was also blamed on the PKK.Last week, an explosion in eastern Turkey, believed to be the work of the PKK, damaged a natural gas pipeline and halted gas flows from Iran.
…

A British official said Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in stable condition Wednesday after spending a second night in the intensive care unit at a London hospital for coronavirus disease treatment. Junior Health Minister Edward Argar said Johnson was “comfortable and in good spirits.” The prime minister has been hospitalized since Sunday after his symptoms persisted during a period of self-isolation following his positive coronavirus test. Britain, which has been under lockdown orders for about two weeks, has about 56,000 confirmed coronavirus cases with 6,100 deaths. South Korea has not followed many other countries in instituting strict stay-at-home measures, but has had success in greatly reducing its number of new virus transmissions with calls for social distancing and closing schools. The government announced 53 new cases Wednesday, keeping intact a string of similar levels this week. There have been concerns about the possibility for greater infection numbers in the capital, Seoul, and on Wednesday the city’s mayor announced the closure of bars and night clubs. South Korea’s Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun also announced the suspension of visa-free entries for people coming from countries that currently ban entry to South Korean nationals, as well as rules for denying entry to foreigners traveling for non-urgent reasons.People wearing face masks to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walk at a park in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 8, 2020.Meanwhile, Norway is joining Austria and Denmark with plans to begin loosening lockdown restrictions. The government plans to reopen kindergartens on April 20, with other kids due to go back to their schools a week later.  Norway has about 5,900 confirmed cases. While officials in some parts of the United States have pointed to potential signs of hope that rates of infections are slowing down in the country with the most confirmed cases, leaders such as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo say now is not the time to let up on lockdown measures that have helped. The United States has about 400,000 confirmed cases, more than double the number found in any other nation. New York has been the biggest hot spot and reported more than 700 new deaths on Tuesday.  But Cuomo said death statistics are a so-called “lagging indicator” related to people who became sick weeks ago. He said the number of hospitalizations and people sick enough to need breathing treatments are going down. Germany on Wednesday became the fifth country to cross 100,000 cases, joining the U.S., Spain, Italy and France. The novel coronavirus was first found in China, with the majority of infections there taking place in Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan.  That prompted a strict lockdown for about three months until the number of locally transmitted cases subsided. Tens of thousands of people took to roads, rails and air Wednesday as they finally got government permission to leave Wuhan, provided a mandatory smartphone app shows they are healthy and have not had recent contact with anyone who has the coronavirus. 
…

Tuesday saw an increase in deaths and new COVID-19 cases in Britain, France, some eastern European countries, Sweden, Japan and the United States, while China, South Korea and a handful of other countries reported a decline in deaths and new infections. China on Tuesday ended the 76-day lockdown in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, where the coronavirus outbreak began in late December. Residents who can produce a smartphone application that shows they do not have COVID-19 and have not been in recent contact with anyone infected with the disease, can move about freely, and traffic has returned to roadways and railways. In South Korea, steady progress continued with just 47 new infections reported Tuesday, but officials remain concerned about a return of the virus and are urging people to stay at home.   Austria, Denmark and Norway announced easing their own lockdowns, including the re-opening of schools, after the spread of the virus showed a decline. Even Italy and Spain, the worst hit European countries reported a slow but steady decline in deaths and new infections. But after a spike in new deaths in the past two days, France on Tuesday became the fourth country to surpass 10,000 deaths from the coronavirus, after Italy, Spain and the United States. Authorities in Paris banned residents from doing outdoor exercise between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. to keep them off the streets. The ban starts Wednesday and applies to the French capital only. France has been in lockdown since March 17, and the measures have been extended until April 15, with another extension expected soon. A woman walks her dog on a Paris bridge, with the Eiffel tower seen in background, during a nationwide confinement to counter the COVID-19, Tuesday, April 7, 2020.The United States has recorded more than 12,000 deaths, making it the country with the third-highest official death toll, after Italy and Spain.  The number of confirmed coronavirus cases was nearly 400,000 Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Almost a half of U.S. deaths caused by COVID-19 have occurred in the state of New York, most of them in densely populated New York City.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state of New York recorded its highest single-day death toll Tuesday. The 731 deaths reported since Monday brought the total to 5,589 deaths and 138,836 infections, according to University of Minnesota figures. Britain also reported the largest daily death toll caused by the virus — 758 people over a 24-hour period. The country’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in intensive care where he is being treated for the virus. Officials say he has been given oxygen but there was no need to put him on a ventilator. While some Scandinavian countries are ready to relax their COVID-19 restrictions, Sweden may have to go in the opposite direction. After month of relative freedom and no official lockdowns, the country has seen a sudden spike in the number of cases and hundreds of deaths. A number of countries have yet to report any COVID-19 cases, among them Sierra Leone and Turkmenistan. Health experts warn that many authoritarian governments suppress reports of COVID-19 cases, thus making it harder to track the virus and stop its transmission. Turkmenistan held a mass bike rally on Tuesday to mark World Health Day. Russian news media reported Tuesday that the country’s Vector Institute, a state research center in Novosibirsk, will start testing a COVID-19 vaccine on volunteers in June. The center’s director, Rinat Maksutov, told Rosija1 television that initial testing on animals, mostly mice, have made them immune to the coronavirus. The pre-clinical trials are to start in May. In Seattle, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, released a forecast Tuesday predicting that more than 150,000 people will die during what they call the “first wave” of the pandemic. The IHME researchers say that “it is unequivocally evident” that social distancing can help control the epidemic and lead to declining death rates, if implemented timely and correctly. IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray warned that easing these precautions too soon during “the first wave” of the pandemic could lead to new rounds of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. He defines the end of this wave as a ratio of 0.3 deaths per 1 million people. Close to 1.5 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed worldwide and more than 82,000 have died so far. 
…

Russia and Saudi Arabia meet with other countries Thursday on cutting oil production while they continue a price war that has driven down U.S. gasoline and oil prices.The talks could calm prices that declined in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Russian television several days ago that the coronavirus crisis is one of the principal causes of what he called the “unprecedented fall of world oil prices.” This, he maintained, “affects the economic interests of the major world nations, including Russia.” In a round table discussion broadcast on Russian television, President Vladimir Putin suggested that his aim in the current tug-of-war with Saudi Arabia and other major producers, including the United States, was “to cut world production by around 10 million barrels, give or take.” U.S. President Donald Trump has tried to broker a solution between Russia and Saudi Arabia, which have each increased production to try and intimidate the other. Trump said Sunday that he might consider using tariffs to halt the slide of domestic U.S. oil prices.  “Tariffs are a way of evening the score. Tariffs are a way of just neutralizing. They have tariffs on us and we can now put tariffs on them. Am I using it for oil? It’s something we can (do). Am I doing it now? No,” Trump said.Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Venezuela’s Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo and Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih are seen at an OPEC and NON-OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, July 2, 2019.Saudi oil analyst Abdel Aziz Miqbal told Sky News Arabia that he thought the U.S. will eventually sit down to discuss oil production levels, since the U.S. is “one of the principal parties hurt” by the ongoing price war. Riyadh will also host a virtual meeting Friday with energy ministers from the Group of 20 nations that represent the world’s most powerful economies. Khattar Abou Diab teaches political science at the University of Paris. He tells VOA that he thinks both Russia and Saudi Arabia have reached a stalemate in their game of double-or-nothing and that each side has come out a loser. He says neither Russia nor the Saudis wants to lose the important Asian oil market. Russia, he thinks, may be trying to hurt U.S. producers as a response to U.S. sanctions prompted by a gas pipeline to Germany. Saudi Arabia, he argues, is trying to defend its interests in a show of force with both Russia and the U.S., after feeling slighted by what the Saudis considered insufficient solidarity, when its Aramco oil installations were attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in June. Paul Sullivan is a professor at the U.S. National Defense University. Sullivan tells VOA that he thinks “shale producers in the U.S. seem to be the target” of the current oil price war. “It is much more expensive,” he argues, “to produce an average barrel of shale oil in the U.S. than to produce an average barrel of oil in Saudi Arabia and in most of the better fields in Russia.” 
…

Across a locked-down France, strawberries, lettuce and asparagus are ripening, near-ready for picking. Other plants are poking through the warming soil, thanks to rising temperatures and generous sunshine. But the tens of thousands of Polish, Romanian and Moroccan workers who normally flood in for spring harvest are nowhere in sight.France is not the only country facing a migrant labor crunch. With the coronavirus battening down national borders, many other European farmers also are hurting. In Britain, agricultural unions are pressing the government to fly in Eastern European workers on chartered planes. Germany announced Thursday it would relax border restrictions to fill gaps in fields and food processing plants. Spain and Italy also worry about unpicked fruits and vegetables rotting in fields, further hurting their coronavirus-battered economies. But in France, the European Union’s biggest agricultural producer, filling the labor shortage has become a national cause — although reactions from the farming world are mixed. Appealing to leagues of newly sidelined workers — waitresses, hotel workers, hairdressers and others rendered jobless and confined by COVID-19 — Farm Minister Didier Guillaume urged them to “join the great army of French agriculture.”Solid responseThe rallying cry has resonated strongly in a country where food and rural life are embedded in popular culture and the nation’s very identity. Local residents practice social distancing as they shop fruits and vegetable directly from “Le potager de Saquier” farm in Nice, France, as a lockdown is imposed to slow the rate of the coronavirus, April 3, 2020.No matter that many French can’t tell the difference between a strawberry and a potato plant. In a matter of days, more than 200,000 have signed up for fieldwork — if only to escape stuffy confinement. That’s about the same number of extra hands the country’s main FNSEA agricultural union estimates are needed through May.“I’m in good health, so why not,” speech therapist Florence Khong told French TV, pausing between pulling up leeks. “During these times we need to help each other.”Many farmers applaud the drive, and the public’s reaction.“It’s a double win,” said wheat grower Jerome Regnault. “Obviously it will help professionals who need labor, but it also gives people an opportunity to get some fresh air — both psychologically and physically.” Cereal farmer Jerome Regnault in his tractor in Plaisir, outside of Paris. He says working in his business needs experience. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)Co-founder of an association trying to reconnect French with the farm world, Regnault’s phone rings incessantly these days. He points aspiring laborers to local associations and a new online volunteer platform, Des bras pour ton assiette (arms for your plate). But Regnault himself doesn’t need extra help. His two long-time workers are still coronavirus-free. Besides, cereal farming demands experience. “Obviously, I can’t allow a novice to handle equipment worth several tens of thousands of euros,” he said.Farmers dividedOther growers have similar reservations. “We’re worried we’ll get people without the needed experience or competence,” vegetable farmer Robert Francais told local media, standing before rows of lettuce that he said demanded special techniques to harvest.  “We have the impression, with this government call, that just about anybody can suddenly become a farmer without training or skills,” said Nicolas Girod, a dairy farmer and spokesman for the Confédération paysanne, France’s third-largest agricultural union. “It feels pretty degrading.”A French farmer, wearing a protective face mask, gives a driving lesson to a new young farm worker for his tractor in Anneux, France, March 27, 2020.While applauding the initiative’s spirit, Girod also criticized the idea of unpaid labor—although some jobs come with salaries. His union is selecting only volunteers with past farming experience or agricultural students to fill labor gaps. For French authorities, the farm drive is part of a broader call to arms to shore up the French economy. Yet as President Emmanuel Macron laments the lack of European unity in its coronavirus response, his finance minister Bruno Le Maire urges the country to display “economic patriotism,” by stocking up on local products.  On social media, some critics compare the government farm drive with China’s traumatic cultural revolution, where millions of young people were sent to work in the countryside. Others suggest it does not square with the nationwide lockdown and other tough health safety measures. The overall reaction, though, has been massively positive. The volunteer platform is crammed with help-wanted notices: for people to drive tractors, prune trees or generally help at vegetable farms and vineyards. “A magnificent initiative,” saluted agricultural association Au Coeur de Paysans on Twitter. Livestock farmer Clement Traineau agreed. “Don’t waste your energy in permanently criticizing,” he tweeted of naysayers. “Save it to make a difference.”   
…

After dropping for straight days, Spain’s health ministry announced Tuesday both the coronavirus daily rate of new infections and the death rate were higher overnight.At news briefing in Madrid, the health ministry’s Dr. Maria Jose Sierra reported the number of new infections grew at a faster pace from Monday, rising 4.1 percent to 140,510 total cases. That number had risen by 3.3 percent on Monday.Sierra also reported deaths spiked from Monday to Tuesday, with 743 new deaths, raising the total toll to 13,798. That compared to 637 deaths from Sunday to Monday.She said Tuesday’s increases may be attributed to delayed reporting from the weekend. The ministry noted the proportional daily increase in cases of 5.7 percent reported Tuesday is still a fraction of the figures reported in mid-March, when the rate of increase was more than 20 percent per day.  Spain’s current total of coronavirus cases is second only to the United States. 
…

Local authorities in Ukraine have dismissed residents’ concerns that forest fires near the Chernobyl nuclear power station have led to unsafe radiation levels.The radiation levels in the capital Kyiv and the exclusion zone established around the plant in 1986, after an explosion there that caused the world’s worst nuclear accident, “did not exceed natural background levels,” the zone’s authorities said.The emergency service said it was still fighting the fires but the situation was “fully under control.”After the explosion in April 1986, people were evacuated and resettled from the 30 km (19 mile) exclusion zone around the nuclear plant, and the zone is still strictly controlled.The fires began on Friday evening in the western part of the exclusion zone and spread to nearby forests, some of which are in the part of the zone that still has higher radiation.Footage shot by the emergency service shows forests covered with dense smoke, burning grass and shrubs.The emergency service said the area affected had increased to 35 hectares by Tuesday afternoon, and planes and helicopters were being used to fight the blaze.The fires follow unusually dry weather but police also say they have identified a 27-year old local resident accused of deliberately setting fire to garbage and grass.
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in stable condition Tuesday in a hospital intensive care unit with the coronavirus, and while he is not on a ventilator, he is receiving oxygen, his spokesman said.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has taken over many of Johnson’s duties temporarily while he is being treated at St. Thomas’ Hospital. Britain has no official post of deputy prime minister.The 55-year-old Johnson is the first major world leader confirmed to have COVID-19. He was admitted to the hospital late Sunday with a fever and cough that persisted 10 days after he was diagnosed with the virus and was moved to the ICU Monday evening after his condition worsened.”The prime minister has been stable overnight and remains in good spirits. He is receiving standard oxygen treatment and is breathing without any other assistance,” said Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack.He said Johnson was not receiving mechanical ventilation or “noninvasive respiratory support.” He would not give details of what form of oxygen treatment the prime minister was getting.Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said Johnson was “receiving the very, very best care from the team at St. Thomas’ and our hopes and prayers are with him and with his family.””It was a shock yesterday to hear the news of his going into intensive care,” said Gove, who is in isolation at home after a family member showed mild coronavirus symptoms. “All of us just want him to pull through — he is the leader of our country. He is a big-hearted, generous-spirited guy. who believes in public service. We are rooting for him.”Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant, is herself recovering from coronavirus symptoms.Raab said “the government’s business will continue” despite the prime minister’s hospitalization.He said Johnson had asked him “to deputize for him where needed in driving forward the government’s plans to defeat coronavirus.”The deterioration of Johnson’s health took many in Britain by surprise. On Monday afternoon, he tweeted that he was in good spirits and thanked the National Health Service for taking care of him and others with the disease.The government faced calls Tuesday to be more transparent about Johnson’s condition amid concerns it had underplayed how serious it was.It’s not common for details about the health of British prime ministers to be made public, except at times of crisis. Even then, information has sometimes been scanty. When Winston Churchill suffered a debilitating stroke in 1953, the government kept it secret until Churchill recovered.Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth II was being kept informed about Johnson’s condition. Buckingham Palace said the monarch “said they were in her thoughts and that she wished the prime minister a full and speedy recovery.”The queen’s son, Prince Charles, who tested positive for the virus but has recovered, and grandson Prince William also sent messages of support.Johnson had been quarantined in his Downing Street residence since being diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26.He continued to work throughout his illness, to the concern of some of his colleagues. With the U.K. still approaching the peak of the coronavirus outbreak and the government facing criticism it did not act soon enough to put the country into lockdown, Johnson and his ministers are under intense pressure.Johnson chaired daily meetings on the outbreak until Sunday. He released several video messages during his 10 days in isolation urging Britons to stay home and observe social distancing measures to help slow the spread of the virus.Concerns had been growing about Johnson’s welfare ever since he posted a message Friday in which he appeared red-eyed and flushed, saying he was feeling better though was still feverish.Johnson’s former communications director, Will Walden, said the prime minister tended to try to soldier on through illness rather than taking a break.”He’s pretty stoic and can be a bit bloody-minded about that kind of thing,” Walden told the BBC.
News that Johnson had been transferred to intensive care drew an outpouring of support from around the world.U.S. President Donald Trump said “Americans are all praying for his recovery.”  “He’s been a really good friend,” Trump said at a White House briefing. “He’s been really something very special — strong, resolute, doesn’t quit, doesn’t give up.”Trump said he asked two “leading companies” to contact officials in London about therapeutics that could be of help. He did not identify the companies, but said “we have contacted all of Boris’ doctors, and we’ll see what’s going to take place, but they are ready to go.”French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted he was sending support to Johnson, his family and “the British people at this difficult time. I wish him well.”Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram wishing Johnson a full and quick recovery, the Kremlin said. “I’m positive that your energy, optimism and sense of humor will help combat the disease,” Putin wrote.The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people, but for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death.The government said Monday that 51,608 people had been confirmed to have the coronavirus in Britain, and 5,373 have died.Britain’s unwritten constitution does not have a clear rule for what happens if a prime minister becomes incapacitated or dies. Seven prime ministers have died in office, but the most recent was in 1865.Johnson delegating Raab to fill in for him clarifies things for now, but it does not mean Raab would automatically take over permanently should a new leader be needed. If it became clear Johnson could not return to his job, the Conservative Party could elect a new leader, who would become prime minister.
 
…

Japan prepared Tuesday to declare a coronavirus emergency in parts of the country, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained hospitalized with COVID-19 and U.S. officials looked for signs the outbreak might be starting to slow in some of the nation’s hardest-hit regions. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his decision to enact a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures was based on a need to protect people amid a situation that is “gravely” affecting lives and the economy. The measure is due to be in effect for about one month, and comes coupled with a government stimulus package worth about $1 trillion. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a meeting about the measures against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo, Japan, April 6, 2020.Johnson was hospitalized Sunday after his symptoms persisted while he was in isolation.  His office said Monday his condition deteriorated and that he was moved to the intensive care unit, but not placed on a respirator. Britain has seen a spike in its coronavirus toll, reporting 600 deaths Sunday and 400 more on Monday. The United States has experienced about 11,000 deaths, making it the country with the third-highest official death tally, behind only Italy and Spain.   More than 40 percent of the U.S. deaths have been in the state of New York, and the majority in New York City.  The state’s Governor Andrew Cuomo reported a potential sign of progress in containing the spread of the coronavirus with a drop in hospitalizations and critically ill patients. But he stressed the need to not let up on public distancing efforts, announcing an extension of closures for schools and non-essential businesses through the end of the month. “We underestimate this virus at our own peril,” Cuomo said.  “Now is not the time to slack off.” In South Korea, steady progress remained with 47 new infections reported Tuesday, but officials there also remain concerned about a reversal and urged people to stay at home. There is also consideration of using electronic wristbands to track those under self-quarantine because of the virus. A similar idea was authorized Monday in the U.S. state of West Virginia, where a judge in the country with the most cases there approved local authorities to put ankle monitors on people who test positive but refuse to go into quarantine to protect others. Progress in some European nations has led to some of the first steps to reverse lockdown measures and begin to return to some semblance of normal life. Denmark, following a similar announcement this week from Austria, says it will reopen daycares, kindergartens and primary schools beginning April 15.  Middle and high school would follow on May 10. Researchers work on a vaccin against the new coronavirus at the Copenhagen’s University research lab in Copenhagen, Denmark.The virus has upended presidential primary voting in the United States, but the Midwestern state of Wisconsin is going ahead with its election Tuesday after a court order overturned a decision by the state’s governor to postpone the voting until June. In Poland, lawmakers approved a plan to hold their May 10 presidential election entirely by mail-in voting.  The measure also allows for the possibility of delaying election day if that is deemed necessary.  The bill must still pass the country’s senate and be signed by the president. New Zealand has been on lockdown for about one-and-a-half weeks, but that did not stop Health Minister David Clark from taking his family for a walk on the beach. He apologized for breaking the stay-at-home orders, calling himself “an idiot.” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said under normal circumstances she would have fired Clark, but that given the coronavirus emergency she needs senior health officials in place, and instead stripped him of some of his duties. 
…

Australia’s highest court has dismissed the convictions of the most senior Catholic found guilty of child sex abuse. High Court Chief Justice Susan Kiefel announced the decision of the seven judges on Tuesday in the appeal of Cardinal George Pell. The decision means he will be released from Barwon Prison outside Melbourne after serving 13 months of a six-year sentence. Pope Francis’ former finance minister was convicted by a Victoria state jury in 2018 of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in a back room of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in December 1996 while he was archbishop of Australia’s second-largest city. Pell was also convicted of indecently assaulting one of the boys by painfully squeezing his genitals after a Mass in early 1997. Pell had been ordered to serve three years and eight months behind bars before he became eligible for parole.  The High Court found that the Victorian Court of Appeal was incorrect in its 2-1 majority decision in August to uphold the jury verdicts. Pell was regarded as the Vatican’s third-highest ranking official when he voluntarily returned to Melbourne in July 2017 determined to clear his name of dozens of decades-old child abuse allegations. All the charges were dropped by prosecutors or dismissed by courts in preliminary hearings over the years except the cathedral allegations. Pell was tried on the charges twice in 2018, the first County Court trial ending in a jury deadlock. Pell did not testify at either trial or at the subsequent appeals. But the juries saw his emphatic denials in a police interview that was video recorded in a Rome airport hotel conference room in October 2016. “The allegations involve vile and disgusting conduct contrary to everything I hold dear and contrary to the explicit teachings of the church which I have spent my life representing,” Pell read from a prepared statement. Australian Cardinal George Pell leaves at the end of a meeting with the victims of sex abuse, at the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Italy, March 3, 2016.He also pointed out that he had established a world-first compensation scheme for victims of clergy, the Melbourne Response, months before the crimes were alleged to have occurred. As police detailed the abuse allegations, Pell responded: “Absolutely disgraceful rubbish. It’s completely false. Madness.” Pell was largely convicted on the testimony of one of the choirboys, now in his 30s with a young family. He first went to police in 2015 after the second victim died of a heroin overdose at the age of 31. Neither can be identified under state law. Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd told the High Court last month that the surviving choirboy’s detailed knowledge of the layout of the priests’ sacristy supported his accusation that the boys were molested there. Pell’s lawyers argued that Pell would have been standing on the cathedral steps chatting with churchgoers after Mass when his crimes were alleged to have occurred, was always with other clerics when dressed in his archbishop’s robes, could not have performed the sexual acts alleged while wearing the cumbersome garments and could not have abused the boys in the busy priests’ sacristy without being detected. Much of the two-day hearing focused on whether the jury should have had a reasonable doubt about Pell’s guilt and whether he could have time to molest the boys in five or six minutes immediately after a Mass. The appeals court found in a 2-1 majority in August that Pell had had enough time to abuse the boys and that the unanimous guilty verdicts were sound. Judd said the “two big points” raised by Pell’s lawyers against the prosecution case were evidence that Pell had been chatting with members of the congregation on the steps of the cathedral after the Masses when the abuses could have occurred and that he only had windows of five or six minutes to commit the abuses undetected. Pell’s lawyer Bret Walker told the High Court that all that the prosecution had to do at his trial and appeals court hearing was to prove that Pell being left alone while robed or not talking with congregants after Mass was “possible” to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. “That … is a grotesque version of the reversal of onus of proof, if all the Crown has to do is to prove the possibility of something,” Walker said. Judd argued that the charges were proved beyond reasonable doubt. “The High Court found that the jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant’s (Pell’s) guilt with respect to each of the offenses for which he was convicted,” the court said in a statement. 
…

With Istanbul the epicenter of Turkey’s COVID-19 epidemic, the city is becoming the political battleground over how to defeat the virus.  Istanbul’s mayor is calling for a city shutdown, but the Turkish president insists the wheels of the economy must continue to turn. Every day, millions of people in Istanbul go to work, potentially running a gantlet of infection. While the city’s schools and entertainment venues are closed like the rest of the country, many factories and businesses continue to function.   Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Istanbul shop keeper Burak believes there needs to be a full lockdown of Istanbul, but says compensation needs to be worked out by the government. (Dorian Jones/VOA)”The businesses should all be closed,” said shopkeeper Burak, who only wanted to be identified by his first name. “But if they are closed, stores like mine will not be able to pay their rents, cover the expenses for their personnel. There is no clear explanation for how the solution will be to cover our costs. “The government has mentioned that there will be a part-time payment solution,” he added. “My colleagues and some other friends in other businesses already applied more than two weeks ago for this procedure, but they haven’t got any answers till today.” Burak said the economy was weak before the epidemic. “I think our government also got caught in a financially difficult situation. That’s why I think they will be prolonging the postponing of the shutdown as much as they can, to win time,” he said. In a possible sign of limited state funds, Erdogan last week launched a national public appeal for donations to help support those worst affected by the epidemic. While resisting calls for a complete lockdown, the Erdogan government is enforcing a curfew on those younger than 20 and for those older than 65.    Despite such moves, the coronavirus grip on Turkey tightens. The city accounts for most of the country’s deaths and infections. Many commuters wear masks distributed by the Istanbul city authority to contain COVID-19, but Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is calling for a lockdown of the city. (Dorian Jones/VOA)In a desperate bid to control the virus, authorities issued masks to users of public transport, some of whose hours have now been curtailed. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) says Ankara must enforce a complete lockdown on the city, saying there are still too many people on the streets. “A 15% mobility in Istanbul means more than 2 million people, and this is very frightening,” he said. “It’s as much as the population of a prominent city in Europe. It is clear this current mobility is posing a threat, and this is why we say that we need a strict measure.” Imamoglu says Istanbul, home to 16 million people, is now the front line for Turkey’s battle against the virus. But he fears that too much time may have been lost. “It’s very important because the measures you take for 16 million people and your methods of stopping the pandemic will save Turkey,” he said, “since it is clear Istanbul has become the center of the pandemic in Turkey. If we had declared a stay-at-home order a week ago, we could have been in a very different position today. This is why we are insisting (for a shutdown).” Millions of people in Istanbul still commute to work despite the city being the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, as President Erdogan insists the “wheels of economy still need to turn.” (Dorian Jones/VOA)Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners says the cost of shutting down Turkey’s largest city might be a price too high to pay for the government.  “Tax revenues are not coming in anymore, and you are shutting down industries with potentially 4 and 5 million workers,” Yesilada said. “Even if the law doesn’t dictate it, ethics, as well as good governance, will dictate that you pay some kind of compensation to these people so they don’t starve or protest on the streets and the budget equation becomes unmanageable.” But with reports that Erdogan’s top medical advisers are also calling for a more extensive curfew, Erdogan appeared to open the door for such a move. “We won’t need further measures if all our citizens keep themselves in voluntary quarantine,” Erdogan said Sunday. “However, we may have to take much more advanced measures if the pandemic spreads and our citizens don’t pay attention to the rules, such as staying at home, social distancing and hygiene.” But some analysts warn that time may be running out for Istanbul and the country for the government to find the right balance to fighting the virus. “There is no way you can fight it unless you impose a Chinese-style, Italian-style very stringent curfew,” Yesilada said. “But Erdogan has a small window of opportunity to enforce the curfew, because when summer comes, when the heat is 40 degrees in people’s small houses, you are not going to keep people in their homes. It’s going to be impossible to enforce the curfew.” 
…

The United States has designated the white supremacist group Russian Imperial Movement (RIM,) as a global terrorist organization, an unprecedented move that reflects increasing concerns about violent white supremacists with transnational connections.In Monday’s State Department announcement, three of RIM’s leaders — Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valliullovich Gariev and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov — have also been designated global terrorists.The move comes after the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.  The March 15, 2019, attack was linked to a global rise in white supremacism and alt-right extremism since 2015. “These historic designations are just one part of the administration’s broader efforts to counter white supremacist terrorism abroad,” Nathan Sales, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism and ambassador-at-large, said Monday.“We’re bringing all of our counterterrorism tools to this fight — information-sharing, counter-messaging, combating terrorist travel, engaging with tech companies and building partner capacity — to protect soft targets like synagogues and mosques,” Sales added.The designation denies RIM and its leaders access to the U.S. financial system. Any assets they may have in the U.S. are now frozen. Americans will also be banned from financial dealings with the group.  The State Department said Monday’s designation not only makes it “substantially more difficult” for RIM to move money throughout the international financial system, but also makes it easier for U.S. officials at the borders to stop RIM-related individuals from traveling to the U.S.”White supremacist groups are increasingly transnational in nature. This is an important first step by this administration, both in terms of substance and public messaging,” said Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.RIM provides paramilitary-style training to neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The organization also attempts to rally like-minded Europeans and Americans against perceived enemies. RIM has two training facilities in St. Petersburg, which likely are being used for woodland and urban assault, tactical weapons, and hand-to-hand combat training, according to the State Department.  FILE – Members of the Russian Imperial Movement, a nationalist group in Russia, pose for a picture with weapon simulators at a training base in Saint-Petersburg, Feb. 28, 2015. In August 2016, two Swedish men traveled to St. Petersburg and underwent 11 days of paramilitary-style training provided by RIM. A few months later, these men and another person conducted a series of terrorist attacks in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, including a bomb attack outside a café and the bombing of a migrant center.When asked about RIM’s outreach and potential connections to domestic white supremacist groups in the U.S., Sales said while Washington does not have the authority to designate groups or individuals on the basis of constitutionally protected speech, blacklisting RIM enables U.S. authorities to keep these terrorists off U.S. soil and denies them resources that could harm U.S. interests.“We’ve seen what RIM-trained terrorists can do in Europe. We want to make sure that RIM is not able, or any terrorist group is not able, to accomplish something similar here in the United States, that is to say providing training that could enable violent attacks and deadly attacks here on the homeland,” Sales told reporters in a telephone briefing on Monday.Some analysts say the rise of white supremacy in Western society and far-right groups in Europe has been part of a disinformation campaign by the Russian government, taking advantage of anything they can do to create divisiveness in Western societies.VOA’s National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this story. 
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to the intensive care unit of a London hospital after his coronavirus symptoms worsened Monday, just a day after he was admitted for what were said to be routing testsJohnson was admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital late Sunday, 10 days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.”Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital,” his office said in a statement.Downing St, said Johnson was conscious and does not require ventilation at the moment, but was in the intensive care unit in case he needed it later.It said Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputize for him.Hours earlier, Johnson tweeted that he was in good spirits after spending a night in hospital.The prime minister’s spokesman said Johnson had spent a comfortable night and remained in charge of government despite being admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital after COVID-19 symptoms of a cough and fever persisted.Johnson sent out a tweet thanking the National Health Service for taking care of him and others in this difficult time.”On the advice of my doctor, I went into hospital for some routine tests as I’m still experiencing coronavirus symptoms,” Johnson said in the tweet. “I’m in good spirits and keeping in touch with my team, as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe.”.Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack, refused to say what kind of tests Johnson was undergoing. He insisted that “the PM remains in charge of the government.””He is receiving updates in hospital and is continuing to receive a (ministerial red) box” of files and briefing papers, Slack said,The 55-year-old leader had been quarantined in his Downing Street residence since being diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 — the first known head of government to fall ill with the virus.He continued to preside at daily meetings on the outbreak until Sunday and has released several video messages during his 10 days in isolation.Raab chaired the meeting Monday.Britain has no official post of deputy prime minister, but Raab has been designated to take over should Johnson become incapacitated.Speaking at the government’s daily coronavirus press briefing, Raab said Johnson was being “regularly updated,” but admitted he had not spoken to him since Saturday.”He’s in charge, but he’ll continue to take doctors’ advice on what to do next,” Raab said.Johnson was admitted to the hospital as a message to the nation from Queen Elizabeth II was being broadcast Sunday evening. The 93-year-old monarch urged the public to show resolve and follow advice to stay inside.Concerns had been growing about Johnson’s welfare ever since he posted a message Friday saying that he was feeling better, though was still feverish.  The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people, but for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death.The government said Monday that 51,608 people had been confirmed to have the coronavirus in Britain, 5,373 of whom have died.One of the advantages of being in the hospital is that it will allow doctors to directly monitor Johnson’s condition.  Derek Hill, a professor of medical imaging science at University College London said that since COVID-19 causes difficulty breathing, one test performed on people with the disease is lung imaging with ultrasound or CT scans to see how badly they might be affected.”Some people are rapidly discharged,” he said. “Some others can quickly deteriorate and need help breathing. We have no reason to believe the PM needs such help.”Hill said there are various types of breathing help, depending on the person and the difficulties.”The reasons some people get seriously ill with COVID-19 while others have minor symptoms is not yet fully understood,” Hill said. “But doctors managing these patients report that more men than women have serious problems, and patients who are overweight or have previous health problems are at higher risk.” 
…