The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is threatening to worsen labor shortages experienced by Pacific Northwest farms and food processors. On March 16, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico said it would suspend routine immigrant and non-immigrant visa services due to COVID-19, potentially cutting off seasonal and migrant agricultural workers through the H-2A visa program. Dan Fazio, CEO of Wafla — formerly the Washington Farm Labor Association — told the Capital Press that the USDA is working with the State Department to obtain an emergency designation for H-2A visas, which would allow temporary farmworkers to continue entering the country. “We’ve got to get these people here in May so we can have a harvest in October,” Fazio said. Washington state had over 25,000 H-2A labor certifications in 2019, which accounted for 25% of seasonal workers, Fazio said. So far this year, Wafla has brought in more than 5,000 H-2A workers, with the biggest wave still to come in late May for the start of cherry harvest. Agriculture is a baseline industry, Fazio said, and any disruptions would trickle down throughout the economy.  Spring is also peak shipping season for Oregon’s $995 million greenhouse and nursery industry. Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, said it is already difficult to find workers willing to package products and load trucks. With coronavirus potentially stalling the H-2A program, he said it only adds to the pressure. “All this really shows is the fragility of the workforce,” Stone said. “This adds a layer of worry. I feel for every business.”  
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Wednesday brought new restrictions on movement in Malaysia, as well as the start of a European Union ban on entry to foreigners as governments seek to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. Malaysia has more than 500 confirmed cases and will be under a partial lockdown for two weeks. In Saudi Arabia, officials on Wednesday told private sector businesses to have all their employees telework if possible, and for those who have to physically be present to take steps to keep their distance from each other. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared a “human biosecurity emergency” Wednesday, clearing the way for the government to impose curfews and quarantines. Other countries have already taken those steps to halt public life. Italy, Spain and France are currently under severe bans on movement as they deal with some of the highest number of cases in the world. In Brazil, where there are more than 300 cases, the agency that overseas parks has announced closures in accordance with health official guidance for people to avoid crowds.  The ban includes the famous Christ The Redeemer statue that overlooks Rio de Janeiro. Brazil reported its first coronavirus death on Tuesday. A cleaner works on the disinfection of a subway train as a measure against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 17, 2020.The virus has reached 159 countries, with more than 185,000 confirmed cases and 7,500 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Kyrgyzstan was the latest to report its first case Wednesday.  It has already closed its borders to foreigners. China was the first to report a case of the COVID-19 virus and has been the hardest hit with more than 82,000 cases.  But the situation there has been steadily improving in recent weeks, and the city of Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, reported a single new case on Wednesday. The virus has been blamed for 100 deaths in the United States where officials are urging people to avoid being in groups larger than 10. About 7 million people in the San Francisco area have been told to shelter in place.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he will decide by Thursday whether to institute a similar order for the country’s most populous city. Late Tuesday, the governors of two states – California and Kansas – announced that public schools may have to stay closed until the fall. 
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CureVac, the German biotech firm at the center of an argument over alleged U.S. attempts to gain access to an experimental coronavirus vaccine it is developing, denied Tuesday it had received U.S. offers for the company or its assets.European Union leaders said they would discuss Tuesday via videoconference how to prevent hostile U.S. takeovers of EU-based research firms at the forefront of developing drugs and vaccines against the coronavirus, officials said.Media reports that Washington had tried to gain access to the vaccine stirred a political backlash in Germany, with economy minister Peter Altmaier and interior minister Horst Seehofer voicing support for keeping CureVac German.The U.S. overture was first reported by Welt am Sonntag and confirmed to Reuters by German government sources. However, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, said on Twitter that the German newspaper report was wrong.No offerCureVac on Tuesday sought to play down any U.S. move.“There was and is no offer from the U.S. neither with regard to taking over the company nor to have manufacturing slots reserved exclusively,” CureVac’s acting Chief Executive Franz-Werner Haas told journalists in a conference call, adding that its scientists had also not been lured to relocate.The Tuebingen-based company, which is backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has said it hopes to have an experimental vaccine ready by June or July and to then seek the go-ahead from regulators for testing on humans.If successful in clinical trials, the group would be ready to produce up to 10 million doses in one production cycle that typically lasts several weeks. More than one dose may be required to immunize a person.Output could rise to a billion dosages in a single production cycle, said CureVac’s Chief Production Officer Florian von der Muelbe, at a new manufacturing site that the company is planning to build with financial support from the EU.Others racing to deliver a vaccine include Johnson & Johnson’s , Moderna Inc. and BioNTech.Co-founder rejects ideaCureVac did say here earlier this month that its CEO at the time, Daniel Menichella, met U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and pharmaceutical companies to discuss a vaccine.SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp, who owns a more than 80% stake in CureVac, was quoted as saying Monday that he had also weighed in against a U.S. approach.Hopp, who is also the owner of German first-division soccer team Hoffenheim, was asked about U.S. interest in exclusive rights to the CureVac vaccine under development by German sports broadcaster Sport1.“He (Trump) spoke to the company and I was told about it immediately and was asked what I made of it and I knew immediately this was out of the question,” he was quoted as saying on Sport1’s website.Hopp and officials representing him were not immediately available to comment.He had said in a statement Sunday he was not selling and wanted CureVac to develop a vaccine to “help people not just regionally but in solidarity across the world.”
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A migrant advocacy group is suing the Trump administration to stop three children from deportation to El Salvador, where their family says their lives would be in danger.   The three children are in a U.S. facility. Their mother is in a tent camp in Mexico, while their father lives in Maryland, outside Washington, D.C., and says he is willing to bring his children into his home. Lawyers for the Coalition Action Justice Center say the children should be considered “unaccompanied” minors and deserve an asylum hearing. The lawyers say the children would be in grave danger if deported, because their father ran a church there and preached against the violent MS-13 gang. The family fled El Salvador for Mexico. The father and a fourth child entered the U.S. last June and were allowed to stay.  Three children and the mother crossed the border into Texas, but a judge rejected their asylum claim in January and ordered them back to a camp in Mexico. After a 16-year-old daughter barely escaped being raped, and her 9-year-old brother was beaten and robbed, their mother sent all three children back over the border into Texas.  They are in a U.S. facility, unsure of what will happen next. If they are granted asylum, it is unclear if or when their mother would be allowed to leave the camp and join the family. U.S. officials have not commented on the case. 
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A British court has found the younger brother of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi guilty of the murders of 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in May of 2017. The brother, Hashem Abedi, was in Libya during Salman Abedi’s suicide bombing, but was involved in planning the attack and manufacturing the explosive. Hashem Abedi was convicted of 22 counts of murder, one of attempted murder and one of conspiracy to cause an explosion at the Old Bailey Court in London Tuesday. During a six-week, trial prosecutors said Hashem Abedi “encouraged and helped his brother” Salman Abedi, knowing that he “planned to commit an atrocity.” The Abedi brothers grew up in Manchester with their parents, who had fled the regime of Libya’s longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi. They had returned several years ago after Gadhafi had been killed in the Arab Spring uprising. The brothers traveled to Libya in April 2017 and Hashem Abedi stayed there. Salman Abedi returned to Britain in May and on May 22 entered the concert venue and detonated a device he had created with his brother, killing himself and 22 other people. Hundreds of concert-goers were also injured.   Hashem Abedi did not appear in court Tuesday and had declined to give evidence. Prosecutors presented evidence that Hashem Abedi obtained chemicals, metal drums and other components for home-made explosives. Witnesses gave testimony suggesting that the Abedi brothers developed an extremist mind set. 
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Turkish, French, German and British leaders met by videoconference Tuesday to commit themselves to joint actions on the Syrian refugee crisis and coronavirus pandemic.The last-minute conference due to the COVID-19 outbreak replaced an Istanbul summit between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.  “We have the opportunity to undertake comprehensive assessments on many issues up, from EU-Turkey relations to the asylum issues,” tweeted Erdogan after the meeting.Few details on the nature of the cooperation agreed between the leaders have been released.The video summit is in response to Erdogan sparking a crisis by opening Turkish frontiers with European Union members to migrants and refugees living in Turkey. Turkey hosts nearly 4 million Syrians and Erdogan insists his country can no longer cope.In 2015, Ankara made a similar move, resulting in more than one million people fleeing to neighboring Greece and Bulgaria, sparking a refugee crisis across Europe.  The exodus spurred the EU’s agreement on a 2016 migration deal with Turkey. Ankara then secured its borders, markedly curtailing migrants entering Europe.The threat of a new refugee exodus into Europe is widely seen as Erdogan’s most important leverage over the European leaders.”In the past, Europe panicked, especially Germany, with the threat of Turkey opening its borders to refugees, and they tried to appease Turkey,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.However, both Greece and Bulgaria, strongly backed by Brussels, robustly resisted the latest mass movement of migrants into their countries, following Erdogan opening Turkey’s borders.Greek Army soldiers detain a group of migrants that crossed from Turkey to Greece, near the village of Protoklisi, in the region of Evros, Greece, March 10, 2020.Erdogan described Greek border forces’ tactics as “Nazi-like.” On Tuesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch also condemned Greek methods employed to stop migrants from entering Greece.”The European Union is hiding behind a shield of Greek security force abuse instead of helping Greece protect asylum-seekers and relocate them safely throughout the EU,” said Nadia Hardman, a refugee rights researcher of Human Rights Watch. “The EU should protect people in need rather than support forces who beat, rob, strip and dump asylum-seekers and migrants back across the river.”While drawing international condemnation, Athens’ success in securing its borders and restricting the numbers of migrants entering Greece appear to have weakened Ankara’s leverage over Brussels.”Turkish President Erdogan was threatening all these years to release these refugees to the EU, and finally he did. But it was a fiasco,” said political scientist Cengiz Aktar of the University of Athens. “He used his trump card in his hand, and it failed. The Greeks reacted, the EU reacted, and at the end of the day, has shown a firm stance towards Erdogan.”  Earlier this month, Erdogan left Brussels empty-handed after meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Charles Michel, president of the European Council.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 2nd left, meets with European Council President Charles Michel, right, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, 2nd right, at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, March 9, 2020.Erdogan is pressing the EU to not only pay out what he claims is an outstanding 3 billion euros owed from the 2016 migrant deal, but also further funding going forward. With a slowing economy, compounded by escalating costs of the coronavirus, analysts say Ankara is in urgent need of funds.With reports of migrants ending their bid to enter EU countries and returning to Turkish cities, Brussels is predicted to provide further funding.  “The tension is dying down. We understand there are less and less people at the [Greek] border,” said Aktar. “Following [Tuesday’s] video meeting, the EU might come up with funding, but not now. Maybe further down the road, with 1 or 2 billion [euros] later this year.”Analysts suggest Erdogan’s main priority is to avert a new wave of Syrian refugees. Damascus forces are threatening to overrun Idlib, the last rebel-controlled province.  A tentative cease-fire was hammered out between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month. But the deal is widely seen as only offering a temporary respite for the estimated 4 million people trapped in Idlib.”Cease-fires with Russian guarantees have not been cease-fires,” U.S. Ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield said in a telephone briefing in March. “They were temporary, transactional halts until Russia was prepared to renew the campaign.”Syrians climb on a Turkish tank in Neyrab, March 15, 2020, as they protest agreement on joint Turkish and Russian patrols in northwest Syria.Erdogan is using the cease-fire to build support from critical European NATO members for his proposal of a haven in Idlib.  In a gesture to Ankara, Merkel has voiced support that a haven preventing a new refugee exodus is of critical importance to Erdogan.”If they [the Syrian refugees] can’t go back, they’ll move on to Turkey, exacerbating AKP’s problems with voters,” Yesilada said. “Survey after survey reveals that the Turks blame Syrian refugees for unemployment and social frictions.”  Analysts point out that there is little appetite among NATO members to confront Russian forces based in Syria. But with Europe and Ankara increasingly focused on addressing the coronavirus crisis, analysts predict all sides will be perceptive to a compromise over the refugee crisis, especially given the dangers such vulnerable people face by the pandemic.”The pandemic is an absolute priority for everyone. This additional 1 or 2 billion euros the EU might give could well be directed towards helping Turkey for its refugees within the framework of the fight against the pandemic.” 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has set April 22 for a nationwide referendum on constitutional amendments that would allow him to remain in power until at least 2036. Putin signed a decree Tuesday, a day after the country’s Constitutional Court approved the amendments. The controversial amendments last week had passed both chambers of the national parliament and were backed by all Russian regions. The amendments would reset the count on Putin’s presidential terms to zero. The court had rejected a similar attempt to change the constitution in 1998 during then-President Boris Yeltsin’s second term. The Central Election Commission said the vote would be postponed if the coronavirus outbreak affected too many people. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Russian Federation rose to 114 Tuesday, but no deaths have been reported. Putin is currently required to step down in 2024 when his fourth presidential term ends. He avoided the two-term limit by serving as prime minister from 2008 to 2012, between his second and third terms as president. The amendments, if passed, would allow him to run for the next two six-year terms. Putin has ruled Russia either as president or prime minister since 1999. 
 
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The bells are tolling in the villages of the north Italian region of Lombardy, registering yet another coronavirus death.  North Italy has suffered epidemics before, albeit much more deadly contagions in the 17th and 18th centuries, which left more than 300,000 dead. But Italians never thought they would encounter again a contagion powerful enough to test their country to its limits.Opinion polls suggest that more than 60% of Italians approve of the government lockdown. But cooped up in their homes for a second week, Italians are wondering how many more times the bells will toll sounare a morto (song of death). And how long the country will remain at a standstill because of a virus that first appeared nearly 9,000 kilometers away in a Chinese city most had never heard of.  Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte speaks during a news conference due to coronavirus spread, in Rome, Italy, March 11, 2020.The Italian government, like its pre-industrial forerunners, has turned to the use of quarantines, first used by Venice in the 14th century to protect itself from plague epidemics.  Quarantining was at the heart of a disease-abatement strategy that included isolation, sanitary cordons and extreme social regulation of the population. Without a vaccine — or as yet effective pharmaceutical therapy for those who suffer severe illness — there’s not much else to do, as Italy’s neighbors and the United States are also discovering.  Hand-painted banners with the slogan, “Everything will be alright,” have started to appear in Italian cities. But many worry about the likely duration of the war against an invisible killer, and what the long-term consequences will be for their livelihoods and their country.  They aren’t the only ones in Europe asking the same questions.As scary, surreal and disruptive as it is now, the long-term political and economic consequences of the biggest public health challenge the continent has faced since the 1918 Spanish flu are likely to be huge.FILE – Influenza victims crowd into an emergency hospital near Fort Riley, Kansas in 1918, when the Spanish flu pandemic killed at least 20 million people worldwide.Aside from quarantining, the past also has some possible lessons for Europe about how infectious diseases can leave a long-term imprint, say historians. They say plagues and pestilence have reshaped countries before, changing politics, contributing to instability, retarding economic development and altering social relations.“Plague caused a shock to the economy of the Italian peninsula that might have been key in starting its relative decline compared with the emerging northern European countries,” noted Italian historian Guido Alfani in an academic paper on the impact of the 17th century plague.In England, the long-term effects of the medieval Black Death were devastating and far-reaching, according to historian Tom James, with “agriculture, religion, economics and even social class affected. Medieval Britain was irreversibly changed,” he wrote in a 2017 commentary for the BBC. Historians say it reordered England’s social order by hastening the end of feudalism.The Spanish flu epidemic, which killed tens of millions of people worldwide, including 500,000 Americans, affected the course of history — it may have contributed to the Western allies winning World War I, say some historians. German General Erich Ludendorff thought so, arguing years later that influenza had robbed him of victory.  And it even affected the peace, argued British journalist Laura Spinney in her 2017 book “Pale Rider,” which studied the Spanish flu. Among other things, Spinney said the flu may have contributed to the massive stroke U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffered as he was recovering from the viral infection.  “That stroke left an indelible mark both on Wilson (leaving him paralyzed on the left side of his body) and on global politics,” Spinney wrote. An ailing U.S. president was unable to persuade Congress to join the League of Nations.Historians and risk analysts caution that as no one knows how COVID-19 will play out — what the death toll or economic costs will be, or how well or badly individual governments may perform — they are sure it will leave an indelible mark.Much of the impact of past contagions was due to demographic crises left in their wake — high death tolls caused social dislocation and labor shortages. Even worst-case scenarios suggest the coronavirus won’t cause a demographic crisis. But shutting down economies will have long-term ramifications, possibly a recession or depression, and will likely spawn political change.“While the health challenges and economic consequences are potentially devastating, the political consequences are harder to foresee but might be the most long-lasting,” said John Scott, head of sustainability risk at the Zurich Insurance Group.  “Voters may not be kind to politicians who fail in their basic duty to protect citizens,” he said in a note for the World Economic Forum.For all of Europe’s political leaders and ruling parties, regardless of ideology, the pandemic and its economic fallout risks driving them from office if they’re seen to have bungled.Many have already been forced into policy reversals. Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, who outlined Monday the biggest set of changes in the daily lives of Britons since World War II, has made large U-turns in the space of days.This week, he made his biggest reversal following new modeling by disease experts at London’s Imperial College, which suggested that without a national shutdown the death toll would exceed 250,000.In Europe, member states have been breaking with Brussels over border controls. European Union officials insisted that national governments should not close borders or stop the free movement of people within the so-called Schengen zone.  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference after the weekly College of Commissioners meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, March 4, 2020.Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that “each member state needs to live up to its full responsibility, and the EU as a whole needs to be determined, coordinated and united.”Her advice has been ignored, with countries across the continent closing their borders.  Some believe that the Schengen system of borderless travel will never be fully restored after the virus has been suppressed or run its course.  Luca Zaia, governor of the Veneto region, one of Italy’s worst-hit areas, told reporters that Europe’s borderless zone was “disappearing as we speak.”  “Schengen no longer exists,” he said. “It will be remembered only in the history books.”  He and others believe as the crisis deepens, member states will take other unilateral actions, setting the stage for a patchwork of national policies that will erode European unity and set back the cause of European federalism.The Economist magazine also suggested last week that the coronavirus will play more to the agenda of populists, who decry globalization and have lamented the weakening of nation states.But other observers say COVID-19 could have the reverse effect by trigging an uptick in multilateralism and greater cross-border solidarity, much as the Spanish flu prompted the ushering in of public health care systems and the first international agencies to combat disease.How the fight goes against the virus is one thing. Another is how Europe copes with the likely economic slump that follows, and a debt crisis that might be triggered, analysts say.  That, too, will reshape national and continental politics, much as the 2008 financial crash shattered the grip of mainstream parties on European politics. 
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St. Patrick’s Day celebrations around the world have fallen victim to the new coronavirus — but even a pandemic could not quash the desire to celebrate the color green, Guinness and all things Irish. Parades and parties were canceled around the globe Tuesday as governments imposed restrictions on human contact to slow the spread of the virus. A deserted O’Connell street outside the GPO in Dublin city center, March 17, 2020. The St Patrick’s Day parades across Ireland were cancelled due to the outbreak of COVID-19 virus.Irish authorities called off Dublin’s parade, which usually draws half a million revelers into the streets of the capital city, and pleaded with people not to congregate at house parties. Thousands of pubs across Ireland have been closed as part of measures to fight COVID-19, tens of thousands of pints of Guinness will go un-poured and 140,000 people who work in pubs, restaurants and childcare are unemployed, at least temporarily.  But even in a time of social distancing and self-isolation, the desire to mark the day bloomed.  Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTE, urged people to post footage of their improvised, isolated celebrations on social media. The hashtag #RTEVirtualParade soon became a riot of flag-waving family processions, pets in green, white and orange tricolors and children performing Irish dancing. Peter Hynes, a dairy farmer in County Cork, southwest Ireland, assembled his family for a makeshift procession through the farmyard that included a child in a wheelbarrow, a calf, a pony, a quad bike and a young man banging a bucket as a drum. “We just kind of grabbed whatever we could use as props,” said Hynes, who lives on the farm with his wife and three daughters aged 6 to 16. “We just wanted to fly the Irish flag around the world, because that’s what’s done on St. Patrick’s Day every year. “We didn’t think it would get the reaction it did. But to see the messages coming from Italy and Spain and Australia, and people in quarantine — it just put a smile on their face. That’s all we wanted to do.” In the U.K., London’s St. Patrick’s Day festival in Trafalgar Square was called off, and the government urged Britons not to visit bars and restaurants but did not formally shut them down.  In the U.S., New York’s giant parade was canceled for the first time in its 258-year history. Other cities including Chicago and Boston also scrapped their long-established parades. Still, landmarks around the world, including Sydney Opera House, the London Eye and The Colosseum in Rome, were lit up in green as part of Tourism Ireland’s “Global Greening” project. “We hope our Global Greening will bring a little positivity and hope to people everywhere and remind them that, if we all do the right thing now by following advice of our medical experts, this crisis will pass,” said chief executive Niall Gibbons. In his annual St. Patrick’s Day message, Irish President Michael D. Higgins urged people to show “solidarity and concern for the well-being of our fellow citizens” as they marked the country’s patron saint. “St Patrick’s Day has become a profound expression of a common history that extends far beyond Irish shores,” he said. “As members of that global community, we must commit to working in a spirit of solidarity and co-operation, joining with citizens across the world in fighting this global health emergency.”  
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The Church of England said on Tuesday it would suspend public worship to slow the spread of the coronavirus, although churches would remain open for prayer if possible.”Our life is going to be less characterized by attendance at church on Sunday, and more characterized by the prayer and service we offer each day,” the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and John Sentamu, wrote in a letter to clergy.PA Media said church weddings and funerals would continue. 
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The European Union’s external borders will be closed to non-essential travel  for 30 days as of Tuesday to fight the spread of the coronavirus, while France is following Italy and Spain in imposing a nationwide lockdown for at least 15 days.In an address to the nation Monday night, President Emmanuel Macron announced France was at war against COVID-19. He announced new measures both within France and across the EU to contain its spread.   Macron said as of midday Tuesday, the EU and Europe’s visa-free Schengen zone borders would be shut for 30 days for all but essential travel. Earlier in the day, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she had made the recommendation to the 27-member bloc.  Macron also announced a minimum 15-day lockdown across France and its territories. People must drastically limit their movement outside their homes to essential work, errands and health services also as of Tuesday midday. Getting together with friends and non-household family members is forbidden, and violators risk punishment.  The new restrictions come amid surging numbers of coronavirus cases here — and as some hospitals increasingly struggle to cope with an overload of sick patients, especially in the eastern part of the country.   Macron also said the second round of local elections would be postponed, along with a series of unpopular reforms his government has pushed through in recent months. He announced measures to support businesses hard hit by the coronavirus, including more than $335 billion in tax and other relief.
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The European Union’s external borders will be closed to non-essential travel  for 30 days as of Tuesday to fight the spread of the coronavirus, while France is following Italy and Spain in imposing a nationwide lockdown for at least 15 days.In an address to the nation Monday night, President Emmanuel Macron announced France was at war against COVID-19. He announced new measures both within France and across the EU to contain its spread.   Macron said as of midday Tuesday, the EU and Europe’s visa-free Schengen zone borders would be shut for 30 days for all but essential travel. Earlier in the day, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she had made the recommendation to the 27-member bloc.  Macron also announced a minimum 15-day lockdown across France and its territories. People must drastically limit their movement outside their homes to essential work, errands and health services also as of Tuesday midday. Getting together with friends and non-household family members is forbidden, and violators risk punishment.  The new restrictions come amid surging numbers of coronavirus cases here — and as some hospitals increasingly struggle to cope with an overload of sick patients, especially in the eastern part of the country.   Macron also said the second round of local elections would be postponed, along with a series of unpopular reforms his government has pushed through in recent months. He announced measures to support businesses hard hit by the coronavirus, including more than $335 billion in tax and other relief.
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Vendors at the busy Croix-des-Bossales market in downtown Port-au-Prince have not heard much about the coronavirus pandemic that is currently sweeping the world.   VOA Creole found Monday that half of the vendors were busy trying to make ends meet and had no knowledge or incorrect information about the virus.  
 
“I haven’t heard about it. I only came back to the capital yesterday,” a female vendor told VOA. “I do have a radio at home, but it’s not working.”  
 
“I heard it’s people who eat mice who have this disease,” a vendor in her 20s told VOA. “People who eat rats. I heard coronavirus is killing people, but I have no idea whether it’s here in Haiti.”   
 
Farther down the row of merchants, another female vendor had more accurate information.Potato vendors wait for customers at the Croix-dèz-Beausalles open air market in downtown Port au Prince. (VOA Creole/Matiado Vilme)“I heard that corona is a virus that we should avoid. We should wash our hands, but that’s all I know,” she said.  “But I did hear someone say it originated with white people who eat cockroaches, rats and mice — that’s what I heard on the street.”  
 
A male vendor in his 40s knew that COVID-19 has infected people worldwide. 
 
“I don’t know much else about it,” he said, “because I’m still waiting to hear what the experts have to tell us.”  
 
Another vendor told VOA she believes drinking moonshine can keep the virus at bay.  
 
“I heard the virus doesn’t like hot climates nor strong alcohol, so that’s our protection,” she said. Among vendors who had some knowledge of the virus and the precautions they can take to keep it from spreading, several admitted the advice wasn’t easy to follow.   
 
“They told us we shouldn’t touch our faces, but after moving merchandise, sometimes we sweat, and out of habit, we wipe our forehead (with our hand),” a woman said. “How are we supposed to avoid doing that?”  
 
A vendor selling rice and beans said she washes her hands often, but noted that her clients may or may not do the same. 
 
“When a person is hungry, they may not remember to wash their hands before they come to my stand to buy food. All they can think of is eating,” she said.  
 
A male vendor said he was praying for God’s protection. As for social distancing, he said Haitians will never stop kissing each other when they meet. 
 
“We poor people are used to bacteria, so it doesn’t kill us,” he said, adding that he will say an extra prayer to remain healthy as he continues to greet his friends with kisses. The Croix-des-Beausalles open air market is one of Port au Prince’s busiest. (VOA Creole/Matiado Vilme)Haiti has no confirmed cases of COVID-19 and is working to keep it that way, through nationwide information campaigns, public service announcements on radio and television, and daily press briefings. 
 
Over the weekend, the National Federation of Haitian Mayors announced a nationwide campaign in the country’s 10 departments to inform people about the pandemic.  On Sunday, Interior Minister Audin Bernadel Fils announced he would go downtown Monday evening, accompanied by members of the police force and Justice Ministry officials, to shut down roadside merchant stands.   
 
“We will close them, because coronavirus is not a ghost, it’s not fake news, it’s real,” he said. “We have been fortunate not to have any cases yet, and we intend to keep it that way as long as we can.”  
 
Monday at midnight, Haiti is shutting its border with the Dominican Republic, where the coronavirus has sickened 11 people.  An exception is being made for merchandise coming across the border, which will be required to undergo screening both in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti immediately after entering the country.   
 
Haiti has also stepped up patrols of its maritime borders and has suspended air travel from Europe and Latin America.  Air travel between Haiti and the United States has not yet been halted but is currently under review, according to Prime Minister Jouthe Joseph.  
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Russian journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva has been formally charged with justifying terrorism in a case that has drawn criticism from rights and media watchdogs.Prokopyeva, a freelance contributor for RFE/RL’s Russian Service, said on March 16 she had been handed the indictment document at the prosecutor’s office in Pskov.She denies the charge, which stem from comments made during a 2018 Ekho Moskvy broadcast.If found guilty, the journalist faces seven years in prison.RFE/RL President Jamie Fly condemned Prokopyeva’s indictment, saying that “the charges lack any merit, and have been brought instead in a cynical effort to silence an independent journalist.””Independent journalists in Russia should be respected for their critical role in providing people with important news and information about issues they are facing, and not treated as criminals for doing their jobs,” Fly added. 
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he will close the country’s borders to anyone not a citizen, an American or a permanent resident and asked all Canadians to say home amid the coronavirus pandemic.“All Canadians as much as possible should stay home,” Trudeau said said outside his residence, where is self-isolating after his wife tested positive for the virus.Trudeau said his government based its decisions on science and public health recommendations, but said Americans would exempted despite cases surging in the U.S.“We recognize that the level of integration of our two economies,” he said.The U.S. is by far Canada’s largest trading partner — accounting for 75 percent of the country’s exports. Trudeau has spoken to U.S. President Donald Trump in recent days.Trudeau also said his government will restrict flights to Canada to airports in four major cities. The Canadian government is also mandating air carriers to screen passengers with symptoms of the novel coronavirus out of lines so they don’t board planes home.He said the country is taking “increasingly aggressive steps” to keep everyone safe. 
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Spain is suffering Europe’s worst coronavirus contagion after Italy, according to government officials who have declared a “state of alarm” to implement the type of emergency measures instituted in Italy, forcing people to stay indoors even at the risk of economic paralysis. According to Spanish health authorities, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose past 9,000 on Monday, increasing at a rate of 35% over the weekend when the government issued quarantine orders for all of Spain. In Italy, confirmed coronavirus cases by Monday had exceeded 24,000, second only to China where the infection began. The government there has been criticized for not instituting emergency measures earlier than it did.   “By applying nationwide measures early on we hope to get above the contagion curve,” said Madrid Community Vice President Ignacio Aguado, who administers health programs in Spain’s capital where about half of Spain’s coronavirus cases are concentrated. He says the number of fatalities has been reduced through stepped-up testing and emergency care throughout the country, including the requisitioning of private hospitals and mobilizing of military medical teams. Fewer than 350 people were reported to have died in Spain as of Monday, compared to more than 1,800 in Italy.   But the measures are expected to take a heavy toll on the economy. “Calculations of the economic impact are of major proportion” said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez when he announced the state of emergency on Saturday. As in other countries, the Madrid stock market has seen share values decline by about one-third. Tourism – a major source of income which has helped to cushion Spain from previous economic crises – has suffered the heaviest blow as beaches, scenic town centers and all forms of outside entertainment have been declared off limits or banned. During the weekend, police vans and drones armed with loudspeakers warned citizens to stay away from beachside promenades and boulevards, while tourists crowded into airports to await repatriation to their respective countries.   A woman takes shelters from the rain under an umbrella while passing graffiti reading,”Privatizing Health Service kills. Capitalvirus”, in Pamplona, northern Spain, March 16, 2020.The city of Seville is being forced to cancel its annual holy week processions, famous bull fights and horse fairs at a cost of about $500 million – a sum that some fear could bankrupt the southern region of Andalucia.   Union and business leaders say they fear massive unemployment if the crisis drags on for months.   Public health officials in Madrid predict that that the epidemic will not peak until April. Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez Almeida has blamed the rapid propagation of the virus in Spain’s capital on a March 8 Women’s Day march led by government ministers. City officials had called for the march to be canceled in view of the growing health emergency.  The wives of Sanchez and of Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias were found to be infected with the virus after participating the march.   The entire leadership of the far right VOX party also went into quarantine last week following a rally in the Madrid suburb of Vista Alegre.   At a press conference Sunday night, the ministers of interior, defense, sanitation and transport – who make up a newly formed emergency cabinet – announced plans to reduce road transport throughout Spain by 85%.   Their declaration followed complaints from local authorities in eastern and southern coastal regions that Madrid residents were coming to serve their quarantines at their vacation homes.  Protesting neighbors gathered outside the villa of former prime minister Jose Maria Azanar when he arrived from Madrid at the southern resort of Marbella with his family. 
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Brazilian airline Azul said on Monday that it will cut all of its international flights out of its main hub in Sao Paulo state later on Monday because of the coronavirus outbreak, significantly increasing its cancellations.
 
Latin American airlines, including Azul, had announced last week they would cut no more than 30% of their flights.
 
The continent’s largest carrier, LATAM Airlines Group , said on Monday that it might cut back flights further following Azul’s announcements but declined to provide more details.
 
“We will maintain the flexibility to take additional measures, if necessary, due to the speed at which events are unfolding,” the company said in a statement.
 
Other carriers have also been canceling flights to Latin America. American Airlines said over the weekend it would cut all of its flights to Brazil and to much of South America.
 
The speed of cancellations accelerated from what airlines said they expected last week. Azul had said that it would focus its cancellations outside of its Sao Paulo hub and instead work to keep those flights in place, only to then cancel all Sao Paulo international flights on Monday.
 
It was unclear what, if any, international flights Azul will keep operating. Azul flies mainly to the United States and to Portugal.
 
The airline added it would cut up to 50% of its capacity by next month and adopt measures to cut costs. One of them is the 25% reduction in salaries of its executives, significantly lower than cuts taken by airline executives in the United States.
 
Brazil’s Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes has not made specific announcements yet, but it only operates international flights within Latin America. 
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Russia’s Constitutional Court has approved amendments that, among other changes, would allow Vladimir Putin to run again for president in 2024. The constitutional changes are due to be put to a nationwide vote in April.In January, Putin announced a major shake-up of Russian politics and a constitutional overhaul, which the Kremlin described as a redistribution of power from the presidency to parliament. FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a session of the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, prior to its members voting on constitutional amendments, in Moscow, March 10, 2020.But last week Putin, who is in his fourth presidential term and has been president or prime minister of Russia for two decades, appeared in the State Duma to back a new amendment that would allow him to ignore a current constitutional ban on him running again in four years’ time. The previous rules forbade him from running for a third consecutive mandate, but that changes with the provisions of the amendments, meaning he can seek a fifth overall presidential term in 2024, and conceivably a sixth in 2030.  
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Spain’s tally of coronavirus cases rose to 8,744 on Monday and the number of fatalities rose to 297, said Fernando Simon, the head of the country’s health emergency center.
 
The previous tally was 7,753 cases on Sunday, with 288 fatalities
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