Like many Parisians who could, I fled the capital on Day One of the coronavirus lockdown. Green space, even a garden, sounded a whole lot better than being stuck in a small apartment for weeks and maybe more.  As people packed train stations, desperate to join family in the countryside, I headed out by bike to the Paris suburb of Neuilly Plaisance. My boyfriend and cats awaited. So did a garden sprouting spring flowers.  I crossed a deserted capital. Gone were the tourists, the aggressive motorbikes, the insouciant teens on skateboards, the families toting tots and baguettes — the cocktail of daily life here.  Homeless people wandered empty sidewalks. A few joggers coasted down carless streets — although tougher government guidelines issued since are further limiting our movements to just a few blocks.  A man rides his bicycle along an empty street in Paris, on March 20, 2020 as a strict lockdown comes into effect to stop the spread of the COVID-19 in the country.I biked through the Bois de Vincennes where, in normal times, strollers and prostitutes peacefully coexist. Both were absent. Then I pedaled along the Marne River, teeming with birds clearly enjoying the absence of humans.  The government has issued strict coronavirus rules. No going out without an authorization that fits a few narrow criteria: to buy essentials like medication or food; to go to a doctor; to take a brief stroll or run. Violators risk a hefty, $140-plus fine.  As a journalist, I am lucky. I can go out for reporting, which is considered a “vital” activity. Even so, most days are spent at home.  Cruelly, the weather under lockdown has been spectacular. After weeks of rain, sunny day has followed sunny day.  And this being France, with a healthy history of flouting authority, people quickly learned to stretch the new restrictions. Police have already handed out thousands of fines.  Still, many French are following orders, sobered by President Emmanuel Macron’s warning of this invisible, deadly enemy. They wait in snaking lines in front of supermarkets and still-open boulangeries — the daily baguette considered as vital as water.  They stay home, trying to juggle tending to out-of-school kids with working remotely. They remain hooked to the news, with the ever-growing coronavirus cases and deaths reported.  We are lucky; we are together, still healthy, with no extra demands beyond a pair of hungry cats. We have a pile of books to read. My boyfriend, a sports doctor, has decided to use his shortened work days to learn electric guitar. Friends and family are setting up Skype and Zoom sessions to stay in touch.  French President Emmanuel Macron attends a meeting at the emergency crisis center of the Interior Ministry in Paris, March 20, 2020.“Relearn what is essential,” Macron urged the nation as he announced the lockdown March 16, advising French to use their time in confinement to tighten bonds and explore new subjects.  Maybe we will emerge a kinder, wiser nation — although this is also a nation of skeptics.  Still, at 8 p.m. precisely, French are increasingly throwing open their windows to applaud the country’s overstretched health workers.Now there are “balcony concerts.” Last night, we, too, cracked open a window. And down the silent suburban street came the sound of clapping.   Inhabitants applaud to pay tribute to medical staff as France faces an aggressive progression of the coronavirus in Paris, March 20, 2020. 
…

The president of Argentina says the South American nation is going into a mandatory quarantine for 11 days, in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.Speaking to the nation in a televised address Thursday, President Alberto Fernández said everyone must stay home, starting at midnight Friday, local time, until midnight March 31. Fernández said people making trips to buy groceries, and other necessities are exempt.The president said those who are unable to explain why they are on the street will face reprimands provided by the penal code.“It is time for us to understand that we are caring for the health of Argentines. We have now dictated this measure trying to make the effects on the economy as least harmful as possible,” Fernández said, explaining the new directive.Ahead of Friday’s lockdown, long lines of people converged on supermarkets and pharmacies to stock up on supplies.So far, Argentina has at least 128 confirmed infections, and three people have died with the virus. Argentina had previously closed its borders to non-residents, suspended flights and shut down schools, all in an effort to stop the spread of virus.
…

The coronavirus pandemic has now arrived in Haiti.President Jovenel Moise on Thursday confirmed the country’s first two cases of the deadly disease in a national address that was simultaneously streamed live on Facebook.“I want to let the nation know that according to test results we received from the national laboratory this afternoon while we were holding an emergency ministers’ council meeting, we have confirmed the first two cases of coronavirus in the nation,” Moise said. “The government is appealing for calm,” he added.It is unclear who the confirmed cases are.  This week, a state university professor in Limonade, in northern Haiti, experienced flulike symptoms after returning from a trip to the United States. He self-quarantined and was tested for coronavirus after alerting the university administrator and local public health officials. Over the weekend, a foreign female who had returned to Haiti after a trip to her native country where coronavirus has spread and had experienced flulike symptoms tested negative for the virus.New emergency measuresA statement sent to VOA Creole lists emergency measures the government plans to enact to stem the spread of the virus in a nation struggling to regain its footing after months of anti-government protests.The emergency measures include an 8 p.m. curfew, school closures, factory closures, and a limit of 10 people for social gatherings.As of midnight Thursday, the country’s ports, airports and borders will be closed. Merchandise will still be able to cross the Haiti-Dominican Republic border after being screened on both sides.The government also announced plans to sanction anyone selling medicine, health products or food on the black market.Reaction across the nationVOA Creole reporters in the town of Mirebalais in the south and in the capital, Port au Prince, said people are panicked. Businesses quickly shuttered. In the Delmas neighborhood of the capital, people scrambled to fill up on gas and stock up on food items, and then ran home.“People look visibly scared,” the reporters said.Supermarkets in the affluent suburb of Petionville were crowded soon after the presidential announcement ended with people buying food and other essential items.Haiti Public Health Minister Marie Greta Roy Clément briefs reporters on the latest Coronavirus measures, March 12, 2020 in Port au Prince, Haiti. (Renan Toussaint / VOA Creole)Health workers concernedVOA Creole spoke to doctors and nurses at the country’s state-run hospital in Port-au-Prince earlier this month who feared their institution was not ready to handle coronavirus cases.“It’s sad to say this but the hospital receives a lot of patients daily and we are not — I repeat — we are not ready, as far as I know, to diagnose a person who has the coronavirus,” a doctor said, adding that the hospital doesn’t even have the test to determine if someone is infected. Public Health Minister Marie Greta Roy Clement told VOA the national laboratory would handle all coronavirus cases.Residents of Port-au-Prince and the suburb of Petionville VOA spoke to earlier this week also expressed fear of the pandemic and had little or false information about it and how to protect themselves.Clement said her ministry was rolling out a nationwide campaign to train health workers and inform the public on best practices to stay healthy.Yves Manuel, Florence Lisene in Port-au-Prince, Yvan Martin Jasmin in Cape Haitian, and Jean Collegue in Mirebalais contributed to this report.
 
…

Russia is very likely behind a disinformation campaign on coronavirus in the Western media, intended to fuel panic and discord among allies, experts tell VOA. The European Union has accused Moscow of pushing fake news online in English, Spanish, Italian, German and French, using “contradictory, confusing and malicious reports” to make it harder for the bloc leaders to communicate its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reuters news agency reported Wednesday that the European External Action Service issued a nine-page internal document March 16 saying that  “the overarching aim of Kremlin disinformation is to aggravate the public health crisis in Western countries … in line with the Kremlin’s broader strategy of attempting to subvert European societies.”  The document, seen by Reuters, says an EU database has recorded almost 80 cases of disinformation about coronavirus since January 22, some of them claiming that coronavirus was a U.S. biological weapon. FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskova in Moscow, March 31, 2015.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov promptly denied the accusation citing a lack of specific examples.   “We’re talking again about some unfounded allegations, which in the current situation are probably the result of an anti-Russian obsession,” he said.   But Russia analysts tell VOA that the Russian government is using every means possible to use the coronavirus crisis to its advantage as part of its information warfare against the West.  Russia has reported less than 200 confirmed COVID-19 cases and no deaths, compared with about 80,000 cases and about 3,500 deaths in Europe. “The Russian media is using these numbers to praise the Russian government and personally President Vladimir Putin for allegedly preventing the coronavirus from spreading fast in Russia,” said political analyst and historian Peter Eltsov, author of the new book The Long Telegram 2.0: A Neo-Kennanite Approach to Russia. Eltsov said the Russian media also claim that even China is handling the crisis better than the European Union and the United States. “Some talk shows even spread conspiracy theories, claiming that the U.S. government has invented and is testing coronavirus as means of biological warfare.“ Eltsov says the goal of this propaganda is to sow chaos and dissension in the EU, NATO and the United States. “On many occasions, Putin emphasized that Russia needs a new security architecture in Europe. As European countries are cordoning themselves, he may see it as an opportunity to put his plans in action.” U.S. Congress has found indisputable evidence that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, and many officials say there is no doubt that Moscow plans to do so again in this year’s election. FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Dec. 9, 2019.During a joint 2017 press conference in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron asked Putin publicly to stop the fake news against him generated by the Sputnik news agency and RT television network.   Klaus Larres, professor of international affairs at the University of North Carolina, noted that Russia has used every opportunity it has had to weaken Europe, notably during the 1973 oil crisis and 2008 global financial crisis. “It is hardly surprising that some Russian state actors are attempting to exploit the coronavirus crisis through conspiracy theories disseminated on the internet,” he told VOA.  Larres said EU members must not allow being drawn into competition over masks and ventilators as part of an effort to have the spirit of Europe crushed. Instead they must share information and join forces to end the coronavirus crisis, he said.   
…

The United States and Canada are closing their borders to “to all nonessential traffic,” U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday. Trump tweeted that the decision was reached “by mutual consent.”  The announcement comes as countries around the world ramp up measures to shield their citizens from COVID-19, which was first reported in Wuhan, China. Earlier, Trump’s decision to stop European Union visitors from traveling to the United States was condemned by the EU on the grounds that it was done unilaterally and without prior consultation. Trump and Trudeau made clear the border closing would not affect bilateral trade or the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which was ratified in Canada last week. The treaty, an update of the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA, had been ratified earlier in the U.S. and Mexico.  A truck crosses the Blue Water Bridge into Port Huron, Mich., from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, March 18, 2020.’We’re family’ Before the border closed, over 400,000 people traveled between the two countries “every single day,” Acting Ambassador of Canada to the United States Kirsten Hillman told VOA. Daily cross-border trade, she said, totaled $2.5 billion.  As she sees it, “We’re more than neighbors, more than allies for defense and security purposes. We’re partners, but we’re family – sometimes figuratively, often literally.”  Speaking about the trade agreement passed by the Canadian Parliament last week, Hillman described the trilateral trade agreement, known in Canada as CUSMA, as “critical to the long-term stability and predictability of Canada-U.S. relations.”  “It is a high-standard agreement that promotes shared prosperity for our workers, farmers and businesses,” Hillman stated, adding that “new provisions, such as the auto rules of origin, will encourage production and sourcing within the U.S. and North America in general.” The Canadian envoy also said that helping strengthen middle-class individuals and families in both countries, creating good, well-paying jobs, is a crucial component of the trade deal. Passage of the legislation in Canada, known as C-4, required that certain Canadian laws and regulations be amended to conform with the country’s obligations under the agreement.  Describing the lengthy process that the legislation took, Hillman tweeted that it was “a long road to get here but well, well worth the journey!” After a phone call with Trump on Wednesday, Trudeau issued a statement highlighting the continuity in bilateral ties following the border closing.  While “travelers will no longer be permitted to cross the border for recreation and tourism,” Trudeau’s statement said, it noted that the two sides agreed “that essential travel will continue and recognized that it is critical we preserve supply chains between both countries.” These supply chains “ensure that food,FILE – Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her home to appear for a hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 30, 2019.’Complicated challenge’ Prior to the border being closed in response to the infectious disease outbreak and the trilateral trade deal, news that dominated Canada-U.S. relations appeared to center on cases involving Beijing. In December 2018, Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, at the time the chief financial officer for tech giant Huawei, at the request of the United States. Within weeks, China detained and later officially arrested two Canadians – one a former diplomat, and the other an international consultant, both on espionage charges.  China also arrested and handed out a death sentence to a third Canadian allegedly involved in drug smuggling while in China. These acts by Chinese authorities are widely seen as retaliation against Canada’s arrest of Meng. Meng is out on bail and lives under house arrest in a luxury mansion in Vancouver, awaiting further judicial deliberations on the extradition request from the United States.Speaking about Meng, Hillman said, “The process in our courts to proceed with the extradition hearing to determine whether or not Ms. Meng will be extradited pursuant to the U.S. request is under way. We expect it to continue on for several months, in accordance with our judicial process.” VOA learned that Michael Kovrig, one of two Canadians accused of engaging in espionage and in Chinese custody, was allowed to speak by phone last week with his seriously ill father for the first time since he was detained by Chinese authorities in 2018. Until then, he and the other two Canadian citizens, Michael Spavor and Robert Schellenberg, were denied any contact with their families. They are visited once a month by the Canadian ambassador to China, Hillman said.  “We’re concerned about their arbitrary detention. We’re seeking to have their situation under which they’re held improved. We’re constantly, at all levels, speaking to Chinese authorities about trying to improve the conditions under which they’re being held,” Hillman said. Asked if there’s anything the United States can do to help Canada on this issue, Hillman said “the U.S. government, from President Trump on down through all of his cabinet members and officials, as well as Capitol Hill, have been incredibly supportive.” But she acknowledged the challenge was “complicated,” saying Canada is “happy for the partnership that we have with the U.S. in trying to think of ways to solve this problem.” Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne addresses the media in London, Jan. 16, 2020.Following the coronavirus outbreak in China, several hundred Canadian citizens were flown back to their home country. Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne has said publicly that he raised the cases of the detained Canadians during talks with his Chinese counterpart as evacuations were being arranged. According to Hillman, “there have been modest improvement” in the conditions under which the Canadian citizens are held in China, adding, “We would like to see much more.”  Gaining the release of Spavor and Kovrig, and obtaining leniency for Schellenberg, are Canada’s top priority, Hillman and other officials said.  All of them “are doing as best as can be expected under these circumstances,” Hillman said. “They’re resilient people who are trying to cope with the situation in which they find themselves. But it’s very difficult.” Since the coronavirus outbreak, Canada has sent over 16 tons of personal protective equipment to China on humanitarian grounds “to assist those on the front lines fighting against the coronavirus,” Hillman told VOA.  Those supplies include face masks, protective clothing, medical goggles, gloves, face shields and respiratory equipment. “We stand ready to help in any way we can,” she said, adding that Canada also has offered financial support to the World Health Organization. 
…

Two former close allies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have formed new political parties, a move that could threaten his hold on power.  The two parties are calling for a more democratic Turkey but, as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, they are likely to face formidable challenges.
…

The Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged reported no new homegrown cases Thursday, while the death toll in Italy was poised to overtake China’s in a stark illustration of how the crisis has pivoted toward Europe and the U.S.
The outbreak spread to at least one European head of state, 62-year-old Prince Albert II of the tiny principality of Monaco. The palace announced that he had tested positive for the virus but was continuing to work from his office and was being treated by doctors from Princess Grace Hospital, named after his American actress mother.
In the U.S., Congress rushed to pass a $1 trillion emergency package to shore up the sinking economy and help households pull through the crisis, with the first of two possible rounds of relief checks consisting of payments of $1,000 per adult and $500 for each child.
The worldwide death toll crept toward 10,000 as the total number of infections topped 220,000, including nearly 85,000 people who have recovered.  
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe pleaded with people to keep their distance from one another to avoid spreading the virus, even as the crisis pushed them to seek comfort.
“When you love someone, you should avoid taking them in your arms,” he said in Parliament. “It’s counterintuitive, and it’s painful. The psychological consequences, the way we are living, are very disturbing — but it’s what we must do.”Here’s a breakdown of the potentiality of contagion based on your greeting of choice.Italy, a country of 60 million, registered 2,978 deaths Wednesday after 475 more people died. Italy was likely to overtake China’s 3,249 dead — in a land of 1.4 billion — upon the release of Thursday’s figures.
The American death toll rose to 149, primarily elderly people.
Health authorities have cited a variety of reasons for Italy’s high toll, key among them its large population of elderly people, who are particularly susceptible to serious complications from the virus. Italy has the world’s second-oldest population, and the vast majority of its dead — 87% — were over 70.
Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, a virologist at Germany’s Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, said Italy’s high death rate could be explained in part by the almost total breakdown of the health system in some areas.
“That’s what happens when the health system collapses,” he said.
On a visit to the northern city of Milan, the head of a Chinese Red Cross delegation helping advise Italy said he was shocked to see so many people walking around, using public transportation and eating out.  
Sun Shuopeng said Wuhan saw infections peak only after a month of a strictly enforced lockdown.
“Right now we need to stop all economic activity and we need to stop the mobility of people,” he said. “All people should be staying at home in quarantine.”
Aside from the elderly and the sick, most people have mild or moderate symptoms, like a fever or cough, and most recover in a matter of weeks.
Spain has been the hardest-hit European country after Italy, and in Madrid a four-star hotel began operating as a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients.  
The director of the group that runs the Ayre GH Colon hotel tweeted: “365 rooms more to help win the war.” The Madrid Hotel Business Association said it has placed 40 hotels with room for 9,000 people at the service of the Madrid region, which has near half of Spain’s 17,000 or so cases.
In London, home to almost 9 million, the government urged people to stay off public transportation as authorities considered imposing tougher travel restrictions.  
The British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s reserved the first hour of shopping for vulnerable customers, one of many such efforts around the world.
Jim Gibson, 72, of London, said he found most of his groceries there in a “relatively trauma-free” experience. But he fretted that he hadn’t been able to get the medicine he needed for his wife and himself, and expressed concerns that Britain’s government had been too slow in ramping up testing.
“You can’t go on ignoring World Health Organization guidelines — if they’re wrong, who the hell is right?” he said. “Let’s have no shilly-shallying.”
Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief negotiator for its future relationship with Britain after Brexit, said he had been infected with the coronavirus.
“For all those affected already, and for all those currently in isolation, we will get through this together,” the 69-year-old Barnier tweeted.
Thursday marked the first time since Jan. 20 that the Chinese city of Wuhan showed no new locally transmitted cases, a rare glimmer of hope and perhaps a lesson in the strict measures needed to contain the virus.
Wuhan, which has been under a strict lockdown since January, once was the place where thousands lay sick or dying in hurriedly constructed hospitals. But Chinese authorities said all 34 new cases recorded over the previous day had come from abroad.
“Today, we have seen the dawn after so many days of hard effort,” said Jiao Yahui, a senior inspector at the National Health Commission.
European stock markets were up only slightly after losses in Asia despite a massive 750 billion-euro stimulus package announced overnight by the European Central Bank.  
Wall Street was calm in early trading by the standards of the past few days, when traders — weighing the increasing likelihood of a recession against the huge economic support pledged by global authorities — have caused wild swings.  
With wide swaths of the U.S. economy grinding to a halt, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits surged by 70,000 last week, more than economists expected.  
The U.S. Federal Reserve unveiled measures to support money-market funds and borrowing as investors worldwide rush to build up dollars and cash.  
Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, along with Honda and Toyota, announced on Wednesday that they would close all of their factories in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The shutdown of Detroit’s Big Three alone will idle about 150,000 workers.
More borders closed, leaving tens of thousands of tourists wondering how they would get home. In the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand shut out tourists, while Fiji reported its first virus case, a worrying development in a region with poor healthcare.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei planned to pardon 10,000 more prisoners — including an unknown number of political detainees— to combat the virus. The country, where more than 1,100 people have already died, previously freed 85,000 prisoners on temporary leave.  
In Austria, the province of Tyrol put 279 municipalities under quarantine because of a large number of infections, barring people from leaving towns or villages except to go to work.
…

Peru is banning the use of private vehicles, beginning Thursday, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra said the latest restrictions were initiated after officials discovered new cases among young people who were infected while traveling at night to social gatherings.A new curfew, which began Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time, bans the use of private cars until 5 a.m.The president also announced that the sports center used during last year’s Pan American Games will serve as a treatment facility for those with the virus who are not in serious condition.The most seriously ill patients will be treated at a newly built hospital in eastern Lima.Vizcarra said people will have access to water even if they cannot pay.Peru’s Ministry of Heath said there are at least 145 confirmed coronavirus cases in the country.Vizcarra said more than 300 people are being tested for the virus each day.Worldwide, more than 200,000 people have been infected and more than 8,800 have died. Over 84,000 have recovered, most of them in China.
…

The prime minister in the Netherlands has offered reassurances amid the global coronavirus outbreak: telling citizens on Thursday there is no shortage of toilet paper.
 
“Yes, I have enough,” Mark Rutte told a shopper in an informal exchange while visiting a supermarket to show support for workers. “They have it (on shelves) again.”
 
“But there’s enough in the whole country for the coming 10 years,” he said. “We can all poop for 10 years.”
 
Dutch supermarkets shelves have mostly refilled following a stockpiling episode last week. 
…

The Chinese city at the center of the coronavirus pandemic has for the first time reported no new daily cases, reporting Thursday that there were no new cases Wednesday.    Wuhan has spent about two months on lockdown as authorities tried to stop the spread of the virus, and in recent weeks the number of new infections there dwindled.    Elsewhere in China, though, with health officials reporting 34 total cases Thursday among people who came from elsewhere, there is continued concern about such imported cases threatening the substantial progress the country has made.    China has been the hardest hit by the novel coronavirus since it emerged in late December, with about 81,000 total cases and 3,200 deaths.  Most people who became sick have already recovered.    South Korea reported 152 new cases Thursday, a step back from its recent progress of fewer than 100 new daily cases for four days in a row.    The virus has reached 166 countries, with more than 208,000 confirmed cases and 8,600 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.    Almost 3,000 cases in Germany
Germany health officials reported Thursday a surge of 2,800 cases in a single day, bringing the country’s total to 11,000, one of the highest in the world.  Lothar Weiler, head of the German government’s Robert Koch Institute, said Wednesday as many as 10 million Germans could eventually be infected, but that the number could be significantly reduced if people curtail social interactions.  Even harder hit has been Italy, which had an alarming 475 deaths from the virus Wednesday.  The country has been on a strict lockdown for a week, and the Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday saying the measures will be extended beyond their planned expiration later this month.  Other countries have followed the response put in place in Italy, China, Spain and elsewhere in order to try to keep people from going about their daily business and spreading the virus among their communities or to other parts of their country.  Curfews and travel bans
Panama announced Wednesday a new nationwide curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., with only police, firefighters, health care workers and sanitation employees allowed out during that time.  The country has reported 109 cases to date.    New Zealand announced Thursday it is banning entry to foreigners, shortly after the government advised citizens not to travel overseas because of the risk of contracting the coronavirus.   “We will not tolerate risk at our borders,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a news conference.   The government said it had identified eight new cases involving people who traveled overseas.  Its total case number stood at 28.    Nearby Australia said it would also ban entry to non-citizens and non-residents starting Friday.  Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the “overwhelming proportion” of Australia’s 500 confirmed cases have been imported.   New cases in Latin America
Mexico, which has confirmed 118 cases, reported its first death early Thursday.  Hours later, Russia said a 78-year-old woman who tested positive for the virus died, the first in that country as well.  Nicaragua and neighboring El Salvador announced late Wednesday that they had confirmed their first cases of the coronavirus.   
…

The Olympic flame is set to arrive in Japan from Greece even as the opening of the Tokyo Games in four months is in doubt with more voices calling for the event to be postponed or canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The flame will touch down Friday aboard a white aircraft painted with the inscription “Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay” along its side, and “Hope Lights Our Way” stenciled near the tail section. Staff members of Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways and runway crew wave as they see off the ‘Tokyo 2020 Go’ aircraft, before it departs for Greece, at Haneda international airport in Tokyo, Japan, March 18, 2020.Everything about the arrival ceremony at the Matsushima air base in northern Japan will be subdued. The flame is to be greeted by a few dignitaries, saluted by a flyover from an aerial acrobatic team — if weather permits — and then used to ignite a cauldron. The burning vessel will be displayed in three northern prefectures before the official relay begins on March 26 from Fukushima prefecture, which was devastated nine years ago by an earthquake, tsunami and the meltdown of three nuclear reactors. Thousands of people from the region are still in temporary housing and life has not returned to normal for many. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes to use the Olympics  to crown his run as Japan’s longest serving premier, and many suggest he may not be around if the games are put off and the economy slumps. Taro Aso, the Japanese finance minister and former prime minister, characterized the Tokyo Games as the “cursed Olympics” when speaking on Wednesday in a parliamentary committee. Aso was born in 1940, the year Tokyo was to hold its first Olympics, which were called off because of World War II. FILE – Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso speaks during a news conference in the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington, Oct. 18, 2019.”This isn’t a phrase that the press could like to hear, but it’s true,” said Aso, who was a member of Japan’s shooting team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Aso pointed out that even as the situation in Japan and Asia improves, it’s worse globally. “We certainly hope to have a situation where everyone can at least come to Japan feeling safe and happy.” Aso said. “But the question is how we do that. It is something that Japan alone cannot achieve, and I don’t have an answer to this.” Getting the flame to Japan represents a small victory for the International Olympic Committee and local organizers, who maintain the Olympics will open as scheduled on July 24 and be followed by the Paralympics on Aug. 25. Even if they don’t, the burning flame could be used as a symbol — particularly if the games are eventually delayed — and a rallying point for the Japanese public. In a conference call on Wednesday, IOC president Thomas Bach got support for holding course, but is also getting push back from athletes who can’t train, are confused about the qualification process, and worry about their health. Critics are also complaining about the unfairness of qualifying, which might give some athletes advantages over others. An IOC member, four-time Olympic hockey gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser, has broken publicly with Bach. “I think the IOC insisting this will move ahead, with such conviction, is insensitive and irresponsible given the state of humanity,” said Wickenheiser, who is training to be a physician. “Keep them safe. Call it off,” Matthew Pinsent, a four-time Olympic champion rower and former IOC member, wrote on Twitter. The four-month torch relay could be fraught with problems, particularly for sponsors Coca-Cola and Toyota, which have invested millions for the publicity.  The torch relay tradition dates from Adolph Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympics. Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou, center, lights the torch of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, held by Greek shooting Olympic champion Anna Korakaki, left, during the flame lighting ceremony at the closed Ancient Olympia site in southern Greece.The torch relay in Greece, following the symbolic lighting on March 12, was stopped during the second day and did not resume because of large crowds. The flame was handed over, by proxy, to Tokyo organizers in Athens on Thursday in a bare-bones version of the usual elaborate ceremony in the stadium where the first modern games were staged in 1896. The 80,000-seat marble stadium was empty apart from a handful of officials and participants. The Japanese delegation was absent because of travel restrictions and Tokyo organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori delivered a speech by video from Japan. But his message was upbeat. “Tokyo 2020 commits to be in readiness for the games as planned,” Mori said. “I hereby pledge that on 24 July this flame will be lit at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.” Tokyo organizers have stripped most of the festivities from the relay, and have asked roadside crowds to be “restrained” and keep their distance from others. If that does not happen, organizers say they could stop the relay, or delay it.   
…

A Mexican judge issued an arrest warrant for the former head of investigations for the Attorney General’s Office for alleged violations in the investigation of the case of 43 college students who disappeared in 2014, officials said Wednesday.Tomas Zerón and five other former officials face charges including torture, forced disappearance and judicial misconduct. Three have been arrested and three, including Zerón, are still at large.Zerón oversaw the criminal investigation agency of the Attorney General’s Office and also its forensic work in the case. The students’ bodies have never been found, though a burned bone fragment matched one student.FILE – People stand under the portraits of 43 college students who went missing in 2014 in an apparent massacre, by Chinese concept artist and government critic Ai Weiwei at the Contemporary Art University Museum in Mexico City, Mexico, April 13, 2019.Many of the suspects arrested in the case were later released, and many claimed they had been tortured by police or the military. The current administration, which took office Dec. 1, 2018, has pledged to re-open the case.Federal officials who were not authorized to be quoted by name said that a warrant was issued for Zerón’s arrest and that Interpol had been notified to help locate him in case he was outside of Mexico. One of the officials said there were indications that Zerón may have left for Canada in late 2019, but it was unclear whether he later traveled elsewhere.Zerón’s investigation had long been criticized by the families of the 43 teachers’ college students who disappeared in September 2014 after they were detained by local police in Iguala, in the southern state of Guerrero. They were allegedly handed over to a drug gang and slain, and have not been heard from since.Zerón was at the center of the government’s widely criticized investigation, which has failed to definitively determine what happened to the students. Two independent teams of experts have cast doubt on the insistence of Mexican officials that the students’ bodies were incinerated in a huge fire at a trash dump.The students attended the Rural Normal School of Ayotzinapa. They were in Iguala on Sept. 26, 2014, to hijack buses to use for transportation to a rally in Mexico City. They were attacked on the buses by local police and allegedly handed over to members of the Guerreros Unidos cartel.
…

As lockdown becomes the new norm in Europe, people in France — the EU’s third largest economy — discuss their experiences during the coronavirus pandemic.Busy avenues like the Champs Elysées are not buzzing these days in the French capital. Since Monday at noon local time, French citizens have been ordered to remain home and self-quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Many are teleworking and taking care of their children, since the schools are closed, too. This is the case for Isabelle Garcia, a lawyer with two toddlers. “The current situation is quite difficult. My husband and I are both teleworking, but (our) son’s school is closed. So is my daughter’s day care. We are waking up early while they’re still asleep. And when the children are awake, I work for an hour when my husband looks after them, and we rotate. It is quite tiring and hard work, but we are making the best of it and trying to do everything we can to get through it, I think, like anybody else,” she said.The French government put the whole country in lockdown, but no curfew has been implemented. People must stay home as much as they can, but they can go outside to grocery shop, see a doctor, walk the dog, or if they cannot telework. Police can fine people up to $150 if they do not have a valid excuse to be outside. A man runs in front of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, March 18, 2020.Philippe Offroy is a sales manager in Lyon, in east-central France. He had to leave Italy, where he was working in one of the main coronavirus clusters when troubles occurred. He is now stuck in his own country. He said that he has no dog or any animal to walk outside, so he has no valid excuse to go outside his house. Unlike Italy or Spain, the government does not ban all sports activities, as long as you are not in a group and stay close to your home. So, there is this option to breathe a little bit, said Offroy. Some, like Jonathan Peterschmitt, are seeing this lockdown as another quarantine. He tested positive with the coronavirus two weeks ago in Mulhouse Suburb, a town close to Germany. After two weeks of self-quarantine, he is undergoing another long waiting period at home. “I do not go outside now, because I am waiting to have zero symptoms to be sure I am not any threat to anybody. My wife and my kids are very well, but because we are experiencing another quarantine, we have to be extra careful not to meet anybody and stay away from other people.”French authorities may extend the current lockdown after the initial first two weeks.  
…

Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated a nationwide vote on constitutional amendments that would open the door to extending his power might face delays because of concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected Russia little but ravaged other parts of the globe.“I really am counting on people to show up on April 22 and support the changes,” Putin said in a Wednesday speech that was meant to mark the sixth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula but touched on the vote set for next month.“Although, if there will be problems connected to this well-known coronavirus, then the law allows us to calmly … move it to a later period,” he said. “If the epidemiological situation allows, we’ll hold the national vote. If not, then we’ll postpone a bit.”At the heart of the issue: a controversial referendum over reforms that, among other measures, would allow the Russian leader to retain his post and compete in future presidential elections when his current term ends in 2024.Russian chess players forgo a handshake for an elbow bump as they take part in the Candidates Tournament, organized by the International Chess Federation, in Yekaterinburg, Russia, March 18, 2020.Yet the move — widely seen as an effort to legitimize Putin’s hold over Russian political life well into the next decade — has run into an unexpected foe in the form of a pandemic that demands social distancing and thinning of crowds to avoid mass contagion.Critics say the growing dissonance between government efforts to respond to the virus and the Kremlin’s rush to push through with the vote has revealed the constitutional reforms as nothing short of an orchestrated coup.“The left hand is closing everything, and the right is demanding 24 hours a day, is demanding we come to the booth and vote,” said Matvei Ganapolsky, a commentator on Echo of Moscow radio and vocal critic of the referendum.Few reported infectionsThus far, Russia has been spared the brunt of coronavirus infection — a move government officials have chalked up to smart policies but critics worry may reflect underreporting.A government task force on Wednesday reported 33 new infections in Russia over the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 147, with no confirmed deaths.“It’s well-known to us that viruses know no government borders,” Putin said in addressing his cabinet Tuesday at the Kremlin. “Despite the potential high risks … the situation is, on the whole, under control.”Yet scientists continued to question how it was that Russia, the world’s largest country by land mass, had so few cases when it shares borders with coronavirus-ravaged neighbors in China and Europe.A view shows empty shelves in the meat department of a supermarket amid coronavirus concerns in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2020.For weeks, rumors have circulated of Russian authorities reclassifying coronavirus cases as flu or pneumonia to prevent public panic.Yet Passengers check their smartphones as they wait in an empty hall inside Sheremetyevo international airport outside Moscow, March 18, 2020. Russian authorities are taking strong steps to try to prevent the spread of coronavirus.Moscow’s city government announced its vast transportation network of trains and buses would undergo daily disinfection. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of offices and government services encouraged employees to take time off or work from home.Russia’s Orthodox Church introduced measures aimed at containing the spread of infection, including instructing followers to refrain from the common practice of kissing icons. In a related move, the Moscow Patriarch issued an order for priests to discourage worshippers from kissing their hands.The U.S. Embassy in Moscow announced it was temporarily cutting back on visa and other services out of concern for its American and Russian staff.There were reports of consumer runs on meat, pantry items and other key supplies.Yet, on social media, users mostly swapped ideas — and jokes — on how to spend the coming weeks quarantined in Russia’s traditionally small, cramped apartments.“It’s not so bad to sit under quarantine, only there’s one thing I don’t get: why does one packet of buckwheat hold 2,082 kernels and another 2,947?” asked one user in a widely shared tweet joking about a staple grain of the Russian diet.Очень полезно сидеть на карантине, одно не понятно – почему в одной пачке гречки 2082 штучек гречки, а во второй 2947?— натурал – дезертир (@PapaPozdnyakov) March 17, 2020His point? He, like many others around the world, was now at home with plenty of time to kill.
 
…

 After closing their external borders to help slow the spread of coronavirus, European countries are now scrambling to reduce the economic fallout of COVID-19, even as experts say more needs to be done.Rescue packages and fiscal stimulus measures — even the possibility in France of nationalizing some struggling companies—European governments are looking for ways to calm coronavirus-spooked businesses and citizens.Analysts said the European Union’s second-largest economy, France, is taking the most dramatic steps so far. Addressing the nation this week, French President Emmanuel Macron said no company would risk collapse. His government has announced a roughly $50-billion financial relief package, along with another 300 million in loans for small businesses.French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a television address, Monday, March 16, 2020 in Ciboure, southwestern France. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms.And while most of France is in lockdown, with people only allowed to go out for key necessities, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire urged companies and workers allowed to keep running to show up for work. He has also not ruled out nationalizing some strategic companies, if needed, to save them.Europe’s largest economy, Germany, promised a so-called “bazooka” of measures, including at least 550 billion dollars in loan guarantees for its companies. Spain has announced a 220 billion-dollar financial rescue package. Italy, Europe’s hardest-hit country so far, has announced a 27 billion-dollar rescue package for businesses an individuals—which analysts say is not enough.The EU’s internal market Commissioner Thierry Breton told BFM TV the coronavirus pandemic will push the EU into a recession this year, hitting the bloc’s economy by up to 2.5%. He said world governments must work together to find solutions.That was also the message from European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who noted coronavirus lockdowns and other health measures were battering the bloc’s economy.”Now we have to do our utmost to protect our people and to protect our economies.,” she said.The Commission is looking for ways to ease cross border trade, but the bloc has yet to agree on a joint economic plan.The European Central Bank, or ECB, did announce some new stimulus measures last week, but did not lower interest rates. Similarly, members of the eurozone currency union have yet to come up with the “very large policy response” that Eurogroup head Mario Centeno is promising.Analyst Gunther Wolff of the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank says now is the time for the ECB and eurogroup to be bold, and announce big fiscal and monetary measures. He says they are technically, physically and economically feasible, and they are needed. But, he adds, it is unclear whether they will be politically acceptable.
…

Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize has moved to protect its customers over 65 years of age — the age group most at risk from the coronavirus epidemic — by reserving the first hour after its shops open only for elderly shoppers.The decision has applied since Tuesday in more than 700 of the company’s shops in Belgium as well as its Stop&Shop chain in the United States.”I came here to shop for some groceries to have enough at home so I don’t have to run around too much because I think it’s too dangerous,” Henri, a 71-year old wearing a mask over his nose and mouth, told Reuters as he was leaving the shop.Despite the especially reserved time there were still lines of elderly shoppers waiting to enter shops on Wednesday because of a restriction that only 150 people can be in a Delhaize supermarket at any given time, to limit the risk of infection.”We chose the first hour of operation of the shops, from 0800 to 0900, to give the elderly customers access to all produce in the store and because the premises have just been cleaned,” Delhaize spokeswoman Karima Ghozzi told Reuters.She said that although there were temporary shortages of certain products in Delhaize shops, they did not stem from the lack of merchandise, but from insufficient staff to unload trucks and replenish shelves quickly enough.”We have enough of everything. We are asking customers to shop for groceries normally, rather than buy dozens of items of the same product to stock up,” she said. 
…

After months of bickering over new competitions, talks of closed  super leagues and complaints of greed by elite clubs, football’s leaders have buried their differences to tackle the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.
 
On Tuesday, UEFA agreed to delay its flagship Euro 2020 competition for one year to allow domestic leagues to complete their seasons, once football resumes, and FIFA in turn recommended postponing its new Club World Cup from 2021.
 
“It was a relatively short call, probably the most united front of opinion I have seen in European football so far,” said Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, general secretary of the global players’ union FIFPRO, after a video conference with UEFA and representatives of clubs and leagues.
 
“It was a very cordial conversation — not at all tense or contentious.”
 
That could not be said of recent encounters involving football’s various stakeholders.
 
Only two weeks ago, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told his organization’s annual congress that “no football administrator, no matter the size of the ego, should think we are the stars of the game. We are only the guardians of the game.”
 
He didn’t mention any names but FIFA president Gianni Infantino, whose efforts to create the Club World Cup have not gone down well with UEFA, was sitting in the front row.
 
Last year, UEFA and the European Club Association (ECA), proposed a reform of the Champions League which would have turned it into semi-closed competition from 2024 onwards.
 
The proposal was eventually dropped amid widespread opposition led by Europe’s domestic leagues.
 
In December, the Financial Times and New York Times reported that discussions led by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez had taken place over the possibility of setting up a super league featuring the world’s richest clubs split into two divisions. Ceferin said the idea was “far-fetched” and “insane.”
 
Such reports of breakaways have become commonplace over the years as the financial gap grows between a handful of elite clubs and the rest.
 
Only two weeks ago, Andrea Agnelli, president of Serie A champions Juventus, questioned the right of smaller rivals Atalanta to take part in the Champions League because the club lacked “international history.”
 
FIFA’s ambitions for a 24-team Club World Cup have themselves been seen as an attempt to muscle in the lucrative club game and reduce financial dependency on the World Cup.
 
But the tone was very different on Tuesday.
 
“It is at times like these, that the football community needs to show responsibility, unity, solidarity and altruism,” said Ceferin, while Baer-Hoffmann recognized that UEFA had taken a “significant hit” with its decision to postpone Euro 2020.
 
“Finding appropriate and fair solutions at global level is imperative,” added Infantino, who also proposed a fund to help those in football affected by the pandemic. “We need to think of all those around the world potentially impacted by our decisions.”
…

The U.S. and Canada have agreed to temporarily close their shared border to nonessential travel, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday as the two nations work to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Both countries are eager to choke off the spread of the virus but also maintain their vital economic relationship. Canada relies on the U.S. for 75% of its exports.  Trump made the announcement on Twitter, saying the decision would not affect the flow of trade between the countries. “We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic,” Trump tweeted. We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau works from his home office at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, March 13, 2020, during his self-quarantine. (Prime Minister’s Office via Reuters)Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he would close the country’s borders to anyone not a citizen, an American or a permanent resident, and even then they must self-isolate for 14 days on arrival. Trudeau said the exemption for Americans, despite the rapid rise of cases in the U.S., was due to “the level of integration of our two economies.”  For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus.  The United States has seen about 6,500 coronavirus cases and more than 110 deaths while Canada has seen about 600 cases and eight deaths. Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the border is vital to the daily life to people on both sides.  “Nearly 200,000 people cross that border every day, and that border and that traffic that goes across that border is literally a lifeline for both the Canadians and the Americans on both sides of that border,” Freeland said. “We get our groceries thanks to truckers who drive back and forth across that border,” she said. “Very urgently needed medical supplies and medicines go back and forth across that border. And essential workers go back and forth across that border every day. So it is a unique relationship for Canada, and it’s important for us in handling our situation on the border to be sure that we act to get things right.” But many people in Canada criticized the decision to give Americans an exemption. British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix said he vehemently disagreed with the American exemption given the surge in cases in neighboring Washington state.  Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada, said both countries recognize how many people cross the border daily.  “Border traffic has already slowed and in line with recommendations to stay home and eliminate nonessential movement,” Heyman said. “New rules jointly accepted for our shared border makes sense.” Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto, noted the government-to-government accord merely ratifies what is already in place. “Tourism in the age of the coronavirus is a contradiction in terms,” Bothwell said. “And no Canadian in his or her right mind would want to be caught with the virus on the U.S. side of the border, given the predatory U.S. medical pricing system. Actually, the insurance companies have already taken care of the problem. Many of us have received notices that they will not pay for virus treatment south of the border.” ___ 
…

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.”  
…

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. 
…

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.”
…

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. 
…

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. 
…

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.” 
…