RIYADMEDIA

A man armed with an assault rifle was arrested after opening fire outside the Cuban Embassy in Washington early Thursday, his bullets tearing holes into the walls and pillars near the front entrance in what authorities suspect was a hate crime.The gunfire broke out around 2 a.m. outside the embassy in northwest Washington. Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to the scene after neighbors reported hearing gunshots, authorities said. No injuries were reported.Officers found the man, Alexander Alazo, 42, of Aubrey, Texas, armed with an assault rifle, and they and took him into custody without incident, police said.A police report obtained by The Associated Press describes the shooting as a “suspected hate crime” and says Alazo “knowingly discharged multiple rounds from an AK-47 rifle into the Cuban Embassy.” But the report also says Alazo’s motivation is unknown.Officers recovered the rifle, ammunition and a white powdery substance that was found in a small baggie after Alazo’s arrest, according to the report.Alazo was arrested on charges of possessing an unregistered firearm and ammunition, assault with intent to kill and possessing a high-capacity magazine, a U.S. Secret Service spokeswoman said.Alazo remained in custody Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that embassy staff members were “safe and protected” but that the shooting caused “material damage” to the building. Photos showed large holes left in the building’s facade near the front door and in pillars outside the building.The Cuban government didn’t know the suspect’s potential motives, the statement said, adding that the State Department was aware of the incident.”It is the obligation of States to adopt appropriate steps to protect the premises of diplomatic missions accredited to their country against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity,” the statement said.Photos from the scene posted to social media showed a group of police officers outside the embassy after the shooting and investigators searching through an SUV parked there. Other images showed investigators surveying the damage in front of the ornate embassy in Washington’s Adams-Morgan neighborhood, including a bullet hole in a window over the front door and damage to a flagpole and a column flanking a statue of Cuban independence hero José Martí.Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department and the Secret Service were investigating. 
…

Russia’s top diplomat on Thursday angrily dismissed media reports alleging a Russian plot to poison the mayor of Prague and another official in the Czech capital. Prague’s mayor Zdenek Hrib and Zhanna Nemtsova, daughter of Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov smile after unveiling a sign renaming the square where the Russian Embassy is located in Prague, Feb. 27, 2020.Respekt weekly said in its latest edition published on Monday that Czech intelligence services suspected a Russian agent was sent to Prague three weeks ago to poison Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib and Prague 6 mayor Ondrej Kolar. The story was based on anonymous sources.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ridiculed the claims, saying that the notion that Czech authorities spotted a Russian man with powerful poison ricin and let him through doesn’t make any sense. Czech officials didn’t comment, but Kolar said in a television interview Tuesday that he has been under police protection because of “some facts that have been found, the fact that there’s a Russian here whose goal is to liquidate me.” He added that the alleged assassin was also targeting Hrib and Pavel Novotny, Prague’s Reporyje district mayor. Lavrov scoffed at the allegations. “They found a deadly poison and let him into the country?” he said at Thursday’s briefing. “Would any sound person believe in these fabrications.” Moscow and Prague have been at loggerheads for weeks after Kolar’s district removed the statue of Soviet World War II commander Ivan Konev whose armies liberated Prague from Nazi occupation. Officials in Prague 6 said the statue will be moved to a museum and a new monument honoring the city’s liberation will be installed in its place. The statue’s removal caused outrage in Russia, which has angrily lashed out at any attempts to diminish the nation’s decisive role in defeating the Nazis. Lavrov charged Thursday that the Prague authorities’ action violated a 1993 friendship treaty that carried a Czech pledge to protect memorials to Russian World War II heroes. 
 
…

Brazil’s virtually uncontrolled surge of COVID-19 cases is spawning fear that construction workers, truck drivers and tourists from Latin America’s biggest nation will spread the disease to neighboring countries that are doing a better job of controlling the coronavirus.  
Brazil, a continent-sized country that shares borders with nearly every other nation in South America, has reported more than 70,000 cases and more than 5,000 deaths, according to government figures and a tally by Johns Hopkins University — far more than any of its neighbors.
The true number of deaths and infections is believed to be much higher because of limited testing.
The country’s borders remain open, there are virtually no quarantines or curfews and President Jair Bolsonaro continues to scoff at the seriousness of the disease.  
The country of 211 million people surpassed China — where the virus began — in the official number of COVID-19 deaths this week, prompting Bolsonaro to say: “So what?”
“I am sorry,” the far-right president told journalists. “What do you want me to do?”
In Paraguay, soldiers enforcing anti-virus measures have dug a shallow trench alongside the first 800 feet (244 meters) of the main road entering the city of Pedro Juan Caballero from the neighboring Brazilian city of Punta Porá, to prevent people from walking along the road from Brazil and disappearing into the surrounding city.  
Paraguay has fewer than 250 confirmed coronavirus cases and its borders have been closed since March 24, with enforcement particularly focused on the largely open frontier with Brazil.  
Argentine officials say they are particularly worried about truck traffic from Brazil, their top trading partner. In provinces bordering Brazil, Argentina is working to set up secure corridors where Brazilian drivers can access bathrooms, get food and unload products without ever coming into contact with Argentines.  
“Brazil worries me a lot,” Argentine President Alberto Fernández told local news outlets Saturday. “A lot of traffic is coming from Sao Paulo, where the infection rate is extremely high, and it doesn’t appear to me that the Brazilian government is taking it with the seriousness that it requires. That worries me a lot, for the Brazilian people and also because it can be carried to Argentina.”  
One of eight known cases in the Argentine state of Misiones is that of a 61-year-old truck driver who apparently caught the disease in Sao Paulo and then returned to Argentina, where he died after infecting his wife. Argentina has about 4,000 cases and more than 200 dead, according to the Johns Hopkins tally.  
Even officials in the United States, which has registered more than 1 million cases and more than 60,000 deaths, have expressed concern about Brazil.  
Florida, which has a large population of people of Brazilian heritage, could face a threat of air travelers from Brazil carrying the coronavirus to the state, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis told President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday.
“We could be away on the other side doing well in Florida, and then you could just have people kind of come in,” DeSantis said.
The governor said Trump’s ban of flights from China helped control the virus in the western U.S. Trump asked him if that meant “cutting off Brazil.”
DeSantis replied that one possibility was “not to necessarily cut them off” but to require airlines to test passengers before they board planes bound for Florida.
Authorities in Colombia are also worried, said Julián Fernandez Niño, an epidemiologist at National University in Bogota.  
“In a globalized world, the response to a pandemic can’t be closed frontiers,” he said. “Brazil has great scientific and economic capacity, but clearly its leadership has an unscientific stance on fighting coronavirus.”
In Uruguay, President Luis Lacalle Pou said the spread of the virus in Brazil was setting off “warning lights” in his administration and authorities are tightening border controls in several frontier cities.
 
Thirty workers recently crossed from Brazil to the Uruguayan border city of Rio Branco to help build a cement plant. Four tested positive for the virus, prompting Uruguay to place the whole crew in quarantine.
Officials in some Uruguayan border towns have discussed setting up “humanitarian corridors” through which Brazilians could safely leave the country.
Even socialist Venezuela, where the health system has been in a yearslong state of collapse, has said it’s worried about neighboring Brazil.
 
“I’ve ordered the reinforcement of the frontier with Brazil to guarantee an epidemiological and military barrier,” President Nicolás Maduro said on state television last week.
Bolivia’s government, a right-wing ally of Bolsonaro’s, declined to comment on its neighbor’s anti-virus measures, but Defense Minister Fernando López promised this month to strongly enforce the closure of the border.  
“If we keep being flexible on the border, our national quarantine will be useless,” he said. 
…

Christian Etchebest’s Parisian bistro is a shadow of its usual bustling self. Five lunch specials sit in neat paper bags on the bar awaiting takeout customers — a tiny fraction of his normal midday business before the coronavirus. A skeleton staff rotates in daily at La Cantine du Troquet near the banks of the Seine River, just blocks from the Eiffel Tower. One day they packaged a streamlined version of his Basque menu: sausages with a celery and beetroot remoulade, mashed potatoes and a dessert of strawberries with lemon sauce. Yet Etchebest isn’t facing bankruptcy — not yet anyway — thanks to a French government program that lets him put staff on reduced hours and makes up most of their lost salary, on the condition they are not fired. That is giving him a chance to keep his team together, awaiting the day when restrictions are lifted and sit-down meals are again allowed at this restaurant and his six others across Paris.  Similar programs are keeping hard-hit businesses across Europe afloat, preventing millions of workers from losing their jobs  and income for now, and thousands of bosses from seeing their trained staff scatter. Some 11.3 million workers in France are getting up to 84% of net salary. The government estimates the cost at 24 billion euros ($26 billion), with half of all private sector employees expected to take part. FILE – Femke Zimmerman, manager of Brasserie Berlage, a cafe and restaurant nestled in the manicured gardens of The Hague’s historic art deco Kunstmuseum, poses for a portrait as she prepares the restaurant for reopening, April 24, 2020.Femke Zimmermann, manager of Brasserie Berlage in The Hague in the Netherlands, has her eye on re-opening even as she spends most days at home looking after her 1-year-old and 5-year-old sons while the restaurant’s owners pay her with government help.  For now, she is not overly worried about losing her job. She stays in contact with her team and asked them to come in to give the restaurant a two-day spring clean.  “They hate sitting at home. They want to do something for the business,” she said. Athens waiter George Sakkas, 26, is getting by on a Greek government program that lets businesses suspend workers’ contracts and replaces their pay with a flat stipend of 800 euros ($870). Businesses that take the help cannot fire staff.  “The stipend definitely helped,” he said, noting the amount was roughly what he would make anyway.  “In the beginning we didn’t know about the stipend, so [the closing] hit us very badly,” he said. “When the stipend arrived it gave us some breathing space.” 
…

Britain Thursday went all out to honor the 100th birthday of a World War II veteran who has become a national hero for his $37 million fundraising effort for the nation’s health service.A retired engineer and captain in the British Army during World War II, Tom Moore wanted to do something nice for the National Health Service for the treatment he received after breaking his hip.Earlier this month he started an online campaign, pledging to do 100 laps – using his walker- around his 25-meter yard in exchange for donations. He had hoped to raise about $1,200. Instead, within days, he had raised millions.Since then his effort made “Captain Tom” a British celebrity, and the nation showed its appreciation Thursday.The Royal Air Force sent two World War II-era planes over his home. Congratulatory massages poured in from, among others, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles and England football captain Harry Kane. About 125,000 birthday cards came in from around the world, enough to fill a hall in his grandson’s school.Birthday cards are seen on display at Bedford School ahead of Captain Tom Moore’s 100th birthday in Bedford, Britain, April 28, 2020.And the British Army – with the approval of Queen Elizabeth – gave him an honorary promotion to colonel and replaced a medal he had received for his service but had lost.The Guiness Book of World Records says Moore set a record for most money raised by an individual charity walk.Moore said Thursday he was very moved by the outpouring of gratitude, and for being made an honorary colonel. He said “I’m still Captain Tom, that’s who I really am. But if people choose to call me ‘colonel’, well, thank you very much.” 
…

The Brazilian army, in conjunction with the country’s prison administration, conducted a large-scale disinfection operation to slow the spread of the coronavirus at the Gericinó Prison Complex in Rio de Janeiro. A prison spokesman said Wednesday, soldiers outfitted in full body protection suits and face masks cleaned the infirmary, coronavirus isolation cells, administrative areas and visitor sections of the prison. Colonel Rego Barros of the army’s East Joint Command said the proactive measures were taken after seeing situations in which inmates became infected by COVID-19 in other states. So far, Brazil has reported at least 78,000 covid-19 cases and more than 5,400 deaths. Peru has the second highest coronavirus case total in Latin American behind Brazil. On Monday, Peru’s National Penitentiary Institute confirmed reports of inmates setting fires and demanding to be freed, as more prisoners become infected with the disease. Reuters news agency says human rights groups are calling on the Peruvian government to allow house arrest during the pandemic.   
…

Chile will begin opening malls to the public for the first time on Friday, three months after imposing a nationwide lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.People going to malls must wear face masks, allow their temperature to be taken, and not gather in groups.On Wednesday, Joaquin Lavin, the mayor of Las Condes municipality, began a measured approach to reopening, beginning with workers testing sanitary and safety protocols.He said on Thursday they will bring in people to see how the measures work and close on Friday to evaluate what occurred.  Lavin said a decision to open up malls to the public will be based on the results of the trial opening.When the malls open, social distancing is still required and stores will only permit a limited number of people inside the stores at one time.Chile plans to reopen more than 100 malls over the coming weeks as it relaxes restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus.Also on Friday, jurisdictions viewed as being a moderate to low risk in spreading COVID-19 will be placed under a general community quarantine that is less restrictive.So far, Chile has 14,885 COVID-19 cases and 216 virus-related deaths.  
…

Mexican news agencies say the Ministry of Health confirmed 32 people in the state of Jalisco were poisoned recently and half of them died after drinking a name brand cane alcohol. Authorities suspect the 96-proof brand of El Chorrito was tainted with high levels of methanol during the production process. Authorities were alerted to the first victims on Saturday in Mazamitla and Tamazula.  A 66-year old woman died and another woman was hospitalized. The 30 other victims are men in their 20’s to early 80’s. The state prosecutor’s office says it will launch an investigation into the poisonings, including a review of El Chorrito’s parent company, Grupo Sáenz. Last year in Costa Rica at least 20 people died from drinking methanol laced Alcohol. 
…

Russia is warning that any U.S. attempt to use a low-yield nuclear weapon against a Russian target would set off a massive nuclear response.The Russian foreign ministry was reacting to a State Department paper released last week that says placing low-yield nuclear weapons on ballistic missiles launched from submarines would counter what it sees as possible new threats from both Russia and China.Experts describe a low-yield weapon as the kind the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.The State Department asserts that the low-yield weapons “reduce the risk of nuclear war by reinforcing extended deterrence and assurance.”It alleges Russia is considering using such nonstrategic nuclear arms in a limited war.  Russia denies it is a threat to the U.S. and accuses Washington of “lowering the nuclear threshold.”“Any attack involving a U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), regardless of its weapon specifications, would be perceived as a nuclear aggression,”  Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday. “Those who like to theorize about the flexibility of American nuclear potential must understand that in line with the Russian military doctrine such actions are seen as warranting retaliatory use of nuclear weapons by Russia.”Russia says it wants to extend the 2010 New START treaty limiting the number of deployed nuclear missiles, warheads, and bombers along with strict inspection regimes. The pact is set to expire next year.The Trump administration says it wants a new arms control agreement that also includes China — which Russia calls impractical. 
…

British people love to talk about the weather. Never more so than when they’re locked in their houses, it seems. With perfect irony, the sun hasn’t stopped shining since the coronavirus lockdown began on March 23 – and everyone’s talking about it. It’s been unseasonably warm, with temperatures in London topping 25 degrees Celsius. For those with gardens or with easy access to the countryside, the fine weather has been a perfect antidote to the mind-spinning news headlines; nature, at its finest in spring, has been a tonic for many. For those living in cities, particularly in high-rise apartments, the sunshine has only underlined the claustrophobia of confinement. Staff work at a the COVID-19 testing facility at Ikea near the Wembley stadium in London, April 29, 2020.Across Britain, the skies have never been clearer. I live not far from Gatwick, London’s second biggest airport, and normally the sky is crossed with vapor trails. But there are just a few high cirrus clouds amid the deep blue. There are far fewer cars on the roads too. Instead, families cheerfully cycle past, enjoying their daily hour of exercise. The air smells cleaner. You can hear more birdsong. There are countless stories of wildlife slowly re-colonizing towns and cities as humans enter their own hibernation.All these might seem like trivial observations in the face of a devastating global pandemic. But it’s inevitable that people will look for positives after such disruption to their lives. And it has a lot of people talking about what kind of country we all want to emerge from this crisis.Millions of people are working from home. Can commuting be cut down to save carbon emissions and allow workers to spend more time with families? Are those international business meetings really necessary when it’s all being done by video link? With scientists warning repeatedly that climate change is an even bigger imminent threat to humanity, can we afford to go back to life as it was before? There are other changes to life on a more personal level. Out of concern, I’ve been in touch with family and friends whom I haven’t spoken to for many years. We’ve set up a weekly video chat with close family. Everyone is talking about the parties and reunions we’ll have when this is all over. After years of relationships being conducted through social media, the world is craving human company. Maybe we’ll value those close bonds even more in the post-coronavirus world. And in Britain, which has been torn apart by Brexit in recent years, many people crave some kind of healing. There are clouds on the horizon. Another Brexit deadline looms at the end of the year as the transition period ends, with the threat of even more economic disruption. And it’s quite possible, perhaps justifiable, that the world will rush back to its old ways after the lockdown to recover the vast economic losses. But in my neighborhood, and in communities across Britain and beyond, the same question is being raised: what sort of world do we want to emerge when this is all over? 
…

Poland’s prime minister said Wednesday that the presidential election must be held in May despite the coronavirus pandemic to meet the requirements of the constitution. Mateusz Morawiecki said, however, that the May 10 election date may be pushed back by a week or two.  “Constitutional experts say that the election is also possible on successive dates: May 17 or May 23,” Morawiecki said.  “We will be taking the decision in the nearest future,” he said.  The ruling conservative Law and Justice party is pushing for the May vote by postal ballot only, driven by the fact that its candidate, President Andrzej Duda, is leading in opinion polls. It argues voting by mail is safe. But it has also empowered the parliamentary speaker to alter the May 10 date. The opposition wants the vote pushed back by a year or two, for social health reasons. All its candidates are trailing in opinion polls behind Duda. With less than two weeks to the vote, the bill formally regulating procedures for the vote still hasn’t been adopted in parliament, raising questions about whether the election can be held as planned.  
…

Swiss investigators concluded Sepp Blatter knew that a World Cup broadcasting contract was breached illegally and that it would cost FIFA millions of dollars, according to a federal police file obtained by The Associated Press.
Investigation reports sent to prosecutors in December and January showed FIFA wrote off a $3.8 million debt from a Caribbean TV deal signed in 2005 by then-FIFA president Blatter and long-time vice president Jack Warner. The deal was later alleged to have been illegally mismanaged by Blatter.
“Blatter acted … more in the interests of Warner than in the interests of FIFA,” concluded one investigation file seen by the AP.
However, the office of Switzerland’s attorney general decided in March it would drop a criminal proceeding  from 2015 against Blatter for the Caribbean deal. No reason was stated.
Swiss federal police believed Blatter knew in 2007 that Warner had breached — and would personally profit from — a Caribbean rights deal for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups that was sold to a Jamaica-based broadcaster.
Details of the original FIFA contract were revealed by Swiss media in September 2015, showing a $600,000 sale to the Warner-controlled Caribbean Football Union.
At the time, FIFA defended the contract by saying it required soccer’s governing body to get a 50% profit share of any future licensing arrangement. The re-sale was valued at about $15 million.
But FIFA did not try to collect money due in August 2010 within 30 days of the World Cup ending, according to the Swiss police file.
The investigation cited documents and staff emails showing FIFA was due half of any gross revenue from the Caribbean deal, into which Warner had inserted a company he owned.
“FIFA were very reluctant to implement any measures in connection with enforcing their rights against the CFU,” Swiss police said in its 491-page report.
FIFA calculated it was owed almost $3.8 million in 2011 after Warner resigned from soccer. He had been implicated in bribing Caribbean voters to oppose Blatter in that year’s FIFA presidential election.
Only then did FIFA management terminate the Caribbean rights and pursue the debt, though not directly with Warner. Instead, it asked the CFU, which had few assets after Warner left.
FIFA wrote off the debt weeks later, the police file showed. It included $3.625 million of estimated revenue from broadcasting sponsors and advertising, and $155,000 of unpaid rights fee instalments, the investigation file said.
A different police report detailed more than 15 years of FIFA’s working relations with Warner. It suggested FIFA granted favors and gifts in apparent exchange for election support to help Blatter retain the presidency.
Blatter, who is now 84 and banned from soccer until October 2021, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has long denied wrongdoing.
Blatter faces a second criminal proceeding over a $2 million payment he authorized in 2011 to former UEFA president Michel Platini. That payment was revealed by Swiss authorities in September 2015 and led to both men being suspended and then banned from soccer.
Swiss investigations of Blatter are handled by a second prosecutor who took over after the federal office’s head of financial crimes had his contract terminated in November 2018.
Attorney general Michael Lauber was recused from FIFA cases last year. He was disciplined in March  after having secret meetings with current FIFA president Gianni Infantino and failing to tell the truth about them.
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds announced the birth of a son on Wednesday, just two days after Johnson returned to work following hospitalization for the coronavirus.
Johnson’s office said Symonds gave birth to a “healthy baby boy at a London hospital” on Wednesday morning, and both mother and infant were doing well.
Johnson, 55, and Symonds, 32, announced in February that they were engaged and expecting a child together. At the time they said the baby was due in early summer. No wedding date has been announced.
Johnson only returned to work Monday after suffering from a bout of coronavirus that left him dangerously ill. He spent a week in London’s St. Thomas’ hospital, including three nights in intensive care, before recovering for two weeks away from London.
Symonds, an environmental campaigner and former Conservative Party staffer, also said she was sick for a week with COVID-19 symptoms, though she wasn’t tested for the virus. The newborn boy is her first child.
Johnson has four children with his second wife Marina Wheeler, from whom he is divorced, and has fathered at least one other child outside his marriages.
The baby is the third born to a sitting British prime minister this century. The wives of leaders Tony Blair and David Cameron also had babies while their husbands were in office.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Johnson planned to take paternity leave.
The birth comes as the British government faces big decisions about how and when to ease the nationwide lockdown imposed March 23 to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The measures are due to be in place at least until May 7.
Britain is among the countries hardest hit by the pandemic. As of Tuesday, 21,678 people with COVID-19 had died in U.K. hospitals, and several thousand more in nursing homes and other settings.
Johnson’s government faces growing criticism over its slowness in getting enough protective equipment to medics and nursing home staff and its struggle to increase the number of tests being performed for the virus.
Johnson had been due to return to Parliament on Wednesday to take part in the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will stand in for him.
Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, who had been due to face off against Johnson in the Commons, tweeted that the birth was “wonderful news.”
House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle congratulated the couple.
“Such happy news amid so much uncertainty – 2020 is certainly a year they will never forget,” he said.
…

Authorities in Peru say nine prisoners were killed earlier this week when a protest demanding better healthcare amid the coronavirus outbreak turned violent. Inmates at the Miguel Castro prison rioted Monday after two fellow inmates died of COVID-19, which has spread unchecked through Peru’s notoriously overcrowded prisons. At least 13 inmates have died from the disease, out of a total of 600 infections. Over 100 prison workers have also been diagnosed with COVID-19. Inmates gather around the corpses of other inmates during a prison riot in Miguel Castro Castro prison, in Lima, Peru, Monday, April 27, 2020.Along with better healthcare, the inmates were also calling on President Martin Vizcarra to grant them humanitarian pardons.   Earlier this week, President Martin Vizcarra extended a national quarantine until May 10 following a surge in COVID-19 cases, but no plan was unveiled for inmates. Reuters news agency is reporting that the total number of COVID-19 infections in Peru has gone over the 30,000 mark, the second highest total in Latin America after Brazil, with 782 people deaths. 
…

The coronavirus crisis risks becoming an existential crisis for the European Union, say diplomats and analysts, as the EU struggles to coordinate a financial response to the pandemic. 
 
Last week, the EU’s national leaders struck an interim agreement on a recovery deal with an emergency fund of about $581 million (a half-billion euros), which the hardest hit member states can tap into for immediate assistance.  
 
But the wrangling over how to cope with the economic impact of the pandemic is far from over, and the overall $2 trillion-plus economic package mooted last week by the national leaders includes the budget costs of the EU itself for the next seven years.  
 
In fact, no final numbers, aside from the emergency fund, have yet been agreed upon, according to analysts. Members states already were at loggerheads over money before the coronavirus appeared, with sharp arguments between them about how to make up for the loss of Britain’s financial contribution to the EU.   
 
The emergency relief package came after an ill-natured squabble and warnings by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte that the EU project itself was in jeopardy unless the wealthier northern states help bail out their poorer southern neighbors. It also has left unresolved whether aid from the emergency fund to countries like Italy and Spain will be in the form of loans, which must be paid back, or grants, which won’t.Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte delivers his message to the Lower House of Chambers of the Italian Parliament, in Rome, April 21, 2020.Another key issue is whether the eurozone countries will eventually have to mutualize their debt by issuing jointly so-called “coronabonds” to meet health-care costs and mitigate the impact of a deep economic slump, one that could rival the Great Depression almost a century ago. 
 
As the behind-scenes quarreling continues over money, euro-skepticism, which before the pandemic appeared to be ebbing, is rising once again. It’s being fueled by southern Europeans smarting over what they see as an absence of solidarity by the more affluent nations, reminiscent, they say, of the debt crisis following the 2008 financial crash that nearly tore the EU apart. The pandemic is opening up the wounds of that crisis, which also saw a sharp split between the north and south. 
 
“The coronavirus pandemic could well be the ultimate acid test of its resilience as a community based on solidarity and common values,” according to Stefan Lehne of Carnegie Europe, a think tank based in Brussels. In a posted commentary, he wrote: “The mindset of everybody for itself, which is so tempting under the acute stress of the crisis, must be countered by stepping up cooperation and mutual assistance among the member states. Otherwise, the EU will be in great danger.” 
 
A poll published last found 40 percent of Italians would now support exiting the EU and scrapping the euro as its official currency. A further 6.1 percent would support just quitting the EU, while 7.3 percent support remaining in the bloc but replacing the euro with the lira. Just 41.7 percent agreed the status quo should be maintained. 
 
Last month another poll found 88 percent of Italians felt let down by their European neighbors in terms of health-care support for the country’s overwhelmed hospitals. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen apologized to Italians earlier this month for the lack of solidarity shown to Italy, offering “a heartfelt apology” during a speech to the European Parliament. “Too many were not there on time when Italy needed a helping hand at the very beginning,” she said.A man walks along Naples promenade, Italy, Monday, April 27, 2020. Italian factories, construction sites and wholesale supply businesses can resume activity as soon as they put safety measures into place aimed at containing contagion with COVID-19.On Tuesday, Italy became the first country to apply for financial aid from an emergency fund of $581 million. Others will be making their applications shortly, including Spain. But the emergency funds on offer are likely to fall short of what is needed, admits Klaus Regling, director-general of the European Stability Mechanism, an EU agency that provides financial assistance, in the form of loans, to eurozone countries. 
 
He told Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera: “I would say that for the second phase we need at least another €500 billion [$ half-trillion] from the European institutions, but it could be more.” He has warned that economic recovery from the virus will be “long and costly.” Italy—along with France and Spain—are demanding another $1 trillion be earmarked for emergency aid. 
 
So far, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are resisting the idea of joint debt issuance, which would combine securities from different European countries. But Conte and other south European leaders have been doubling down on the demand for pooling debt, mainly underwritten by the EU’s northern states. 
 
A former adviser to France’s Emmanuel Macron, economist Shahin Vallée says greater financial and political integration will be the only way out of the impasse, which could include pooling taxes. Otherwise, only the countries with strong balance sheets able to subsidize their industries and households will recover quickly, further adding to the north-south divide.  
 
Vallée acknowledges, though, there is little political will to go down this route. The economic recovery plan so far “is incomplete and unbalanced, and it is planting the seed of profound divergence between member states,” he has warned. 
 
Others worry that further mutualizing eurozone debt and integrating more will allow Brussels to demand even more power over the fiscal and political affairs of member states, its due as the loan broker. That, in turn, could fuel the ire of the continent’s populist nationalists, who want nation states less hedged in by the EU.  
…

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday named a family friend to head the federal police, days after his justice minister quit and accused the president of meddling in law enforcement for political motives. The controversy over the appointment and allegations by outgoing minister Sergio Moro of improper interference in the police force triggered talk of impeachment and a criminal investigation approved by the Supreme Court, distracting from the coronavirus epidemic that has killed 5,017 people in Brazil, hundreds more than in China. The government’s official gazette confirmed the appointment of new federal police chief Alexandre Ramagem, 48, who took charge of the president’s security after he was stabbed on the campaign trail in 2018. The selection comes amid investigations of alleged wrongdoing by Bolsonaro’s sons. FILE – Alexandre Ramagem, general director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN), speaks during his inauguration ceremony, in Brasilia, Brazil, July 11, 2019.Ramagem, who joined the federal police in 2005, has the fewest years of service of any officer tapped to lead the force. He has run the Brazilian Intelligence Agency since July. On Friday, Justice Minister Sergio Moro alleged in a stunning televised address that Bolsonaro had repeatedly said he wanted a “personal contact” in the top police job “from whom he could get information, intelligence reports.” Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday gave the green light for the top public prosecutor to investigate the allegations against Bolsonaro of interfering in law enforcement. Justice Celso de Mello gave the federal police 60 days to carry out the investigation requested by Brazil’s chief public prosecutor Augusto Aras. Based on the results of the police investigation, the public prosecutor will decide whether to press charges against the president. An indictment would have to be approved by the lower house. The biggest political storm since Bolsonaro took office last year came during Brazil’s worst public health crisis. The Health Ministry reported that a record 474 people died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 5,017. Confirmed cases have risen at 5,000 a day in the last 48 hours, to 71,866. On Tuesday, the opposition Democratic Labor Party asked the Supreme Court to block Ramagem’s nomination, alleging an abuse of power. The affair has sparked talk in Congress of impeachment, just four years after such proceedings toppled former President Dilma Rousseff. However, a poll by Datafolha published on Monday evening showed Brazilians divided on impeachment, with 45% supporting the move and 48% against. Crucially, Bolsonaro appears to be keeping core supporters, the poll showed, with 33% of those surveyed saying they thought he was doing a good or excellent job. Political interference FILE – Brazil’s Justice Minister Sergio Moro attends a news conference in Brasilia, Brazil, April 13, 2020.Still, the accusations from the popular “super minister” Moro, who locked up scores of powerful politicians and businessmen as a judge, has dented Bolsonaro’s corruption-fighting image, which was central to his 2018 campaign. Moro said he had never seen political interference of the kind sought by Bolsonaro over Brazil’s federal police, even under previous governments whose officials and allies were convicted of participating in sweeping corruption schemes. A New Year’s party photo on social media of Ramagem grinning beside the president’s son Carlos Bolsonaro, a Rio de Janeiro city councilman, circulated widely on Tuesday, emphasizing the close ties between the family and the new top cop. FILE – Flavio Bolsonaro, left, and Carlos Bolsonaro, sons of Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro (not pictured), are seen in Brasilia, Brazil, Dec. 10, 2018.Carlos Bolsonaro is the subject of a Supreme Court probe looking at his role in disseminating “fake news,” according to newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. His brother, lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, was accused in a congressional investigation of participating in a “fake news” scheme. Their eldest brother, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, is also being investigated by state prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro over alleged money laundering and misuse of public funds. All three have denied any wrongdoing. They and the president have decried the probes as politically motivated attacks. Over the weekend, Bolsonaro took to Facebook to defend Ramagem, after word of his nomination leaked to the press. “So what? I knew Ramagem before he knew my children. Should he be vetoed for that reason? Whose friend should I pick?” the president said in a post.
 
…

The U.K. held a minute’s silence Tuesday for all front-line workers who have died from the coronavirus, as official figures showed a new weekly high in the total number of deaths in England and Wales.
As clocks struck 11 a.m., senior political leaders, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, joined hospital and nursing home staff in observing the silence. London’s subway and bus networks came to a halt as workers honored colleagues, and Westminster Abbey paid tribute to “the sacrifice of health and care workers who have lost their lives in the service of others.”
On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 82 workers in the National Health Service and 16 social care staff had died so far. Other workers, including a number of bus drivers in London, have also died after testing positive for COVID-19.  
The minute’s silence had been campaigned for by the Unison union, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal of College of Nursing.
Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said it was “important to pay tribute” and urged all front-line workers be “afforded the greatest protection.” The government has been criticized for not having sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment.
“An even greater task now remains — to stop more joining the tragic number of those who have died,” she said.  
Johnson, who returned to work on Monday after recovering from COVID-19, tweeted that the country “will not forget you.”
Johnson has said he won’t risk a second peak in the virus by relaxing the lockdown restrictions too soon. The country, he said, was at the point of “maximum risk” even though it was coming out of the “first phase of this conflict.”  
Ministers have been reluctant to talk about easing the restrictions, which are due to last until May 7, and the government has set five tests before contemplating such a move, including “a sustained and consistent” fall in the daily death rate and clear evidence that the rate of infection has decreased.
Though England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales moved into lockdown together, some divergences are emerging. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her government was recommending the use of face coverings in limited circumstances, such as when using public transport or buying food. The U.K. government hasn’t made such a recommendation.  
The Office for National Statistics also said Tuesday that 22,351 people in England and Wales died in the week ending April 17, the highest since comparable records began in 1993. The total was more than double the rolling five-year average.
In its analysis of death certificates, which take longer to compile than deaths recorded in hospitals, the statistics agency said the coronavirus was mentioned as one of the causes of death in 8,758 cases, nearly 40% of the total.
It also said that 4,316 deaths involving COVID-19 had been registered up to April 17 outside of hospitals with 3,096 in care homes. The equivalent figure for hospital deaths over the period is 14,796.  
The daily figures presented by the government only show the number of people dying in U.K. hospitals, including those in Scotland and Northern Ireland. As of Monday, 21,092 people had died in U.K. hospitals. 
…

The most popular leader in Latin America is a slender, casually dressed millennial with an easy manner on Twitter and a harsh approach that critics call increasingly frightening.
As his first year in power comes to a close, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is fighting both the coronavirus and the country’s powerful street gangs with tactics that some say are putting the young democracy at risk.
Bukele’s tough policies have been praised for driving down crime dramatically. The government reported 65 homicides in March, an average of 2.1 a day in a country that once saw more than 20 daily slayings.
Last weekend, however, there were 60 killings — a surge in violence allegedly directed from gangs in prison. His government reacted by releasing photos of hundreds of imprisoned gang members stripped virtually naked and stacked against each other as punishment.  
“The gangsters that committed those killings, we’re going to make them regret it for the rest of their lives,” Bukele, 38, tweeted Monday.  
Along with the humiliating photos, he said he had authorized the use of lethal force against gangs and ordered that their members be put in the same prison cells, creating the potential for more bloodshed.
When the coronavirus appeared, Bukele closed the borders and airports and imposed a mandatory home quarantine for all except those working in the government, hospitals, pharmacies or other designated businesses. People were allowed out only to buy groceries. Violators were detained, with more than 2,000 being held for 30-day stints.
The Supreme Court ruled these detentions unconstitutional without the legislative assembly passing a law establishing due process.  
Bukele has ignored the court. The judges’ most recent decision revealed their exasperation, saying court decisions “are not petitions, requests nor mere opinions subject to interpretation or discretionary assessment by the authorities they are addressed to, but rather orders that are obligatory and must be carried out immediately.”
Bukele seemed especially displeased by an April 17 TV report in the city of La Libertad, which showed people on crowded buses and walking with groceries despite the quarantine. Except for the face masks, it could have been a normal day.
In a series of tweets, Bukele condemned the action and ordered a 48-hour cordon on the city of more than 36,000. By evening, police and soldiers had locked it down, with all businesses closed. Military vehicles with machine guns blocked the city’s entrances.
“If that behavior continues, it is practically assured that the virus will spread and more than one of your relatives is going to die,” he scolded via Twitter.
Bukele said he hoped he would not have to take similar action elsewhere.
“Not being able to go out to buy food is not a good situation for people,” he wrote on Facebook. “But if they don’t want to save themselves from death, we’ll have to save them.”
Last week, the attorney general said his office was investigating whether the cordon was unconstitutional.
A poll this month by CID Gallup found 97% of Salvadorans approve of Bukele’s handling of the pandemic, giving him little incentive to back down. The firm surveyed 1,200 people April 13-19, and the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.  
Figures from Johns Hopkins University said 345 people have been infected and eight have died in the country of 6.7 million, based on government reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump called Bukele on Friday to affirm his support for El Salvador, noting it had assisted in controlling illegal immigration and saying the U.S. would help it get breathing machines.  
“Bukele, ever since he came into office, frankly has been enormously popular; he’s a tremendously effective communicator,” said Geoff Thale, president of the Washington Office on Latin America. “The president has over time, in part buoyed by his popularity, increasingly tried to concentrate authority in his own hands and to ignore the separation of powers and the appropriate roles of other constitutional bodies.”
A former San Salvador mayor, Bukele was elected in 2019, easily defeating candidates from the two dominant parties, which had alternated in power for the three decades since the end of El Salvador’s devastating civil war. Corruption characterized those administrations and left a vacuum in which street gangs grew in power.
Bukele had come from the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front party but was expelled for constantly criticizing its leaders.
His victory left the FMLN and conservative Arena parties directionless and incapable of mounting strong opposition. His apparent lack of ideology beyond a personal brand of populism has infuriated both the left and right.  
His only obstacles have been the legislative assembly, where his coalition holds few seats, and the Supreme Court.
In February, Bukele sent soldiers into the legislative assembly because it balked at approving a security funding-related measure. He withdrew them only after he said God had asked him to be patient. Local and legislative elections are scheduled for next year, and there is concern his supporters could take control of the legislature.
Bukele has repeatedly ignored the orders of the five-member Constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court to stop detaining people found breaking quarantine. He not only rejects the constitutional arguments, but accuses the judges of trying to kill fellow citizens.
“Five people are not going to decide the death of hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans,” Bukele tweeted. “No matter the ink and seals they have.”
Human Rights Watch Americas director José Miguel Vivanco tweeted Monday that with the authorization of lethal force against the gangs “Bukele is trying to give carte blanche to members of public forces to kill.”
There is a growing clamor for the international community, in particular the Organization of American States, to break its silence. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged authorities to investigate all alleged human rights violations and to immediately release those detained arbitrarily.
Bukele’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Valentín Padilla, a 62-year-old San Salvador retiree, noted Bukele’s success amid the conflicts.
“What the president has done is working, but every day there are fights. The (legislators) say one thing and the president answers them. Better if they think of the people and work together,” he said. 
Tomás Sevilla, a 42-year-old auto mechanic, said Bukele’s steps seemed to be working, although he had heard the criticism. He said was following the quarantine, “but we also need to work to be able to buy food.”
Eduardo Escobar, director of the nongovernmental organization Acción Ciudadana, acknowledged Bukele’s measures had slowed the virus but said he was “showing an authoritarian profile” and his disobedience of the court “is a dangerous declaration because ultimately it means he is going to concentrate power in his hands. He is going to execute, he is going to legislate and he is going to judge.”
He said Bukele has succeeded by using fear and positioning himself as the country’s savior.
“He has managed to establish that the people who are with the government are on the side of God, are battling the epidemic to save the people,” Escobar said. “And those who criticize him are against the people, in favor of the virus and calling for the death of the population.”
 
…

Ready or not, Greece is opening back up. But it is not happening all at once, as the government plans to lift coronavirus restrictions in phases, keeping a ban on religious services to contain new outbreaks of COVID. The plan has infuriated the Greek Orthodox Church and it is now demanding preference over businesses like hair and nail salons.The standoff comes as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a gradual easing of draconian lockdown measures imposed here since early March.Government officials tell VOA, schools and small-size businesses will be among the first to open next week. Church doors will also be unlocked but only to allow followers to enter and pray on their own, not in large numbers and not for religious services.The country’s archbishop has sent a stern letter to the prime minister, pressing him to reconsider.But on Tuesday, the Church’s spokesperson, the Metropolitan of Nafpaktos, Hierotheos, accused the government of staging what he called a coup against the country’s religious authority. “What do they really think the Church is?” he asked in front of reporters Tuesday. “Do they consider it like any other supermarket or union or nail and hair salon?”The Church, he says, has been a guiding force for the nation and part of Greek tradition for more than 200 years.It’s unlikely the prime minister will back down from his plans, aides say.A beggar sits in an empty Ermou street in front of Kapnikarea church during lockdown measures by the Greek government to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Athens, April 21, 2020.The country’s senior council of prelates, meantime, is scheduling a crisis meeting later this week. It wants to see churches open across the nation soon, in order hold belated Easter services in May – services it has suspended as part of  nationwide efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.The controversy is fueling a debate in Greece on whether the state should reconsider its close ties with the Greek Orthodox Church.  Commentator Nikos Vlavianos, known for his left-wing views, argues for a separation. He calls this type of intervention absurd and says and it reminds the world that, in the 21st Century, church and state are not separated in Greece.About 90 percent of Greeks identify as Orthodox Christians, although it is unclear how many of them regularly attend church.     The Orthodox Church is deeply intertwined with the society of Greece, predating the Greek state by some 1,500 years. Throughout history, attempts to separate the two have met resistance, with many, many Greeks citing the Church’s key role in preserving the Orthodox faith during 400 years of Ottoman rule.  
…

Germany’s national public health institute is urging the public to “stay disciplined” as data regarding the COVID pandemic in the nation remains mixed, even as the country begins to ease public restrictions.Speaking a news briefing Tuesday in Berlin, Robert Koch Institute chief Lothar Wieler told reporters the country’s rate of coronavirus infections has crept up slightly since Germany eased lockdown restrictions on April 20 to allow small businesses to open, while maintaining social distancing.Wieler explained the so-called “R” factor – rate of people infected by every person with COVID-19 – is about 1.0. It had been around 0.7 before restrictions were eased.    Wieler says though the R factor is important, Germany is currently seeing about 1,000 new infections reported per day, down from a high of some 6,000. He said the health care system can cope with that.As the regulations are loosened, Wieler is urging Germans to continue to abide by social distancing guidance, wear masks while on public transportation or shopping, and to stay at home when possible. 
…

Austrian officials announced Tuesday the nation will lift lockdown measures effective Friday, May 1, making it among the first European countries to do so. At a news conference in Vienna, Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober  said the COVID-19 figures are such that the lockdown can be allowed run out. Austria has been under lockdown for about seven weeks, during which people were only allowed to leave their homes for designated reasons. As of Friday, people will still need to maintain a one-meter distance from each other in public, and people will be required to wear a face mask in public. In another move, Austrian Tourism Minister Elisabeth Koestinger announced restaurants will reopen May 15. She said up to four adults will be allowed to sit at the same table and the one-meter distance rule will still apply.  According to the ministry of health, current infection rates are well below one percent, making a slow reopening of the economy possible. As of Tuesday, Austria’s health ministry reports the nation has 15,256 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 569 deaths. 
 
…

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness says his administration is shifting its attention to restarting the economy hampered by the COVID-19 outbreak. Holness announced Monday night, the formation of a COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force, which is charged with outlining how the country can gradually resume business activities. Holness made a point to emphasize the task force is charged with developing a plan of action in conjunction with concerns from the ministry of health and wellness. Jamaica currently has 364 coronavirus cases. So far, seven people have died of the disease. Additionally, Jamaica’s minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, Kamina Johnson Smith, announced new strict protocols for Jamaicans wishing to return home during the COVID-19 crisis, including abiding by a 14-day quarantine.  She said the government does not have the resources to pay for charter flights to bring people home, and each person will have to make their own arrangements after getting travel authorization from the government. 
…

Tensions remain high at Peru’s Miguel Castro and Huancayo prisons following a day of riots and protests by inmates over the government’s coronavirus response on their behalf.  Peru’s National Penitentiary Institute confirmed Monday’s uprising, with reports of inmates setting fires and demanding to be freed, as more inmates become infected with the disease. Reuters news agency says human rights groups are calling on the Peruvian government to allow house arrest during the pandemic. Earlier this week, President Martin Vizcarra extended a national quarantine until May 10 following a surge in covid-19 cases, but no plan was unveiled for inmates. Peru has confirmed 28,699 cases of the coronavirus, the second highest total in Latin America after Brazil. So far, 782 people have died of the coronavirus in Peru. 
…

Scientists at Oxford University are racing to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus well ahead of the standard medical timeline. The scientists have expressed confidence in their ability to do it quickly, raising hopes around the world that a vaccine will not have to wait until next year.    The first injections of the vaccine being developed by the university’s Jenner Institute in Britain took place last week. Scientists are planning to massively scale up their testing in a little over a month, a time frame that is currently faster than other vaccine development efforts.  The New York Times reported Monday that the scientists plan to test their vaccine on more than 6,000 people by the end of May. The team at Oxford said their aim is to produce a million doses of the vaccine, if it proves effective, by September — months ahead of a standard timeline of 12 to18 months routinely quoted by health professionals around the world.  Professor Sarah Gilbert, team leader of the program, said she is “80% confident” the vaccine will work.  Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock speaks during a daily news conference on the coronavirus outbreak, at 10 Downing Street in London, April 27, 2020.Early trials promising Because of that confidence, Britain has begun allocating funds for large-scale development, a move that is financially risky if the vaccine turns out to be ineffective. “We are going to back them to the hilt and give them every resource they need to give them the best chance of success,” Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last week. The researchers’ confidence comes in part from the knowledge that the vaccine’s basic components have been genetically engineered to be harmless against humans and have been found to be safe in earlier trials.  Initial experiments also indicate the vaccine is effective, including tests that show it can generate a strong immune response in rhesus macaque monkeys.   The vaccine has been made from a common cold virus that has been modified so it cannot grow in people. Scientists have added proteins from the coronavirus that they hope will trigger the human immune system to produce antibodies against the protein, which will then protect against the actual virus.  Trials of the virus’s base components have been ongoing for years as part of an effort to find a malaria vaccine. Gilbert used the same modified virus to make a vaccine against an earlier coronavirus, MERS. Clinical trials of that vaccine are promising. A traditional vaccine uses a weakened version of a virus to trigger an immune response in humans, and great care must be taken to ensure it is not only effective in humans but also safe.  A major reason the Oxford vaccine can quickly move through trials is that its base components have already undergone rigorous testing in humans. FILE – In this March 19, 2020, photo, laboratory scientist Andrea Luquette cultures coronavirus to prepare for testing at U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md.Challenges  While early indications show the new vaccine is promising, one complication for the trials could paradoxically be the success of efforts to limit the spread of the disease in Britain.  For the vaccine data to be effective, subjects must be shown not to contract COVID-19 from their surroundings. However, if the disease is not spreading naturally around them, the trial might not be able to show whether the vaccine is making a difference, or it might take longer to reach conclusions. Researchers say if they cannot get conclusive results in Britain, they might have to begin new trials in another part of the world where the virus is spreading more rapidly. Ethics guidelines generally prohibit scientists from injecting healthy patients with a serious disease. There are more than 100 efforts around the world to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, but only a few have begun human trials.  U.S.-based Moderna was the first company to begin small clinical trials in March, but larger human trials have not begun.  Other efforts have come from the Chinese company CanSino, and a partnership between German biotech company BioNTech and U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer.  U.S. scientists say they were close to developing a coronavirus vaccine years ago to fight severe respiratory syndrome, or SARS, but that funding dried up when SARS disappeared after killing more than 770 people worldwide. 
…