Author: Fworld

An unmanned cargo spacecraft with food, fuel and supplies docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday.Russian Progress 75 cargo ship left the Baikonur Cosmodrom in Kazakhstan, a few minutes before 1 a.m. GMT and transported almost 3 tons of food and other supplies to the ISS.Scientists and staff, both in Baikonur and at …

How do you protest in the era of the coronavirus?  In Russia, “virtual protesters” have clustered outside government buildings, at a safe social distance, and they post messages online demanding more financial assistance from authorities. Young climate change activists have heeded the call by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, the founder of the global school strike movement, to avoid big protests to help contain the novel coronavirus.  “We have to adapt. That is what you have …

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday decried crimes against “civilization” and demanded an apology from Turkey as his country marked the 105th anniversary of the WWI-era Armenian genocide.The genocide is a “crime not only against our ethnic identity, but also against human civilization,” Pashinyan said in a message after laying flowers at a genocide …

Youth groups are staging a long-planned global climate demonstration online Friday because of restrictions on public protests during the coronavirus pandemic. The student group Fridays for Future, whose past rallies have drawn hundreds of thousands onto the streets worldwide, is using a livestream to call on world leaders to act against global warming. Some groups …

A preliminary hearing opened Friday at Britain’s High Court in the Duchess of Sussex’s legal action against a British newspaper that published what she describes as a “private and confidential” letter she wrote to her father.   Meghan is suing the Mail on Sunday and its parent company, Associated Newspapers, for publishing parts of an …

Austria, which is loosening its coronavirus lockdown, said on Friday that most pupils will go back to school on May 18, with classes split in two groups that will each attend lessons half the week to ensure their desks are far enough apart.   Austria acted early in its outbreak to shut schools, bars, restaurants, …

Without a tried-and-tested action plan for how to pull countries out of lockdown, the world is seeing a patchwork of approaches. Schools reopen in one country, stay closed in others; face masks are an obligation here, a simple recommendation there.   Kids still attend soccer practice in Sweden while they are not even allowed outside …

The European Union approved a $580 billion aid package to help mitigate the consequences of coronavirus pandemic lockdowns in member countries.European Council President Charles Michel said Thursday the package was expected to be operational by June 1. Michel said it would help pay lost wages, keep companies afloat and fund health care systems.”We all agreed …

European governments are rolling out plans outlining how they will start to cautiously unlock their countries and fire up their economies, but the lifting of lockdowns is being complicated by a string of studies suggesting that even in cities and regions hit hard by the coronavirus, only a small fraction of the population has contracted …

The Novosibirsk-based news website Taiga.info recently published an interview with a woman who told the independent outlet that she called an ambulance after experiencing severe flu-like symptoms that she feared could be COVID-19. The paramedics who showed up had no gloves, masks, or other personal protective equipment (PPE), she said.   “The management of Novosibirsk’s …

A new World Bank study predicts remittances sent home by migrant workers from low- and middle-income countries may plummet by one-fifth this year, prompted by the coronavirus-driven global economic downturn.In Europe, that translates into billions of dollars lost to families in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. Shuttered shops and empty sidewalks on the normally bustling Avenue de …

Hungary was accused on Thursday of holding asylum seekers in a camp on the border with Serbia in “unlawful detention” by the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).   The case relates to four migrants from Iran and Afghanistan whose asylum applications were rejected by the Hungarian authorities.     The four …

The U.S State Department announced Thursday a $12.1 million aid package for Greenland along with plans to re-open a consulate in the capital, Nuuk. A State Department official, briefing reporters in a teleconference, said the aid will go to developing natural resources, energy technologies, education and tourism, among other investments.The official said the package is part …

The United Kingdom’s economy is crumbling under the strain of the coronavirus lockdown and government borrowing is soaring to the highest levels in peacetime history, increasing pressure on the government to set out an exit strategy.   Prime Minister Boris Johnson, recuperating at his country residence after being seriously ill with COVID-19, is facing criticism …

European Union leaders are set to weigh Thursday the damage the coronavirus has inflicted on health care systems and the lives of around half a billion citizens across the bloc as they struggle to devise a more robust plan to resuscitate their ravaged economies.As businesses cautiously open their doors in some European countries and citizens …

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the coronavirus outbreak is “fast becoming a human rights crisis.”In a statement Thursday, he called on governments to ensure that health care is available and accessible to all people, that economic aid packages help those most affected, and that everyone has the ability to obtain food, water and housing.Women wearing …

Japanese health officials say 48 crew members of an Italian cruise ship docked in the port city of Nagasaki have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, including 14 cases confirmed Thursday.The Costa Atlantica and its 623 crew members have been docked in Nagasaki since January to undergo repairs by a unit of Mitsubishi Heavy Industry. …

Police in the Netherlands have released security camera video showing a thief who stole a prized Vincent van Gogh painting from a Dutch museum late last month.The video of the March 30 theft shows how the perpetrator used a sledgehammer to smash his way through reinforced glass doors at the Singer Laren Museum in Laren, …

France’s parliament votes next week on plans to use a controversial tracing app to help fight the coronavirus, as the country eyes easing its lockdown next month.French Digital Affairs Minister Cedric O says the downloadable app would notify smartphone users when they cross people with COVID-19, helping authorities track and reduce the spread of the …

The new opposition leader in the British Parliament accused the government Wednesday of being slow in every aspect of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.New opposition Labor Party Leader Keir Starmer made the comments during a “hybrid” session of Parliament, with half the members participating through videoconference and the members who were present practicing social …

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has targeted the second half of May as his country’s “horizon of de-escalation,” as his government and others start to plan an exit from strict coronavirus containment measures. Speaking to parliament Wednesday as he requested an extension of current lockdown orders through May 9, Sanchez said when Spain does begin to …

All it took was a few sturdy swings with a sledgehammer and a prized painting by Vincent van Gogh was gone.A Dutch crime-busting television show has aired security camera footage showing how an art thief smashed his way through reinforced glass doors at a museum in the early hours of March 30. He later hurried …

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced Tuesday that two separate British research teams are making significant progress on a COVID-19 vaccine, with one them planning to run trials on people on Thursday.At a news briefing in London, Hancock said researchers at both the Imperial College of London and Oxford University had are moving into the …

As Europe counts the human and economic costs of the coronavirus lockdowns, Hungary appears to have gotten off lightly. It has nearly 2,100 reported cases and 213 deaths so far, compared to tens of thousands in the worst-hit countries. Nevertheless, economists predict the country’s GDP will shrink by close to 10 percent. As Henry Ridgwell reports, many workers are having to adapt quickly to the dramatically changing labor market in …

Spain’s Health Ministry said the country saw deaths attributed to the new coronavirus rise on Tuesday, with 430 new fatalities, bringing the total death toll to 21,282. At a news briefing in Madrid, Fernando Simon, director of the Health Ministry’s Coordination Center for Health Alerts, told reporters that as of Tuesday, 204,178 people were infected, up …

Paris police are facing a modest uptick of unrest in the oft-troubled suburbs of the locked-down French capital, making a small number of arrests after fires were set and fireworks lobbed to shatter the calm imposed by stay-home measures to counter the coronavirus.   A scattering of vehicle and trash can blazes and firework explosions …