Author: Fworld

The troubles of opera superstar Placido Domingo continue to mount.The 79-year-old Domingo announced Sunday he has tested positive for the coronavirus.He said in a Facebook post it is his “moral duty” to reveal that he has the illness.The tenor says he and his family are in self-quarantine, adding that except for a fever and a …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has gone into quarantine after being informed that a doctor who administered a vaccine to her has tested positive for the new coronavirus.Merkel, 65, was informed about the doctor’s test shortly after holding a news conference Sunday announcing new measures to curb the spread of the virus, her spokesman Steffen Seibert …

Europe has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, with the hardest hit nation, Italy reporting hundreds of new deaths on Sunday.The total number of deaths in the country has now surpassed 5,400.All nonessential businesses in hard-hit Italy have been ordered to close as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic.  “It is the most difficult …

Britons have been urged to not visit their mother’s Sunday as the country celebrates Mother’s Day amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak. “If your mother is elderly or vulnerable, then I am afraid all the statistics show that she is much more likely to die from coronavirus,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an address to the …

Europe is now the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak as the virus continues to spread. New cases in China, where the outbreak began, have started to decline. A view of an empty street, in Rome, March 21, 2020. Mayors of many towns in Italy are asking for ever more stringent measures on citizens’ movements to help …

A 5.3 magnitude earthquake struck Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, Sunday morning, killing at least one person and causing widespread damage and power outages.The victim was a 15-year-old boy. Officials said there were also injuries but did not give further details.”We got a call about a collapsed building. Teams went to the spot and found a seriously …

Young German adults hold “corona parties” and cough toward older people. A Spanish man leashes a goat to go for a walk to skirt confinement orders. From France to Florida to Australia, kitesurfers, college students and others crowd beaches.Their defiance of lockdown mandates and scientific advice to fight the coronavirus pandemic has prompted crackdowns by …

A strong earthquake shook Croatia and its capital Sunday, causing widespread damage and panic. One death as been reported.The European seismological agency, EMSC, said the earthquake measured 5.3 and struck a wide area north of the capital, Zagreb, at 6:23 a.m. local time Sunday. The epicenter was 7 kilometers (4 miles) north of Zagreb at the …

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 …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing twin challenges from former key allies as discontent grows over a sluggish economy and deteriorating human rights. Earlier this month, Ali Babacan launched the Deva Party, which means remedy. The party’s message is of greater rights, democracy and gender equality.  Ali Babacan once a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan …

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 …

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 European Union is calling on video streaming services to limit providing programs in high-definition to avert an internet crash that could be triggered by extremely heavy usage because of the coronavirus pandemic.   European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton tweeted late Wednesday that he had spoken with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings about the …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

 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 …

The main Serbian hospital treating patients infected with coronavirus looks like an abandoned building, but it isn’t. With its rundown facade, peeling walls and rooms crammed with metal beds, the downtown Belgrade clinic for infectious diseases has for decades been a symbol of Serbia’s depleted health system that now has to cope with a major …

Mobile carriers are sharing data with the health authorities in Italy, Germany and Austria, helping to fight coronavirus by monitoring whether people are complying with curbs on movement while at the same time respecting Europe’s privacy laws.   The data, which are anonymous and aggregated, make it possible to map concentrations and movements of customers in “hot …

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 …

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 …

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. …

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations around the world have fallen victim to the new coronavirus — but even a pandemic could not quash the desire to celebrate the color green, Guinness and all things Irish. Parades and parties were canceled around the globe Tuesday as governments imposed restrictions on human contact to slow the spread of the virus. A deserted O’Connell …

The bells are tolling in the villages of the north Italian region of Lombardy, registering yet another coronavirus death.  North Italy has suffered epidemics before, albeit much more deadly contagions in the 17th and 18th centuries, which left more than 300,000 dead. But Italians never thought they would encounter again a contagion powerful enough to …