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The coronavirus pandemic has hit a grim milestone — 1 million confirmed cases.The count by Johns Hopkins University says almost one-fourth, 236,000, are in the United States.The worldwide death toll stands at more than 53,000. Italy reported the most fatalities with more than 13,000 and climbing daily.A question on nearly everyone’s lips in the U.S. is, “Do I need to wear a mask?” Some experts have said anyone who is not sick or caring for someone who is doesn’t need one. They say a mask won’t stop the virus.Other experts say even minimal protection from a face covering is better than nothing at all.New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is recommending New Yorkers wear a scarf, bandana, or some homemade covering over their mouths and noses – but not a surgical mask. He says those should be reserved for medical professionals.Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is also asking people to cover their mouths in public.U.S. President Donald Trump said the White House task force is still putting together guidelines on whether to wear a face covering.“If people wanted to wear them, they can. It’s not a bad idea, at least for a period of time,” Trump said.A transit police officer checks the temperature of a truck driver as a preventive measure against the new coronavirus, during a partial curfew ordered by the government in Villa Nueva, Guatemala, on April 2, 2020.The White House said Trump was tested again for the coronavirus, using a test that gives results in 15 minutes. The president tested negative and was pronounced “healthy.”The World Bank approved nearly $2 billion in funds for 25 of the world’s poorest countries to battle the coronavirus pandemic.India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia will get most of the first payments. The money is specifically earmarked for critical medical supplies, including masks and ventilators.Bank President David Malpass says the institution could provide as much as $160 billion in such help over the next year.India’s lockdown of more than 1 billion people has left hundreds of millions homeless and without food, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to beg for their forgiveness.In Brussels, NATO foreign ministers have tasked the alliance’s top military officer, U.S. Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, “to coordinate the necessary military support to combat the crisis, to speed up and step up assistance.”Wolters will procure cargo planes and other aircraft to deliver medical supplies as well as surplus stocks across the 30-member bloc.Meanwhile, Portugal announced a ban on all commercial flights arriving at its airports, and its citizens won’t be allowed to visit other towns except for work. The new restrictions take effect April 9 and are set to last five days.“The virus doesn’t travel by itself,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa said Thursday. “This Easter period is a particularly critical time and that’s why it is essential to restrict movement in the national territory.”The government is also pardoning inmates sentenced to two years or less to prevent a spread of the virus in jails.People wait in line to buy supplies amid the spread of the coronavirus disease in Guayaquil, Ecuador, April 2, 2020.Portugal has a little more than 9,000 confirmed cases.Also Thursday, three anonymous Iraqi doctors involved in testing say the country has thousands of coronavirus cases – far more than the government’s official count of 772.Iraq’s health ministry simply said the sources reporting what the doctors allege are “incorrect.”In Seattle, Washington, federal officials have proposed a $611,000 fine for the nursing home where 40 people died of coronavirus.The Life Care Center was ground zero early in the U.S. outbreak.Federal regulators say the facility had a nuber of serious problems including failing to quickly identify and properly treat residents during a spate of respiratory illnesses that turned out to have been caused by the coronavirus.The nursing home has yet to respond to the proposed fine.Also Thursday, the U.S. Postal Service said 22 countries have informed them that they can no longer process or deliver mail arriving from other nations because of disruptions in service caused by the coronavirus.They include India, Kuwait, Honduras, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa, and 17 other countries.And Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is ordering police to confront anyone who is violating the lockdown on Luzon and “shoot them dead.”Duterte appeared on television Thursday after residents in a poor section of Manila protested in the streets against what they say is the government’s negligence to deliver food and supplies.Women buy medicinal plants in Asuncion, Paraguay, on April 2, 2020.”I will not hesitate. My orders are to the police and military, as well as village officials, if there is any trouble, or occasions where there’s violence and your lives are in danger, shoot them dead. Do not intimidate the government. Do not challenge the government. You will lose.”Government officials hastily followed up on Duterte’s remarks to say he was simply using his usual tough rhetoric to illustrate how serious the coronavirus is.Police Chief Archie Gamboa said the president was “just overemphasizing on implementing the law in this time of crisis,” and police officers realize that they are not going to kill anyone for protesting.
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Russia says it’s entering a new phase in its fight against the spread of COVID-19. A near countrywide quarantine is just the latest in a series of government measures aimed at stopping a contagion that has infected over 3,500 Russians and killed 30 thus far.  But as Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, the Kremlin’s approach to the virus has been evolving over time.
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 Germany’s foreign minister Thursday warned NATO members against taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to spread “disinformation,” “propaganda” and “fake news.”Speaking ahead of a video teleconference of alliance foreign ministers, Heiko Maas said, “There are some who abuse this situation for propaganda purposes” and try to show themselves in a better light.He urged both the European Union and NATO to take counter measures to ensure available information is “fact-based” and not “fake news.”Maas did not name specific nations, but the Reuters news agency, citing a document it had reviewed last month, reports the EU claimed Russian media had launched a significant disinformation campaign against the West to generate panic and sow distrust regarding the governmental responses to the crisis.Reuters reports Moscow denied the allegations.
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Spain’s health officials reported 950 deaths from COVID-19 since Wednesday, a new one-day record in fatalities that pushes the nation’s total deaths during the outbreak to over 10,000. Speaking at a news briefing in Madrid Thursday, Spain’s medical emergency chief, Fernando Simon, said that while coronavirus cases rose to 110,238, the rate of spread in the nation is stabilizing. Health ministry officials say figures show the virus was spreading at a daily rate of 20 percent until March 25. Since then they say that rate has dropped to less than 12 percent, showing orders for residents to stay at home are working.  Spain trails only Italy in total deaths from the virus and behind only Italy and the United States for total cases.
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The United States says it has delivered 128 anti-tank Javelin missiles to Estonia as part of a larger contract with the Baltic NATO member and the U.S. Department of Defense.
 
The U.S. Embassy in Tallinn said in a statement on Thursday that “the shipment will continue to build upon Estonia’s defensive capabilities and further strengthens our nations’ strategic integration” within NATO, of which Estonia has been a member since 2004.
 
Washington has provided Estonia, a staunch military ally, with over $100 million in joint defense cooperation over the past few years, the U.S. Embassy said.
 
The FGM-148 Javelin is an infrared-guided anti-tank missile that can be carried and launched by a single person. It is manufactured by a joint venture between Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin Corp.
 
In December, the Estonian defense ministry said the United States has allocated $175 million in military aid to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for 2020.
 
The three countries are all NATO members and all of them border Russia.
 
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Saudi Arabia and Russia signaled on Thursday they were ready to cooperate to help stabilize the oil market after calls with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the slump in prices triggered by the end of a deal to curb output and a collapse in demand.   After the deal collapsed, Russia and Saudi Arabia both said they were ready to raise production but Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Reuters on Thursday it had no plans to crank up its crude output.   A senior Gulf source familiar with Saudi thinking, meanwhile, told Reuters on Thursday that Saudi Arabia supported cooperation between oil producers to stabilize the market but it was Russia’s opposition to a proposal last month to deepen oil supply cuts that caused the market turmoil.   Oil prices have halved to under $26 a barrel since Saudi Arabia, de facto leader of OPEC, and other producers led by Russia — collectively known as OPEC+ — failed to agree a joint supply response to the slump in fuel demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.   U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had talked with Saudi and Russian leaders and believed the two countries would make a deal to end their price war within a few days, lowering output and bringing prices back up.   Oil prices jumped 10% on Thursday after Trump’s comments.   Stabilizing the oil market through output cuts is likely to be tough in the current environment because oil demand has fallen by almost a third, or at least 20 million barrels per day, meaning significant reductions would be required.   Russia and Saudi Arabia have blamed each other for the price collapse. Riyadh wanted to deepen the oil cuts because of the fallout from coronavirus but Moscow refused to join new reductions, preferring to extend the existing agreement.   In response, Saudi Arabia slashed its crude export prices, said it would raise production to maximum capacity and has tried to sell cheap oil to refiners that buy Russian crude. Saudi supply hit a record above 12 million barrels a day on Wednesday.   ‘Both went crazy’ While there is little evidence yet of Russia and Saudi Arabia bridging their differences, signs were growing this week that the world’s two biggest oil exporters were preparing to address the situation.   Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Wednesday for global oil producers and consumers to address “challenging” oil markets and the senior Gulf source said Saudi Arabia wanted producers to work together.   “Saudi Arabia has always welcomed and supported cooperation among oil producers in their efforts to stabilize the oil market during the current crisis, based on the principles of fairness and equity,” the Gulf source told Reuters.   The U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday urged Saudi Arabia and Russia to calm oil markets after the kingdom’s crude supply hit a record even as demand falters because of coronavirus.   Novak told Reuters that Russia had not yet discussed the oil market situation with Saudi Arabia but did not rule this out.   The flood of Saudi oil comes amid an unprecedented fall in demand as billions of people stop using cars and taking flights because they are under lockdowns to prevent coronavirus from spreading.   Already, tens of millions of barrels of oil have gushed into storage because refiners do not need to buy them at the moment.   Putin and Trump spoke on Monday. Trump said then that Saudi Arabia and Russia “both went crazy” with their production after the supply deal failed. Low oil prices are threatening to put U.S. shale oil producers out of business as they cannot compete with cheaper Saudi and Russian oil.   “I never thought I’d be saying that maybe we have to have an oil [price] increase, because we do,” Trump said. 
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Since the coronavirus pandemic hit Europe and the United States, Austrian Ambassador Martin Weiss has tweeted a series of Martin Weiss, ambassador of Austria to the U.S. (in green jacket), seen here at the Austrian Airlines ticket counter March 23, 2020, as he helps ensure all goes smoothly as 300 Austrians head home.VOA: Three hundred Austrians left the United States for home last week. Was it because the outbreak seemed less severe there?Weiss: There were very different reasons for their return. Many were just tourists ready to cut their trips short. Others worked in hotels and restaurants and had simply lost their jobs. Also, many students were leaving because their schools have closed for the foreseeable future. Many of them felt that they were better off in Austria. There, they have family. There, they are familiar with the health care system, etc. Plus, many Austrians have the feeling that our government does a very good job in this crisis. The Austrian government has taken proactive steps early on, informs the public daily about the latest developments, keeps expectations at a realistic level, has adopted a huge rescue package for workers and the economy, etc. Austrians are concerned, but by and large, think our country does what it can in this difficult time.VOA: Tell us more about Austria’s stimulus package.Weiss: It amounts to roughly 10 percent of Austria’s gross domestic product. In that sense, we are in lockstep with the U.S. Both of our governments are pulling out all the stops in an effort to keep our economies, and, thereby, the livelihood of so many people who depend on it afloat.VOA: What is Austria using to test and treat patients who may be suffering from COVID-19?Weiss: Austrian company Procomcure (Biotech Gmbh) has recently developed a very promising testing kit that gives you precise results within hours. Little wonder that they are already exporting it to many countries all over the world. When it comes to testing, Austria is currently in the European median — neither extremely good nor very bad. But the government has realized that more tests are needed and is currently trying hard to get the numbers up. Without thorough testing, there is no way of getting out of this crisis for good.As to our health care system, Austria has traditionally a high number of hospital beds per capita — 750 beds per 100,000 inhabitants. We have often been criticized for that because it makes our system expensive. However, in this crisis, this seems to be a clear advantage.Austrians heading home get their papers checked on March 23, 2020 at Dulles Airport.VOA: You retweeted an image of Italian armed forces arriving in Bergamo to take away coffins from hospitals, underscoring the gravity of the situation in Italy. Is Austria doing anything to help Italy?Weiss: We have supported our southern neighbor right from the beginning, bilaterally as well as in the framework of the European Union. Just this past week, Austria transported urgently needed personal protection equipment, including 1.6 million face masks, to northern Italy. European and global solidarity is crucial these days.VOA: What do you think the future will be for multinational corporations and for globalization in the aftermath of the pandemic?Weiss: There are a lot of debates out there on how this crisis will change our lives, change corporations, change the way the world cooperates in the future, etc. Frankly, I am not so sure. As human beings, we are amazingly adept in forgetting bad things. Once something bad — or even something terrible — has passed, we are more than ready to “go back to normal.” In other words, old habits die hard. Some business models will certainly take a hit. I wonder, for example, about the future of the cruise ship industry. With so many stories about being stranded on ships, I suppose it will be a while before passengers will be ready for this kind of voyage again. But in general, I believe the world before and after corona will not be all that much different.The Austrian Embassy’s official Twitter account @AustriainUSA chose local blossoms spotted near the embassy to adorn its front page.VOA: What would you like to see the U.S. do more or less of to tackle this outbreak both domestically and abroad?Weiss: The devilish thing about this new virus is that it is highly infectious, and none of us is immune. It thus grows exponentially. … Exponential growth starts slow, little by little, and then it very rapidly explodes. I still have the feeling that many people in the U.S. and around the world fail to grasp this. The exponential curve knows no mercy. We all — the U.S., Europe and the rest of the world — have to work together and as hard as we can. It is this level of unequivocal seriousness that is needed now, and the U.S. should lead in this effort.VOA: Your tweet that has generated the most “likes” is a video clip involving a mock question about the quarantine. Given an option, a man chooses not to stay with his wife and kids. What does this say about the human condition?Weiss: This clip simply made me laugh hard. And just to be clear, it probably cuts both ways, and his wife would have quickly said “B,” too. But I have seen many somewhat humorous reactions to this crisis, and I think it is very important not to lose that, even in the toughest of times. Humor is the best medicine, they say. I´m not sure it’s a cure for COVIID-19, but it certainly helps.
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Nations around the world are growing increasingly worried about violence linked to extreme right-wing terror groups, with new research showing there has been a 320% jump in the number of related attacks over the past five years.Deadly attacks over the past year, like the shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, and in El Paso, Texas, in the U.S., as well as a couple in Germany, have gotten most of the international attention.  But the research, highlighted Wednesday in a new report from the United Nations’ Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, also warns the trend is worsening, with attacks by individuals linked to right-wing extremist groups becoming ever-more deadly, while the groups themselves are getting increasingly sophisticated.“Although extreme right-wing terrorism is not a new phenomenon, there has been a recent increase in its frequency and lethality,” UN-CTED said in its Raymond Duda, FBI Special Agent in Seattle, speaks during a news conference on Feb. 26, 2020, about charges against a group of alleged members of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division for cyber-stalking and mailing threatening communications.And intelligence from U.N. member states indicates that level of violence is unlikely to taper off, with the West – Europe, North America and Australasia – continuing to see the brunt of such attacks. “Recent evidence suggests that there has been a greater exchange of views between like-minded individuals, both online and offline,” according to the report. “These connections allow extreme right-wing groups to improve their tactics, develop better counter-intelligence techniques, solidify their violent extremist views and broaden their global networks.” The U.N. report echoes warnings from the European Union and the United States, both of which have warned about the threat from right-wing extremism. In the EU, the number of arrests in connection to right-wing terrorism more than doubled, from 20 in 2017 to 44 in 2018, with counterterrorism officials cautioning the problem was likely to get worse. “While the vast majority of right-wing extremist groups across the EU have not resorted to violence, they nevertheless help entrench a climate of fear and animosity against minority groups,” the EU concluded in its 2019 Terrorism Situation and Trend report. “Such a climate, built on xenophobia, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and anti-immigration sentiments, may lower the threshold for some radicalized individuals to use violence.” In this Aug. 12, 2017, file photo, white nationalist demonstrators – including three members of the Rise Above Movement – clash with counter demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia.The U.S. has likewise voiced growing concerns about the rise of right-wing extremism, putting it on par with the threat from the Islamic State terror group. “Racially, ethnically motivated violent extremists were the primary source of all ideologically-motivated lethal incidents and violence in 2018 and 2019 and have been considered the most lethal of all domestic violent extremists since 2001,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers in Washington this past February.  There have also been persistent concerns that U.S.-based groups, like the Atomwaffen Division and the Rise Above Movement (R.A.M.), have been establishing connections with similar groups in Europe and Russia. There is also evidence that a growing number of members have been willing to take up arms, with hundreds flocking to Ukraine to get battlefield experience. The U.N. report finds those types of connections and relationships have only gotten stronger, with groups making efficient use of the Internet and social media to exchange ideas and raise money.  Additionally, the UN report warns the spread of far-right rhetoric is allowing extremist groups to connect with other fringe elements of society and expand their ability to recruit.  “These synergies allow more obscure misogynist groups-such as incels (involuntary  celibates) – to act as a bridge to violent extreme-rightwing groups and individuals,” the report said. VOA’s Masood Farivar contributed to this report. 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Wednesday for global oil producers and consumers to address “challenging” oil markets, while U.S. President Donald Trump complained that oil cheaper “than water” was hurting the industry.Oil prices fell nearly 70% from January highs as coronavirus lockdowns hammered demand and as Saudi Arabia and Russia have flooded the market in a race for market share after a deal they engineered on supply curbs broke down.Oil and natural gas sales are a key revenue source for Russian coffers, while low prices are also hurting shale oil producers in the United States.  Speaking at a government meeting, set up via a video link as a precaution against the coronavirus, Putin said that both oil producers and consumers should find a solution that would improve the “challenging” situation of global oil markets.He also said if investments into the oil sector fell, oil prices would be sure to spike, something he said “no one needs.””That’s why we, together with the main producers and consumers, should work out such decisions, which would mitigate the situation on the market on the whole,” Putin said, according to the readout of the meeting.FILE – U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette gestures during an interview at the LNG terminal of the deepwater port of Sines after visiting the port, in Sines, southern Portugal, Feb. 12, 2020.Flurry of diplomacyOn Tuesday, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette spoke with his Russian counterpart, Alexander Novak, about the price slump, and they agreed to hold future discussions involving other major world oil producers and consumers.The call occurred a day after Trump and Putin agreed in a phone conversation to have their top energy officials discuss global oil market turmoil.Putin said that the United States was also worried about the state of the oil market as shale oil producers need a price around $40 per barrel to turn a profit.”That’s why this is also a hard challenge for the American economy,” he said.Trump plans to meet with oil executives on Friday to discuss potential aid to the industry, including possible tariffs on oil imports from Saudi Arabia, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified sources.The meeting is to take place at the White House and will include Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp., the newspaper said in a report on Wednesday.Crude oil benchmarks ended a volatile quarter with their biggest losses in history. On Wednesday, oil slid toward $25 a barrel, after touching its lowest level in 18 years.”There is so much oil and in some cases it’s probably less valuable than water. At some points of the world the water is much more valuable. So we’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said.Pact’s collapseThe discussions between Washington and Moscow mark a new twist in oil diplomacy since the collapse this month of a deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, including Russia, on cutting production.The failure to agree on an extension to a pact that had propped up the market since 2016 led to the scrapping of all restrictions and a dash for market share.FILE – Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak is pictured at EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Oct. 29, 2014.Brouillette and Novak “had a productive discussion on the current volatility in global oil markets,” Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said.”Secretary Brouillette and Minister Novak discussed energy market developments and agreed to continue dialogue among major energy producers and consumers, including through the G-20, to address this unprecedented period of disruption in the world economy,” she said.The Russian Energy Ministry said on Wednesday the ministers noted that the fall in the demand and oversupply created risks for stable supplies to the markets.The United States has grown in recent years into the world’s largest oil and gas producer, thanks to a technology-driven shale drilling boom. But the current price of oil is below the production cost of many American drillers, threatening the highly leveraged U.S. shale industry.’Crazy’ productionTrump on Monday said Saudi Arabia and Russia “both went crazy” with their production after the supply deal failed. “I never thought I’d be saying that maybe we have to have an oil [price] increase, because we do,” he said.The Trump administration is trying to persuade Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, to cut crude output. It will soon send a special energy envoy, Victoria Coates, to the kingdom.The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia and Saudi Arabia were not holding talks regarding the oil market at the moment and that Putin had no immediate plans to have a phone call with Saudi leadership.But the Kremlin added that such talks could be set up quickly if necessary. 
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NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic had not diminished the alliance’s ability to carry out its missions and keep allies secure.At a news briefing carried via video-conference from Brussels, Stoltenberg said NATO was doing its part to airlift necessary emergency medical equipment, and he noted that a military cargo aircraft left Turkey earlier Wednesday with protective gear and other medical equipment for Spain and Italy.  Stoltenberg also said NATO’s “core task” is to provide security for nearly 1 billion people, so the immediate primary objective is to “make sure a health crisis does not become a security crisis.”Stoltenberg said recent Russian war games in western Russia near NATO ally borders were a stark reminder that the alliance cannot lose its focus on defending Europe.NATO foreign ministers are scheduled to meet Thursday, also via video-conference.
 
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The Italian city of Bergamo was hard-hit by coronavirus and became the country’s center for the disease.  Now that there are signs infections are slowing there, observers are realizing what went wrong. The head of the city of Bergamo’s doctors’ association, Guido Marinoni, says that back in January, pneumonia cases were not recognized as the novel coronavirus. He says doctors in the northern Italian city did not have adequate protective gear and were not being tested despite showing light symptoms. Areas that should have been locked down, he added, were not, and that augmented the spread of the virus.   Marinoni says testing of doctors only started last week and many still don’t have necessary protective gear.   FILE – A coffin is carried to be aligned with others on the floor in the San Giuseppe church in Seriate, one of the areas worst hit by coronavirus, near Bergamo, Italy, waiting to be taken to a crematory, March 26, 2020.The doctor says the true number of dead and infected is much higher than reflected by official figures because they only account for patients who are tested or die in the hospitals, but not those who die at home or in elderly care facilities.  Marinoni said the population in elderly homes in Bergamo is approximately 6,000 and in one month alone 600 have died.   The doctor says as signs of a possible plateau in new infections emerge, it will be important to return to normal activity slowly, ensuring that people who were infected or isolated are tested carefully. He said that if we let people return to work too soon, it will reignite the outbreak and the fire will return. This, he added, will cause devastating damage, not only for people but also for the whole economy, because it will continue and not end.   Marinoni’s forecast is that an emergency situation will continue for months in Italy and that eradicating coronavirus will be dependent on people’s behavior and testing efforts. The reality, he says, is that only when a vaccine is found, will we be certain the problem will be eliminated.     
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