Author: CensorBiz

The Trump administration is prepared to lift crippling sanctions on Venezuela in support of a new proposal to form a transitional government requiring both Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaidó to step aside in favor of a five-person governing council, U.S. officials said. The one-page “Democratic Transition Framework for Venezuela” was presented Tuesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It echoes a proposal made over the weekend by Guaidó that shows how growing concerns about the coronavirus, which threatens to overwhelm the South American country’s already collapsed health system and economy, are reviving U.S. attempts to pull the military apart from Maduro.  “This framework can provide a path that ends the suffering and opens the path to a brighter future for Venezuela,” said Pompeo in Washington. Under the plan, both Maduro and Guaidó, who some 60 countries recognize as Venezuela’s rightful leader, would step aside and cede power to a five-member council of state to govern the country until presidential and parliamentary elections can be held within 6-12 months. The military high command — the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela and a key plank of support for Maduro — would remain in place for the duration of the transitional government. Four of the members would be appointed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly that Guaidó heads. To draw buy-in from the ruling socialist party, a two-thirds majority would be required. The fifth member, who would serve as interim president until elections are held, would be named by the other council members. Neither Maduro nor Guaidó would be on the council but Pompeo said Guaidó would be free to run for president when elections are held. “The hope is that this setup promotes the selection of people who are very broadly respected and known as people who can work with the other side,” U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams told the AP in a preview of the plan. “Even people in the regime look at this and realize Maduro has to go, but the rest of us are being treated well and fairly.” The plan also outlines for the first time U.S. requirements for lifting sanctions against Maduro officials and the oil industry — the source of nearly all of Venezuela’s foreign income. While those accused of grave human rights abuses and drug trafficking are not eligible for sanctions relief, individuals who are blacklisted because of the position they hold inside the Maduro government — such as members of the supreme court, electoral council and the rubber-stamp constitutional assembly — would benefit.  But for sanctions to vanish, Abrams said the council would need to be functioning and all foreign military forces — from Cuba or Russia — would need to leave the country.  “What we’re hoping is that this really intensifies a discussion inside the army, Chavismo, the ruling socialist party and the regime on how to get out of the terrible crisis they’re in,” Abrams said. Maduro’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza all but rejected the call for dialogue, saying Maduro “never will betray the vote of confidence that the people gave him.” For months, the U.S. has relied on economic and diplomatic pressure to try and break the military’s support for Maduro and last week U.S. prosecutors indicted Maduro and key stakeholders — including his defense minister and head of the supreme court — on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.  Still, any power-sharing arrangement is unlikely to win Maduro’s support unless the thorny issue of his future is addressed and he’s protected from the U.S. justice system, said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America.  “It’s a little hard to see how this is going to be convincing to the major players in the government,” said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America. “They seem to think the military is going to step in, but that seems extremely unlikely.” It also would require the support of Cuba, China or Russia, all of whom are key backers of Maduro.  The standoff between Maduro and Guaidó has only grown more tense in recent days. Maduro’s chief prosecutor on Tuesday summoned Guaidó to testify after one of the individuals indicted on drug charges said he signed a contract with the opposition leader and his American “advisers” to purchase U.S. assault rifles for a planned coup.  Guaidó’s team said he has never met the retired general, who subsequently surrendered to officials and was taken to the U.S. from his home in Colombia where he had lived since 2018 despite having been previously sanctioned by the U.S. for drug smuggling. A senior administration official said Monday that the U.S. is willing to negotiate with Maduro the terms of his exit even in the wake of the indictments. But recalling the history of Gen. Manuel Noriega in Panama, who was removed in a U.S. invasion after being charged himself for drug trafficking, he cautioned that his options for a deal were running out. “History shows that those who do not cooperate with U.S. law enforcement agencies do not fare well,” the official said in a call with journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. policy.  Guaidó’s called on Saturday for the creation of a “national emergency government” was accompanied with the promise of $1.2 billion in loans from international financial institutions to fight the pandemic.  The spread of the coronavirus threatens to overwhelm Venezuela’s already collapsed health system while depriving its crippled economy of oil revenue on which it almost exclusively depends for hard currency.  Last September, Guaidó proposed a similar transitional government in talks with Maduro officials sponsored by Norway, which never gained traction.  But with the already bankrupt country running out of gasoline and seeing bouts of looting amid the coronavirus pandemic, calls have been growing for both the opposition and Maduro to set aside their bitter differences to head off a nightmare scenario. 
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As the novel coronavirus continues to spread around the world, Kurdish officials and rights groups are warning of a catastrophe if thousands of Islamic State (IS) militants held in northeast Syria become infected with the deadly virus.The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led military alliance that has been a major U.S. partner in the fight against IS in Syria, said the possibility is highly likely because local authorities lack adequate resources to prevent the virus from spreading.“If the coronavirus reaches to these prisons, it will be out of control,” Nuri Mahmud, a senior SDF official, said.“If the world is struggling to contain the spread of this virus, you can imagine how extremely difficult it is for us to deal with this crisis with our limited capacity,” he told VOA.The SDF is holding at least 10,000 IS fighters, including nearly 2,000 foreign nationals, captured following the military defeat of the terror group in March 2019.Rights groups fear that COVID-19 could spread quickly in prisons and detention centers in Syria because of poor sanitation, lack of access to clean water and severe overcrowding.“In light of the pandemic, we have asked that all detainees in Syria have access to adequate medical personnel and for NGOs that can provide such support be allowed access to the detention facilities,” said Philippe Nassif, the Middle East and North Africa advocacy director at Amnesty International.Looming threatExperts say local forces and the U.S.-led, anti-IS global coalition are not prepared to prevent the spread of the virus among prisoners affiliated with IS, also known as ISIS.“The threat from COVID-19 exploding among the ISIS prison population in SDF areas due to prison overcrowding and a lack of SDF resources is not abstract, it is looming,” said Nicholas Heras, a Middle East expert at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington.“With the SDF trying to prevent the spread of coronavirus among the local population in northeast Syria, the ISIS prison population will be neglected,” he added.On Monday, the central government in Damascus reported the second death from the coronavirus in the war-torn country.Syrian authorities say there have been 10 confirmed cases of the virus, but health groups believe the number is much higher as the country has limited resources to test patients for the virus.But Kurdish officials complain they are left alone to deal with a possible coronavirus outbreak in areas under their control in northeast Syria.“Damascus is monopolizing the aid that comes from international organizations like the U.N,” SDF official Mahmud charged, adding that “whatever preventive measures taken so far in our region have been done with limited local resources.”Prison break attemptLast weekend, IS militants held in a detention center in the city of Hasakeh in northeast Syria attempted a prison break that caused panic in the region.But SDF officials confirmed that no prisoners succeeded in the escape attempt.“Due to great efforts made by our forces and swift intervention against the insubordination of ISIS detainees inside one prison, we were able to avoid catastrophe and take control,” Mazloum Abdi, general commander of the SDF, said in a tweet Monday.Col. Myles B. Caggins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Syria and Iraq, told VOA in a statement that now “the SDF have full control of all the detention facilities. They’re doing a good job,” acknowledging that, “10,000 detainees is a lot to manage.”What is next?Kurdish military officials are calling on the intentional community to help them find a permanent solution to the issue of IS prisoners in Syria.“Our allies must find a quick, radical solution to this international problem,” SDF’s Abdi said.Amnesty International says it “has been calling on the international community to implement international justice solutions for IS detainees suspected of committing crimes under international law.”“We are calling for suspects to be prosecuted in fair trials that preclude the death penalty and for victims and their families to receive justice and full reparation,” Nassif of Amnesty International, told VOA.But experts say amid the coronavirus outbreak, swift measures should be taken to address the present crisis.“The best that could be done is support from coalition countries to reduce crowding by building more detention centers and provide medical support from now, but these are only half measures and are likely to be too little, too late,” analyst Heras of ISW said.
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After years of civil war, Sudan’s new transitional unity government is urging citizens to work towards reconciliation and forgiving perpetrators of violence. But will these measures work in a deeply divided nation? Chika Oduah reports from the South Sudanese capital of Juba.
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Komal Godiwal, who works as a cleaning lady in several homes in a business hub adjoining the Indian capital, has been struggling to cope in her tiny two-meter by three-meter room where she lives with her husband and four children. “We have to go out to use the shared toilet and to fill up water for cooking,” she said.Two or three members of the family curl up at night on the one bed in the room, the rest sleep on mattresses on the floor.The call on Indians not to step out of their homes for three weeks as the country races to contain the coronavirus includes some 65 million people packed into tiny low-income tenements and tin-roofed shanties in squalid urban slums.Since announcing the lockdown last Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed the importance of social distancing, warning that the infection could spread like “wildfire” if there was a single misstep.In densely populated metropolises like Delhi and Mumbai, though, only the middle class and the affluent can heed the clarion call of physical distancing and isolation because they have the luxury of private spaces.Family members stay indoors inside their single-room apartment at a Chawl, home to hundreds of families, during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to slow the spreading of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Mumbai, India, March 31, 2020.Cheek-by-jowl livingFor those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, cheek-by-jowl living is the grim reality and staying two meters apart is not an option.Komal Godiwal’s family shares a toilet with seven other families. Water is filled at community taps and clothes are washed there. Her husband steps out to buy rations at the neighborhood grocer because, unlike the country’s middle class, she did not have enough cash reserves to stock up on food and does not know how to get online deliveries.Still, she could count herself more fortunate than many.For Mumbai’s 5 million slum residents there is one toilet for every 190 persons. In its largest slum Dharavi, featured in the Oscar-winning movie, Slum Dog Millionaire, the population density is 280,000 per square kilometer and the lanes are so narrow that it is difficult to pass through without rubbing shoulders.Public health experts warn that these could be “potential hot spots” for the infection.These densely packed settlements highlight the challenges facing a developing country like India in getting a grip on the pandemic. The unprecedented lockdown while cases were still relatively small has been praised. Whether the country wins or loses the battle it is waging, however, will depend on controlling it in such areas.FILE – A man brushes his teeth outside a shanty in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, in Mumbai, India, Dec. 27, 2016.’Time bomb’Alarm bells have sounded in Mumbai after more than 10 people living in densely packed low-income areas and slums tested positive for the infection in recent days.“I think we are sitting on a time bomb,” said Rajmohan Panda, a health expert at the Public health Foundation of India.“There has to be an effort on a war footing to supply water of good quality in a manner that enables them to practice some sort of hygiene. For example, you can position water tankers and temporary hand-washing stations in the slums. You have to provide them the resources to fight the infection,” Panda said.India has recorded more than 1,250 cases of coronavirus and 32 deaths. Officials say the infection still has not entered the stage of community transmission when numbers spike exponentially, but several public health experts believe that is inevitable.“We are managing to contain it where the lockdown is working efficiently. But intra-cluster spread is happening and if you don’t monitor this, at the end of 21 days, the virus will get out,” warned T. Jacob John, former head of the Indian Council for Medical Research’s Centre for Advanced Research in Virology.Noting that not enough planning went into plugging “leaky, densely packed points,” he says more attention should be focused on raising awareness about coronavirus transmission in such areas. Experts are calling on India to widen testing that has focused so far on those with travel histories, or those showing symptoms in densely populated low-income settlements that could emerge as the next frontier.The lives of middle-class India intersect closely with those living in low-income settlements — tens of thousands who work as cleaning women, maids, cooks and drivers in their homes are vulnerable and could carry the infection into their crowded communities. India has one hospital bed for 2,000 people.“If community transmission begins happening, then it is going to be a very difficult journey for the health system to tackle,” said Panda. “Many of those living in low-income areas are undernourished and their immunity levels are low. This is going to be a huge problem, especially if poverty levels rise due to loss of livelihoods.”Indian medical officers inspect a quarantine center at the Sarusojai sports complex in Gauhati, India, March 31, 2020. India is adding more resources to tackle its increase in coronavirus cases.Few optionsHowever, for many poor people, those worries dwarf concerns about contracting coronavirus or living in cramped spaces.Sahin, who gives only one name, lives in a temporary shelter with three others near New Delhi. He makes about $120 a month picking up garbage from city homes — work he continues, as garbage collection has been deemed an essential service.He wears a thin mask but heaps trash into his cart with his bare hands and then ferries it to a municipal truck. The last few days have been tough for him, and not because of the health risks he runs working with minimal protective gear. The extra money he made by sifting through the garbage and selling trash that has been recycled has been suspended due to the lockdown. It is posing a challenge as prices surge for vegetables and food rations.   
   
Does Sahin have concerns about the falling sick? The answer is quick and short. “So, what if I worry? Do I have an option to carrying on with my work?”  
 
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From the East Coast to the middle of the country, U.S. governors say the worst is yet to come as the death toll and the number of people infected with the coronavirus increase. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.
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Ukraine’s parliament has voted to lift the ban on the sale of farmland in a move that would allow the country to get $8 billion worth of aid from the International Monetary Fund.  The bill, long pushed by economists to stimulate investment in agriculture, was approved by 259 votes out of 450 late Monday. It opens up the land market for Ukrainian citizens starting from July 1, 2021, and for Ukrainian companies starting from 2024.  Ukrainians will vote on a nationwide referendum on whether to allow foreigners to buy farmland.  FILE – In this handout photo released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks at a ceremony in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 13, 2020.Speaking in parliament Monday night, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stressed the importance of getting the IMF loan.  “It is really important for us, to sign the memorandum with the IMF, and you know well that the two main conditions were the land law and the banking law,” Zelenskiy said.Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal echoed his sentiment in televised remarks Monday.  “Without the support of international organizations we will have to fall into the abyss of a financial meltdown,” Shmyhal said.  Earlier Monday, lawmakers approved the banking law in the first reading. It prevents former owners of banks that were nationalized or liquidated from regaining ownership rights or receiving compensation from state funds.  Some said that the bill, among others, targets billionaire tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, whose Privatbank was nationalized in 2016 and who sought to get it back using his connections to Zelenskiy. In recent months, Zelenskiy has been trying to distance himself from Kolomoisky, who wasn’t hiding his ambitions to influence both domestic and foreign policies, observers say.According to Zelenskiy, once Ukraine fulfills the conditions outlined by the IMF, it will receive the first batch of funds — $1.75-$2 billion — in 15 days.  “We agreed with the management of the IMF,” Zelenskiy said.
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The World Bank says the COVID-19 pandemic will derail economic growth this year in China and throughout the East Asia-Pacific region. The Bank issued a report Monday projecting just a 2.1% growth rate among developing countries in the East Asia-Pacific region this year, compared to 5.8% in 2019 under a forecast that presumes an economic recovery from the pandemic.  But the same report projects a -0.5% growth rate under a worst-case scenario that presumes the pandemic will continue into 2021. The Bank projects China’s economic growth would slow from 6.1% last year to 2.3% this year under the best-case scenario, but, under the worst-case scenario, would fall to a paltry 0.1% gain. The World Bank had earlier predicted that nearly 35 million people in the region would be lifted out of poverty in 2020, but now projects that an additional 11 million people could be forced into poverty if the pandemic continues unchecked. 
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Colombia’s left-wing National Liberation Army rebel group says it will observe a month-long unilateral cease-fire beginning Wednesday. In a statement released Monday, the (ELN) rebels described the cease-fire as a “humanitarian gesture” while the country is in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the rebels’ gesture following his appeal for worldwide cease-fires.  The UN leader called on other armed groups in Colombia to take similar action so authorities can focus on fighting the pandemic. So far, more than 700 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Colombia. At least 14 have died, so far. In addition to the cease-fire the National Liberation Army rebel group said it is receptive to resuming suspended peace negotiations with the government. 
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As the coronavirus cases increase daily the world over, movies about viruses spreading and threatening global communities are going viral on streaming services. Why are these films so thrilling to wide audiences and why do people re-watch many of these classics during the coronavirus epidemic? VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.   
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Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has issued a “full force” stay-at-home order through June 10 as part of his state’s efforts to fight the coronavirus. It includes an order that all “institutions of higher education” must immediately stop all in-person classes and any gathering of 10 people or more. Students who meet for online remote classes are asked to practice social distancing. Many colleges and universities around the country and in Virginia haven’t waited for a governor to tell them to take precautions to stop the coronavirus from spreading. Spring breaks have been extended indefinitely and students were told to empty their rooms and go home School started by Jerry FarwellThere are no outdoor classes on sunny days or relaxing on the quad this year. But one Virginia college has until this week resisted recommendations to suspend classes and send students home – Liberty University in Lynchburg. Liberty with its 46,000 students was founded in 1971 by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell, the controversial far-right fundamentalist Christian activist best known as the head of the Moral Majority. His son, Jerry Falwell, Jr., leads the university. Falwell is an outspoken supporter of President Trump and has played down the dangers of the coronavirus. He has called it a North Korean bioweapon, accused people of overreacting to damage Trump, and has dismissed the virus as just a flu.  Falwell came under fierce criticism and enormous pressure from the governor, the city of Lynchburg, and even some students and their parents when he encouraged them return to the campus last week and resume classes.  Since then, at least one Liberty student who lives off campus has tested positive for coronavirus.  Falwell accused The New York Times of publishing a “false and misleading” report that says according to the school’s student health director, 12 Liberty students became ill since returning from spring break.  School ‘very disappointed’ with coverageIn a statement, Liberty says it is “very disappointed about the way The New York Times chose to handle its reporting about this story. Such media conduct contributes to the public’s record low approval ratings for news media and earns the label ‘fake news.’” After more than a week of confusing and conflicting statements from Falwell, including exactly how many students actually returned to the campus, Liberty now says it will comply with all state government orders and guidance about dealing with the coronavirus.  It had earlier said that some classes, including those dealing with medicine and aviation, could only be taught in a laboratory, not online. But students who showed up to those labs Monday found them locked.  “Our messages did change throughout the week as the governor’s orders changed,” Falwell said, according to the NYT. “We had to adapt.” 
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Russia tightened controls aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus on Monday, with Moscow introducing temporary quarantine measures, and the Kremlin moving to extend the lockdown nationwide. The new restrictions came as President Vladimir Putin discussed the coronavirus, among other issues, with President Donald Trump in a phone call that the Kremlin insisted was at Washington’s request.The conversation came as Putin made clear he recognized the growing threat of the COVID-19 outbreak. He appeared for his second televised national address on the issue Monday afternoon with a new sense of urgency.“If you value your life, you should remain home,” he said, addressing elderly Russians, in particular. “God helps those who help themselves,” added the Russian leader. A doctor observes through a glass window the condition of the patient in a ward in the Moscow Sklifosovsky emergency hospital in Moscow, Russia, March 25, 2020.The new tone came as a  government task force said suspected cases of COVID-19 had swelled past the 1,800 mark with nine deaths — numbers that continued to place Russia far lower than other global coronavirus hotspots but that Kremlin allies and critics alike now acknowledge reflect some degree of underreporting.Moscow through the looking glass  Under new rules that went into effect midnight Sunday, the vast majority of Moscow’s 15 million inhabitants now face a blanket “home isolation quarantine” — with exceptions for trips to local supermarkets and pharmacies, as well as walking pets or taking out trash. A police officer wearing a protective mask and glasses stops a car driver to check his documents in Grozny, Russia, March 30, 2020.City authorities also announced that a system of smart QR codes would be developed to track people moving about the capital, as well as plans to retrofit additional public hospitals and private clinics to accept COVID-19 patients.“The situation with the spread of coronavirus has entered a new phase,” Mayor Sergey Sobyanin wrote in a blog post explaining the new rules with Moscow now an epicenter of the virus threat.  “The extremely negative turn of events that we see in the largest cities of Europe and the USA is cause for enormous concern for the lives and health of our citizens,” Sobyanin said.Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin later issued an appeal to Russia’s far-flung regional governors to follow Moscow’s lead — calling the quarantine a “logical extension of the president and the government’s policies to battle the coronavirus.” Putin’s ‘workless week’Moscow’s restrictions seemed to upstage the “workless week” introduced by Putin in an address to the nation last week.While the Russian leader requested people to stay home, his appeal fell far short of the quarantines and self-isolation measures now commonplace in cities across Europe, the United States and Asia.Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with Russian regional officials via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, March 30, 2020.Some Russians seemed to interpret the “workless week” as an unexpected paid vacation — a factor that Sobyanin said played a role in the decision to close Moscow down. “Movement across the city has been cut by two-thirds, and that’s very good,” Sobaynin wrote in the blog. “But it’s also obvious that far from everyone has heard us.” Amid a spell of spring-like weather over the weekend, parks were so crowded that authorities resorted to blasting public service announcements from passing ambulances. The message: Go home. Media reports also noted a run on meat and charcoal at local supermarkets, suggesting the outdoor barbecue season was, or soon would be, in full swing.  Meanwhile, there was a spike in booked flights from Moscow to the southern resort city of Sochi — so much so that the region’s local governor, Benjamin Kondratiev, warned on social media that “this is not a week of extra leave or a holiday,” and ordered city attractions closed.  Good cop, bad copRussia’s political chatter centered on the seeming gulf between Sobyanin and Putin over how to respond to the contagion.  Had the mayor undermined the president? And who was in charge?“The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” Genady Gudkov, a former member of Parliament with ties to the opposition, wrote in a post on Facebook. “Either Putin is losing control, or differences among the elite are dangerously strong.”Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin attends a cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow, Russia, March 30, 2020.Others argued that Putin was merely distancing himself from more unpopular restrictions — at least until they were trial-ballooned by the hapless Moscow mayor — in effect, playing good cop to Sobyanin’s bad. Putin threw Sobyanin “before the firing squad, and himself remained in the shadows, giving speculation that Sobyanin is acting on his own,” wrote Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst with R.Politik, in a post to her Telegram channel. Stanovaya chalked the showdown to the shifting improvisational nature of Putin’s rule, one in which “circumstances rule.” “And who rules the circumstances, rules Russia,” added Stanovaya.
 
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Nigeria’s two main cities — Abuja and Lagos — are preparing to go on lockdown to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.  The arrival of coronavirus testing kits donated by a Chinese billionaire is expected to give officials a more accurate reading of coronavirus infections in Africa’s most populous nation. But there are also concerns on how the public could react to a jump in infection numbers and a lockdown.The lockdown announcement was made during President Muhammadu Buhari’s national broadcast.Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari addresses the nation on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Abuja, March 29, 2020. (Nigeria Presidency/Handout)Normal activities in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun near Lagos are expected to shut down for 14 days starting late Monday night.”Some of these measures will surely cause major inconveniences to many citizens. But these are sacrifices we should all be willing and ready to make for the greater good of our country,” said Buhari.Hours after the announcement, thousands of citizens stormed shopping malls in Abuja in what appears to be panic-buying.Abuja residents like Daniel Yerimah said the shutdown is a necessary move to control the coronavirus from spreading.”Personally I think it’s long overdue and I’m not really satisfied with the way the government has been handling the whole situation. But with the president coming out to announce a lockdown, I think it’s a beautiful decision and I hope that this will help us control the situation on ground,” he said.A traffic gridlock is seen as people attempt to rush out of Abuja, Nigeria, following efforts of the authorities trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), March 30, 2020.However, he has some concerns.”I don’t believe many citizens can remain indoors for two weeks. It’s not possible because majority of the citizens live below the poverty line. Even one week, it’s not possible for them to remain indoors one week without any income,” said Yerimah.Since new testing kits donated by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma arrived in Nigeria last week, more testing has been carried out and more cases discovered.A general view of a food market in Lagos after Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari called for a lockdown starting tonight to limit the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), March 30, 2020.Chinwe Ochu is the head of prevention programs at NCDC. He said the kits are essential to containing the virus.”Our objective is to stop the transmission, and to do this, we want to have early detection of cases, early reporting, early cases investigations, isolation and treatment, early contact tracing and early social distancing,” said Ochu.With more than a hundred confirmed cases of the virus in Nigeria so far, authorities are working hard and say they’re ready to impose even more drastic measures if need be, in order to control the spread.
 
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Major U.S. stock indexes advanced more than 2% in early trading Monday in the hours after President Donald Trump extended the country’s social distancing guidelines through April 30 to combat the spread of the coronavirus. European exchanges edged ahead marginally in late-day trading, while those in Asia fell. The European markets had fallen most of the day on worries about the pandemic and the decision of the European Central Bank to ask banks not to pay dividends on their stock or buy back shares until October. People wearing face masks walk past a bank’s electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index at Hong Kong Stock Exchange, March 30, 2020.Asian markets closed down as investors continued to be worried by the coronavirus and its effect on the world economy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index had lost over 330 points, or 1.45% at its closing bell, while the Nikkei in Japan was down more than 300 points or 1.57% and the Shanghai closed off nearly 1%.    
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Laid off airline cabin crew staff in Britain are being asked to work in temporary hospitals to help treat COVID-19 patients. Budget airline easyJet and Virgin Atlantic are writing to thousands of staff with first aid training to help out. Meanwhile, easyJet said it was grounding all its 344 aircraft due to the collapse in demand for flights. Airlines had already canceled the vast majority of their flights. South Korea will provide as much as 1 million won ($817) in gift certificates or electronic coupons to all but the richest 30% of households to help ease the financial shock of the coronavirus outbreak.   The outbreak of the coronavirus has dealt a shock to the global economy with unprecedented speed. Following are developments on Monday related to the global economy, the work place and the spread of the virus.  Repurposing staff: Britain’s health service is asking airline cabin crew who have been laid off during the coronavirus pandemic to go to work in temporary new hospitals being built to treat COVID-19 patients. The National Health Service says easyJet and Virgin Atlantic are writing to thousands of staff — especially those with first aid training — asking them to work at hospitals being built inside convention centers in London, Birmingham and Manchester. It said those who sign up will perform support roles under the supervision of doctors and nurses.  Airlines: European budget airline easyJet says it is grounding all of its 344 aircraft amid a collapse in demand. It said there was “no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights.” The carrier based in Luton, England, had already canceled most of its flights and said it has reached an agreement with unions on furlough arrangements for its cabin crew. Many airlines around the world are negotiating or calling for financial rescue packages from governments. Easyjet said it was in talks with financial liquidity providers. Britain’s government has so far demurred from creating a rescue package for aviation but has said it is ready for negotiations with individual firms once they had “exhausted other options.” Scottish regional airline Loganair said it expects to ask for a government bailout. ___ Handouts: South Korea will provide as much as 1 million won ($817) in gift certificates or electronic coupons to all but the richest 30% of households to help ease the financial shock of the coronavirus outbreak. The country will spend around 9.1 trillion won ($7.4 billion) on the one-time giveaways, which will reach 14 million households. Officials are ruling out handouts of cash. South Korea’s has employed a variety of financial tools to support its economy in face of the global health crisis, such as cutting its policy rate to an all-time low, expanding short-term loans for financial institutions and introducing a rescue package for companies totaling 100 trillion won ($81.7 billion). 
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Iran’s president on Sunday lashed out at criticism of authorities’ lagging response to the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East, saying the government has to weigh economic concerns as it takes measures to contain the pandemic.Syria meanwhile reported the first fatality from the virus in the war-torn country, which has five confirmed infections. State news agency SANA said a woman died upon reaching an emergency room and tested positive for the virus, without saying where it happened.Syria has closed schools, restaurants and nightclubs, and imposed a nighttime curfew last week aimed at preventing the virus’ spread. Its health care system has been battered by nearly a decade of civil war, leaving the country particularly vulnerable.Libya, which has also been mired in chaos since 2011, reported another five cases, bringing its total to eight. The country is split by rival governments, each backed by an array of militias, that have been battling over the capital, Tripoli, for nearly a year.Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said authorities had to consider the effect of mass quarantine efforts on Iran’s beleaguered economy, which is under heavy U.S. sanctions. It’s a dilemma playing out across the globe, as leaders struggle to strike a balance between restricting human contact and keeping their economies from crashing.
“Health is a principle for us, but the production and security of society is also a principle for us,” Rouhani said at a Cabinet meeting. “We must put these principles together to reach a final decision.”
“This is not the time to gather followers,” he added. “This is not a time for political war.”Even before the pandemic, Rouhani was under fire for the unraveling of the 2015 nuclear deal he concluded with the United States and other world powers. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement and has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran that prevent it from selling oil on international markets. Iran has rejected U.S. offers of humanitarian aid.State TV on Sunday reported another 123 deaths, pushing Iran’s overall toll to 2,640 amid 38,309 confirmed cases.Most people suffer only minor symptoms, such as fever and coughing, and recover within a few weeks. But the virus can cause severe illness and death, especially in elderly patients or those with underlying health problems. It is highly contagious, and can be spread by those showing no symptoms.In recent days, Iran has ordered the closure of nonessential businesses and banned travel between cities. But those measures came long after other countries in the region imposed more sweeping lockdowns. Many Iranians are still flouting orders to stay home in what could reflect widespread distrust of authorities.Iran has urged the international community to lift sanctions and is seeking a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.Elsewhere in the region, Qatar reported its first death from the new coronavirus late Saturday, saying the total number of reported cases there was at least 590.The tiny, energy-rich nation said it flew 31 Bahrainis stranded in Iran into Doha on a state-run Qatar Airways flight. But since Bahrain is one of four Arab countries that have been boycotting Qatar in a political dispute since 2017, Doha said it could not fly the 31 onward to the island kingdom.
“Bahraini officials have said they will send a flight for them at some undefined point in the future,” the Qatari government said in a statement.Bahrain said it planned a flight Sunday to pick up the stranded passengers. The kingdom said it had its own repatriation flights scheduled for those still stuck in Iran and warned Qatar that it “should stop interfering with these flights.”In Egypt, at least 1,200 Sudanese are stranded at the border after Sudan closed all its crossings, according to Egyptian officials at one of the crossings. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.Sudan, which is still reeling from the uprising that toppled President Omar al-Bashir last year, has six confirmed cases, including two fatalities. It’s one of several countries in the region where the health care system has been degraded by years of war and sanctions. Authorities closed the borders to prevent any further spread. The second death was announced as a positive coronavirus case earlier Sunday, more than two weeks after the person’s return from the United Arab Emirates.Sudan’s Information Minister Faisal Saleh said Sudanese authorities are looking for lodging in Egypt for the stranded passengers. He said authorities have quarantined at least 160 undocumented migrants who were sent into Sudan from war-torn Libya earlier this month.Residents in Egypt’s southern city of Luxor say they are providing shelter to the stranded Sudanese.
“We have provided food and medicine to the Sudanese brothers,” said Mahmoud Abdel-Rahim, a local farmer. “People hosted women, children and elders in their homes.”Egypt, which has reported 609 cases and 40 fatalities, imposed restrictions on cash deposits and withdrawals to prevent crowding at banks as payrolls and pensions are disbursed. Authorities began imposing a nighttime curfew last week.
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Britain is on an emergency footing for the first time since World War II. The move means the British government is setting up what it calls strategic coordination centers across the U.K. to distribute supplies to citizens to help combat the coronavirus outbreak.  There are more than 22,000 British confirmed cases of coronavirus – Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Charles are among them. More than 1,200 have died. The government’s deputy chief medical officer says the lockdown could last as long as six months but says if people do as they’re told and conditions improve, the lockdown and other restrictions can start to be eased.Prince Charles tests positive for Coronavirus. Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Intelligence Agencies, visits the Headquarters of GCHQ, on July, 12, 2019.In Moscow, the lockdown is just getting started. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin says beginning Monday, people will be allowed out of their homes only to shop for food and medicine, takeout the garbage, walk the dog, or for urgent medical care. Police will issue special passes to those who cannot work from home. Moscow reports 1,000 cases and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is telling worshippers to pray at home “before someone dies.”  While the number of cases in Italy – the European epicenter – slowed slightly for the second straight day Sunday, Spain’s death toll rose 838 overnight Sunday – a record climb for that country which, like Italy, remains on total lockdown.  In Asia, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked that country’s poor to forgive him for the difficulties that country’s lockdown is causing them. He acknowledged the steps he ordered are harsh and knows people are angry with him.  “But these tough measures were needed to win this battle,” he said Sunday. With a population of 1.3 billion, India’s lockdown is by far the world’s largest, leaving countless millions with no food or homes. Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, is banning public gathering of more than two people. The state government says people should leave their homes only under “exceptional circumstances.” Australia’s nationwide death toll stands at 4,000.A nurse speaks with patients at the door of a new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) clinic opening at Mount Barker Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, March 17, 2020.Syria Sunday reported its first confirmed coronavirus death, but human rights groups warn of a looming catastrophe, saying the country’s war-torn health care system is ill-equipped to handle an outbreak among refugees.  Also Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump has extended the government’s recommended guidelines for social distancing for another 30 days. The U.S. has the world’s biggest number of confirmed cases. Finally, in Brazil, a federal judge has banned the government’s social media campaign that downplayed the coronavirus threat. President Jair Bolsonaro’s “Brazil Can’t Stop” campaign said there was no need for most Brazilians to lock down inside their homes. “I’m sorry, some people will die, they will die, that’s life,” Bolsonaro said in a television interview. 
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Repeated discoveries of an obscure, offshore natural gas known as flammable ice will bolster Chinese claims to a sea that’s contested by five other Asian governments. China extracted 861,400 cubic meters of flammable ice, a natural gas hydrate, for a daily average of 28,700 cubic meters during a mission that started in February, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday.   The findings give China new cause to use the sea, despite protests from other countries, while ensuring an energy supply for its 1.4 billion population, analysts say. China would gain an even more solid footing in the sea if it began licensing flammable gas extraction technology to other countries or partnering with them to extract it, the scholars add.   A new discovery “simply strengthens their argument” about why China should remain in the sea to pursue oil and gas, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s public policy school.   Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam claim all or parts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea. China calls roughly 90% of the waterway its own, overlapping zones claimed by the other governments and causing occasional clashes. China took a lead over the past decade by landfilling tiny islets for military use. Chinese technology, such as drones and underwater surveillance systems, is considered  more advanced than the knowhow of Southeast Asian claimants. International law would not recognize an energy discovery as cause for claiming sovereignty, Araral said. Although the other claimant governments are busy at home managing Covid-19 disease caseloads, they are expected to take note eventually if China expands exploration. The discovery site, called Shenhu, is located in undisputed Chinese waters 320 kilometers from the mainland shore. “So far, I haven’t (seen) any official diplomatic protests from the Vietnamese side, but I think that they are closely watching the development,” said Nguyen Thanh Trung, Center for International Studies director at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City.   Flammable ice lies under other tracts of the seas, meaning other countries will take interest, said Stuart Orr, professor of management at Deakin University in Australia. Flammable ice China’s minister of land and resources said the country mined flammable ice at sea for the first time in 2017 after about two decades of research, according to Xinhua. Because it can be ignited like ethanol, the gas is called “flammable.”   One cubic meter of ice equals 164 cubic meters of regular natural gas, Xinhua said. The energy source that also occurs in Arctic tundra zones is considered clean and easy to transport yet hard to commercialize. The 2017 effort at Shenhu, which is about 1,225 meters deep, produced less gas than the recent one, Xinhua said. Sino-foreign joint exploration The flammable ice haul this month will let China showcase “technological prowess” and seek exploration partnerships with other countries, said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.   Other claimants to the sea lack their own flammable ice technology, Koh said. The four Southeast Asian claimants actively explore, however, for oil and conventional natural gas. “There should be some substantial interest from many other countries in accessing the technology that China has developed, which would give China the option of either licensing or choosing to share these capabilities with countries of interest, and that could provide it with significant political leverage in a world that’s worried about sources of low-cost energy,” Orr said. The Chinese leadership sees this discovery as a chance to remove foreign multinational energy drillers from the disputed sea, Koh said. Deals between Southeast Asian states and firms from Europe, India and the United States let foreign players into a waterway that Beijing sees as Chinese. “China is long aware that Southeast Asian countries will be turning to the foreign multinational energy corporations for this sort of venture, and all the while China wanted to be seen as a viable partner,” Koh said. 
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