Nigerian security forces have killed 18 people in their enforcement of measures to curb coronavirus, a figure higher than the documented toll inflicted by the disease, the country’s human rights body claimed on Wednesday. Africa’s most populous nation has imposed a total lockdown in megacity Lagos and the capital Abuja and set restrictions in other regions in a bid to …
BEIJING: A decision by the United States to halt its funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) would undermine international cooperation on fighting COVID-19, and China is gravely concerned about it, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Wednesday. As the most authoritative and professional international organization in the field of global public health security, the WHO has played an irreplaceable …
Asia markets fell on Monday with investors cautious on news of an international deal to shore up oil prices and tentative signs of progress in efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic. OPEC producers dominated by Saudi Arabia and allies led by Russia thrashed out a compromise deal on Sunday to cut production by nearly 10 million barrels per day from …
The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned countries to be cautious about lifting restrictions introduced to curb the spread of the new coronavirus and voiced alarm it was taking hold in Africa. The United Nations would like to see an easing, but at the same time “lifting restrictions could lead to a deadly resurgence,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told …
The European Union’s finance ministers have reached a deal on a 540 billion-euro rescue plan (about $590 billion) to support the continent’s coronavirus-stricken economies. The Eurogroup, which consists of the 19 finance ministers representing the EU’s eurozone countries, approved the rescue package on Thursday after the Netherlands backtracked on its demand for economic reform and oversight. “Today, we agreed upon …
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday called on Congress to approve a $251 billion small business fund to help the coronavirus-hit economy. Stressing that the U.S. had “the biggest” stock market increase since 1974 in only four days this week, Trump said on Twitter: “We have a great chance for the really big bounce when the Invisible Enemy is gone!” …
In an unexpected turn of events in South Korea, 91 people who were thought to have recovered from coronavirus tested positive for the second time. Despite this worrying trend, the lowest number of fresh cases was reported in the last 24 hours, said Jeong Eun-kyeong, the head of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director General, on Friday. Those …
UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the coronavirus pandemic the “fight of a generation” and a threat to world peace and security when he addressed the Security Council’s first meeting on the deadly infection, which has swept the globe. The 15-member Council, which deliberated via a closed video-conference issued a brief press statement expressing “support for all efforts …
Another horror day of the coronavirus pandemic saw the global death toll pass 94,000, although there were tentative signs of hope that the crisis was peaking in the United States and Europe. The picture of the unfolding economic catastrophe also became clearer with the IMF warning of a Great Depression and data showing 17 million Americans lost their jobs, but …
The coronavirus pandemic notched up another round of record death tolls in the United States and Europe, dousing the optimism of US President Donald Trump who insisted there was light at the end of the tunnel. The virus has now killed more than 86,000 people and infected 1.5 million, sparing almost no country and tipping the world into a devastating …