[ad_1]
Companies are making extensive use of the program, which was credited with keeping unemployment low in the financial crisis more than a decade ago. It allows them to keep employees on the payroll while waiting for better times.
Those announcements came after Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte promised a massive package of tax cuts and other financial aid to help businesses and families. His government also promised to legalize the situation of foreigners, many of them illegal immigrants who are crop gatherers, babysitters and caretakers.
Associated Press
Japan lifts emergency rules for 39 of its 47 prefectures
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Thursday the lifting of a coronavirus state of emergency ahead of schedule in most parts of the country, except in eight high-risk areas.
Abe lifted the measure in 39 of the country’s 47 prefectures. It is still in force in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hokkaido and three other prefectures.
Abe declared a month-long emergency on April 7 in Tokyo and six other urban prefectures and then extended it to the entire country until May 31.
He said the specialists will meet next week to decide if the measure can be lifted in the remaining areas and promised to control the virus outbreak by the end of May.
With the signs of infection slowing, Abe seeks to balance disease prevention and the economy. His government approved an additional $ 240 billion budget last month to partially finance a $ 1.1 trillion stimulus package.
Japan has more than 16,000 confirmed cases, including around 680 deaths.
Associated Press
The “Maximum City” of India enveloped in coronaviruses
The coronavirus problem that India feared is becoming a reality in Mumbai.
It is the most densely populated city in India, a neglected peninsula framed by the Arabian Sea and other waterways, a metropolis of towering apartment blocks and endless slums, a city of big dreams and desperate poverty, all boxed in.
This is where the richest man in Asia, Mukesh Ambani, built a 27-story single-family house. This is where “Slumdog Millionaire” was filmed and established. The Indians call it Maximum City.
As the coronavirus gnaws through India, Mumbai has suffered the worst. This city of 20 million is now responsible for 20 percent of India’s infections and almost 25 percent of deaths.
Hospitals are full of sick people. Police officers are exhausted enforcing a curfew at home.
Doctors say the biggest enemy is the density of Mumbai.
Particularly in the large slums of the city, social distancing is impossible.
Police officers prowl the main roads. Hundreds have tested positive for the coronavirus, and several have died. More than 70 Mumbai journalists have also tested positive.
New York Times
UN chief warns of mounting psychological suffering
UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged governments, civil society and health authorities to urgently address the mental health needs stemming from the pandemic, warning that psychological suffering is increasing.
The UN chief said in a video message launching a policy brief that “after decades of neglect and underinvestment in mental health services, the COVID-19 pandemic is now hitting families and communities with stress additional mental. “
Guterres said those who are most at risk and in need of help are frontline health care workers, the elderly, teens, youth, people with pre-existing mental health problems and those caught up in conflict and crisis.
The 17-page UN briefing
He cited widespread psychological distress over the immediate health aspects of the virus, the consequences of physical isolation, fear of infection, death and loss of family members, physical estrangement from loved ones and peers, and the economic crisis. .
“Frequent misinformation and rumors about the virus and deep uncertainty about the future are common sources of distress,” he said.
Associated Press
Burundi kicks out a senior WHO official before the elections
KIGALI, Rwanda – Burundi is expelling the top official from the World Health Organization in the country just days before the presidential election and after the WHO expressed concern about the crowded political protests.
A letter from the Foreign Ministry seen by the Associated Press says the WHO representative in Burundi, Walter Kazadi Mulombo, has been declared persona non grata and is due to leave the East African nation on Friday.
The letter says that three WHO specialists must also go.
The letter does not explain the expulsions. Contacted by phone and asking for details, Foreign Minister Ezechiel Nibigira hung up on Thursday morning.
WHO representative Mulombo did not immediately respond to phone calls.
Associated Press
Montenegrin police detain 60 in arrest clashes
PODGORICA, Montenegro – Montenegrin police said Thursday they detained some 60 people after clashes in protests demanding the release of eight Serbian Orthodox Church priests jailed for leading a religious procession despite a ban on pandemic-related meetings. of the virus.
Twenty-six officers were injured during the riots on Wednesday night in the cities of Niksic and Pljevlja, police said. One of the injured police officers has been hospitalized, according to the statement.
Prime Minister Dusko Markovic in a televised speech on Thursday described the protests as a “brutal attack on the state that could have unpredictable consequences on public health.”
Police insisted that they intervened with pepper spray and dispersed protesters into smaller groups after they threw stones, bottles and other objects and blocked traffic. Police were “brutally attacked without reason,” the statement added.
Associated Press
Zoo returns pandas to China due to food barriers
CALGARY, Alberta – The Calgary Zoo will return two giant pandas on loan from China because the shortage of flights due to COVID-19 has caused problems obtaining enough bamboo to feed them.
Er Shun and Da Mao arrived in Calgary in 2018 after spending five years at the Toronto Zoo and would remain in the city of Alberta until 2023.
Zoo president Clement Lanthier said this week that the facility spent months trying to overcome transportation barriers to acquire fresh bamboo and decided that the best thing for animals is to be in China, where their main source of food is abundant.
Lanthier said the zoo had contingency plans for a constant supply of fresh bamboo, but limits on flights from China were the first problem. Transporting more from California added even more frustrations.
Associated Press
