Italy's Coronavirus Journey: 'People Don't Sing from Balconies Anymore'

Coronavirus continues to spread globally but Italy was the first country in Europe to experience the devastating effects of the disease. The first to go under full lockdown, Sally Lockwood's special report explores the effects on the country right from the beginning of the most unprecedented crisis the world has ever seen.

Trudeau Announces Canada Is Banning Assault-style Weapons

THE GUARDIAN: Move comes after murder of 22 people in worst mass shooting in Canada’s history

Canada has banned assault-style weapons following the murder of 22 people in the worst mass shooting in the country’s history, Justin Trudeauannounced on Friday.

“These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. There is no use and no place for such weapons in Canada,” said the prime minister. “Effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade assault weapons in this country.”

After the Nova Scotia shooting last week, Trudeau said his government intended “strengthen gun control” to fulfil a campaign promise to restrict certain weapons – a plan that had initially been derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. » | Leyland Cecco in Toronto | Friday, May 1, 2020

South Korea: Kim Jong Un Is 'Alive and Well'

THE JERUSALEM POST: "Kim Jong Un is alive and well. He has been staying in the Wonsan area since April 13," South Korea's top foreign policy adviser said.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is "alive and well," the South Korean government has said, according to CNN. "Our government position is firm," Moon Chung-in, the top foreign policy adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told CNN. "Kim Jong Un is alive and well. He has been staying in the Wonsan area since April 13. No suspicious movements have so far been detected." » | Donna Rachel Edmunds | Monday, April 27, 2020

Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You

Doctor Says 'a Lot of Transmission Left to Come' | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Dr. Michael Osterholm, the Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, reacts to the president's remarks on coronavirus and says that 60 to 70 percent of the U.S. population is infected. Aired on 04/23/2020.

Trump Attack on Biden Highlights President's Own Past Dealings with China

THE GUARDIAN: Trump Organisation’s far-flung real estate business has involved dealings with Chinese state-owned firms on several occasions

Donald Trump has a share in a New York property development that borrowed tens of millions of dollars from China, it was reported on Friday.

The debt derived from a 30% share the US president owns in a billion-dollar building on the Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, which was refinanced in 2012 with $211m of the funding coming from the state-owned Bank of China, Politico reported on Friday. » | Julian Borger in Washington | Saturday, April 25, 2020

Brazilian Government In Turmoil after Justice Minister Resigns

THE GUARDIAN: President Jair Bolsonaro denies he sought to influence federal police inquiries

Brazil’s government has been plunged into turmoil after the resignation of one of Jair Bolsonaro’s most powerful ministers sparked protests, calls for the president’s impeachment and an investigation into claims he had improperly interfered in the country’s federal police.

In a rambling televised address late on Friday, Brazil’s embattled president denied claims from his outgoing justice minister Sérgio Moro that he had sought to appoint a new federal police chief in order to gain access to secret intelligence reports – for reasons that remain murky.

“Sorry Mr Minister, you won’t make a liar of me,” Bolsonaro declared, flanked by an almost entirely male group of backers, including his politician son Eduardo. » | Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro | Friday, April 24, 2020

Saudi Arabia to End Flogging as a Form of Punishment

THE GUARDIAN: Form of corporal punishment will be replaced by jail terms, fines or a mixture of both

Saudi Arabia is ending flogging as a form of punishment, according to a document from the kingdom’s top court.

The decision by the general commission for the supreme court, taken sometime this month, will mean the punishment will be replaced by prison sentences, fines or a mixture of both.

“The decision is an extension of the human rights reforms introduced under the direction of King Salman and the direct supervision of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman,” the document said.

Flogging has been applied to punish a variety of crimes in Saudi Arabia. Without a codified system of law to go with the texts making up sharia, or Islamic law, individual judges have the latitude to interpret religious texts and come up with their own sentences. » | Agencies | Saturday, April 25, 2020

Kim Jong-un's Health Has Always Been an Issue

The Washington Post's Anna Fifield says that since Kim Jong Un came to power his health has always been an issue, in particular the risk of cardiac problems.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un Reportedly Near Death

The leader of the world's most secretive country is apparently close to death. The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, has reportedly suffered complications after surgery. Speculation on his health started when he missed the celebration of his grandfather's birthday six days ago. CNN's Paula Hancock joins us from Seoul.

Reich at Home: Alarming Lockdown Protests, Unemployment Benefits in Limbo, Mixed Families Ignored

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is discussing the latest coronavirus developments, including how most of the promised $600 weekly extra unemployment benefits remain stuck in state offices overwhelmed with claims, what it will actually take for the economy to “reopen,” how American citizens in mixed status families are not receiving the economic stimulus, and the dangerous, right-wing protests against stay-at-home orders popping up across the country.

’Keep Your Voice Down’: Trump Berates Female Reporter When Questioned over Covid-19 Response

US president Donald Trump told a female reporter to keep her voice down and to ‘relax’ when she asked about what his administration had done to prepare for the coronavirus in February. CBS reporter Weijia Jiang asked Trump why he waited so long ‘to warn people the virus was spreading like wildfire’ in February ‘instead of holding rallies with thousands of people’? An irritated Trump touted his China travel ban as proof he acted fast. Jiang persisted with her point and said: ‘When you issued the ban, the virus was already here,’ to which Trump said: ‘Do your research.’

Trump must be the most objectionable president ever! – Mark

Nova Scotia Shooting Death Toll Rises as Trudeau Calls on Canadians to Stand United

THE GUARDIAN: Death toll from country’s deadliest mass shooting rose to 18, including the gunman

Justin Trudeau has called on Canadians to stand unified in the face “senseless violence” as the death toll from the country’s deadliest mass shooting rose to 18 people, including the gunman.

“No one man’s action can build a wall between us and a better day, no matter how evil, how thoughtless or how destructive,” the prime minister said on Monday morning. “As families grieve the loss of a loved one, all Canadians are standing with them.” » | Leyland Cecco in Toronto | Monday, April 20, 2020

Piers Morgan's Stunning Advice for His Friend Donald Trump

Former CNN host Piers Morgan tells CNN's Brian Stelter what advice he has for his friend Donald Trump regarding handling the coronavirus pandemic.

Expert on Dictators: President Donald Trump on a Path of Despotism | The Last Word | MSNBC (2017)

Degrading the rule of law? Appointing cronies, generals and his family? Brian Klaas’s new book "The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy" says Trump's actions are the same as other despots around the world. Klaas joins Ari Melber.

“Baghdad Don”: Trump Blasted for Most Inept Response to “Any Crisis in History” | MSNBC

Veteran strategist and former Republican Steve Schmidt argues President Trump has exhibited the most inept response of any president to any crisis in history. Schmidt tells MSNBC’s Ari Melber that many avoidable problems in the US response to the coronavirus pandemic revealed Trump’s failures as a president, and historians will look back on this as a time when a reality show star “New York con man” narrowly ended up as President and was simply not prepared. Aired on 4/16/2020.

Emmanuel Macron : Adresse aux Français

Chacun d’entre vous – que vous soyez soignant, travailleur mobilisé ou confiné – a permis à ce que l’épidémie commence à marquer le pas. L'espoir renaît. Mais rien n'est acquis. Le confinement doit continuer jusqu'au lundi 11 mai.

France to remain in strict lockdown for another month »

US's Global Reputation Hits Rock-bottom over Trump's Coronavirus Response

THE GUARDIAN: International relations expert warns policy failure could do lasting damage as president insults allies and undermines alliances

Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which he once dismissed as a hoax, has been fiercely criticised at home as woefully inadequate to the point of irresponsibility.

Yet also thanks largely to Trump, a parallel disaster is unfolding across the world: the ruination of America’s reputation as a safe, trustworthy, competent international leader and partner.

Call it the Trump double-whammy. Diplomatically speaking, the US is on life support.

“The Trump administration’s self-centred, haphazard, and tone-deaf response [to Covid-19] will end up costing Americans trillions of dollars and thousands of otherwise preventable deaths,” wrote Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard.

“But that’s not the only damage the United States will suffer. Far from ‘making America great again’, this epic policy failure will further tarnish [its] reputation as a country that knows how to do things effectively.”

This adverse shift could be permanent, Walt warned. Since taking office in 2017, Trump has insulted America’s friends, undermined multilateral alliances and chosen confrontation over cooperation. Sanctions, embargoes and boycotts aimed at China, Iran and Europe have been globally divisive. » | Simon Tisdall | Sunday, April 12, 2020

Alert! This clown has to go! – Mark

Segen „Urbi et Orbi“ : Papst ruft zu Schuldenerlass auf

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Reichere Staaten müssten in der Corona-Krise Solidarität beweisen, fordert der Papst. Auch Sanktionen sollten gelockert werden. Die aktuelle Zeit erlaube keinen Egoismus.

Papst Franziskus hat in seiner Osterbotschaft zu einem Schuldenerlass für arme Staaten wegen der Corona-Krise aufgerufen. In seiner erstmals im Internet übertragenen Ostermesse bekräftigte der Papst zudem seine Forderung nach einem sofortigen weltweiten Waffenstillstand. Von den Europäern forderte er „Solidarität“ in der Krise und das Einschlagen „neuer Wege“

Arme Länder seien kaum gerüstet, um sich gegen die Coronavirus-Pandemie zu stemmen, sagte der Papst. „Alle Länder sollten in die Lage versetzt werden, die notwendigsten Maßnahmen zu treffen, indem die Schulden, welche die Bilanzen der ärmsten Länder belasten, teilweise oder sogar ganz erlassen werden“, forderte er. Auch internationale Sanktionen müssten jetzt gelockert werden. Die aktuellen Zeiten erlaubten „keinen Egoismus“, betonte Franziskus weiter. » | Quelle: AFP | Sonntag, 12. April 2020

French Police Turn Back Private Jet of Holidaymakers from UK

THE GUARDIAN: Party of 10 flew into Marseille-Provence airport to be taken by helicopter to luxury Cannes villa

A group of would-be holidaymakers who flew in a private jet from London to the Côte d’Azur in France has been turned back by police.

Seven men and three women arrived on the chartered aircraft to Marseille-Provence airport, where helicopters were waiting to fly them on to Cannes, where they had rented a luxury villa.

The men, aged 40-50, and women, aged 23-25, were refused permission to enter France and ordered by police to fly back to the UK.

“They were coming for a holiday in Cannes and three helicopters were waiting on the tarmac,” a border police spokesperson told Agence France-Presse. “We notified them they were not allowed to enter the national territory and they left four hours later.” » | Kim Willsher in Charny-Orée-de-Puisaye | Friday, April 10, 2020