Schools have reopened in Belarus after an extended spring break linked to the coronavirus outbreak that infected thousands here. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet nation with an iron fist for more than a quarter-century, ordered classes to resume at the nation’s 3,067 schools.
According to a study released Monday, there was an 18% increase in violent anti-Semitic incidents worldwide last year, Israel Hayom reports. Conducted by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, the study found there were 456 such incidents in 2019, compared to 387 in 2018.
According to a Hill-HarrisX poll published on Monday, 74% of adults in America were concerned about losing personal freedoms to COVID-19. The survey also showed that 83% of respondents were concerned about infection from the coronavirus.
President Trump announced on Monday night that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he will be ordering a temporary suspension on immigration to the US. In a post on Twitter, the President said: ‘In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!’
Indonesia’s hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) group broke up a house church meeting in the country’s West Java province, prompting an angry response from the governor. Video footage obtained by Worthy News showed two men bursting into a home Sunday in Cikarang, 48 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Jakarta, the nation’s capital.
The Babylon Bee, a self-described “Christian News Satire” website that often pokes fun at political figures, didn’t stop delivering the popular humor amid the coronavirus pandemic and its CEO is offering help.
The unity government agreement inked on Monday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz will allow Israel to initiate legislation to annex large parts of the West Bank starting in the beginning of July.
The ’emergency national unity government’ that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz agreed to promises to finally put an end to the political deadlock that has afflicted Israel since the Knesset dissolved at the end of 2018.
U.S. crude oil futures plunged to a historic low of below $0 on Monday. Desperate traders paid to get rid of that fossil fuel amid a coronavirus-induced lack of global demand.
Several European Union member states are slowly reopening their doors in lockdowns that have impacted millions of people, many of them children. The lockdowns were introduced by authorities citing concerns about the spread of the new coronavirus disease COVID-19.
A federal judge in Kansas issued a temporary restraining order Saturday, giving churches exemption from Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order banning gatherings of more than 10 people. The governor’s order was issued on March 23 to slow the spread of COVID-19, but was not extended to houses of worship until just before Easter as the virus infection rate climbed to a projected peak.
European countries hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as New York, the epicenter of the outbreak in the US, have reported progress in fighting the coronavirus. There have been reports of lower daily death counts, slowing rates of infection and reductions in the numbers of patients admitted to intensive care units.
A South Carolina federal judge has awarded an atheist group over $450,000 in attorney’s fees and expenses after it filed a lawsuit to block public prayer at high school graduations, Christian Headlines reports. The award follows a finding last year that there should be limits to student-led prayers at graduation ceremonies. Given on April 14, the award is in respect of legal action initiated by the American Humanist Association (AHA) against Greenville County Schools in 2013. The suit was on behalf of the parents of a pupil who objected to students leading prayer at a graduation ceremony.
President Donald Trump said Sunday negotiations with Democrats continue on another coronavirus relief package to replenish funding for small business loans, also known as the Paycheck Protection Program.
With the deadline to call new elections inching closer, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz is weighing carefully his demands of, and threats against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the two jockey over forming a unity government.
Adhering to social distancing regulations aimed at stemming the coronavirus outbreak, thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv’s emblematic Rabin Square on Sunday night for the latest ‘black flag’ demonstration against an alleged erosion of Israeli democracy under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser yesterday ordered a one-month extension of the state of emergency, as cases in the region grow at a rapid pace. Federal officials in the nation’s capital expect a New York-like epidemic in the District, Maryland and Virginia, one that could potentially cripple the government.
Orthodox believers in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia held church services, despite warnings that they complicated efforts to halt the new coronavirus pandemic. Worldwide, millions of Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter – the most important festival in their calendar, amid a series of restrictions and bans to prevent more infections.
Europe’s death toll from the new coronavirus COVID-19 approached 100,000 on Sunday, and over 1 million Europeans were infected, a European health agency announced.
Christians and other minorities in Pakistan face starvation as they are denied food aid for refusing to convert to Islam, aid workers say. The Emergency Committee to Save the Persecuted and Enslaved (ECSPE) confirmed that authorities and government-backed groups refuse to provide relief to non-Muslims despite a nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.