Donors have pledged 7.4 billion euros ($8 billion) for developing a vaccine against the new coronavirus disease COVID-19. But after the online-meeting with world leaders, banks and organizations, officials warned more money might be necessary.
Pakistan and Russia have reported their most significant one-day rise in new coronavirus infections. Their announcement Saturday came after some other countries and U.S. states where case numbers are stabilizing allowed businesses and public activities to reopen.
Protests against lengthy coronavirus-related lockdowns have spread in Europe where most people have died in the global pandemic, devastating economies and wracking lives of millions. In Germany, the continent’s largest economy, police detained dozens of protesters over the weekend for violating the strict lockdown measures they were demonstrating against.
Protests continue in the United States against the perceived ‘tyrannical’ lockdown orders to halt the coronavirus pandemic. In Richmond, Virginia, dozens of people gathered outside the state legislature Thursday in defiance of stay-at-home rules, which the governor instituted until June 10. ‘STOP the MADNESS! It’s just a COLD VIRUS! End the shutdown for the GOOD of U.S. all!’ read one sign.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns of global social unrest if government measures to halt the coronavirus pandemic are seen as unfairly favoring the rich.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon has been accused of helping to bring coronavirus to the nation. Opponents of the powerful group point out that Lebanon took three weeks to block flights from Iran, after a woman who had just returned from there tested coronavirus positive on February 20. Hezbollah is accused of causing the delay to ensure its supporters could return home. Denying the claims, Hezbollah is trying to show the Lebanon Shiite community that it is working to protect them from the outbreak.
With roughly half the world in lockdown and many politicians weak or ill, the largest Dutch daily concludes in a headline: “World searching for LEADER.” De Telegraaf (The Telegraph) also expresses that “Nobody takes the lead in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.” Its commentator, Frank van Vliet, complained: “While the world is on fire, international politicians are running in one direction to put out their fire. No leader has taken the lead, and solidarity is lacking. They did not read author Alexander Dumas’ Three Musketeers because “one for all and all for one” has been replaced by “own people first.”
A Montagnard Christian in Vietnam was released from prison in February following sixteen years of torture by the Vietnamese government for protesting its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities.
They suggest their faith in Christ spreads as fast as the new coronavirus. Pentecostal pastors of several Muslim dominated jungle villages in Indonesia’s South Sumatra province report church growth. That’s despite local protests, poverty, and occultism. ‘I even received one hundred boxes of tiles from the village chief to complete our church building,’ explains Pastor Frani Pondaag.
Russia’s Constitutional Court has approved constitutional amendments that could enable President Vladimir Putin to stay in power for another 16 years.
An Iranian convert from Islam arrested during anti-government protests following the downing of a Ukrainian jet in Tehran last month was released on bail from Iran’s most dangerous prison after over a month during which her whereabouts were not known.
Significant attacks on Christians occurred in the days prior to US President Donald Trump’s first visit to India, during which religious freedom was expected to be a main item in discussions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Xia Baolong, former deputy and adviser to Xi Xinping and a hardliner against underground churches in China, has just been appointed the new director of the Hong Kong and Macau affairs office.
Xia Baolong, a former deputy and ally of President Xi Jinping, has been appointed by the Chinese government as the new director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. It’s a move seen by some political analysts that Beijing intends to tighten its control over the city.
Iranian dissidents opposed to the hardline regime in Tehran are urging their fellow citizens not to vote in next week’s elections, which they describe as a ‘sham’ — calling on them to instead work to overthrow the struggling regime.
Five million people in Nigeria marched against Islamic extremist terror on Sunday, culminating a three-day fast organized by the Christian Association of Nigeria.
The commander of the Iranian Basij contingent of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that is used by the government to suppress protests was killed in front of his home Wednesday in Khuzestan province, Iran.
Incendiary balloons Palestinians launched from the Gaza Strip recently were a signal to Israel to accelerate unofficial ‘understandings’ meant to ease the crippling blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory, a senior official from the Islamic militant group said Tuesday.
Iraqi security forces wounded dozens of protesters on Sunday as renewed anti-government demonstrations gripped the capital and Iraq’s south, activists and officials said.
Authorities in Iran arrested a Christian woman who converted from Islam during protests last week against the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, though it is still not known whether she had any involvement with the demonstrations.