Health & Science

• Wednesday, March 18th 2020 - 07:25 UTC

  Whatever you call it, Beijing has made a mess of the Covid-19, 'China virus' and jinbu

  

  By Gwynne Dyer – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has run afoul of the language police. Last week, he called the coronavirus, which already has killed 0.000013 percent of the world’s population, the “Wuhan virus.” When challenged about this criminal violation of linguistic propriety, he just said it again. The World Health Organization (WHO) was shocked.

• Wednesday, March 18th 2020 - 07:24 UTC

  IMF rejects Maduro's request for coronavirus aid loan: who runs Venezuela?

  

  The International Monetary Fund has quickly rejected a surprise request on Tuesday by Venezuela for an emergency US$ 5 billion loan to fight the new coronavirus, which threatens to push its already battered economy over the edge.

• Wednesday, March 18th 2020 - 07:20 UTC

  Policy Action for a Healthy Global Economy

  

  By Kristina Georgieva (*) – While quarantining and social distancing is the right prescription to combat COVID-19’s public health impact, the exact opposite is needed when it comes to securing the global economy.

• Wednesday, March 18th 2020 - 07:12 UTC

  Brazilian meatpackers considering suspending operations because of China

  

  Brazilian meatpackers JBS and Minerva Foods are considering suspending operations at some slaughterhouses in Brazil due to supply chain issues from China, JBS and sources close to Minerva said this week.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:21 UTC

  Several officials tested coronavirus positive after Trump/Bolsonaro meeting in Mar-a-Lago resort

  

  Brazilian Foreign Trade Secretary Marcos Troyjo, who was part of the Brazilian delegation that recently visited Florida, has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said in a statement on Monday.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:20 UTC

  Beijing furious with Vargas Llosa for saying combating the coronavirus outbreak would be different if China was a democracy

  

  China hit out on Monday at Peru's Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa for allegedly expressing “irresponsible and prejudiced opinions” over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:19 UTC

  Rio do Janeiro authorities order people out of the beaches and closed Christ the Redeemer statue

  

  Anyone hoping to escape wall-to-wall coronavirus coverage with a day at the beach can forget about it in Rio de Janeiro, where authorities armed with megaphones blared out messages on Monday ordering everyone home.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:15 UTC

  Trump urges to halt social activities for 15 days and not congregate in groups larger than ten people

  

  President Donald Trump urged Americans on Monday to halt most social activities for 15 days and not congregate in groups larger than 10 people in a newly aggressive effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in the United States.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:02 UTC

  British supermarkets appeal to consumers to be more considerate after shelves were plundered: “we have adequate supplies”

  

  British supermarkets have called on consumers to be more considerate and reiterated they have adequate supplies, as the coronavirus saw shelves plundered and a surge in online orders. The country's leading grocery retailers, including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose, penned a joint letter to customers, which ran in newspapers on Sunday and Monday appealing for calm.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 07:58 UTC

  Hundreds flee in a major break out of four Sao Paulo jails

  

  Hundreds of prisoners broke out of four Brazilian jails on Monday, the day before their day-release privileges were due to be suspended over the coronavirus outbreak, Sao Paulo state prison authorities and local media reported.