
President Donald Trump said on Monday it was his decision when to reopen the U.S. economy, not that of state governors, but legal experts disagree and governors are going their own way.

Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose in March, government data showed on Friday, indicating that illegal loggers and land speculators have not stopped destroying the forest with the onset of the coronavirus outbreak.

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he liked leading health expert Anthony Fauci and did not intend to fire him after Fauci said in an interview that earlier mitigation efforts against the coronavirus outbreak could have saved more lives.

The British government warned on Monday it would not be lifting a nationwide lockdown anytime soon as the country remains in the grip of a coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 11,000 lives.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced he was extending a lockdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak until May 11, adding that progress had been made but the battle not yet won.

The chief of the Brazilian Lower House, Rodrigo Maia has held a round of political talks and contacts to discuss the current course of the government and attitude of president Jair Bolsonaro regarding the current Covid 19 pandemics.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro again took to the streets of Brasilia, drawing crowds and greeting followers in his latest public pushback against social isolation measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

European Union finance ministers have agreed on a massive emergency package designed to ensure that member-states hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic will have the necessary resources to rebuild their economies.

Peru canceled a controversial measure restricting public movement by gender to try to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, after just over a week. A decree in the official gazette stated that instead of men and women leaving their homes on alternate days “to buy food, pharmaceutical products and perform financial operations, only one person per family unit can move from Monday to Saturday.”

Americans spent Sunday on lockdown as the US toll from the COVID-19 pandemic surpassed 20,000 deaths and more than half a million confirmed cases. With almost all the country under stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the disease, many turned to online church services to mark the holiest day in the Christian calendar.