Medical staff members applaud patient Mang Phother, 61, who spent 16 days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as he leaves the Clinique de l'Estree private hospital in Stains near Paris as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France on April 23. (REUTERS Photo)   STAINS, France, April 23 (Reuters): On April 5, 61-year-old Mang Phother felt his breathing getting worse and worse. Two days later he was rushed to a hos

BONN, APRIL 23 (IANS): The world faces an unprecedented threat from Covid-19. It is a global crisis unlike any in recent history -- one that is spreading human suffering, destabilizing the global economy and upending the lives of billions of people around the globe, said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa on Thursday.   "The world will get through this crisis, but only if we act together in a spirit of solidarity, hope and resolve," she said in an o

Syrian defendant Eyad A. hides himself under his hood prior to the first trial of suspected members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's security services for crimes against humanity, in Koblenz, Germany on April 23. (REUTERS Photo)   KOBLENZ, Germany, April 23 (Reuters): Two suspected members of President Bashar al-Assad's security services had charges of torture and sexual assault read out against them on Thursday in a German court, in what lawyers say is the fi

A woman walks through an empty mall parking lot days before the phased reopening of businesses and restaurants from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in Atlanta, Georgia, US on April 22. (REUTERS Photo)   Washington, April 23 (Reuters): U.S. workers who refuse to return to their jobs because they are worried about catching the coronavirus should not count on getting unemployment benefits, state officials and labor law experts say.   Worker

A boat carrying suspected ethnic Rohingya migrants is seen detained in Malaysian territorial waters, in Langkawi, Malaysia on April 5, 2020. (REUTERS File Photo)   Reuters The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR voiced mounting concern on Thursday over a “grave immediate risk” to Rohingya refugees aboard boats in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, urging Southeast Asian nations not to close avenues to asylum.   Several fishing trawlers carrying hundreds of Rohingya,

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon holds a news conference on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at St Andrew's House in Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain on March 25, 2020. (REUTERS File Photo)   LONDON, April 23 (Reuters): Life is unlikely to return to normal even when the tighest coronavirus restrictions are lifted and social distancing measures could be in place for the rest of this year and beyond, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Thursda

People wear protective masks as they leave work during evening rush hour in Beijing as the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, China on April 20, 2020. (REUTERS Photo)   LONDON, April 23 (Reuters): China did not cover up the novel coronavirus outbreak and so the United States should not seek to bully the People's Republic in a manner reminiscent of the 19th century European colonial wars, the Chinese ambassador to London said on Thurs

U.S. President Donald Trump. (IANS Photo)   Washington, April 23 (IANS): US President Donald Trump said that the US "had no choice" but to pour trillions of dollars into fighting the coronavirus pandemic, adding that "this was an attack... this wasn't the flu". "This was an attack. This wasn't just... This wasn't the flu, by the way," The Hill news website quoted Trump as saying on Wednesday at a White House press briefing, despite comparing COVID-19 to seasonal

Medical workers transfer a patient to a hospital in Seoul, South Korea on March 11, 2020. (IANS File Photo)   SEOUL, APRIL 23 (IANS): South Korean health authorities said on Thursday that they were preparing for a possible second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic later this year in conjunction with the flu season.   Yoon Tae-ho, an officer of disinfection at the Central Disaster Management headquarters, told a press briefing that the health authorities were

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili arrives in Kiev as his supporter shows the decree of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which restores Saakashvili's citizenship, at Boryspil International Airport outside Kiev, Ukraine on May 29, 2019. (REUTERS File Photo)   KIEV, April 23 (Reuters): The former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, said on Wednesday he had been invited to become deputy prime minister of Ukraine in charge of driving reforms, i

Soldiers help conducting COVID-19 testing for NHS key workers at a testing site in Plymouth, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Britain on April 18, 2020. (REUTERS Photo)   LONDON, April 23 (Reuters): The United Kingdom's economy is crumbling under the strain of the coronavirus lockdown and government borrowing is soaring to the highest levels in peacetime history, increasing pressure on the government to set out an exit strategy.   Brit

Artwork showing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen in Shoreditch as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, London, Britain on April 14, 2020. (REUTERS File Photo)   Reuters A New Zealand nurse who treated British Prime Minister Boris Johnson while he was in hospital with the coronavirus said she saw the world leader as "just another patient" and that she thought he was joking when he singled her out for praise.   Jenny McGee,

Palestinians decorate a neighborhood ahead of the holy fasting month, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the southern Gaza Strip on April 22. (REUTERS Photo)     GAZA/JERUSALEM, April 23 (Reuters): The electric lanterns and ornate decorations of Ramadan would normally be hanging in the streets of Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem by now, but not this year amid coronavirus restrictions and growing economic woes.  

A municipal worker is sanitized after he cremated the body of a man, who died due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a crematorium in Ahmedabad on April 22. (REUTERS Photo)   NEW DELHI, April 23 (Reuters): South Asia's coronavirus infections have crossed 37,000, with more than half in India, official data showed on Thursday, complicating the task of governments looking to scale back lockdowns that have destroyed the livelihoods of millions.   Authorities in Ind

A logo is pictured outside a building of the  World Health Organization (WHO) during an executive board meeting on update on the coronavirus outbreak, in Geneva, Switzerland on February 6, 2020. (REUTERS File Photo)   BEIJING, April 23 (Reuters): China said on Thursday it would donate a further $30 million to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is seeking more than $1 billion to fund its battle against the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang and journalists attend the daily press briefing of the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, China on March 18, 2020. (REUTERS File Photo)   BEIJING, April 23 (Reuters): China's foreign ministry said on Thursday that Australia's call for an independent probe into the coronavirus epidemic was political maneuvering and said the country should end its ideological bias.   Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang al

Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein shows two maps with corridors of the last known possible location of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 plane as he addresses reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 17, 2014. (REUTERS File Photo)   KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 (Reuters): Malaysia called on Thursday for disputes over the South China Sea to be resolved by peaceful means, amid a standoff between Chinese and Malaysian vessels that a

Hossein Salami speaks during Tehran's Friday prayers on July 16, 2010. (REUTERS File Photo)   DUBAI, April 23 (Reuters): Iran will destroy U.S. warships if its security is threatened in the Gulf, the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards told state TV on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran over "harassment" of U.S. vessels.   "I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any American terrorist force in the Persian Gulf that threa

A screengrab from a video of the couple's marriage posted by Reuters. (screengrab/Reuters TV)   BOGOTA, April 22 (Reuters):  The wedding was traditional - a white dress for the bride, a suit for the groom and a large entourage of around 240 guests.   But the circumstances were anything but.   Maria Cecilia Osorio and Alfonso Ardila met just a month ago, in a shelter for people made homeless during Colombia's nationwide coronavirus lo

A veterinarian examines 8-year-old cat in Manhattan, New York City. (Reuters File Photo: For representational purposes only)   There is no evidence pets can spread the virus to humans, according to US health authorities     (Reuters)    Two cats in New York have become the first pets in the United States to test positive for the new coronavirus but there is no evidence pets can spread the virus to humans, according to U.S. health author