PARIS: Coronavirus cases surged in Italy, and France closed the world-famous Louvre Museum on Sunday as the deadly outbreak that began in China sent fear rising across Western Europe, threatening its tourism industry.
The number of countries hit by the virus climbed past 60, and the death toll worldwide reached at least 3,000.
New fronts in the battle opened rapidly over the weekend, deepening the sense of crisis that has already sent financial markets plummeting, emptied the streets in many cities and rewritten the routines of millions of people. More than 88,000 around the globe have been infected, with the virus popping up on every continent but Antarctica.
Australia and Thailand reported their first deaths Sunday, while the Dominican Republic and the Czech Republic recorded their first infections.
Italian authorities announced that the number of people infected in the country soared 50% to 1,694 in just 24 hours, and five more had died, bringing the death toll there to 34. France raised its number of reported cases to 130, an increase of 30 from the day before, and said it has seen two deaths.
The US government advised Americans against traveling to the two northern Italian regions hit hardest, among them Lombardy, which includes Milan. Major American airlines began suspending flights to Milan. American Airlines announced Sunday it will waive fees for changing all flights over the next two weeks.
The travel restrictions against Italy and the rising alarm in France could deal a heavy blow to the countries’ tourism industries. Spring, especially Easter, is a hugely popular time for schoolchildren to visit France and Italy.
“We had already registered a slowdown of Americans coming to Italy in recent days,” Bernabo Bocca, president of Italy’s hotel association, said in a statement Saturday. “Now, the final blow has arrived.”
Tourism accounts for 13% of the economy in Italy, with its world-class art museums, archaeological sites and architectural treasures. More than 5.6 million Americans visit Italy every year, representing 9% of foreign tourists.
Iran, Iraq and South Korea, among other places, also saw the number of infections rise. Cases in the US climbed to at least 74 with the first death in the United States reported on Saturday — a man in his 50s in Washington state who had underlying health problems but hadn’t traveled to any affected areas.
Panic-buying of daily necessities emerged in Japan, where professional baseball teams have played spring-training games in deserted stadiums. Tourist attractions across Asia, Europe and the Mideast were deserted. Islam’s holiest sites have been closed to foreign pilgrims. And governments have closed schools and banned big gatherings.
The United Nations said Sunday it is releasing $15 million from an emergency fund to help countries with fragile health systems contain the virus.
“We must act now to stop this virus from putting more lives at risk,” UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said. The aid “has the potential to save the lives of millions of vulnerable people.”
In France, the archbishop of Paris told parish priests to put the Communion bread in worshippers’ hands, not in their mouths. In South Carolina, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston asked its parishioners to not drink from the Communion cup or shake hands during the sign of peace.
French officials also advised people to forgo the customary kisses on the cheek upon greeting others.
The Louvre, home of the “Mona Lisa” and other priceless artworks, closed after workers expressed fear of being contaminated by the stream of visitors from around the world. Staffers were also concerned about museum workers from Italy who had come to the Louvre to collect works by Leonardo da Vinci that were loaned for an exhibition.
The Louvre, the world’s most popular museum, received 9.6 million visitors last year, almost three-quarters of them from abroad.
“We are very worried because we have visitors from everywhere,” said Andre Sacristin, a Louvre employee and union representative. “The risk is very, very, very great.” While there are no known infections among the museum’s 2,300 workers, “it’s only a question of time,” he said.
The shutdown followed a government decision Saturday to ban indoor public gatherings of more than 5,000 people.
Among the frustrated visitors was Charles Lim from Singapore. He and his wife, Jeanette, chose Paris to celebrate their first wedding anniversary and bought tickets in advance for the Louvre.
“We waited for about three hours before giving up,” he said. “It was incredibly disappointing.”
China, where the outbreak began two months ago, on Sunday reported a slight uptick in new cases over the past 24 hours to 573, the first time in five days that the number exceeded 500. They remain almost entirely confined to the hardest-hit province of Hubei and its capital, Wuhan.
South Korea reported 210 additional cases and two more deaths, raising its totals to 3,736 cases and 20 fatalities. South Korea has the second-largest number of infections outside China, with most of the cases in the southeastern city of Daegu and nearby areas.
South Korea’s president used a speech marking the 101st anniversary of an anti-Japanese independence uprising to call for national unity to overcome the crisis.
Iran’s death toll climbed to 54 as the number of confirmed cases jumped overnight by more than half, to 978. The new figures represent 11 more deaths than reported on Saturday.
Around the world, many cases of the virus have been relatively mild, and some of those infected apparently show no symptoms at all.
Virus spreads to over 60 countries; France closes the Louvre
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Virus spreads to over 60 countries; France closes the Louvre
- Louvre management confirmed the museum was closed for the entire day, and said it would refund ticket-holders
- Workers met in the morning to discuss coronavirus fears
Explosions kill 1 man outside Brazil’s Supreme Court and force justices to evacuate
The court said in a statement that two very strong blasts were heard at about 7:30 p.m. local time, shortly after Wednesday’s session finished. It added that all the justices and staff left the building safely after the incident.
Local firefighters confirmed that one man died at the scene, but did not identify him.
Celina Leão, the lieutenant governor of Brazil’s federal district, recommended that Congress be closed on Thursday to avoid new risks. She said police believe the man who died caused the explosions.
“It could have been a lone wolf, like others we’ve seen around the world,” Leão said in a news conference. “We are considering it as a suicide because there was only one victim. But investigations will show if that was indeed the case.”
Leão added only forensics will be able to identify the body, which remained outside the Supreme Court for two hours after the incident.
Local media reported that the blasts took place with 20 seconds between the first and the second explosions.
The incident took place in Brasilia’s Three Powers Plaza, an area where Brazil’s main government buildings, including the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace, are located.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was not in the neighboring presidential palace at the time of the blasts, said spokesman José Chrispiniano.
Police blocked all access to the area and the presidential security bureau was conducting a sweep of the grounds around the presidential palace.
Brazil’s federal police said it is investigating and did not provide a motive.
The Supreme Court in recent years has become a target for threats by far-right groups and supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro due to its crackdown on the spread of false information. In particular, Justice Alexandre de Moraes has been a focus for their ire.
Lula’s spokesman said the leftist leader is in a meeting at the presidential residence with federal police chief Andrei Rodrigues, and Supreme Court Justices de Moraes and Cristiano Zanin.
Earlier, another explosion was heard in the parking lot of Brazil’s Congress. Police said the blast apparently came out of a car, but no one was injured. Leão said authorities have already identified who is the owner of the car, but added the two incidents can only be linked after the investigations.
A diminished Biden heads to APEC summit in Peru, overshadowed by China’s Xi
- With the US seemingly headed back toward isolationism under Trump, “China will be seen as the alternative,” says analyst
- President Xi’s first order of business in Peru is inaugurating a $1.3 billion megaport that will put China’s regional influence on stark display
LIMA, Peru: If things had gone differently last week, US President Joe Biden could have arrived at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru on Thursday projecting confidence and pledging his successor’s cooperation with eager Latin American partners. No longer.
Just as in 2016, the last time that Peru’s capital Lima hosted APEC, Donald Trump’s election victory has pulled the rug out from under a lame-duck Democrat at the high-profile summit attended by over a dozen world leaders.
The renewed prospect of Trump’s “America First” doctrine hampers Biden’s ability to reinforce the United States’ profile on his first presidential trip to South America, experts say, leaving China and its leader, Xi Jinping, to grab the limelight in America’s proverbial backyard.
President Xi’s first order of business in Peru is inaugurating a $1.3 billion megaport that will put China’s regional influence on stark display. Total investment is expected to top $3.5 billion over the next decade.
“This isn’t the way the US had hoped to participate in the summit,” said Margaret Myers, the director of the China and Latin America program at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington policy group. “All eyes are going to be on the port, what Xi says about it and how he articulates relations across the Pacific.”
With the US seemingly headed back toward isolationism under Trump, “China will be seen as the alternative,” Myers added.
Sitting 60 kilometers (37 miles) northeast of Lima, the Chancay megaport — once a serene fishing village — is perhaps the clearest sign of Latin America’s reorientation. The Chinese shipping and logistics giant Cosco holds a 60 percent stake in the project it developed with Peruvian partner, Volcan.
“With this port, we’re looking at the entire Pacific coast, from the United States and Canada all the way to Chile,” Peruvian Foreign Minister Elmer Schialer told The Associated Press in his office on Monday. “The shipping business is being transformed.”
Peruvian Economy Minister José Arista said in June during a visit to China that the country’s neighbors — Brazil, Colombia, Chile — are “making constant trips to and from to see how they can modify their supply chain to use this port,” which will cut shipping time to Beijing by 10 days.
China’s trade with the region ballooned 35-fold from 2000 to 2022, reaching nearly $500 billion, according to data from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Most of the region’s exports came from South America and were concentrated in five products: soybeans, copper and iron ore, oil and copper cathodes.
At the same time, China’s diplomatic engagement in the region has become more effective, with Xi visiting 11 Latin American countries since becoming president, according to Xinhua, China’s main state news agency. Brazil, host of the G20 summit, and Peru will bestow the rare honor of a full state visit to Xi this month, but not to Biden.
The misguided notion that Latin America must choose between its two largest trading partners is “a strategic defeat” for the US, said Eric Farnsworth, vice president at the Washington-based Council of the Americas.
“The idea that China is somehow a better partner is increasingly being heard around the region and I think Xi wants to solidify that and amplify that,” Farnsworth said.
Roughly a decade after China poured billions of dollars into building power plants, roads, airports and other infrastructure that saddled some developing countries with unserviceable debt, few expect Beijing to direct more massive loans to Latin America through its Belt and Road Initiative. But deeper cooperation on other infrastructure is possible, particularly renewable energy and telecommunications, said the Boston University Bulletin.
The US has appealed to Latin American governments to reject telecoms investment, particularly opposing Huawei, the Chinese tech giant that it argues could open the door to Chinese government spying. Similarly, US officials have raised concerns over the Chancay port’s possible dual-use by Beijing’s navy in the Pacific — a prospect dismissed by Chinese officials.
China “is working to exploit insecurity in our hemisphere,” said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Southern Command headquarters in Florida this week, adding that the Asian giant is leveraging the need for investment in the Americas to advance its “malign agenda.”
Despite its objections to Chinese influence, the US hasn’t shown the ability or willingness to build infrastructure like Chancay’s megaport, experts note.
Even when the US government has worked to ensure competitive bidding in Latin American massive public works projects, American companies have refrained from participating, said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program.
A Kamala Harris administration wouldn’t have changed that, but a Democratic victory would have enabled Biden to speak in Lima with authority about US collaboration to come, such as building regional supply chains, Gedan said.
In sharp contrast to Biden’s alliance-building approach, Trump has vowed to protect American interests and promised more of the same unilateralist action the world saw in his first term when he staked out a combative stance against foreign competitors and deepened the US trade war with China.
In 2022, Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework to help integrate the economies of the region and enable the US to counterbalance China. But last year, on the campaign trail, Trump said he would kill the trade pact if he were to win the 2024 election and return to the White House — in the same way, he pulled the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership immediately after taking office in 2017.
In the years since, US clout in South America has diminished while China’s has grown, said Farnsworth, recalling how the last time Lima hosted APEC in 2016, the shock of Trump’s victory sucked the energy out of then-President Barack Obama’s delegation.
Peru’s top diplomat insists that the US hasn’t ceded its dominant voice guiding discussions about trade at gatherings such as APEC — and doubted that it will, even under Trump.
“I’m not sure that Trump will go against these types of multilateral contexts just because he is worried about the American people,” Schialer said. “He knows that the US is too important for the world. We have to sit down and have a nice dialogue and see how we can face these challenges together.”
Biden will hold talks Saturday with Xi on the sidelines of APEC, according to the US president’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. The White House has been working for months to arrange a final meeting between Xi and Biden before the Democrat leaves office in January.
Meantime, in the wake of Trump’s win and China’s port opening in Peru, analysts expect the hard-nosed competition between the US and China to overshadow APEC.
“The Chinese love the idea of outmaneuvering the US in its near-abroad,” Gedan said. “Xi will luxuriate in this dynamic of being able to arrive with a big delegation, (...) to inaugurate this transformational port and suck all the air out of the room when his American counterpart is very weak politically. That is significant to China.”
Protests erupt in Paris over pro-Israel gala organized by far-right figures
- On Wednesday night, several hundred protesters marched through central Paris, denouncing the event as a “gala of hatred and shame”
PARIS: Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel. The event, intended to raise funds for the Israeli military, included Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich among its invited guests.
The demonstrations came on the eve of a high-stakes soccer match at France’s national stadium against the Israeli national team, overshadowed by tensions around the wars in the Middle East. Authorities in Paris announced that more than 4,000 police officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for the game.
Smotrich, a vocal advocate of Israeli settlements, had been expected to attend Wednesday’s gala, dubbed “Israel is Forever,” which was planned by an association of the same name. The group’s stated goal is to “mobilize French-speaking Zionist forces.”
After days of growing criticism of the event, Smotrich’s office confirmed Wednesday that the minister would not travel to Paris to participate.
But the invitation to Smotrich drew sharp criticism from local associations, unions and left-wing political parties, prompting two protests in the French capital. The minister, a hard-line settler leader, has been accused of inflaming tensions in the West Bank and drew international condemnations this week by saying he hopes the election of Donald Trump will clear the way for Israeli annexation of the West Bank — a step that would extinguish Palestinian statehood dreams.
The French Foreign Ministry called Smotrich’s remarks “contrary to international law” and counterproductive to efforts to reduce regional tensions.
“France reiterates its commitment to the implementation of the two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security, which is the only prospect for a just and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the ministry said in a statement.
Critics also pointed at Nili Kupfer-Naouri, president of the “Israel is Forever” association, who sparked outrage in 2023, after the Israel-Hamas war started, when she tweeted that “no civilian in Gaza was innocent.”
On Wednesday night, several hundred protesters marched through central Paris, denouncing the event as a “gala of hatred and shame.”
“Imagine if an association were hosting a gala for Hezbollah or Hamas — there’s no way the police would allow that,” said Melkir Saib, a 30-year-old protester. “The situation is just unfair.”
The march was largely peaceful, but some demonstrators broke windows at a McDonald’s along the route.
A separate group, including Jewish leftist organizations opposed to racism and antisemitism, gathered near the Arc de Triomphe chanting slogans against the gala and Smotrich.
French authorities defended the event, with Paris police chief Laurent Nunez stating that the gala posed “no major threat to public order.”
The protests came days after tensions flared in Paris and Amsterdam related to the conflicts in the Mideast. A massive “Free Palestine” banner was displayed during a Paris Saint-Germain Champions League match against Atletico Madrid, while violence broke out in Amsterdam last week targeting fans of an Israeli soccer club.
Catholic bishops urged to boldly share church teachings — even unpopular ones
- Bishop Robert Barron: ‘And we shouldn’t be cowed by the celebrities and so on in the culture who are preaching something that’s deeply problematic.’
The prelates acknowledged theirs is often a countercultural view.
“We have been too apologetic for too long,” said Bishop Robert Barron, a media-savvy cleric who leads the Winona-Rochester diocese in Minnesota. “And we shouldn’t be cowed by the celebrities and so on in the culture who are preaching something that’s deeply problematic.”
The remarks came during the bishops’ annual fall meeting and a presentation on a Vatican declaration released in April. “Dignitas Infinita,” or “Infinite Dignity,” clarifies church teaching that promotes the dignity of all people and the protection of life from its earliest stages through death.
“The goal is to apply the lessons of ‘Dignitas Infinita’ to our American society,” said Barron, who praised the declaration for its “distinctively Catholic voice” – one that is not Democratic or Republican, liberal or conservative.
The 20 pages of “Infinite Dignity” were five years in the making and single out a range of harms, including forced migration and sexual abuse. In it, the Vatican labels gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as violations of human dignity, comparing them to abortion and euthanasia.
Pope Francis has reached out to LGBTQ+ people throughout his papacy, and the document was a disappointing setback, if not unexpected, for transgender people and supporters of their rights. It comes during an election year in the United States where there has been a conservative backlash to transgender rights.
Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane, Washington, spoke to the meeting about how Catholic schools can be a vehicle for educating young people about Catholic sexual ethics.
“We want our students to see the church’s teaching on sexuality as an expression of this deeper understanding of the human person, and not simply just a set of rules that stand in opposition to our popular culture,” Daly said.
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, who is finishing a term as chair of the USCCB committee on pro-life activities, expressed gratitude to the Vatican and called the declaration “incredibly timely.”
“Sadly, many states continue to enshrine abortion in their state constitutions,” he told the gathering, referencing recent state ballot initiatives. “We know we still have so much work to do.”
“Our work is not only to change laws, but to change hearts, to change minds,” Burbidge added.
Throughout their meeting, the US bishops have reaffirmed their anti-abortion commitments, even in the face of losses at the ballot box.
Voters supported 7 out of 10 abortion rights state ballot measures this election. Even in Florida, where the abortion rights amendment failed, 57 percent of voters supported the measure, just shy of the 60 percent it needed to pass.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City earlier told the gathering during an evangelization discussion that the success of abortion rights ballot initiatives should be “a wake-up call for us.” He said more pointed language is needed to help people accept church teaching on life issues.
In his opening address, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, laid out a vision of proclaiming church teaching, even when it’s not popular or convenient.
“We never back-pedal or renounce the clear teaching of the Gospel. We proclaim it in and out of season,” said Broglio. “We must insist on the dignity of the human person from womb to tomb, be unstinting in our commitment.”
US envoy says Mexico not safe, blames ex-president for failed security
- Salazar criticizes Lopez Obrador’s security policy
- Sheinbaum to follow Lopez Obrador’s security strategy
MEXICO CITY: The US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said on Wednesday that the country is not safe and criticized the previous president for a failed security policy and refusing to accept American assistance.
“The reality is that at the moment Mexico is not safe,” Salazar said during a press conference at his residence in Mexico City.
The ambassador criticized former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador directly, saying security coordination between Mexico and the US had suffered during his term.
“Unfortunately this coordination has failed in the last year, in great part because the previous president did not want to receive help from the United States,” he said.
Lopez Obrador’s attempt to address the root causes of violence, a strategy he called “hugs not bullets,” did “not work,” Salazar said.
He added he hoped that President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office last month, would have greater success in fighting crime and violence by investing more in security.
Sheinbaum, who belongs to the same party as Lopez Obrador, has stressed that her security policy will follow closely that of the previous president.
The comments come as relations between Lopez Obrador and Salazar have become increasingly fraught in recent months, after the ambassador criticized a judicial overhaul being driven by the former president.
It marks a distinct change from the earlier part of Lopez Obrador’s presidency when the two were regarded as having a close working relationship — a proximity that some US diplomats privately criticized.
Mexico has suffered a recent wave of violence with hundreds killed in intra-cartel warfare in the state of Sinaloa as well as massacres in other states such as Queretaro where 10 people were killed in a bar over the weekend.
