Finland is told its welfare state can’t cope with virus fallout
One of the world’s best-funded welfare states is starting to crack as the fallout of the coronavirus triggers mass unemployment. Finland’s system of jobless benefits can’t cope with the sudden surge in demand, the country’s biggest unemployment fund, YTK, said. There are more than 300,000 Finns ...
151 Japanese nationals to return on plane chartered by Poland
A total of 151 Japanese nationals will return home from Poland on a flight chartered by the Polish government, the Polish Embassy in Japan said Wednesday. The flight will carry back Polish nationals who have been unable to leave Japan because direct flights between the ...
Wannabe autocrats love the COVID-19 pandemic
In Hungary and Poland — as in Israel and elsewhere — liberty suddenly seems cheap. Even in a pandemic, it shouldn’t be.
Four priorities for a global pandemic strategy
The world initially met the COVID-19 crisis in an uncoordinated fashion, with too many countries ignoring the warning signs and going it alone. It is now clear that the only way out of it is together.
Soldiers patrol the streets with their fingers on machine gun triggers. The army guards an exhibition center-turned-makeshift-hospital crowded with rows of bunks for those infected with COVID-19. And Serbia’s president warns residents that Belgrade graveyards won’t be big enough to bury the dead if ...
Japan to expand entry ban to include U.S., China and most of Europe
Japan is planning to place an entry ban on foreign nationals who have recently been to the United States, China, South Korea and most of Europe in an effort to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, government sources said Monday. The measure would apply ...
The streets of Stockholm are quiet, but not deserted. People still sit at outdoor cafes in the center of Sweden's capital. Vendors still sell flowers. Teenagers still chat in groups in parks. Some still greet each other with hugs and handshakes. After a long, dark ...
Europe’s fractured union came under new pressure this weekend, as Italy and Spain pleaded for urgent European help to withstand the virus ordeal but Germany showed reluctance to plunge into any radical new solutions. The north-south divide that has dogged the European Union for years ...
Air pollution has decreased in urban areas across Europe during lockdowns to combat the coronavirus, new satellite images showed on Monday, but campaigners warned city-dwellers were still more vulnerable to the epidemic. Cities including Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Milan and Frankfurt showed a reduction in average ...
Germany's Merkel shines in coronavirus crisis even as power wanes
In her first address to the nation on the coronavirus pandemic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel calmly appealed to citizens' reason and discipline to slow the spread of the virus, acknowledging as a woman who grew up in communist East Germany how difficult it is ...
Coronavirus toll surges in Europe as Trump backs off on New York quarantine
The coronavirus death toll shot past 20,000 in Europe on Saturday, with Italy and Spain each reporting more than 800 dead in one day. Up to one-third of the world's population is now under lockdown as the virus leaves its devastating imprint on nearly every ...
