Germany takes over the European Union’s six-month presidency Wednesday, with outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel staking her legacy on a massive economic recovery plan to help the bloc cope with the coronavirus fallout.

Merkel’s last major role on the international stage comes as the 27-member club faces its deepest recession since World War II, triggered by a pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 people globally.

The crisis has galvanised Europe’s most powerful leader who, with just over a year left in her final term, has ditched her usual wait-and-see approach to call for “extraordinary measures” to weather the storm.

“Europe’s future is our future,” Merkel said Monday as she stood beside French President Emmanuel Macron to push for a 750-billion-euro ($843 billion) coronavirus recovery fund.

The proposed fund would controversially be financed through shared EU borrowing and marks a stunning U-turn for Germany after years of opposition to debt pooling.

The EU’s rotating presidency is Merkel’s “last chance” to make her mark as one of Europe’s great leaders, Der Spiegel weekly wrote, adding that it was time for Germany to shoulder more responsibility as the bloc’s biggest nation and top economy.

“For years the chancellor put off dealing with the chronic problems of the EU and the euro. Now, towards the end of her political career, she has the opportunity to make up for past mistakes,” Spiegel wrote.

There will be no shortage of challenges to tackle in the months ahead.

Post-Brexit negotiations, a more assertive China, rocky transatlantic ties, climate change and the conflicts in Libya and Syria will all be jostling for attention, even if the pandemic promises to dominate the agenda.

‘Extraordinary solidarity’

Germany kicked off its EU custodianship by projecting the words “Together for Europe’s recovery” onto Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate late Tuesday.

After 15 years in office, Merkel is the bloc’s longest-serving leader and held the EU presidency once before, in 2007.

But the stakes are higher this time.

A first major test will come at a July 17-18 EU summit, where Merkel hopes leaders will reach an agreement on the 750-billion-euro rescue fund put forward by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen — Merkel’s former defence minister.

The money is expected to come mainly in the form of grants for countries hardest hit by the pandemic, such as debt-laden Italy and Spain.

But so-called frugal nations including Austria and the Netherlands want to reign in the spending and are insisting on loans rather than grants.

Merkel has urged holdout nations to “engage in an extraordinary act of solidarity”, warning that an uneven recovery could undermine the EU single market and end up harming stronger economies too.

“We hope we can find a solution, even if the road is still long,” Merkel said at the press conference alongside Macron.

Brexit warning

The fund is based on an idea unveiled by the French-German duo in May, in which the European Commission would raise money on the financial markets to help pay for the post-pandemic recovery in poorer member states.

If accepted, the rescue fund would be a milestone for EU unity.

It would also be a big win for Berlin, and could ease some of the lingering resentment from the eurozone debt crisis a decade ago when Merkel’s government insisted on harsh austerity for struggling nations like Greece.

Another contentious issue that could define Germany’s EU presidency is Brexit.

After weeks of standstill, Britain and the EU have resumed negotiations about the country’s divorce deal with the bloc — which could still result in a hard Brexit at the end of the year.

In an interview with several newspapers last week, Merkel warned that Britain would “have to live with the consequences” of having weaker economic ties with the EU.

Source: AFP

Germany is investigating 30,000 suspects as part of a probe into an online paedophile network, the latest in a series of child sex abuse scandals that prompted authorities to promise a crackdown.

The probe began last October with the arrest of a suspected perpetrator in Bergisch Gladbach, near Cologne.

But investigators digging into the case have turned up a far bigger paedophile network than expected.

“I did not expect, not even remotely, the extent of child abuse on the internet,” North Rhine-Westphalia’s justice minister Peter Beisenbach told reporters on Monday.

What the investigation team had uncovered was “deeply disturbing”, he said.

“We must recognise that child abuse on the internet is more widespread than we had previously thought.”

The cyber crime office in North Rhine-Westphalia is now “investigating 30,000 unknown suspects” in the case linked to the city of Bergisch Gladbach, said Beisenbach.

“We want to drag perpetrators and supporters of child abuse out of the anonymity of the internet,” he added.

Those being investigated are suspected of sharing “child and youth pornographic content” including “fictitious and/or real acts of abuse” in anonymous online discussion forums and chat groups, the cyber crime office ZAC NRW said in a statement.

To date, just over 70 suspects have been identified throughout Germany.

In May, the first offender — a 27-year-old soldier — was sentenced to 10 years in prison and placed in a psychiatric hospital for an indefinite period.

‘Emotional murder’

Germany has been shocked at the discovery of several serious cases of child sex abuse over the past 18 months.

In early June, 11 people were arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing children and filming their actions after videos and photos were seized from the cellar of a 27-year-old man from the city of Muenster, also in North Rhine-Westphalia state.

Investigators said they had identified at least three victims, aged five, 10 and 12 years old.

Officials said then that investigative capacities on child abuse had been increased, which would likely lead to the discovery of more cases.

The case triggered calls from politicians to crack down on those using and sharing child pornography, with calls for it to be classed as a crime rather than just an offence.

“Child abuse cannot be punished like shoplifting. It is murder. Not physically but emotionally. Anyone who molests children must be punished as a criminal, fullstop,” said North Rhine Westphalia interior minister Herbert Reul.

Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht in mid-June conceded offenders would in future receive a sentence of at least one year. “Anyone who commits such disgusting crimes must feel the full force of the law,” she said.

Campsite abuse

In an earlier scandal in Luegde, 125 kilometres (80 miles) from Muenster, several men abused children several hundred times at a campsite over a period of several years.

Prosecutors said more than 40 children fell victim to the men at the “Eichwald” campsite between 1998 and 2018, most of them between three and 14 years old at the time.

Some 33 witnesses, including 16 victims and 12 relatives, testified before the court in the trial, many of them behind closed doors.

Child sex abuse was also placed in the spotlight when police announced in May they suspected a German man of having murdered missing British girl Madeleine McCann.

The 43-year-old suspect, named as Christian B. by German media, has a long criminal past and a history of child sex abuse.

(AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron visited London on Thursday for a ceremony to mark the anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle’s call for wartime resistance against Nazi Germany.

Macron’s visit, his first trip outside France since the coronavirus pandemic, marks the 80th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle’s radio address to the French nation, in which he laid the foundations of the Resistance.

The address was broadcast from London by the BBC on June 18, 1940, shortly after the Nazi invasion of France, and with the blessing of Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill.

Macron, who was accompanied by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, bestowed the Legion of Honour, France’s highest distinction, on the city of London.

In turn, Britain bestowed awards on four French Resistance fighters: Edgard Tupet-Thome, 100; Daniel Cordier, 99; Hubert Germain, 99, and Pierre Simonet, 98. They were not present, but will receive their awards in France later.

The four are the only surviving holders of the Croix de la Libération (Cross of Liberation), an honour bestowed by de Gaulle on 1,038 men and women who distinguished themselves in the struggle to liberate France.

Source: France 24

Thousands demonstrated in Berlin against racism and for broader fairness, including sharing the coronavirus burden, as they stretched a human chain through the German capital Sunday while keeping safe distances.

Hundreds also turned out in other cities like Leipzig and Hamburg, although some faced rainstorms in the tail-end of a weekend of harsh weather across Germany.

A spokesman for progressive movement Unteilbar (Indivisible) told AFP “more than 20,000 people” had participated in the event in Berlin, while police estimated around 8,000.

The route of the human chain — stretching from the world-famous Brandenburg Gate past the landmark Communist-era TV tower at Alexanderplatz and down into the ethnically diverse Neukoelln district — had to be extended to accommodate the numbers.

“The coronavirus is worsening existing inequalities. Many people are threatened with being left behind. We will not allow that,” said Unteilbar spokesman Georg Wissmeier in a statement.

“Human rights, social justice and climate justice belong together indivisibly.”

Over 10,000 people gathered in Berlin under the banner of Black Lives Matter last weekend in response to the May 25 killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis, and the slogan was also in evidence on banners and T-shirts Sunday.

But the organisers of the latest demonstration posted a broader set of aims on their website.

– Coal mines to migrant camps –

Their demands include better working conditions and pay for all including migrants, affordable housing, upholding asylum rights, relaunching the economy along green lines and allowing workers more say in how companies are run.

“Who bears the costs of the global crisis, who will be stronger afterwards and who weaker — that’s being decided now,” Unteilbar organisers wrote.

Different groups ran individual stretches of the human chain, ranging from political parties like the Greens and Left party to civil society organisations like “Grannies against the far right” and the Fridays for Future youth climate movement.

And appearances by musicians and campaigners along the demonstration route were broadcast by organisers in a live stream of the event.

Messages from the “Ende Gelaende” group that has staged sit-ins at open-cast coal mines and fossil power plants appeared alongside an appeal from an Afghan filmmaker who lived in Greece’s overcrowded Moria refugee camp for six months.

“Everything is getting worse on the island” of Lesbos, where many people fleeing the Middle East via Turkey first reach European soil, Ahmad Ebrahimi told viewers.

“Please do anything you can” to help, he urged.

– Virus fears –

Ahead of Sunday’s demonstration, some had warned that the gatherings could provoke new transmission of the coronavirus.

“People not maintaining distance, shouting and chanting when packed close together — those are ideal conditions” for infection, Social Democratic Party (SPD) MP and epidemiologist Karl Lauterbach told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.

On their website, Unteilbar organisers urged sticking to “a responsible form of protest in times of pandemic and crisis”, telling participants to remain three metres (yards) apart to minimise the risk of coronavirus transmission.

As the human chain got under way, stewards handed out strips of brightly coloured tape cut to the right length as a guide.

Participants’ infection control precautions had been “exemplary”, a police spokesman told AFP, adding that people had kept their distance and worn facemasks.

Source: AFP

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview Sunday that relations with Washington are “complicated” following media reports that the US wants to withdraw 9,500 troops from Germany, significantly reducing US commitments to European defence under NATO in what one former US military commander said would be a “gift” to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Germany on Sunday voiced concern at reports that President Donald Trump plans to cut the number of US troops stationed in Germany, amid fears it could weaken a key pillar of NATO defence in the region.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said both countries stood to gain from close cooperation even if the transatlantic relationship had become “complicated” under Trump.

Other senior politicians in Berlin were more blunt, slamming the plan as the latest blow to US-German ties and a potential security risk.

“Should it come to the withdrawal of part of the US troops, we take note of this,” Maas told the Bild am Sonntag daily.

“We appreciate the cooperation with the US armed forces that has grown over decades. It is in the interest of both of our countries.”

Peter Beyer, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coordinator for transatlantic relations, warned that “the German-US relationship could be severely affected” by Trump’s decision.

The Wall Street Journal and other media reported on Friday that Trump had ordered the Pentagon to slash the number of US military personnel by 9,500 from the current 34,500 permanently assigned in Germany.

Such a move would significantly reduce the US commitment to European defence under the NATO umbrella, and appeared to catch Berlin off guard.

‘Wake-up call’            

But Maas admitted ties with the Trump administration had become strained.

“We are close partners in the transatlantic alliance. But it’s complicated,” Maas told Bild, in a nod to rows ranging from the Iranian nuclear deal to NATO contributions and Berlin’s support for a Russian gas pipeline.

There was no immediate confirmation from US officials about the alleged plan to slash US troop numbers in Germany and cap them at 25,000 in future.

But Trump’s lukewarm support of longstanding cooperation agreements with European allies has long caused alarm on the continent.

The US leader been particularly scathing towards Germany in recent years, accusing the fellow NATO member of not spending enough on defence.

Germany hosts more US troops than any other country in Europe, a legacy of the Allied occupation after World War II.

Johann Wadephul, a senior member in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party, said the troop reduction plan showed that the Trump administration was “neglecting an elementary leadership task: involving alliance partners in the decision-making process”.

It also served as another “wake-up call” for Europeans to take more responsibility for their own defence, he said in a statement on Saturday.

Only China and Russia stood to gain from “discord” between NATO allies, Wadephul added.

‘Colossal mistake’

Rolf Muetzenich, leader of the parliamentary group of the centre-left SPD, Merkel’s junior coalition partner, told the Funke newspaper group that the US plan could lead to “a lasting realignment of security policy in Europe”.

Former US Army Europe commander Ben Hodges, who was stationed in the German city of Wiesbaden before he retired, said a US drawdown would be “a colossal mistake” and “a gift” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“US troops are not in Europe to protect Germans,” he tweeted. “They are forward-based, as part of NATO, to protect all members, including USA.”

Although the American military presence has strongly declined since the end of the Cold War nearly three decades ago, Germany remains a crucial hub for US armed forces.

As well as serving as a deterrence to a resurgent Russia, US troops use their German bases to coordinate military operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The headquarters for US forces in Europe and Africa are both based in Stuttgart, while the US air base in Ramstein plays a major role in transporting soldiers and equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US military hospital in Landstuhl, near Ramstein, is the largest of its kind outside the United States.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Saturday that he hoped some of the troops moved out of Germany could be reassigned to Poland.

(AFP)

Britain will introduce a COVID-19 quarantine for all travellers arriving from overseas from June 8, interior minister Priti Patel said on Friday, a measure that airlines have warned will devastate their industry.

All international arrivals, including returning Britons, will be required to self-isolate for 14 days and provide details of where they will be staying to the authorities.

“Now we are past the peak of this virus, we must take steps to guard against imported cases triggering a resurgence of this deadly disease,” Patel said at a news conference.

She said those who breached the quarantine in England could be fined 1,000 pounds ($1,218), and that spot checks would be carried out by health and border officials.

The quarantine measures will not apply to those arriving from the Irish Republic, and there are also exemptions for freight drivers, medical professionals and seasonal agricultural workers.

Unlike many other countries across the world, Britain has carried out few tests and checks on visitors, with quarantine limited only to arrivals from China at the start of the outbreak.

That has led to accusations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has been too slow to act, but it now also faces criticism over plans to bring in the quarantine.

Airline bosses have said the measures would have severe repercussions, with Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, saying they would be “unenforceable and unpoliceable” and would be ignored.

“Introducing a quarantine at this stage makes no sense and will mean very limited international aviation at best,” said Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive of industry body Airlines UK.

“It is just about the worst thing government could do if their aim is to restart the economy.”

Source: REUTERS

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel presented a joint plan to spur EU recovery from the coronavirus crisis on Monday, after weeks of debate over how to deploy billions of euros needed to end a painful recession.

In a joint video conference, Macron and Merkel called for the creation of a 500-billion-euro ($543 billion) recovery fund able to offer grants to the countries and regions hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis.

The leaders of France and Germany also said they were proposing to authorise the European Commission to borrow money on financial markets in the European Union’s name, while at the same time respecting EU treaties.

Macron and Merkel propose €500 billion EU recovery fund: Watch their press conference

Macron said this was the first time France and Germany agreed to let the EU raise debt jointly, calling this a “major step foward”. He insisted that money from the recovery fund would be made available in the form of grants and not loans.

Merkel said that in all, EU member states and the bloc’s executive would mobilise a combined sum of three trillion euros to cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

She said France and Germany were also in favour of reforming the EU’s merger and competition rules so that the bloc can create stronger European champions after the coronavirus crisis.

Europe is just beginning to emerge from lockdowns put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which has taken a huge bite out of national economies. But divisions among EU members on how to craft an overall response have hampered comprehensive action so far.

Macron said on Monday that the Franco-German initiative was the fruit of extensive talks with other EU member states, including Italy and the Netherlands, which have been at loggerheads in recent weeks.

The recovery debate has again exposed the bloc’s divide between northern countries leery of exploding budget deficits, and hard-hit southern countries like Italy and Spain that are desperate for more spending.

The eurozone economy overall is forecast to contract by a whopping 7.7 percent this year, but the damage could be worse in Italy and Greece, which could see their economies shrink by nearly 10 percent, prompting a cascade of bankruptcies and job losses.

While the European Commission still takes time before presenting its own plan, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel unveil their joint proposal for a 500 billion euros for the #Recovery Initiative.

European sources told AFP last week the Commission would lay out its plan toward the end of May, hoping to reconcile the opposing objectives of providing financial firepower – and proving European solidarity – without giving governments a blank check that would expose the entire bloc to gaping budget deficits.

Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen has not given a specific figure, but has said the plan would be linked to the EU’s regular budget and funded in part by the commission borrowing on financial markets.

That would require European Parliament approval as well as a summit meeting of member states to give a green light on how the funds would be used, and the terms for their reimbursement.

The European Central Bank has also promised to do “whatever is necessary” to help weather the crisis, including a 750-billion-euro scheme to buy government bonds for cash-strapped nations.

However, that has proved problematic after Germany’s Constitutional Court attacked the ruling, potentially limiting Germany’s participation.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AFP)

Ireland will begin to lift its coronavirus lockdown in the coming days while introducing a 14-day quarantine period for people arriving in the nation, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Friday.

“I can confirm that it is safe to proceed with phase one of our plan to ease the COVID-19 restrictions from Monday,” he said, indicating the start of a five-stage plan to reopen the country set to stretch until August.

The changes coming into effect after the weekend will see staff return to outdoor workplaces and the reopening of some shops, sports facilities and public amenities such as beaches.

Citizens will also be allowed to meet in small groups outdoors.

Social distancing measures are to remain in widespread use as they have been since Ireland’s lockdown began on 28 March.

Meanwhile, the Irish cabinet agreed to make it mandatory for arrivals to fill out forms outlining where they will quarantine.

“We’re going to examine means by which it can be enforced thereafter,” Varadkar said at a Dublin press conference.

Travellers from the British province of Northern Ireland will be exempt.

The government also issued advice for “face coverings” to be worn in enclosed public spaces such as shops and public transport.

“Coronavirus is an inferno that is raging around the world”, said Varadkar.

“In Ireland it is now a fire in retreat but it’s not defeated — we must extinguish every spark and quench every ember.”

Effects of the relaxation will be monitored for three weeks before the government decides whether to move to the next stage in the “roadmap” to reopen the nation announced earlier this month.

Ireland has suffered 1,506 deaths from COVID-19, according to health department figures.

Reported daily deaths peaked at 77 on 20 April, but on Thursday had fallen to just 10.

Chief medical officer Tony Holohan said in mid-April that the nation had successfully quashed the spread of infection.

But, as in other countries, there is fear of a second wave.

“We have to remember that just as our actions brought about the progress you’ve seen to date, our actions could also set us back,” Health Minister Simon Harris said.

If the first phase of relaxations is deemed successful, the second stage will allow wider travel, visits to other households and employees to return to work under social distancing measures.

Source:  AFP

On Monday, Italy moved to phase two of the coronavirus emergency by starting to relax some of the stringent lockdown restrictions that have been in force since March 10.

With construction and manufacturing sectors resuming activity, over 4 million people have returned to their occupations provided that workplaces can meet social distancing rules.

Italians will now be able to travel within regions to visit relatives or anyone with whom they have a stable emotional relation. Parks have also been allowed to reopen while schools, cinemas and museums will remain shut.

However not everybody has been pleased with the government’s cautious relaxation of the lockdown measures. Some entrepreneurs and shopkeepers have argued that many of the restrictions of the past eight weeks will remain in place resulting in huge economic losses for them.

Activities such as barbers, hairdressers, gyms will stay shut possibly until June 1 while restaurants and bars can only offer takeaways.

The pandemic in Italy has claimed about 29,000 lives so far, second only to the US. Prime Minister Conte has made it clear that Italy is still in the full throes of the pandemic despite a drop in the number of coronavirus infections and deaths has been recorded lately Conte has warned that evidence of a rise in infections in the coming weeks could lead to restrictive measures being reintroduced.

Source: Presstv

Spaniards were allowed out of their homes to exercise and walk freely after 48 days of confinement on Saturday as some European nations began cautiously easing virus lockdowns while others like Russia faced a spike in new infections.

As governments across the globe balance lifting restrictions to restart economies against the risk of new infections, US authorities brought some hope by approving an experimental drug for emergency use on coronavirus patients.

The measure was the latest step in a global push to find viable treatments and a vaccine for the coronavirus, which has left half of humanity under some form of lockdown, hammered the world economy and caused more than 3.3 million confirmed infections.

The virus has killed nearly 239,000 people since it emerged in China late last year.

With signs the pandemic in their hardest-hit nations is slowing, European countries and some parts of the US have begun to lift restrictions and to try to inject life into economies battered by weeks of closure.

In Madrid and Barcelona, Spaniards took to the streets to exercise and walk freely as the government eased seven weeks of strict lockdown in a country with one of the highest number of fatalities at nearly 25,000.

“After so many weeks in confinement, I badly wanted to go out, run, see the world,” said financial advisor Marcos Abeytua in Madrid’s Chueca district who got up a 7am to enjoy some time outside. “Yesterday, I was like a child on Christmas Eve.”

In the city’s Retiro park, many residents were out to running, sometimes in groups, as a policeman used a loudspeaker to urge them to keep out of deserted avenue and on the pavement.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez however said masks would be obligatory on public transport from Monday.

Spain, Germany, Austria and Scandinavian nations are all slowly easing lockdowns as the virus cases slow though they will keep in place social distancing measures, demand the use of masks or increase testing to try to track infections.

France on Saturday decided it would extend a health emergency, in place since March 24, by two months until July 24, Health Minister Olivier Veran announced after a cabinet meeting.

Italy is preparing to ease restrictions in coming days while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who spent time in intensive care with the virus, said Britain had past the peak of its outbreak.

Ireland extended its lockdown by two weeks to May 18, with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar saying the nation will reopen “in a slow, phased, staged way” after that.

In Russia, though, authorities reported the largest increase in coronavirus cases with the new infections rising by nearly 10,000 in a single day.

In Moscow, the epicentre of Russia’s outbreak, around 2 percent of the population is infected by COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, officials said.

“The threat is apparently on the rise,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, said on his blog earlier Saturday.

– Treatment hopes –

More than 3.3 million cases of infection have been officially diagnosed in 195 countries, including 1.5 million in Europe alone. That number is likely only a fraction of true cases as testing is still limited.

The United States has the most deaths with more than 65,000, followed by Italy with 28,236, the United Kingdom with 27,510, Spain with 25,100 deaths and France with 24,594 fatalities.

US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that Remdesivir, an antiviral drug initially developed to treat Ebola, was given the green light for use after a major trial found that it boosted recovery in serious COVID-19 patients.

“It’s really a very promising situation,” Trump said on Friday at the White House.

The drug incorporates itself into the virus’s genome, short-circuiting its replication process.

Its approval came as the US leaders struggled with growing pressure from citizens wearying of stay-at-home orders.

Trump is keen for a turnaround as the world’s largest economy reels with tens of millions left jobless.

Texas became the largest US state yet to ease curbs, while anti-lockdown demonstrations were held in several states — including California, where officials had re-closed beaches beginning Friday to avoid a repeat of last weekend when crowds flocked to the shoreline.

In Huntington Beach, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) south of Los Angeles, several thousand people rallied to denounce Governor Gavin Newsom’s beach shutdown order.

“Open California!” chanted protesters near the closed beaches, carrying signs that read “All jobs are essential” or “Freedom is essential”.

– Hong Kong shops opening –

In Asia, India announced that the lockdown on its 1.3 billion people — the world’s biggest — would continue for two more weeks from May 4.

And in Singapore, the government said Saturday that pet food stores and hair salons will be allowed to reopen on May 12.

Most of the city-state’s infections have been detected at dormitories housing migrant workers, and their confinement was extended to June 1.

Hong Kong recorded zero confirmed case of coronavirus on Saturday, the sixth day within a week.

The city’s social distancing regulations including limits on gathering of more than four people are due to expire on May 7, but authorities have not decided whether to extend them.

The city’s chief executive has said that civil servants will return to work in the office starting from May 4.

During the long weekend with public holidays to celebrate Buddha’s birthday and Labour Day, residents flocked to country parks and the city’s outlying islands to get some fresh air.

Shops and restaurants started to resume business in normal opening hours with more consumers going out to streets and shopping malls.

The virus restrictions put a damper on May Day celebrations worldwide on Friday as many labour unions delayed their rallies and some held online events, while a determined few hit the streets in face masks.

May Day carried extra significance this year because of the staggering number of people put out of work by the pandemic, with the global economy in a tailspin and facing its worst downturn since the Great Depression.

Stock markets tumbled again on Friday after Trump’s unproven allegation that the virus may have come from a lab in Wuhan — the central Chinese city where the disease first emerged.

Source: AFP