Month: March 2020

What coronavirus? Fans pack stadium to watch Minsk derby as Belarus remains lone league riding out Covid-19 storm Football in Belarus has continued its lone defiance in the face of the Covid-19 threat as the league schedule went ahead as planned this weekend, including thousands of fans packing the stands for the Minsk derby. Belarus remains the sole country in Europe yet to cancel mass public gatherings in a bid to fight the spread of the virus, with the Belarusian Premier League kicking off as planned earlier this month in direct contrast to practically every other major football competition in the world.  With the global sporting calendar decimated by measures designed to mitigate the public health crisis, Belarus football fans nonetheless flocke...

Coronavirus emergency plan could cut Russia’s economic growth Paid holidays announced by the Russian government to prevent the spread of Covid-19 will come at the expense of economic growth, but support for struggling businesses may offset the negative effects, analysts believe. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation to roll out emergency policies aimed at battling the deadly virus and its impact on the economy. According to the plan, most Russians will get a week of paid leave, except those working in the medical, pharmaceutical, and banking sectors, as well as in government bodies, essential stores, and transportation. “The ballpark figure is one fifty-second of annual GDP,” Sergey Kopylov, a junior partner at consulti...

Coronavirus pandemic is like CHERNOBYL, says Ukraine legend Shevchenko Ukrainian football great Andriy Shevchenko says there are “similarities” between the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the world and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in his homeland in 1986. The former Chelsea and AC Milan star, 43, is currently in lockdown at his home just outside London, and says the feeling is similar to what he experienced as a child in Kiev in the wake of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. “I’ve been locked in for almost 10 days,” the Ukraine icon told Sky Sport Italia. “I experienced a very similar situation when I was nine years old and the Chernobyl power plant [disaster] broke out. “It was a difficult time. The only solution is to believe in government ...

He betrayed Maduro to be busted by America? Venezuela’s ex-spy chief ‘to turn himself in’ to US to face ‘narco-terrorism’ charges The former head of Venezuela’s military intelligence, Hugo Carvajal, has reportedly offered to turn himself in to American authorities. Despite denouncing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Carvajal was too indicted by the US. Carvajal, who has been in hiding since Spanish authorities green-lit his extradition to the US on drug-trafficking charges earlier this month, now wants to surrender, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing anonymous sources. According to the news agency, the Americans have been in touch with the former spy chief through a “non-governmental intermediary.” Though US authorities have long sought Carvajal...

First baby dies in the US after coronavirus diagnosis An infant younger than one year old has died in Chicago, after testing positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus. The child is possibly the first infant in the US to die of the deadly disease. The child’s death was reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) on Saturday. Though Covid-19 has not yet been named as the conclusive cause of death, the child was diagnosed with the illness before passing away. “There has never before been a death associated with COVID-19 in an infant,” IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a statement. “We must do everything we can to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. If not to protect ourselves, but to protect those around us.” ...

From layoffs to COVID DANCE-OFFs, richest US universities drag their heels on virus response When art school students at one of America’s top universities asked their dean for tuition refunds, she turned them down in a most peculiar way: through interpretive dance. The elite, it seems, are different from you and me. With their school closed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, students at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts got in touch with college officials to ask for their tuition back. Given that a year’s tuition at the art school costs upwards of $60,000, they were anxious to get the money returned. Dean Allyson Green emailed the students back last week, denying their request. Attached to the email was a bizarre video of Green perform...