US airlines announced additional steps Friday to ground planes and curtail executive pay as they prepare for an unprecedentedly bad travel market in the near-term.
Demand for service at Delta Air Lines is "declining at an accelerated pace daily, driving an unprecedented revenue impact," Chief Executive Ed Bastian said in a letter to employees that announced the carrier will cut overall capacity by 40 per cent.
Bastian also announced that he was forgoing 100 percent of his salary over the next six months and that Delta would park up to 300 aircraft and reduce capital spending by at least USD 2 billion.
The measures are more extreme than those outlined only three days ago. Since then, President Donald Trump announced a 30-day travel ban to Europe, worsening an already difficult environment for the industry.
"The situation has worsened considerably," Bastian said. "The speed of the demand fall-off is unlike anything we've seen -- and we've seen a lot in our business." Bastian indicated ..

US airlines ground more planes as travel crisis deepens

PTI Automatic

President Donald Trump is "very close" to reaching a stimulus agreement with US lawmakers to fight the coronavirus outbreak's economic damage, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday, as Democrats prepared to pass their own proposal.
Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi said her party would pass a bill "focused directly on providing support for America's families" that includes expansions of paid sick leave and unemployment insurance, among other measures.
However, it was unclear if Trump or the Republican leadership in the Senate were behind the proposal, though a Pelosi aide said the House speaker had spoken to Mnuchin repeatedly over the past days.
The fear surrounding the pandemic has pushed Wall Street indices into a bear market, which efforts to contain its spread shut down Disneyland and Broadway, and led major sports leagues to cancel or postpone their seasons, but Mnuchin called the slowdown a "short-term issue." The president is committed to getting a "major stimulus ..

Democrats ready stimulus as Mnuchin says virus hit on US economy 'short-term'

Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced Friday a Can$10 billion (USD 750 million) stimulus package to help businesses struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz slashed the central bank's key lending rate by 50 basis points to 0.75 per cent -- on the heels of a cut earlier this month.

Canada unveils Can$10 bln stimulus to counter coronavirus

Another 18 people have died from the coronavirus in France over the last 24 hours, bringing the total deaths from the virus to 79, Health Minister Olivier Veran said Friday.
Another 154 people were still in a serious condition, the minister added, while the total number of people infected with the virus had jumped to 3,661 -- from 2,876 Thursday evening.

France says coronavirus toll up 18 to 79

Chinese billionaire businessman Jack Ma on Friday offered the United States 500,000 coronavirus test kits and a million masks, as the country faces a shortage of kits for diagnosing the potentially deadly disease.
In a statement on Twitter, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba said, "drawing from my own country's experience, speedy and accurate testing and adequate protective equipment for medical professionals are most effective in preventing the spread of the virus."
"We hope that our donation can help Americans fight against the pandemic!" he said in the statement, which was posted by the Jack Ma Foundation.
Ma, who is China's richest man, said that over the past weeks, his organizations had helped provide similar supplies to virus-hit countries such as Japan, South Korea, Italy, Iran and Spain.
"The pandemic we face today can no longer be resolved by any individual country," Ma said. "We can't beat this virus unless we eliminate boundaries to resources and share our know-how ...

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma offers US virus test kits, masks

Spain's government is to declare a state of alert over the rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Friday after infections soared over 4,200 with 120 dead.
"There will be a cabinet meeting tomorrow to declare a state of alert across the country for a period of 15 days," Sanchez said.  "Unfortunately we cannot rule out that over the next week we could reach more than 10,000 infections," he said.
The government would adopt a series of extraordinary measures in order "to mobilise all the resources of state to better protect the health of all of its citizens", he said pointing to both public and private resources, as well as civilian and military.
"Several very tough weeks.. are ahead of us," Sanchez added, saying Spain was "only in the first phase of the fight against the virus".  "Victory depends on every single one of us.. Heroism is also about washing your hands and staying at home.

Spain to declare state of alert over virus

Denmark will close its borders to foreigners from Saturday midday, (1100 GMT) in a bid to slow the advance of coronavirus, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Friday.
"All tourists and foreigners who cannot prove that they have a valid reason to come to Denmark will not be allowed to enter," but Danes would be allow in, he told journalists.

Denmark closes borders to foreigners: official

Pakistan will close its border with Iran and Afghanistan in a bid to control the spread of the coronavirus, the interior ministry said Friday.
The move is the latest such action as countries around the world act swiftly to restrict travel in an attempt to slow the global outbreak, which was this week declared a pandemic.
The closure of Pakistan's porous border with Iran -- where hundreds of people have died from the disease -- and Afghanistan will start March 16.
It will be for "an initial period of two weeks... in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, in the best interest of all three brotherly countries", Pakistan's interior ministry said, using the scientific name for the highly communicable pathogen.
International flights into Pakistan are not expected to be affected at this time, officials said.
Pakistan has only recorded 21 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and no deaths, but officials have tested fewer than 500 potential cases in the country of about 215 million ...

Pakistan to close border with Iran, Afghanistan over coronavirus

Heavy rains and flooding have killed around 20 people in Egypt, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said Friday, in what he described as some of the worst weather in several decades.
In a statement posted on a government Facebook page, Madbouli said the bad weather had killed "around 20 people nationwide".
He urged local officials to declare Saturday a day off for schools and universities in order to allow the authorities to respond to the situation.  "Egypt has not witnessed such weather conditions in some 35 or 40 years," Madbouli said.
Five people died in Zaraib, south of Cairo, when their homes were swept away, a security official said earlier Friday, adding that rescue workers were looking for more victims.
In Cairo, two people were electrocuted and killed, the Akhbar el-Yom daily reported on its website.
The bad weather, forecast to continue until Saturday, was also blamed for a train crash in the capital on Thursday in which 13 people were injured.

Around 20 dead as heavy rains lash Egypt

The 40th edition of the London marathon has been postponed from April 26 to October 4, race organisers announced on Friday due to the health crisis caused by the spread of coronavirus.
Event Director Hugh Brasher, said: "The world is in an unprecedented situation grappling with a global pandemic of COVID-19 and public health is everyone's priority.

London Marathon postponed until October 4

Bulgaria ordered stores that do not sell food to shut down Friday to stem a spread of the new coronavirus as lawmakers approved fines and jail terms for quarantine violations.
Parliament declared a state of emergency to run until April 13, paving the way for more drastic measures as the number of infections tripled in 24 hours to a total of 23, including one death.
In a subsequent order, Health Minister Kiril Ananiev ordered the closure of shops -- except food stores and pharmacies -- shopping malls, casinos, bars and restaurants with immediate effect until March 29.
Schools, universities and kindergartens were also closed, as were theatres, cinemas, concert halls and sports venues.
The football union had already said that it was cancelling league games until April 13.
Bulgaria reported its first two cases of the coronavirus on March 8 and has since tested more than 1,400 people.
In a late-night session with the government on Thursday the country's coronavirus taskforce proposed a ...

Bulgaria shuts stores, approves fines, jail to fight virus

Louisiana declared an emergency over the coronavirus pandemic and postponed its April 4 Democratic primary, the first state to do so with the battle for the party's presidential nomination still undecided.
"The law provides for extraordinary measures to be taken when facing disasters," Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said.
"Today I have certified that a state of emergency exists." The move comes just days before four other states which have reported COVID-19 infections hold primaries, including Ohio and Florida.

Louisiana postpones Democratic primary over coronavirus

The German government on Friday unleashed the biggest economic aid package in the country's post-war history, offering companies "unlimited" credit to keep them afloat during the coronavirus crisis.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said the measures "are unprecedented in the history of the German government", and repeated that Berlin would do "whatever is necessary" to tackle the fallout from the pandemic.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz described the rescue measures as the equivalent of bringing "a bazooka" to the economic fightback against the virus.
"There is no upper limit to the credit offered by (state-owned development bank) KfW, that's the most important message," said Scholz as he unveiled the measures.
Some 550 billion euros (USD 614 billion) in government-backed loans that was announced is just "for starters", said Economy Minister Peter Altmaier at the same press conference.
"We promised that we will not fail because of a lack of money and political will. This means that no healthy ..

Germany unleashes biggest post-war aid package against virus

The collapse of sports events worldwide gathered pace Friday with England's Premier League, Europe's Champions League and the Augusta Masters golf major among competitions swept aside by the coronavirus pandemic.
As sports calendars were shredded worldwide, Formula One motor racing was in turmoil with the first three Grands Prix of the season -- Australia, Bahrain and Vietnam -- scrapped while the blue chip Masters, the first major golf tournament of the year, was postponed.
England's cricket tour of Sri Lanka also fell victim to the virus while suspension of the Premier League until April 4 came shortly after the French Football League announced that all Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 games would be on hold until further notice.
European football took a major hit when officials suspended next week's programme of Champions League and Europa League ties.
And cycling's first Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d'Italia, scheduled for May 9-31, was also put on hold as officials feared the impact of .

Sporting calendar shredded as coronavirus ravages top events

The Louvre in Paris, the world's most visited museum, said Friday that it was closing "until further notice" because of the coronavirus.
The closure of the museum, which had 9.6 million visitors last year, came after the French government banned all gatherings of over 100 people to limit the spread of the virus.
The Palace of Versailles -- France's other big tourist attraction with nearly 10 million tourists a year -- swiftly followed suit.
The Louvre had restricted entry to 1,000 people at a time on Monday as the number of cases in France began to rise.
In a sign that the shutdown could be relatively long-lasting, the museum said it was also postponing two upcoming exhibitions, including a show on Italian sculpture from Donatello to Michelangelo which was not due to open until May.
The Musee d'Orsay in Paris, which holds the world's biggest collection of Impressionist paintings, is expected to follow the Louvre's lead later Friday.
A string of other museums said they too were closing 

France's Louvre and Palace of Versailles shut by coronavirus

The G7 will hold an extraordinary meeting via videoconference next week to bolster the international response to the coronavirus outbreak, the French presidency said Friday, also proposing enhanced EU border control.
The meeting of the Group of Seven nations will seek to coordinate action against the virus in the spheres of health, economy, finance and research, the presidency said.
It said the event was initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron who discussed it with  US counterpart Donald Trump by telephone Friday.
The United States, current chair of the G7, and others in the group "all gave their agreement," it added. The G7 is made up of the US, Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, and Japan.
Macron also proposed that the European Union reinforce border control in the visa-free Schengen area or even close them in heavily-affected or high-risk areas, said the presidency.
The French leader discussed the matter by telephone Friday with EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

France announces G7 coronavirus meeting

Italians are beating the social isolation imposed by the country's coronavirus lockdown by taking to their windows and singing in unison, with videos of the phenomenon racking up thousands of views online.
Since Monday a series of decrees from the Italian government have drastically limited citizens' movements, with vast swathes of the economy shut down and people instructed to leave the house only when strictly necessary.
All cultural events have also been suspended, prompting some celebrities to start organising online performances and museums to put virtual tours online.
Another attempt to boost morale has now come in the form of impromptu music at people's windows.
One recording in the Tuscan city of Siena has been viewed over 600,000 times on Twitter.
In it, residents sing the traditional "Canto della Verbena" about the city from their windows, including a rousing verse with the words "long live our Siena!".
Italian singer Andrea Sannino posted a compilation on his Instagram feed 

Italians take to singing at windows to beat virus blues

Iran said Friday the security forces will clear the streets nationwide within 24 hours so all citizens can be checked for coronavirus -- its toughest measure yet to combat the outbreak.
The COVID-19 epidemic in Iran -- a nation of more than 80 million people -- has now claimed over 500 lives and infected more than 11,000.
Since it announced the first deaths last month, Iran has shut schools, postponed events and discouraged travel ahead of Nowrouz, the country's New Year holidays.
But despite those and other measures including the cancellation of the main weekly Friday prayers, the official number of deaths and infections has continued to grow exponentially.
Iran's supreme leader on Thursday ordered the armed forces to lead the battle against the outbreak.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei instructed the security forces to bring their services together and expand efforts to combat the virus.
Acting on those orders, armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri chaired a meeting on ..

Iran imposes lockdown to check all citizens for virus

President Donald Trump announced a White House news conference Friday, his latest attempt to restore public confidence in his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Trump, who has been criticised for persistently downplaying the pandemic, said in a tweet that this would take place at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT).
"Topic: CoronaVirus!" he tweeted. The announcement came as Congress and the White House said they were nearing agreement on measures to ease the financial pain caused by the pandemic's disruption to the economy.
A deal would likely dampen panic in the stock markets and offer reassurance for Americans facing possible severe health costs and job turmoil resulting from the sudden slowdown in economic activity.
Trump could also declare a national emergency, which would free up substantial federal funding.
His press conference comes after a widely panned national address on Wednesday, which not only failed to calm growing nerves but contained serious factual errors and was followed by a ...

Trump announces news conference on coronavirus

The European commission, the EU's executive arm, warned Friday that growth in Europe would fall into negative territory due to the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak.
An EU official told a news briefing that it "is very likely that growth for the euro area and for the EU as a whole will fall below zero this year."
The final reading could "potentially even be considerably below zero," the official added.

EU warns 2020 growth 'very likely' below zero after virus outbreak

Some of Rome's Catholic churches reopened Friday after Pope Francis voiced displeasure with the Italian authorities' push to shut them because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The rare standoff between the 83-year-old pontiff and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's government came as Italy's death toll topped 1,000.
Italy has suffered more than half the COVID-19 deaths reported outside China to date and the death toll has been increasing by hundreds each day.
Conte has responded by shuttering most shops and all restaurants and other public places in the hope of stemming contagion and easing the burden on overstretched hospitals.
Italians have been told to avoid going outside without a good reason and machine-gun toting soldiers now patrol city streets.
But churches have stayed opened in the overwhelmingly Catholic country throughout what many now see as Italy's biggest crisis since World War II.
That changed when the vicar of Rome said Thursday he could no longer withstand government pressure 

AFP

AFP

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