【常速英语广播5分钟】英语新闻2020-04-1_2

VOA NEWS

April 2, 2020

This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Diane Roberts.

More than 900,000 cases of coronavirus have been officially detected worldwide since the December outbreak in CN. Of those cases, more than 45,000 people have died.

The pandemic has reached 205 countries and territories globally. It is spreading fastest in the United States where nearly 4,500 people have died from the more than 203,000 cases. This includes a six-week-old baby who died in Connecticut. Italy has the most fatalities with 13,155.

The U.S. Navy is evacuating thousands of sailors from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in Guam. This after its captain warned a coronavirus outbreak was threatening the lives of its crew.

The Navy says 93 of the 4,800 on board are infected with the COVID-19 virus. One thousand of the crew members are already off the carrier. All 1,700 more should be off in the next couple of days.

Pentagon officials say they are arranging for hotel rooms in the Pacific island for many of the crew while sorting out who can be part of a skeleton crew to keep the ship operational.

Meanwhile, a stranded cruise ship unable to dock because of the coronavirus outbreak will get some help soon.

President Trump said Wednesday authorities will evacuate passengers from the cruise liner that was supposed to dock in Florida after being barred from several Latin American countries because of the outbreak.

The president said the U.S. was sending medical team on board the ship and taking people off. He said foreigners will be sent home.

The White House warns Americans to be prepared. The task force dealing with the coronavirus crisis for the country says as many as 200,000 people could die from COVID-19. That is with American social distancing.

This is VOA news.

Global stocks experienced another rout Wednesday as the human and economic toll from the coronavirus continued to rise.

The Dow dropped 4.4 percent. European equities also fell hard, with London, Frankfurt and Paris all down around 4 percent.

Greece's Holy Synod, the supreme body of the country's Orthodox Church, said Wednesday the coronavirus outbreak would force churches to remain closed over the Easter period. Easter is traditionally the biggest date on the Orthodox calendar but this year's celebrations on April 19 will be very muted.

A climate summit scheduled for Glasgow later this year has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Finland's environment ministry says, "the COP26 climate conference will move from November to next year."

The head of Friends of the Earth Scotland says that without a delay some nations risk being excluded and will be extremely difficult to make proper preparation in time.

The Russian missions to the U.N. said a Russian military plane carrying medical supplies arrived in the United States Wednesday in hard-hit New York City.

The defense ministry has not released much information but did provide video showing boxes on board [carry] the cargo plane said to be carrying medical masks and medical equipment.

Some American lawmakers say the United States has accused CN of lying about the extent of its deadly coronavirus outbreak, citing an intelligence report presented to the White House.

Republicans in Congress expressed outrage that Beijing apparently misled the international community on CN's infections and deaths that began in late 2019 in the city of Wuhan.

The Wimbledon tennis championship in London is canceled, widely considered to be the world's premier tennis event.

Organizers said the tournament will be rescheduled for 2021. It will be the first time since World War II Wimbledon has been canceled.

A recommendation "wash your hands frequently with soap and water during the coronavirus pandemic" is easier said than done in some places.

One in nine people on the planet lack access to clean water and many live on the continent of Africa. Even in relatively well-developed South Africa, millions of residents lack clean running water at home.

Charitable organizations are stepping in to try to help during the coronavirus outbreak. Living Water International has set up water points and handwashing stations in countries including Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

And an unlikely sacrifice that you may have to make because of the coronavirus crisis - butter.

Switzerland government warns of a potential butter shortage. It said for the first time in years, butter production might not be able to keep up with demand.

Via remote, I'm Diane Roberts, VOA news.

VOA NEWS

April 1, 2020

This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned of a very "painful" couple of weeks ahead as the COVID-19 virus spreads further ahead of an expected peak in the number of cases.

He spoke Tuesday at an evening news conference at the White House, offering grim predictions. But he added that Americans will soon see what he called "the light at the end of the tunnel."

Despite vast improvements in countries, such as CN and South Korea, the World Health Organization said Tuesday the coronavirus outbreak is far from over even in the Western Pacific region.

Dr. Takeshi Kasai, the WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, said Tuesday the outbreak is going to be a long-term battle. He said every country needs to continue its response.

CN reported one new death and 48 new cases Tuesday, none of them locally transmitted, however, and South Korea reported 125 new cases.

Italy reported 837 more deaths on Tuesday, bringing its total to 12,428. Spain surpassed CN in terms of overall cases. Only the United States has had more cases than Italy and Spain.

The United Nations is establishing a trust fund to support low and middle income countries in responding to the coronavirus pandemic and recovering from its socio-economic shock.

The U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the pandemic is the greatest test the world has faced since the formation of the United Nations 75 years ago. He is calling for a large-scale, coordinated, multilateral response amounting to at least 10 per cent of global gross [domet...] domestic product.

There are more than 820,000 confirmed cases worldwide of COVID-19 and at least 40,000 deaths.

From Washington D.C., this is VOA news.

Germany, Britain and France have facilitated exports of medical goods to Iran in the first use of a mechanism designed to get around U.S. sanctions, according to Germany on Tuesday.

A German Foreign Ministry statement did not specify exactly what type of medical supplies were involved, nor any companies that were part of the action.

It said now that the system had been used successfully, the two sides could "work on more transactions."

Iran and a group of five world powers signed a deal in 2015 that restricted Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

After the United States withdrew from the deal and imposed sanctions, Iran pressured the European signatories to work around those restrictions to help its battered economy.

That pressure included Iran taking a series of steps away from its commitments under the 2015 deal, including caps on uranium enrichment.

Mexico has declared a month-long health emergency, with new restrictions on the size of gatherings, to contain the surging coronavirus that already exceeds 1,000 cases, with 28 deaths.

Reuters [new a...] news agency said Mexico will now only allow gatherings of no more than 50 people. It's extending its ban on non-essential activities.

Violators of the new rules are expected to face penalties, according to Mexico's foreign minister.

Mexico's latest move to contain the virus stops short of measures in place in some other Latin American countries in the grips of the virus, including lockdowns.

The United States is willing to lift sanctions against Venezuela in exchange for the formation of a transitional government [como...] comprised of allies of President Nicolás Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaidó. That's according to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday.

The plan calls on Maduro and Guaidó to hand over power to a five-member council until presidential and parliamentary elections can be held within the next year.

Pompeo called on Maduro and Guaidó to form a transitional government which would be tasked with scheduling elections within six to 12 months. Pompeo said the United States would welcome efforts by Guaidó to seek office in future elections, but maintained the U.S. position that Maduro must go.

The oil-rich country's economy, already weakened by a U.S. economic pressure campaign, has been dealt subsequent blows by the coronavirus pandemic and falling oil prices. The coronavirus has also crippled the country's health care system.

And once again, our top story. U.S. President Donald Trump today warned of a painful [few weeks] two weeks ahead as the COVID-19 virus spreads [further ahead in] ahead of an expected peak in the number of cases.

Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton. From Washington D.C., you're listening to VOA news.