How to help others this holiday during coronavirus

AFP
Macron warns 'mortal' Europe needs credible defence
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday warned that Europe faced an existential threat from Russian aggression, calling on the continent to adopt a "credible" defence strategy less dependent on the United States."We need to build this strategic concept of a credible European defence for ourselves," Macron said, adding Europe could not be "a vassal" of the United States.
8m ago
Reuters
Myanmar warlord at centre of battle for key border town
The struggle for Myawaddy has highlighted the role played by Colonel Saw Chit Thu, his militia and sprawling business enterprise, underlining his outsized influence in the strategically vital territory. The Karen National Army (KNA) he leads has long had a presence in the region lying across from Thailand, which has become a key battleground in recent weeks as an anti-junta resistance gains momentum against the powerful military. Saw Chit Thu's ties to Myanmar's military rulers, evidenced by an honorary title for "outstanding performance" conferred on him by junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing in November 2022, have helped him build his position.
9m ago
AFP
Labour pledges to renationalise UK railways
Britain's main Labour opposition on Thursday vowed to renationalise the UK's much-maligned rail services within five years if it wins a general election due later this year.Labour has been pretty light on policy detail as it tries not to blow a huge lead over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives in opinion polls, and return to power after 14 years in opposition.
19m ago
CBS News
Palestinians thank U.S. students for support as Netanyahu condemns them
As Israel's leader equates U.S. university protests to rallies in Nazi Germany, Palestinian students tell CBS News what the support means to them.
20m ago
AFP
US announces sweeping cuts to power sector carbon emissions
President Joe Biden's government on Thursday finalized sweeping plans to curb planet-warming emissions from the nation's fossil fuel plants as part of the United States' efforts to confront the climate crisis.There were also concerns it encouraged the use of carbon capture to achieve the reductions, a technology still in its infancy and which allow fossil fuel plants to continue to dump other pollutants on vulnerable communities, climate justice groups say.
21m ago
AFP
US to give Micron $6.1 bn for American chip factories
Micron is set to receive up to $6.1 billion in grants from the US government to help build its semiconductor plants in New York and Idaho, the White House said Thursday.Micron is set to invest up to $125 billion across both states over the next two decades "to build a leading-edge memory manufacturing ecosystem," according to the White House.
22m ago
AFP
Car giants vie for EV crown at Beijing's Auto China show
Chinese car giants locked in a cut-throat price war descended on the capital for the start of the Auto China show Thursday, vying to draw consumers and headlines in the world's biggest electric vehicle market and abroad.Beijing's Auto China show, which lasts until May 4, sees dozens of firms square off in a bid to draw customers at one of the country's biggest car shows.
25m ago
Associated Press
EU military officer says a frigate has destroyed a drone launched from Yemen's Houthi-held areas
A top European Union military officer said that a frigate that’s part of an EU mission in the Red Sea to protect merchant shipping destroyed a drone launched from an area in Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels on Thursday morning. Austrian Gen. Robert Brieger, who is chair of the EU’s military committee, said that it would be crucial for the bloc to “conserve resources” over the long haul because the threat posed by Houthi attacks “will not disappear” due to its connection to the Israel-Hamas war. “The task given to the military is simply to protect merchant ships and to show the public that the European Union is not willing to accept a terrorist organization will interrupt the freedom of movement at sea,” Brieger said.
28m ago
AFP
London stocks hit new record on blockbuster mining takeover bid
The London stock market smashed another record peak Thursday after British mining titan Anglo American received a gargantuan $38.8-billion takeover bid from rival BHP, with sentiment also buoyed by earnings.Markets will switch focus later Thursday to earnings from US tech titans Alphabet and Microsoft.
32m ago
AFP
More than 100 arrested at US university pro-Palestinian protests
More than 100 people were arrested Wednesday at two universities in California and Texas, officials said, after pro-Palestinian protests erupted across US campuses this week.- Free speech - The spreading pro-Palestinian protests began at Columbia University in New York, where dozens of arrests were made last week after university authorities called in police to quell a protest encampment that some Jewish students said was threatening and anti-Semitic.
34m ago
Reuters
Merck raises 2024 profit forecast on strong sales of cancer drug Keytruda
(Reuters) -Merck & Co on Thursday raised its annual profit and revenue forecast on the back of strong sales for its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda. The New Jersey-based drugmaker said it expected earnings of $8.53 and $8.65 per share, up from its previous forecast of $8.44 to $8.59, and sales of $63.1-$64.3 billion for the year. Merck's new forecast includes a $0.26 per share charge for its $680 million acquisition of cancer drug developer Harpoon Therapeutics, which closed in the first quarter of 2024, the company said.
44m ago
AFP
Heatstroke kills 30 in Thailand this year as Southeast Asia bakes
Millions of people across South and Southeast Asia sweltered through unusually hot weather on Thursday, as the Thai government said heatstroke has already killed at least 30 people this year.Millions of people across South and Southeast Asia sweltered through unusually hot weather on Thursday, as the Thai government said heatstroke has already killed at least 30 people this year.
45m ago
Associated Press
Family of American man believed to be held by Taliban asks the UN torture investigator for help
Lawyers for an American believed to be held by the Taliban for nearly two years are asking a United Nations human rights investigator to intervene, citing what they say is cruel and inhumane treatment. Ryan Corbett was abducted Aug. 10, 2022, after returning to Afghanistan, where he and his family had been living at the time of the collapse of the U.S.-based government there a year earlier. In a petition sent Thursday, lawyers for Corbett say that he's been threatened with physical violence and torture and has been malnourished and deprived of medical care.
47m ago
AFP
Portugal marks 50 years of democracy with far right on rise
Portugal on Thursday marked 50 years since a military coup ended a decades-long dictatorship and 13 years of colonial wars in Africa, an anniversary that comes as a far-right party gains prominence.It is the first hard-right party to gain ground in Portugal since the end of the dictatorship.
48m ago
Yahoo Finance
TikTok vows to take US ban bill to the courts. It faces an uphill climb.
TikTok has vowed to challenge in court a new law that could result in a ban of the video app in the US, but it could find that it is on less-than-solid legal ground.
52m ago
Associated Press
Fire burns a restaurant and hotel in eastern India, killing 6 and injuring 20
A major fire that engulfed a restaurant and hotel in eastern India on Thursday killed at least six people and injured 20, a local fire officer said. The fire began when a cooking gas cylinder exploded while diners were eating in the restaurant, and it soon spread into an adjacent hotel in Patna, the capital of Bihar state, said Satya Prakash, the officer. At least 40 people were rescued from the two buildings by firefighters who doused the blaze using more than a dozen fire engines, Prakash said.
58m ago
Reuters
UK police make additional arrest over migrants' deaths in Channel
British police said on Thursday they had arrested an additional individual over the deaths of five migrants, including a child, who died attempting to cross the Channel from France on a small boat earlier this week. The 18-year-old from Sudan was arrested on Wednesday evening in Kent, southeast England, on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. Three other men have also been arrested in connection with the fatal crossing, but one of these, a 19-year-old from Sudan, has since been released without charge and will be dealt with by immigration officials, the NCA said.
59m ago
Associated Press
Turkish rail officials jailed for more than 108 years for crash that left 25 dead
A court in Turkey sentenced nine rail officials to more than 108 years' imprisonment over a crash six years ago that killed 25 people, local media reported on Thursday. A passenger train operated by Turkish State Railways derailed in July 2018 as it passed through Corlu district some 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Istanbul. The train was traveling from Unlukopru, near the Greek border, to Istanbul’s Halkali station, Turkey’s main rail route to Europe.
1h ago
Reuters
Confounding US economic, inflation data muddy Fed's rate path
The Federal Reserve's latest financial stability report was good news for anyone worried that a record run of interest rate hikes might overstress the banking system or trigger a recession with companies and households pushed into default through a broad credit crackdown. Instead, the Fed is wrestling with an economy that has sloughed off tight monetary policy to such a degree that U.S. central bank officials are without a clear view of what to expect and divided over issues like productivity, the economy's underlying potential, and even whether the current policy interest rate is as restrictive as imagined when they called off further hikes. A recently updated Fed index of overall financial conditions showed there was virtually no impact on economic growth right now from the central bank's monetary policy or the broader credit conditions it is intended to influence.
1h ago
Reuters
UPS, FedEx transition to electric vans slowed by battery shortages, low supply
UPS and FedEx are facing uncertainty in U.S. supplies of big, boxy electric step vans they need to replace their gas guzzlers and make a dent in the country's climate-warming tailpipe emissions. The path to electrification by the package delivery giants is critical to U.S. President Joe Biden's transportation climate goals. Achieving that aim, however, is hampered by battery shortages that are limiting EV supplies and keeping prices high, and by startup electric van makers that are running out of money and shutting down.
1h ago

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