3.3 MILLION AMERICANS APPLY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT

More than 3 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week,

sending a collective shudder throughout the economy that is unlike anything

Americans have experienced.

The report, released by the Labor Department on Thursday, provides some of

the first hard data on the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic, which

has shut down whole swaths of American life faster than government

statistics can keep track.

Just three weeks ago, barely 200,000 people applied for jobless benefits, a

historically low number. In the half-century that the government has tracked

applications, the worst week ever, with 695,000 so-called initial claims,

had been in October 1982.

ThursdayÂ’s figure of nearly 3.3 million set a grim record.

“A large part of the economy just collapsed,” said Ben Herzon, executive

director of IHS Markit, a business data and analytics firm.

The worst could be yet to come. Herzon said he expected a similarly large

number next Thursday, when the Labor Department releases its report on new

claims filed this week.

ThursdayÂ’s unemployment numbers provide only the first hint of the economic

cataclysm in progress. Even comparatively optimistic forecasters expect

millions of lost jobs, and with them foreclosures, evictions and

bankruptcies.

NICOLÁS MADURO: US CHARGES VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT WITH 'NARCO-TERRORISM'

The US has charged Venezuela's President, Nicolás Maduro, and other senior

officials in the country with "narco-terrorism".

It accused them of flooding the US with cocaine and using drugs as a weapon

to undermine the health of Americans.

The charges were announced by Attorney General William Barr. A $15m (£12.5m)

reward is being offered for information leading to Mr Maduro's arrest.

The US move will further escalate tensions between the two nations.

Washington has long accused the Venezuelan president of leading a corrupt

and brutal regime, a charge he has repeatedly rejected.

The new charges represent an escalation in the longstanding US pressure

campaign on Mr Maduro, which also includes sweeping sanctions on Venezuela's

oil industry.

The charges against Mr Maduro and 14 members of his inner circle include

narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and corruption.

At a news conference announcing the indictment on Thursday, Mr Barr accused

Mr Maduro of conspiring with a faction of the Colombian Farc rebel group "to

flood the United States with cocaine" and "devastate American communities".

"While the Venezuelan people suffer, this cabal... lines their pockets," he

added.

G-20 ACTION PLAN TO JOINTLY COMBAT CORONAVIRUS

The first-ever virtual summit of the G-20 group of nations on Thursday

decided to spare no effort, both individually and collectively, to combat

Covid-19 and its disastrous effects on trade and informal employment.

The chair of the G-20 King Salman of Saudi Arabia indicated that another

virtual summit of G-20 besides sectoral groups of Finance and Heath

Ministers will pick up the threads of the resolve expressed at todayÂ’s

summit.

“In his remarks at G20 Virtual Summit, PM Modi noted the alarming social and

economic cost of the pandemic. He added that 90% of the COVID-19 cases and

88% of deaths were in G20 countries, even as they share 80% of world GDP and

60% of world population,” the Ministry of External Affairs said.

In a joint statement, the group said they are collectively injecting $5

trillion into the global economy to counteract the social and financial

impacts of the pandemic.

CANADA DENOUNCES TRUMP PLAN TO DEPLOY TROOPS AT THE BORDER

Canada has denounced a proposal of the Trump administration to deploy troops

along their undefended border to help fight the spread of the coronavirus,

saying the idea was unnecessary and would damage relations.

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland had made clear the Liberal

government had no time for a plan to send hundreds of troops to the border

to boost security.

"Canada is strongly opposed to this US proposal and we have made that

opposition very, very clear ... this is an entirely unnecessary step which

we would view as damaging to our relationship," Freeland told a news

conference.

"The public health situation does not require such action," she said, noting

Washington had yet to take a final decision.

IN SHOCK MOVE, BENNY GANTZ ELECTED SPEAKER OF ISRAEL'S PARLIAMENT

Opposition leader Benny Gantz has been elected as speaker of the Israeli

parliament in a surprise move that suggested a political partnership that

could keep Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power.

With the partial backing of Gantz's centrist Blue and White party and the

support of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, Gantz was elected on Thursday

with 74 votes in the 120-member Knesset, with 18 members voting against the

nomination.

It could pave the way for a "rotation deal" in which Netanyahu and Gantz, a

former military chief, would take turns as prime minister.

UN CONDEMNS TERRORIST ATTACK ON SIKHS IN AFGHANISTAN

The United Nations has condemned the terrorist attack on a Gurudwara in

Kabul that killed at least 25 people, with the UN chief calling for the

perpetrators of such crimes to be held accountable and the world body

emphasising that there can be no justification for the killing of civilians

at a religious house.

The Secretary-General condemns the attack in Kabul on a Sikh-Hindu temple in

which dozens of civilians were killed and injured.

“The United Nations stands in solidarity with the people and the Government

of Afghanistan and will continue supporting efforts to bring peace to their

country, the statement said.

In a tweet, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)

said it is “outraged” by the attack.

CHINESE CITY EASES LOCKDOWN BUT LIFE IS FAR FROM NORMAL

Banners warning that playing cards together is suicide and guards yelling at

crowds to separate: a Chinese city near the coronavirus (COVID-19) ground

zero remains far from normal even after emerging from a two-month lockdown.

Huanggang, home to 7.5 million people, was among the worst-affected areas in

Hubei, the province where the new coronavirus first emerged late last year.

Travel restrictions were loosened on Wednesday and — if healthy — people

were allowed to leave Hubei, where more than 50 million people were placed

under lockdown in January to prevent the spread of the virus.

But warnings were prominently displayed across Huanggang city to remind

people that the virus still posed a threat. “If you don’t wear a mask, the

virus will fall in love with you,” said a banner.

Restaurants re-opened — but diners weren’t allowed to eat inside. Instead,

delivery drivers collected takeout orders, as a handful of customers ate at

tables outside.

Nearly 3,000 people were infected and 125 died in Huanggang, which is now

considered a low-risk area.

Like other regions in the province, people can travel in and out of the city

if they have a “green” health status on a special phone app.

But despite the easing of restrictions, Huanggang is still on edge, and

officials repeatedly said the situation was still “not safe”.

BRAZIL'S GOVERNORS PRESS BOLSONARO FOR MORE CORONAVIRUS SUPPORT

Brazil's governors pressed President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday for more

federal support in the coronavirus battle after he blasted them as

job-killers and undermined their orders with a decree keeping churches open

at the evangelical preachers' request, the Associated Press news agency

reported.

In a public letter, Brazil's governors argued that the federal government

had not done enough to fund the fight against the virus that has infected

about half a million people globally.

Bolsonaro has increasingly echoed the view of US President Donald Trump that

jobs should be prioritised over restrictive measures to slow the outbreak,

as world health experts suggest.

"Tourism has plummeted to zero," he said on a Facebook Live broadcast on

Thursday night. "Nothing is working. This wave of panic and hysteria is

bigger than the virus itself."

SRI LANKA FREES SOLDIER WHO KILLED 8 TAMILS

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday pardoned and released an

Army man who was on death row for killing eight Tamil civilians, including a

five-year-old and two teenagers, in 2000 during the civil war.

“The President has instructed the Ministry of Justice to release Sgt

Ratnayake from prison,” a spokeswoman at the Presidential Media Division

said.

In 2015, Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was convicted for the killings in

Mirusuvil, Jaffna Peninsula, and sentenced to death.

In 2019, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence.