IRAN PROMISES 'TO CRUSH' US FORCES IF SHIPS ATTACKED IN GULF <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/iran-vows-crush-forces-ships-attacked-gulf-200423065439347.html>

Iran will destroy U.S. warships if its security is threatened in the Gulf, the head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards told state TV on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran over ”harassment” of U.S. vessels.

“I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any American terrorist force in the Persian Gulf that threatens security of Iran’s military or non-military ships,” Major General Hossein Salami said. “Security of the Persian Gulf is part of Iran’s strategic priorities.”

Trump said on Wednesday he had instructed the U.S. Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea, but said later he was not changing the militarys rules of engagement.

On Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss Ambassador in Tehran, who represents U.S. interests in the country, over the recent tensions between Tehran and Washington. “I am telling the Americans that we are absolutely determined and serious in defending our national security, our water borders, our shipping safety, and our security forces, and we will respond decisively to any sabotage,” Salami said.

“Americans have experienced our power in the past and must learn from it.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested that Mr. Trump should focus on saving U.S. service members from the pandemic. “The U.S. military is hit by over 5,000 #covid19 infections... Also, U.S. forces have no business 7,000 miles away from home, provoking our sailors off our OWN Persian Gulf shores,” Mr.Zarif tweeted.

PAKISTAN CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN IS THWARTED BY IMAMS AS RAMADAN NEARS

While clerics and governments across the Muslim world will greet Ramadan this week under lockdown, working together to shut mosques and urging worshippers to pray at home, in Pakistan, some of the most prominent imams have rallied their devotees to ignore the anti-pandemic measures.

Ramadan, which begins in Pakistan later this week, is the holy month in which Muslims crowd into mosques and fast all day, holding feasts after sundown with family and friends. Those are ripe conditions for the coronavirus to spread, and imams around the world are asking people to stay home.

But in Pakistan, pandemic or no pandemic, hard-line clerics are calling the shots, overriding the government’s nationwide virus lockdown, which began late last month.

Most clerics complied with the shutdown when it was announced. But some of the most influential ones called on worshippers to attend Friday prayers in even greater numbers. Devotees attacked police officers who tried to get in their way.

As Ramadan drew closer, dozens of well-known clerics and leaders of religious parties — including some who had initially obeyed the lockdown orders — signed a letter demanding that the government exempt mosques from the shutdown during the holy month or invite the anger of God and the faithful.

On Saturday, the government gave in, signing an agreement that let mosques stay open for Ramadan as long as they followed 20 rules, including forcing congregants to maintain a 6-foot distance, bring their own prayer mats and do their ablutions at home.

CORONAVIRUS: HUGE ECONOMIC RESCUE PLAN AGREED BY EU LEADERS

A plan for injecting billions of euros of emergency aid into Europe's battered economies has been agreed by EU heads.

Meeting via video, they agreed to set up a massive recovery fund, closely tied to the bloc's seven-year budget.

They also confirmed that €540bn (£470bn) of financial support would be released through existing mechanisms from 1 June.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the fund would mobilise €1 trillion of investment.

There has been bitter argument over how to fund the much-needed aid. But Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said "great progress" had been made on Thursday.

Italy - which has had the deadliest outbreak in Europe to date - had urged its EU partners, especially the richer countries of northern Europe, to show more solidarity.

There was no walkout by Angry Italy. No fuming about Eurobonds by the Dutch. Instead EU leaders signed off, as expected, on a pre-agreed €500bn euro emergency financial package and on guidelines for lifting Covid-19 restrictions.

Heated discussion about a recovery plan for European economies after the health crisis was left for another day.

The buck passed to the European Commission, which now has the unenviable task of conjuring up a proposal acceptable to divided EU opinion.

Leaders also agreed to follow guidance from the EU Commission - the organisation's executive arm - on easing their respective lockdowns once the spread of the virus had reduced for a "significant period".

Details of how the longer term recovery plan will be funded will be discussed at another videoconference on 6 May.

PILLORIED OVER COVID-19 RESPONSE, WHO OPTS FOR TRUNCATED ANNUAL MEET IN MAY

The World Health Organisation has decided to go for a truncated annual meet on May 18 with a limited agenda amid efforts by countries such as Australia to push for an international investigation into the coronavirus pandemic.

In a communication sent to member states, the WHO said it would not be appropriate to take up the nearly 60 items that had been placed on the provisional agenda less than 20 days ago.

This is being done to provide crucial international focus on Covid-19 that has killed nearly 180,000 people worldwide in a matter of months, it said.

Instead, the WHO document proposes that the 73rd World Health Assembly consider an abridged agenda. This would include opening of the health assembly, address by Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that would be focused on Covid-19 preparedness and response and the formal election to the 10 seats on the executive board that will fall vacant.

The session would begin on 18 May and end the next day. A fuller version of the assembly would be held later.

CHINA TO GIVE $30M MORE AID TO WHO

Cash-rich China on Thursday announced an additional $30 million grant to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support its global fight against the deadly coronavirus, days after Beijing expressed “serious concern” over President Donald Trump's decision to freeze US' funding for the UN health agency over its handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang made the announcement at a media briefing here. The grant will be in addition to the $20 million provided by China, the world's second largest economy, earlier to the WHO. “China has decided to donate another $30 million in cash to the WHO in addition to the $20 million cash donation to support the global fight against COVID-19 to help strengthen developing countries health systems,” Geng said.

80 COUNTRIES LIMITING EXPORTS OF FACE MASKS, OTHER GOODS: WTO REPORT

WASHINGTON -- Eighty countries and customs territories have banned or limited the export of face masks, protective gear, gloves and other goods to mitigate shortages since the coronavirus outbreak began, the World Trade Organization reported on Thursday.

It said the bans were imposed by 72 WTO members and 8 non-WTO member countries, but only 13 WTO members had notified the global trade body as required by its regulations.

Lack of transparency about restrictions and failure to cooperate internationally could undermine efforts to slow the spread of the COVID-19 disease, which has infected 2.64 million people around the world and killed 184,910, the WTO said.

"While the introduction of export-restrictive measures is understandable, the lack of international cooperation in these areas risks cutting off import-reliant countries from desperately needed medical products and triggering a supply shock," the WTO report said. "And by interfering with established medical supply chains, such measures also risk hampering the urgently required supply response."

Export bans and restrictions are generally prohibited in the WTO, although there are exceptions which allow temporary measures to "prevent or relieve critical shortages of foodstuffs or other products essential to the exporting contracting party."

Reuters reported on Thursday that France had expanded its list of drugs that face export restrictions despite repeated calls from the European Union to lift curbs that could cause shortages in other countries.

The WTO said restrictions could prompt others to follow suit and further reduce available supplies.

"The long-term effects could be significant," the report said, warning that too-broad measures that stayed in place could irreparably alter supply chains and additional tariff and non-tariff barriers could spring up as a reaction.

TRUMP REJECTS ‘INCORRECT’ REPORTS ON NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM JONG UN’S HEALTH

US President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was ailing, criticizing his frequent nemesis CNN for running the story.

“I think the report was incorrect, let me just put it that way,” Trump told reporters. “I’m hearing they used old documents.”

Trump declined to say if he had direct knowledge from North Korea that Kim was fine.

He instead attacked cable news network CNN, with which the US leader has an acrimonious relationship.

“I think it was a fake report done by CNN,” Trump said at a daily briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, before refusing to take further questions from a journalist of the network.

CNN, quoting what it said was an anonymous US official, on Monday reported that Washington was “monitoring intelligence” that Kim was in “grave danger” after undergoing surgery.

Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, separately said that Kim underwent a cardiovascular procedure earlier this month and was recovering at a villa in North Pyongan province.

CORONAVIRUS PUSHES U.S. UNEMPLOYMENT TOWARD HIGHEST SINCE DEPRESSION

Unemployment in the U.S. is swelling to levels last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, with 1 in 6 American workers thrown out of a job by the coronavirus, according to new data released Thursday. In response to the deepening economic crisis, the House passed a nearly $500 billion spending package to help buckled businesses and hospitals.

More than 4.4 million laid-off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the government reported. In all, roughly 26 million people — the population of the 10 biggest U.S. cities combined — have now filed for jobless aid in five weeks, an epic collapse that has raised the stakes in the debate over how and when to ease the shutdowns of factories and other businesses.

In the hardest-hit corner of the U.S., evidence emerged that perhaps 2.7 million New York state residents have been infected by the virus — 10 times the number confirmed by lab tests.

A small, preliminary statewide survey of around 3,000 people found that nearly 14% had antibodies showing they had been infected, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Just in New York City, with a population of 8.6 million, Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said as many as 1 million may have been infected.

The coronavirus has killed nearly 1,90,000 people worldwide, including more than 1,00,000 in Europe and about 47,000 in the United States, according to a tally compiled by John Hopkins University from official government figures. The true numbers are almost certainly far higher.