Chinese and US trade representatives agreed Friday to "create favourable conditions" for the phase one trade deal signed in January, Beijing officials said, despite recent tensions over the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 200,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled surging violence in Ituri since March in the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile east, the UN said Friday.

In this exclusive 35-minute documentary, we expose a massive and unknown fish smuggling and supply network in the Pacific Ocean. Every year, an armada of North Korean ghost ships invade the waters of the Russian Far East and Japan. From Vladivostok to North Korea, via China, our reporter Elena Volochine investigated the illegal fishing networks of the world's most secretive country, North Korea.

The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record. The figures are stark evidence of the damage the coronavirus has done to a now-shattered economy.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is warning of potential famines of "biblical proportions" as the Covid-19 pandemic affects countries in an already dire situation. In an interview with FRANCE 24, the United Nation's WFP Executive Director David Beasley said he was especially worried about a breakdown in the supply chain that allows his agency to provide food to dozens of millions of people around the globe.

Dozens of Afghan migrants are feared dead after Iranian border guards allegedly forced them into a river on the Iran-Afghan border on May 1. Of the 57 men and boys in the group only 12 are known to have survived. One of the survivors told the France 24 Observers team that he and the others were arrested and tortured by guards from an Iranian border post overlooking the Harirud river. His account, along with amateur videos circulating on social media in Afghanistan, allowed the Observers team to pinpoint the location of the Iranian border post. 

The United States on Friday stunned other members of the UN Security Council by preventing a vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world to help troubled nations better fight the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats said.

Brazil, the country in Latin America that has been hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, said Friday it had reached a new daily record for COVID-19 fatalities with 751 deaths.

In a mid-April report, the NGO Human Rights Watch cited UN statistics that the main prisons in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at 432 percent capacity, with Makala Prison in the country’s capital of Kinshasa at 461 percent. While media access to prisons in Kinshasa is denied, FRANCE 24 obtained amateur footage from Makala inmates and spoke with an NGO and a Congolese official about the potential for a major Covid-19 health crisis.

French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe on Thursday detailed his government’s plan for easing Covid-19 confinement measures on May 11, warning that the exit from lockdown would be gradual and targeted to stem a resurgence of the viral outbreak. 

France on Thursday recorded 178 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours, a 0.7 percent rise from the previous day in the lowest rate of increase in four days, taking the total number of deaths to 25,987. 

As France prepares to gradually end its Covid-19 lockdown on May 11, workers are busy installing dozens of kilometres of temporary bike lanes across Paris and surrounding suburbs, part of plans to prepare for – and encourage – an expected boom in cycling in the capital.

The number of people who have died from coronavirus infection in France rose 243 to 26,230 on Friday, a higher daily death toll than the previous day when it stood at 178.

An investigation by French daily Le Monde has uncovered the extraordinary chain of events that led successive French governments to build an ambitious pandemic response strategy and then dismantle it almost entirely, leaving the country dangerously exposed to the Covid-19 disease.

In this edition of Middle East Matters, we continue our rolling coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic across the region. Jordan is flattening its coronavirus curve after a series of strict measures, including travel bans. We speak to Health Minister Saad Jaber, himself a doctor, about how he's managed the crisis. Also, deadly clashes erupt after hundreds take to the streets in northern Lebanon amid a crash in the local currency and a surge in food prices. 

Police in Istanbul detained at least 15 people Friday, including trade union leaders who tried to stage a May Day march in defiance of a coronavirus lockdown and a ban on demonstrations at the flashpoint Taksim Square.

Syrian air defences thwarted an Israeli missile attack on a research centre and a military base in the northern province of Aleppo, state media said on Monday, in the fifth such strikes in two weeks on suspected Iranian targets.

We continue our coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Middle East. Iran is one of the worst-hit countries in the region – authorities there have reported more than 6,000 deaths. But observers and health experts say the numbers are in reality much higher. After weighing up economic risks against health ones, the country's leadership decided to reopen businesses in late April, followed by schools and mosques. We speak to a doctor from Tehran, who has been on the frontlines of the battle against Covid-19. He has asked for his identity to be concealed.

A choice between lives and livelihoods? Iranian authorities have gradually been easing confinement since April 11, this in a nation hit early and hard by Covid-19. Did they have to reopen mosques? Could they afford to keep the sanctions-squeezed country in lockdown and risk a complete collapse of the economy or does opening it up make it worse? Already there are signs of a resurgence of coronavirus. The show features Sanam Shantyaei's exclusive interview with a frontline medic in Tehran while Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Behnam Ben Taleblu disagree on whether the US should ease sanctions.

Israel's Supreme Court on Wednesday approved a coalition deal between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz.

Iraqi lawmakers approved a new government on Wednesday after six months without one as parties squabbled until the last minute over Cabinet seats in backroom deals.

The Iraqi parliament approved its new government headed by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, now prime minister. The move ends six months of political vacuum, but many challenges lie ahead, including the country's struggling economy and the re-emergence of the Islamic State group. 

After 76 days under lockdown, China's Wuhan city is gradually returning to a new normal. But while Covid-19 infection rates have fallen, social distancing measures are still in place and the economic repercussions for the industrial hub are also becoming clear.

North Korean state media on Wednesday made no mention of new appearances by leader Kim Jong Un, a day after intense international speculation over his health was sparked by media reports he was gravely ill after a cardiovascular procedure.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is "alive and well", a top security adviser to the South's President Moon Jae-in said, downplaying rumours over Kim's health following his absence from a key anniversary.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in 20 days as he celebrated the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang, state media said Saturday, ending an absence that had triggered global rumors that he may be seriously ill. 

North and South Korean troops exchanged fire along their tense border on Sunday, the South’s military said, blaming North Korean soldiers for targeting a guard post.

South Korea's assessment is that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not have surgery, local news outlet Yonhap said, citing an unidentified senior official at presidential Blue House. 

New Zealand on Monday recorded no new cases of the coronavirus for the first time since March 16 and less than a week after the Pacific nation ended a strict lockdown that appears to have contained the outbreak.

South Korea returned largely to normal Wednesday as workers went back to offices, and museums and libraries reopened under eased social distancing rules after new coronavirus cases dropped to a trickle.

Eleven people were killed and hundreds hospitalised after a pre-dawn gas leak at a chemical plant in eastern India on Thursday that left unconscious victims lying in the streets, authorities said.

China's new prototype spacecraft "successfully landed" on Friday, marking an important step in its ambitions to run a permanent space station and send astronauts to the moon.

Indian police have filed a complaint against an LG Chem subsidiary over a toxic gas leak at its chemical plant in the south of the country that killed 11 people and sickened almost a thousand more.

"That's what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing."

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1196.html

Book 5 of the MegaTokyo: Endgames series is live for all platforms! Amazon Kindle and Paperback can be purchased here. Nook readers can follow this link. Of note, if you are completely unwilling to order through Amazon, you can also order the paperback through Barnes & Noble. And for the first time, Kobo users can go here and be a part of the launch day as well! Thank you again for all your support, and with luck it won’t be long...

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It has been about a month since Mom entered into Hospice care. The past year or so has been a real struggle for me with her declining health as well as Dad's struggles with advancing Parkinsons. This is my second time dealing with needing Hospice care for a loved one. The last time it was very upsetting and I'm still haunted by the experience, so it was with great reluctance that I agreed to engage Hospice care for Mom. Thankfully, my experience wi...

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Chapter 12: "Broken" comic 1573
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We’ve been through pandemic viruses before.  Most recently it was in 2014 when Fox News relentlessly beat the drums declaring that we were all going to die of the much more lethal Ebola virus.  And Fox & Friends regular guest Donald Trump was one of the loudest leaders of the opposition.  He declared without evidence that Barack Obama

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – February 28, 2020" →

FREAK OUT FRIDAY – March 5, 2020 So now it’s Obama’s fault. That is the latest claim from Trump and his team of sycophants, toadies and bootlickers.  The reason that the United States has fallen behind in the race to be able to test for the Coronavirus (or, as Trump refers to it, the Caronavirus) is

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – March 5, 2020" →

WHAT’S IN A NICKNAME? By Peter David What’s in a nickname? Presidential eras are oftentimes defined by their nicknames. Probably the most memorable one, off the top of my head, is that of John F. Kennedy.  After JFK was assassinated, his widow, Jackie Kennedy, commented in a Life magazine interview that he was particularly enamored of

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – March 13, 2020" →

You know, it occurs to me that I need to spell out something to the right wing blowhards who are still howling about Obama and Hillary rather than face the facts of the President’s incessant failures when it comes to managing the Coronavirus. When Trump was—well, not elected, but rather chosen by the Electoral college

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – March 27, 2020" →

The GOP has traditionally stood for Grand Old Party.   I think in the age of Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell, the initials should be changed.  The alteration should be made to reflect what the party has become.  Because the modern state of the Republicans would not be recognized by Ronald Reagan, although Richard Nixon would doubtless be

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – April 10, 2020" →

There are arguments that have been made contending Donald Trump is the anti-Christ.  I must admit, that’s a little outside of my realm of expertise.  But based upon this past week…indeed, this past year…I can certainly see the reasons for the contention. He’s certainly opposed to life.  That’s a given.  His constant ignoring of the early warnings which, had

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – April 23, 2020" →

FREAK OUT FRIDAY – May 1, 2020 I am so freaking sick of the hypocrisy on the right that it’s making me ill.  My stomach turns as these blathering blowhards put forth their idiotic, self-contradicting opinions as if they have any worth.  I am tired of these inconsistent blowhards rallying behind Trump in order to march this

Continue Reading "Freak Out Friday – May 1, 2020" →

Farro, an ancient grain similar to barley, adds texture and creaminess to this vegan version of Tuscan white bean soup with carrots and kale. Use Alubia Blanca or any small white beans, such as navy beans. I’ve had a bag of Alubia Blanca white beans from Rancho Gordo sitting on my “bean shelf” for longer...

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The post Vegan Tuscan White Bean Soup in the Instant Pot appeared first on FatFree Vegan Kitchen.