New York City’s mayor appealed to Washington on Tuesday to send him nearly 1,500 more medical personnel by Sunday, as coronavirus cases surpass 43,000 and more city landmarks are converted into field hospitals.  “This coming Sunday, April 5, is the demarcation line,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters. “This is the point at which we must be prepared for next week when we expect a huge increase in the number of cases.” He said he made the request last week to the White House and Pentagon to deploy 1,000 nurses, 150 doctors and 300 respiratory therapists from the military and its reserves. “We must have that additional personnel to be able to get through next week and the weeks right after that,” the mayor said. “I’m waiting for an answer from the White House. It is a reasonable request given that we are the nation’s largest city and we are the epicenter of this crisis.” Nearly 1,000 city residents have succumbed to the virus and thousands are currently hospitalized. The need for hospital beds and health care workers is expected to grow in early April when virus cases are projected to peak. Speaking at the home of the annual U.S. Open tennis tournament in the borough of Queens, de Blasio said the city is in a race against time to be ready. A woman watches as the Samaritan’s Purse crew and medical personnel work on preparing a 68 bed emergency field hospital specially equipped with a respiratory unit in New York’s Central Park, March 31, 2020.The tennis facility is currently being converted into a 350-bed field hospital. It will take non-intensive care unit coronavirus patients from nearby Elmhurst hospital, which has been on the front lines of the pandemic and has been overstretched by thousands of patients requiring care. The tennis center is one of several city landmarks that have been enlisted in the battle to fight COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. A similar facility will be constructed at a Brooklyn cruise ship terminal. In Central Park, Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse is erecting a 14-tent, 68-bed respiratory care unit. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has built a 1,000-bed facility inside the city’s main convention center, and the U.S. Navy has moored a 1,000-bed hospital ship in the city’s harbor to care for non-coronavirus patients, freeing local hospital beds for those sickened by the respiratory virus. The city’s emergency system has been overwhelmed by the surge in calls for ambulances, and the mayor announced that the federal government is sending 250 ambulances as well as 500 paramedics to the city. Already 135 ambulances and 270 paramedics have arrived, and the rest are due in the coming days. A body wrapped in plastic that was unloaded from a refrigerated truck is handled by medical workers wearing personal protective equipment due to COVID-19 concerns at Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York, March 31, 2020.Statewide, more than 330 people have died from the virus since Monday, the highest single-day toll yet. New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo said his team is continuing its effort to purchase 30,000 ventilators — half of those would go to New York City. He said Tuesday that the state has ordered 17,000 ventilators from China at an approximate cost of about $425 million. Cuomo said delivery is slow due to the high demand and he hopes to receive at least 2,500 ventilators over the next two weeks. On a personal note, the governor said that his younger brother, CNN journalist Chris Cuomo, had tested positive for the coronavirus, but is doing well. “Everyone — everyone — is subject to this virus,” he said. “It is the great equalizer.”  
…

Кабінет міністрів України призначив тимчасово виконувачем обов’язків голови держпідприємства НАЕК «Енергоатом» Петра Котіна, повідомляє сайт уряду.

«Покласти тимчасово, до призначення в установленому порядку президента державного підприємства «Національна атомна енергогенеруюча компанія «Енергоатом», виконання обов’язків президента зазначеного підприємства на генерального директора відокремленого підрозділу «Запорізька атомна електростанція» Котіна Петра Борисовича», – йдеться у рішенні.

У листопаді 2019 року Кабмін ухвалив рішення про звільнення Юрія Недашковського з посади президента НАЕК «Енергоатом» і призначив Павла Павлишина т.в.о. голови компанії.

«Енергоатом» – найбільший виробник електроенергії в Україні, компанія відповідає за безпеку експлуатації всіх АЕС країни.
…

Key U.S. stock indexes fell about 1% in midday trading Tuesday, while markets in Europe and Asia mostly finished higher. The top U.S. indexes in New York opened higher but slipped later in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue-chip stocks and the broader S&P 500 were both down about a percentage point, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq market was off a fraction of a point. On the last day of March, U.S. stocks were headed to their worst quarter since the 2008 recession, losses all recorded in March as the worldwide impact of the coronavirus pandemic severely impacted national economies and the death toll mounted daily. Asian markets closed mostly higher Tuesday as investors cheered good news about China’s factory output amid the pandemic. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 328 points, or nearly 1.50%, at the closing bell, while the index in Shanghai earned just over one-tenth of one percent. The gains were posted after Beijing announced earlier in the day that its official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was 52.0 in March, rebounding from a record low of 35.7 in February.   Japan’s Nikkei and Australia’s S&P/ASX indexes both finished in negative territory, with the Nikkei losing just under 1% and the S&P/ASX dropping 2%. The Nikkei dropped a total of 10.5% during March, its biggest monthly decline since May 2010.  European indexes all closed higher, with London’s FTSE climbing about 2%, the DAX in Frankfurt up more than 1% and France’s CAC 40 edging up a fraction of a point.    Oil markets also enjoyed a welcomed surge in prices after sinking to their lowest levels since 2002. Prices have been plummeting due to fallen demand triggered by the pandemic combined with a glut of supply due to a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.  
 
…

With train service suspended in the country, Pakistan railway officials have begun converting air-conditioned sleeper and business class cars into medical wards for COVID-19 virus patients.Pakistan Railway medical officer Dr. Abdula Samad tells the Associated Press news agency the sleeper and business class cars they converted can each hold about 36 patients, and they also can be adapted for isolation.
 
The railway company says overall it has converted 220 coaches with a total capacity of as many as 2,000 hospital beds.  
 
Railway Minister Shaikh Rashid Amad told reporters Monday these mobile facilities can now be sent to any part of the country with rail service to help ease pressure on health care services in that area.
 
On its website, the Pakistan Health Ministry reports 1,865 cases of the coronavirus as of Tuesday, with 25 deaths. 
…

The Trump administration is prepared to lift sanctions on Venezuela in support of a new proposal to form a transitional government representing allies of both Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido, U.S. officials said.
The plan, which will be presented Tuesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, echoes a proposal made over the weekend by Guaidó that shows how growing concerns about the coronavirus, which threatens to overwhelm the South American country’s already collapsed health system and crippled economy, are reviving U.S. attempts to pull the military apart from Maduro.  
What’s being dubbed the “Democratic Framework for Venezuela” would require Maduro and Guaidó to step aside and hand power to a five-member council of state to govern the country until presidential and parliamentary elections can be held in late 2020, according to a written summary of the proposal seen by The Associated Press.  
Four of the members would be appointed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly that Guaidó heads. To draw buy-in from the ruling socialist party, a two-third majority would be required. The fifth member, who would serve as interim president until elections are held, would be named by the other council members. Neither Maduro nor Guaidó would be on the council.
“The hope is that this setup promotes the selection of people who are very broadly respected and known as people who can work with the other side,” U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams told the AP in a preview of the plan. “Even people in the regime look at this and realize Maduro has to go, but the rest of us are being treated well and fairly.”
The plan also outlines for the first time U.S. requirements for lifting sanctions against Maduro officials and the oil industry — the source of nearly all of Venezuela’s foreign income.
While those accused of grave human rights abuses and drug trafficking are not eligible for sanctions relief, individuals who are blacklisted because of the position they hold inside the Maduro government — such as members of the supreme court, electoral council and the rubber-stamp constitutional assembly — would benefit.  
But for sanctions to vanish, Abrams said the council would need to be functioning and all foreign military forces — from Cuba or Russia — would need to leave the country.  
“What we’re hoping is that this really intensifies a discussion inside the army, Chavismo, the ruling socialist party and the regime on how to get out of the terrible crisis they’re in,” Abrams said.
For months, the U.S. has relied on economic and diplomatic pressure to try and break the military’s support for Maduro and last week U.S. prosecutors indicted Maduro and key stakeholders — including his defense minister and head of the supreme court — on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.  
Still, any power-sharing arrangement is unlikely to win Maduro’s support unless the thorny issue of his future is addressed and he’s protected from the U.S. justice system, said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America. While Venezuelans are protected from extradition by Hugo Chavez’s 1999 constitution, the charter could be rewritten in a transition, he said.
“It’s a little hard to see how this is going to be convincing to the major players in the government,” said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America. “They seem to think the military is going to step in, but that seems extremely unlikely.”
It also would require the support of Cuba, China or Russia, all of whom are key economic and political backers of Maduro. In a call Monday with Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump reiterated that the situation in Venezuela is dire and told the Russian leader we all have an interest in seeing a democratic transition to end the ongoing crisis, according to a White House readout of the call.  
A senior administration official said Monday that the U.S. is willing to negotiate with Maduro the terms of his exit even in the wake of the indictments, which complicate his legal standing.
But recalling the history of Gen. Manuel Noriega in Panama, who was removed in a U.S. invasion after being charged himself for drug trafficking, he cautioned that his options for a deal were running out.
“History shows that those who do not cooperate with U.S. law enforcement agencies do not fare well, ” the official said in a call with journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. policy. “Maduro probably regrets not taking the offer six months ago. We urge Maduro not to regret not taking it now.”
Guaidó, who has been recognized by the U.S. and nearly 60 other countries as the lawful leader of the country following a widely viewed fraudulent re-election of Maduro, called on Saturday for the creation of a “national emergency government.”  
He said international financial institutions are prepared to support a power-sharing interim government with $1.2 billion in loans to fight the pandemic. Guaido said the loans would be used to directly assist Venezuelan families who are expected to be harmed not only by the spread of the disease but also the economic shock from a collapse in oil prices, virtually the country’s only source of hard currency.  
The spread of the coronavirus threatens to overwhelm Venezuela’s already collapsed health system while depriving its crippled economy of oil revenue on which it almost exclusively depends for hard currency.  
The United Nations said Venezuela could be one of the nations hit hardest by the spread of the coronavirus, designating it a country for priority attention because of a health system marked by widespread shortages of medical supplies and a lack of water and electricity.  
Last September, Guaidó proposed a similar transitional government in talks with Maduro officials sponsored by Norway, which never gained traction.  
But with the already bankrupt country running out of gasoline and seeing bouts of looting amid the coronavirus pandemic, calls have been growing for both the opposition and Maduro to set aside their bitter differences to head off a nightmare scenario.
“The regime is under greater pressure than it has ever before,” Abrams said.
…

The top U.N. climate official on Tuesday chided Japan over its new plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which environmental campaigners say shows no real ambition to increase existing efforts.All signatories of the 2015 Paris Agreement are supposed to submit a revised plan before this year’s U.N. climate meeting in November.”I trust that more ambitious targets will be set soon,” said Patricia Espinosa, after the Bonn-based U.N. climate agency she heads received Tokyo’s update.In a gentle rebuke to the world’s third-biggest economy, Espinosa added that “bold, ambitious” action would be required and said her agency stood “ready to support Japan and all other parties” to the Paris accord in setting new goals.According to the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based environmental think tank, Japan’s new climate plan essentially keeps the same targets set five years ago, of reducing emissions by 26% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Many other developed economies have set higher targets, including the European Union, which is aiming for a 40% cut by the end of the decade.”This is a missed opportunity as low-carbon solutions are more available than ever, often cheaper than traditional alternatives, and Japan is a major economy with access to the most advanced technologies,” World Resources Institute Vice President Helen Mountford said. She added that Japan could cut the cost of its fossil fuel imports and create tens of thousands of jobs in the renewable energy sector with the right policies.Kat Kramer, a climate expert at the charity Christian Aid, called Japan’s plan “an international disgrace.””The fact they are smuggling it out during a global pandemic when it will avoid the scrutiny it deserves is shameful,” she added. 
…

Despite vast improvements in countries such as China and South Korea, the World Health Organization said Tuesday the coronavirus outbreak is “far from over” in the region. “This is going to be a long-term battle and we cannot let down our guard. We need every country to keep responding according to their local situation,” WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr. Takeshi Kasai said at a briefing. China reported one new death and 48 new cases Tuesday, none of them locally transmitted, while South Korea reported 125 new cases. Kasai and experts at a separate WHO briefing stressed that governments need to be taking active measures and maintain pressure to halt the spread of the virus. WHO Emergencies Program Executive Director Michael Ryan said officials hope countries currently seeing the worst effects, including Italy and Spain, will soon see their situations stabilize. But he said the virus will not stop itself, requiring governments to act to “push down” the number of infections. Coronavirus Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove said those public efforts must include testing, isolation, finding contacts and quarantining those contacts.Relatives attend a burial ceremony of victims of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the southern town of Cisternino, Italy, March 30, 2020.Italy reported 812 more deaths Monday, bringing its total to 11,591, while Spain surpassed China in terms of overall cases.  Only the United States has more cases that Italy and Spain. Ryan also cited the shortage of protective masks for health care workers, and reiterated WHO advice that generally healthy people should not wear masks. “There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit. In fact, there’s some evidence to suggest the opposite in the misuse of wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly,” he said. Although some medical researchers endorse face masks and say effective ones can be homemade, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says they are ineffective in filtering small particles from the air and may not help if an infected person sneezes or coughs nearby. US states ask for help The iconic Empire State Building in New York City lit up Monday night in the form of a red and white siren to honor emergency workers “on the front line of the fight.” [1/2] We’ll never stop shining for you. Starting tonight through the COVID-19 battle, our signature white lights will be replaced by the heartbeat of America with a white and red siren in the mast for heroic emergency workers on the front line of the fight. pic.twitter.com/OYkblLTRHN— Empire State Building (@EmpireStateBldg) March 30, 2020New York is the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, with more than 900 deaths as hospitals struggle to cope with the influx of patients. New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo made a nationwide appeal Monday for more help, asking doctors and nurses in areas without an urgent coronavirus situation to travel to New York to help. On the other side of the country, California Governor Gavin Newsom turned to retired doctors and nurses, as well as medical students, to boost the health care response.  He announced Monday the number of people hospitalized with coronavirus infections had nearly tripled over the course of four days. Overall, the number of U.S. cases topped 164,000 with more than 3,100 deaths as of early Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. 
…

Nearly 200 Cubans returning home from trips out of the country just began a two-week quarantine in government centers until medical authorities are sure clear they have no signs of coronavirus.  The government is keeping a close watch on Cuban nationals and monitoring travelers from overseas at dozens of quarantine centers set up across the island.  The manager of one quarantine center, Daniel Diaz, says the centers are staffed with doctors and nurses around the clock, who check patients three times day.  Diaz says, so far, nobody has shown any symptoms of the coronavirus, but those who do will be taken to a hospital. Health officials in Cuba say there are 170 coronavirus cases, and three people have died. Cuban officials say the nation is on lockdown until the end of April, meaning only Cuban citizens or foreign residents returning home are allowed entry into the country.  
…

Ухвалення Верховною Радою України узгоджених із Міжнародним валютним фондом законів щодо ринку землі та банківської сфери посприяло посиленню гривні на українському міжбанківському валютному ринку.

Станом на 10:35, за даними Finance.ua, котирування опустилися до рівня 27 гривень 74–81 копійка, хоча ще вчора, 30 березня, як і впродовж кількох попередніх сесій, показники трималися вище від позначки 28 гривень за долар.

З початку березня долар зміцнився на 14 відсотків. На 31 березня Нацбанк знизив офіційну вартість долара на 12 копійок – до 28 гривень 6 копійок.
…

Котирування нафти перебувають на мінімальних позначках за майже 20 років. Це стосується як еталонних сортів, північноморського Brent та американського WTI, так і тих, ціна яких формується з дисконтом, як, приміром, російський Urals.

30 березня ціна на нафту WTI уперше з лютого 2002 року опускалася нижче за 20 доларів за барель.

Сорт Brent досяг сьогодні, 31 березня, позначки 22,69 долара за барель (станом на 10:01 за Києвом). Це також мінімальні значення з 2002 року.

Urals нині торгується з більшим, ніж зазвичай, дисконтом (знижкою) щодо Brent, і 30 березня котирування російської нафти опускалися до 16,2 долара за барель, це рівень 1999 року.

1 квітня відбудеться експірація травневих нафтових контрактів, червнева ціна наразі дещо вища, перебуваючи в районі 26–27 доларів за барель Brent.

Тригерами березневого обвалу стали поширення нового коронавірусу в світі та провал угоди нафтового картеля ОПЕК та його партнерів. У межах ОПЕК+ не лише не домовилися про додаткове скорочення видобутку, але й не продовжили попередні обмеження. Між найбільшими за обсягами учасниками угоди, Росією та Саудівською Аравією, фактично розпочалася цінова війна. Саудити пропонують споживачам, орієнтованим раніше на купівлю російської нафти, нижчу ціну, щоб витиснути конккурента з ринку.

 
…

Don’t wear face masks to fend off the coronavirus, the World Health Organization says. “There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit. In fact, there’s some evidence to suggest the opposite in the misuse of wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly,” WHO executive director of health emergencies Mike Ryan said Monday. The WHO says the only people who need masks are those who are already sick and those who are caring for the sick. Ryan also cited the global shortage of medical supplies and the risk frontline workers are facing every day. “The thought of them not having masks is horrific,” Ryan said. Although some medical researchers endorse face masks and say effective ones can be homemade, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says they are ineffective in filtering small particles from the air and may not help if an infected person sneezes or coughs nearby.  UN resolutions The U.N. Security Council voted remotely for the first time Monday and approved four resolutions, including one that continues a sanctions monitoring mission for North Korea and another extending the U.N. mission in Somalia.  Council members and staffers have been teleworking for almost three weeks. But some are decrying the new procedures as restrictive and cumbersome and no substitute for meetings and debates.  US death toll The U.S. coronavirus death toll reached a grim record Monday with 486 deaths reported – the biggest one-day number so far with the total number approaching 3,000. President Donald Trump says the number of tests for the virus across the country hit the 1 million mark, which he says is the most of any country. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says U.S. labs are carrying out 100,000 tests a day, which he also says is a global record.President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, at the White House, Tuesday, March 17, 2020, in Washington.The Pentagon announced Monday that a U.S. National Guardsman, Capt. Douglas Linn Hickok, died Saturday, becoming the first U.S. military member to succumb to the coronavirus.  “This is a stinging loss for our military community, and our condolences go out to his family, friends, civilian co-workers and the entire National Guard community,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said. “The news of this loss strengthens our resolve to work ever more closely with our interagency partners to stop the spread of COVID-19,” he added. California prepares California Governor Gavin Newsom is calling on retired doctors to hang out their shingles again and is also recruiting medical and nursing students to help with an expected surge of coronavirus cases in that state, the nation’s most populous.  “California’s health care workers are the heroes of this moment, serving on the front lines in the fight against this disease. To treat the rising number of patients with COVID-19, our state needs more workers in the health care field to join the fight. If you have a background in health care, we need your help,” Newsom said Monday.  The state’s health agency is preparing stadiums and convention centers to serve as makeshift hospitals.  Pastor arrested Also Monday, a sheriff outside Tampa, Florida arrested a pastor who held services Sunday despite the governor’s orders against gatherings of more than 10 people.  “Shame on this pastor, their legal staff and the leaders of this staff for forcing us to do our job. That’s not what we wanted to do during a declared state of emergency,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said. “We are hopeful that this will be a wakeup call.” Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne said he sanitized his church before the service, calling it an “essential business” like police and firefighters. He also attacked the media for alleged “religious bigotry and hate.” 
…

As the coronavirus cases increase daily the world over, movies about viruses spreading and threatening global communities are going viral on streaming services. Why are these films so thrilling to wide audiences and why do people re-watch many of these classics during the coronavirus epidemic? VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.   
…