Associated Press Update 04.15.20

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The first steps in lifting the economically crippling coronavirus restrictions in Europe and China are running into resistance, with shoppers staying away from the reopened businesses and workers afraid the newly restored freedoms could put their health at risk.
 
U.S. retail sales plummeted 8.7% in March, a record drop as the viral outbreak closed down thousands of stores and shoppers stayed home.
 
Nations around the world are reacting with alarm after President Donald Trump announced a halt to the sizable funding the United States sends to the World Health Organization.

The U.S. ambassador to China says he doesn’t believe Beijing is deliberately blocking exports of masks and other medical supplies and that the shipment of 1,200 tons of such products to the U.S. could not have been possible without Chinese support.
 
The Middle East has long been wracked by high numbers of unemployed youth, unrest, conflict and large numbers of refugees. Now it’s doomed to sink into a recession sparked by the virus and low oil prices.
 
After a month in crisis mode, governors across the U.S. face their next challenge in the coronavirus pandemic: When and how to lift restrictions.

Nearly 20 European and African leaders have made a joint appeal for a massive international effort to boost Africa’s coronavirus response, saying that is the only way to bring the pandemic to an end.
 
A year after a devastating fire, the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral has been halted by a lockdown in Paris stemming from the coronavirus.

All stories above provided by the Associated Press.

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