Europe

BRUSSELS, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The EU announced nearly 40 million euros to help Western Balkan countries deal with the coronavirus, after Brussels came under fire for not doing enough for its neighbours.

A further 140 million euros was announced for the European Union’s “eastern partner” countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The moves come as the EU seeks to fight back in a publicity battle with China and Russia, who have made a great show of their gestures of support to countries struggling with the COVID-19 crisis.

PARIS, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A number of European governments have rejected Chinese-made equipment designed to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

Thousands of testing kits and medical masks manufactured by an unathorised Shenzhen based company Bioeasy Biotechnology are below standard or defective, according to authorities in Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands.

BRAZZAVILLE, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Former Republic of Congo president Jacques Joaquim Yhombi Opango died in France on Monday of the new coronavirus, his family said. He was 81.

Yhombi Opango, who led Congo-Brazzaville from 1977 until he was toppled in 1979, died at a Paris hospital of COVID-19, his son Jean-Jacques said.

Yhombi Opango had been ill before he contracted the virus, his son said.

Born in 1939 in Congo’s northern Cuvette region, Yhombi Opango was an army officer who rose to power after the assassination of president Marien Ngouabi.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht told Deutschlandfunk radio on Tuesday that tracking apps to help tackle coronavirus could only be used voluntarily in Germany, where people are deeply suspicious of digital surveillance.

“It’s a real infringement if I have such data so I can only agree with everyone who says that if there is such a solution that actually breaks the chains of infection, it’s only possible if those who have it on their mobile phones and so use it do so voluntarily,” Lambrecht said.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Keeping firms closed for more than two months due to the coronavirus outbreak could cost the German state of Bavaria between 49-94 billion euros ($54-104 billion), Germany’s Ifo institute said on Tuesday.

That would shave up to 15 percentage points off economic growth in the state for the full year, added the institute.

It also said if businesses in the state are shut for three months, the costs would balloon to 68-138 billion euros - and would take up to 22.1% off economic growth.

(Reuters) - Britain’s largest pizza delivery company Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM.L) on Tuesday named former Costa Coffee Chief Executive Officer Dominic Paul as its top boss replacing David Wild, whose departure was announced last year.

Paul, who led Costa Coffee from 2016 to 2019 ahead of its 3.9 billion pound ($4.82 billion) sale to Coca-Cola (KO.N) last year, will join Domino’s on May 1.

LONDON (Reuters) - The British police have done a good job in the coronavirus crisis though there may be some individual instances of some officers going a little too far in enforcing a lockdown, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Tuesday.

“The police are doing a difficult job and they are doing it well,” Shapps told Sky.

ROME, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The coronavirus pandemic has so far claimed 11,591 lives in locked-down Italy, as the cumulative number of cases reached 101,739, according to new data released on Monday evening by the Civil Protection Department, managing the national emergency response.

The death of 812 COVID-19 patients was registered on the daily basis, compared to Sunday's 756 deaths.

Coronavirus patients currently in intensive care units were 3,981, while patients hospitalized in normal wards were 27,795.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Soldiers patrol the streets with their fingers on machine gun triggers. The army guards an exhibition center-turned-makeshift-hospital crowded with rows of bunks for those infected with the coronavirus. And Serbia’s president warns residents that Belgrade graveyards won’t be big enough to bury the dead if people ignore his government’s lockdown orders.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, March 30. /TASS/: The artillery units of the Southern Military District’s 58th all-arms army stationed in North Ossetia and Ingushetia live-fired Pion self-propelled guns and Tyulpan heavy mortars during drills, the District’s press office reported on Monday.