A blessing amid bad news in Britain

BRITAIN surpassed Italy on Tuesday in reporting the highest coronavirus death toll in Europe—now at nearly 30,700 fatalities. Look at the faces of the U.K. church singing a blessing over the country during this pandemic.

FRANCE: French teens are taking advantage of their coronavirus lockdown to become pen pals with British vets who stormed Normandy. Friday’s 75th anniversary of the World War II victory in Europe, V-E Day, is a toned-down event featuring a socially distanced wreath-laying, two minutes of silence, a rebroadcast of Winston Churchill’s speech, and an address from Queen Elizabeth II.

BANGLADESH: Aid groups are racing to protect refugees from the coronavirus, battling camp conditions and scarce health resources. The Diamond Princess cruise ship, where 712 passengers tested positive for COVID-19 and nine died, had a population density of 24 people per 1,000 square meters. At the Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh housing nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees, density runs 40 people per 1,000 square meters.

VENEZUELA: Two Americans are behind bars following a failed attempt to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. citizens are ex–Green Berets now working with a private security firm. President Donald Trump denied U.S. government ties to the operation.

KUWAIT: Foreign workers form the front line in the Gulf’s coronavirus battle—and make up most of the 78,000 confirmed cases, prompting blame. But, a COVID-19 patient who benefitted from the care from foreigners while in the hospital noted, “There’s no way we can survive if we continue to look down on the very people taking care of us, who have raised our children, who are part of the fabric of our community.”

GLOBAL: The Russian Orthodox patriarch said, “With great sorrow and pain,” he is advising parishioners not to go to church in the ongoing effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus. In the United States, courts continue to hear cases involving restrictions on worship, with mixed results, and the Religion News Service is tracking the trends.

IRAN: A draft bill would replace the Iranian Bar Association with a group of government-appointed judiciary officials to be called the Supreme Council for the Coordination of Lawyers’ Affairs. More than 12,000 Iranian attorneys are protesting the move.

KENYA: The locusts are back: A second wave threatens crops as border closures because of the coronavirus delay pesticides from reaching afflicted parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

SOUTH KOREA: Our long sports blackout is over. South Korea’s professional baseball league began play this week, sans fans.

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