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"I think the European budget should be the Marshall Plan we are laying out together as a European Union for the European people."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's comments about greater European cooperation and a post-World War II-style economic plan to help the EU economy, are enough to highlight how severe the impact of COVID-19 has been on millions across the continent.
Jobs continue to be shed in several countries as lockdowns and quarantine measures are extended, and increasingly more people are feeling the sting, with food banks in the UK warning that vulnerable people are going hungry.
Sadly, this isn't just a European trend, as new figures from the U.S. show weekly jobless claims have shot up to a record high of 6.6 million; much higher than economists previously predicted.
In other U.S. news, President Donald Trump is trying to quell oil industry fears by saying he expects a new deal between Russia and Saudi Arabia to end their oil production feud.
And finally, if you're working from home, you may be familiar with the video conferencing app Zoom. Well, unsurprisingly, the start-up has said its users have ballooned to more than 200 million in March. But it's not all good news for the company, as it has been facing concerns about privacy and 'Zoombombing' (think photobombing, but someone is intruded into your office's morning meeting instead – yikes!).
You can read about all this and more below, and make sure you don't miss our video about how to stay safe while shopping, as well as today's graph about EU producer prices right at the end.
Enjoy reading,
Arij Limam
Digital correspondent
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The European Commission has proposed a package of measures to help the EU economy hit by coronavirus, which includes a short-time work scheme, easier access to funds for farmers and fishermen, and financing for development projects. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said 100 billion euros ($109 billion) will be allocated to the hardest-hit countries , starting with Italy, to make up for a reduction in wages and to preserve jobs.
U.S. President Donald Trump expects Russia and Saudi Arabia to make a deal to settle their feud over oil production within a "few days," causing crude oil futures to jump 10 percent. The spat has caused historically low oil prices. Trump also said he has invited U.S. oil executives to the White House to discuss ways to help the industry "ravaged" by slumping energy demand during the coronavirus outbreak.
The U.S.'s weekly unemployment benefit claims****have shot up to a record high of 6.6 million according to a new report from the Labor Department. Economists polled by Reuters had previously forecast that claims would jump to 3.5 million in the past week, though estimates were as high as 5.25 million.
The number of job cuts around Europe has also been rising since countries went into lockdown last month. In Spain, close to 900,000 jobs have been shed , more than half of which are temporary. And almost half of British companies expect to furlough 50 percent or more of their workforce, a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) showed.
Meanwhile, British Airways is in talks with its union about a plan to suspend around 32,000 staff so it can survive the coronavirus pandemic. The airline industry continues to be one of the worst-hit from the virus.
World food prices fell sharply in March , hit by a drop in demand tied to the coronavirus pandemic and a plunge in global oil prices, the United Nations food agency said. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oil, seeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 172.2 points in March, down 4.3 percent on February .
Japanese tech investment giant SoftBank said it has terminated a $3 billion tender offer for additional WeWork shares, agreed last year with shareholders, drawing threats of legal action and plunging the floundering office space start-up company further into crisis.
Video conferencing app Zoom' s daily users ballooned to more than 200 million in March from a previous high of 10 million, according to boss Eric Yuan, as it fought to dispel concerns over privacy, hacking and "Zoombombing."
China's commerce ministry said it will relax or remove restrictions on car purchases in some regions to stabilize sales of new cars , while accelerating plans to boost the retirement of old cars. The country's auto industry suffered a 79 percent drop in sales in February and expects a fall of around 10 percent in the first half of this year.
The bosses of car makers Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler held a crisis call with Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Wednesday to discuss how to get production restarted, German media reported. Several car makers halted production at sites around the world following the coronavirus outbreak.
In non-coronavirus related car maker news, a European Union Court of Justice adviser said EU consumers should be able to sue car makers in their national courts if they have purchased vehicles with emission cheat devices installed . If the opinion is followed by Europe's top court, it means Volkswagen could possibly face masses of legal complaints from consumers across the EU.
Worried about going shopping during the coronavirus outbreak? Watch Sally Bloomfield from the London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine explain her tips for steering clear of COVID-19.
03:24
After watching the video above about shopping safely during the COVID-19 outbreak, it might be difficult to imagine life without the coronavirus. Well, Shanghai is one of the cities in China where restrictions are being eased following a drop in cases. Resident Daniel Falush spoke to CGTN Europe about how life there is slowly returning to normal.
Daniel, give us a sense of how much life has recovered in Shanghai and what it looks like to you?
I think on a day-to-day level, it looks completely normal. There are people on the streets, people in the parks. But occasionally you see people on bikes wearing hazmat suits. So it's not always completely normal, and you often have people taking your temperature when you go into a shop or a restaurant. But life has definitely restarted here in Shanghai.There's very much a sense of normalcy, and people are generally very happy about it.
What do you think has led to this return to some kind of normality in Shanghai?
Well, they managed to suppress the transmission of the virus, so there have been very few
– in fact, for a couple of weeks now, no cases of domestically acquired disease. So they've been very good at tracking cases and getting transmission down to zero and that's allowed life to resume without too much worry or risk for anyone.
How have China's and Europe's responses to the virus differed?
I think that in Europe it took a little bit longer for people to realize what needed to be done and how to do it. In China, they got into lockdown very quickly, but in Europe it's taken a week or two more. Those two weeks, unfortunately, have been rather costly in terms of increasing numbers of cases. But they've been going in the same direction and they can exit by the same kind of point, in the end.
There is hope in every country that they manage to get it under control, that you can start to return to something, not quite normal life by any means, but something very much like normal life within a month or two of really getting it under control.
Is there a worry that even after the first wave is under control, there may be a possibility of reinfection?
It definitely can't be ruled out. I think what's really important is the surveillance that there is. So in China, there are people everywhere in the workplace taking your temperature and they have the fever clinics all set up. So the really key thing is that the infrastructure of detecting and chasing after cases that happen is very firmly in place.
The lockdown is also eased only slowly, so you can't reopen everything all at once. In fact, they were thinking about reopening the cinemas, but they decided against it and they haven't. There's still no live music, which is sad, but they're taking a safety-first, step-by-step approach. But I think if you do that, then there is hope that you can gain most, and then hopefully all, of the freedoms that were lost.
Industrial producer prices in Europe have fallen by much more than expected in February, dragged down mainly by a sharp fall in energy prices as a result of the Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war, as you can see in the newly published Eurostat figures below.
