‘Uncharted Territory’: Pandemic Set To Push Millions More To Brink Of Starvation In Poor Nations, UN Food Agency Reports

The New York Times: ‘Instead Of Coronavirus, The Hunger Will Kill Us.’ A Global Food Crisis Looms.
In the largest slum in Kenya’s capital, people desperate to eat set off a stampede during a recent giveaway of flour and cooking oil, leaving scores injured and two people dead. In India, thousands of workers are lining up twice a day for bread and fried vegetables to keep hunger at bay. And across Colombia, poor households are hanging red clothing and flags from their windows and balconies as a sign that they are hungry. (Dahir, 4/22)

The New York Times: Oil Collapse And Covid-19 Create Toxic Geopolitical Stew 
Iraq cannot afford to pay millions of workers and pensioners. Mexico’s grand plans to develop the country have been thrown into disarray. Ecuador is cutting government salaries, and Venezuela is on life support. Nigeria is seeking a nearly $7 billion emergency loan. The coronavirus pandemic and the collapse in oil prices it has caused have created a monstrous calamity for countries heavily reliant on oil production for their economic survival, and forced others to change policies that no longer make economic sense. (Gladstone, 4/22)

The New York Times: ‘This Government Is Lucky’: Coronavirus Quiets Global Protest Movements
Tear gas no longer chokes Hong Kong’s skyscrapers, while protesters’ tents in downtown Beirut have been dismantled. In Delhi, the odd plastic fork and tattered blanket are all that remain of the sit-in that once throttled one of the city’s busiest highways. Around the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has stilled the anti-establishment protests that erupted last year, bringing months of marches, rallies and riots to a sudden halt. Now, like everything else in the world, the protests face the unanswerable question of what happens next. (Wang, Abi-Habib and Yee, 4/23)

The Associated Press: North Korean Silence On Kim’s Health Bolsters Speculation
With North Korea saying nothing so far about outside media reports that leader Kim Jong Un may be unwell, there’s renewed worry about who’s next in line to run a nuclear-armed country that’s been ruled by the same family for seven decades. Questions about Kim’s health flared after he skipped an April 15 commemoration of the 108th birthday of his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. It’s North Korea’s most important event, and Kim, 36, hadn’t missed it since inheriting power from his father in late 2011. (4/22)

The Associated Press: ‘We Are In Prison’: France Opens Nursing Homes, Exposes Pain
For her first authorized visit in more than six weeks with her 80-year-old mother, Sabrina Deliry prepared a selection of their favorite tunes, among them Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose.” Later, at the Paris nursing home where the mother has been agonizing in the solitude of her room, feeling imprisoned and miserable without the sun on her cheeks, the breeze in her hair or her daughter’s tender hugs, they listened to the French songbird together. (Leicester, 4/23)