2020 is a catastrophe for tourism businesses. Here's what the industry needs to get back on its feet
Updated 1103 GMT (1903 HKT) May 13, 2020
Socrates Gavriel is bracing for a dramatic drop in visitors to his boutique hotel in Athens this summer.
Located a short distance from the Greek capital's commercial center, Pi Athens ordinarily welcomes droves of American and Australian tourists this time of year.
"The concern this summer is that those who will come — if and when they do — will skip the big cities and head directly to a beach location," Gavriel told CNN Business. "The hotel is a rented property and there are many bills to pay. I have invested in it heavily. We are hoping for some revenue in the summer but we don't know if this is going to happen."
New US coronavirus hotspots appear in Republican heartlands
- Surge in infections in red state towns and rural communities
- Rise in cases contradicts Trump assertion of rapid decline
New coronavirus hotspots are emerging in Republican heartland communities across multiple states, contradicting Donald Trump’s claims that infection rates are declining across the nation.
At a fraught press briefing on Monday, the president declared: “All throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly.”
Yet county-specific figures show a surge in infection rates in towns and rural communities in red states such as Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and North and South Dakota, according to data tracking by the New York Times.
Coronavirus: Germany to ease border controls despite surge in new cases
Plans in place to completely reopen country’s borders with France, Switzerland and Austria from 15 June, says Interior MinistrySamuel Lovett
Germany will start relaxing border controls from Friday, according to the government, as officials press ahead with the easing of nationwide lockdown restrictions.
This comes despite a recent surge in new coronavirus cases, with the country’s R value – the virus reproduction rate – currently above the critical threshold of 1.
German interior minister Horst Seehofer announced on Wednesday that the government has agreed with authorities in France, Austria and Switzerland to reopen all border crossings from 15 May.
Parents concerned about cram school instructor's infection
By Jun Ji-hye
A private academy instructor in Incheon, who tested positive for COVID-19 after his recent visit to a nightclub in Seoul's Itaewon area, is believed to have transmitted the virus, directly and indirectly, to at least 10 people as of Wednesday, according to Incheon city officials.
This is raising concerns among parents who have sent their children to private cram schools.
The 10 patients include five high school students who attended the academy, in addition to one of the academy's instructors.
NGO report details IS group’s ‘abyss of horror’ in northern Syria
Human Rights Watch released details of a mass grave in Al-Hota gorge in northern Syria, in a report published on May 4. The NGO said that the so-called Islamic State (IS) group was responsible, and called for further investigations into this pit of death, in an interview with FRANCE 24.
Researchers call it the “abyss of horror”. Located 85 kilometres north of Raqqa, the former capital of IS in Syria, was used as a mass grave by the jihadist group that ruled the region from 2013 to 2015, Human Rights Watch revealed.
The NGO investigated the matter from 2014 to 2019, using satellite technology and geological maps, among other devices. It was able to film the bodies of six people, not yet identified, floating in the water at the bottom of the 50-metre-deep pit. But there are clear indications that the number of corpses there is much higher.
FBI 'mistakenly reveals Saudi official linked' to 9/11 attackers
Mistake was made in a declaration by an FBI official in response to lawsuit by families of 9/11 victims, report says.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has accidentally disclosed the name of a Saudi diplomat suspected of directing support to two al-Qaeda hijackers in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Yahoo News reported.
The mistake about the identity of the Saudi embassy official was made in a declaration by an FBI official in response to a lawsuit by families of 9/11 victims who accuse Saudi Arabia's government of involvement in the attacks, the report said on Tuesday.
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