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PARIS – Officials in France are taking drastic steps to curb the coronavirus outbreak that is disrupting businesses, tourism and even churches there.
 
France reported 1,126 cases on Sunday, making it the second hardest-hit country in Europe after Italy. Retired medics and medical students are being recruited to help deal with growing numbers of infections.

French Foreign Minister Olivier Veran announced Sunday they are taking stringent measures to try to limit the further spread of the virus.

Veran said, “Our priority is to do everything to slow the circulation of the virus across the country. It is the only way to protect those vulnerable and to mitigate the epidemic on a national scale. As of today, all gatherings of more than 1,000 people are now banned.”

Tourism is already suffering, and the new rules will put a damper on other businesses and even churches.

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There are only a handful of Protestant churches in the entire country of France that can boast more than 1,000 members. CBN News visited one of them. It doesn’t look much like a church because non-Catholic churches have not been granted permits to build their own sanctuaries in over 100 years. So the congregation of the Paris Christian Center meets in a renovated parking garage. But that hasn’t stopped them from growing to several thousand members.

Pastor Dorothée Rajiah, senior pastor at the Paris Christian Center, told us before the announcement that large gatherings would be banned, “Many churches have decided to close their service. So we were wondering what to do and we decided to stay open, and preach the word and preach faith.”

But the coronavirus is changing some long-held traditions in the church.

She explained, “We told the people they should not shake hands or even kiss, at least for some time. And we tell them they can wave at people with the hand and say I love you from their heart.”

And God blessed their decision to keep the doors open on Sunday. “Today, 15 people got saved, so we are so excited about it!” Pastor Dorothée said.

Now that the government is banning gatherings of 1,000 people or more, The Paris Christian Center will likely be forced to temporarily close next week. But that won’t stop them from worshipping.

Pastor Dorothée said, “If the government asks us to shut down our service, we are ready to stream from our website and from YouTube.”

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CAIRO (AP) – Sudan’s prime minister survived an assassination attempt on Monday after a blast in the capital, Khartoum, Sudanese state media said. 
  
Abdalla Hamdok’s family confined he was safe following the explosion, which targeted his convoy. 
  
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
  
Hamdok was appointed prime minister last August, after pro-democracy protests forced the military to remove the autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in April and replace it with a civilian-led government.
  
After months of negotiations, the military and the pro-democracy movement reached a power-sharing deal in August. The deal established a joint military-civilian, 11-member sovereign council that will govern Sudan for the next three years.
  
Military generals remain the de facto rulers of the country and have shown little willingness to hand over power to the civilian-led administration. 
  
Hamdok has also confirmed the government will cooperate with the International Criminal Court’s efforts to prosecute those wanted for war crimes and genocide in connection with the Darfur conflict in Sudan in the 2000s.
  
Transitional authorities announced in February that they agreed to hand over al-Bashir to the ICC along with other former officials wanted by the ICC.
  
Sudan’s transitional government is under pressure to end wars with rebel groups as it seeks to rehabilitate the country’s battered economy, attract much-needed foreign aid and deliver the democracy it promises.
  
Nearly a year after al-Bashir’s ouster, the country faces a dire economic crisis. Inflation stands at a staggering 60% and the unemployment rate was 22.1% in 2019, according to the International Monetary Fund. The government has said that 30% of Sudan’s young people, who make up more than half of the over 42 million population, are without jobs. 

(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea fired three unidentified projectiles off its east coast on Monday, South Korea’s military said, two days after the North threatened to take “momentous” action to protest outside condemnation over its earlier live-fire exercises.
  
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected the three launches made from an eastern coastal town in the North’s South Hamgyong province. It said South Korea’s military is monitoring North Korea for possible additional launches.
  
In the past 10 days, North Korea has said leader Kim Jong Un supervised two rounds of live-fire artillery exercises in its first weapons tests since late November. Kim had entered the new year with a vow to bolster his nuclear deterrent and not to be bound by a major weapons test moratorium amid a deadlock in a U.S.-led diplomacy aimed at convincing Kim to abandon his nuclear program in return for economic and political benefits.
  
South Korea and some European countries protested against the second North Korea drills, which they believe involved ballistic missile launches in a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
  
North Korea has lashed out at the outside criticism, saying it has the right to conduct military drills in the face of U.S. and South Korean forces on its doorstep.
  
The U.N. Security Council didn’t issue any statement after discussing North Korea’s March 1 launches last week, but five European members condemned what they called “provocative actions.” 
  
Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, which called for the closed-door meeting, said in a joint statement afterward that the tests undermine regional and international peace, security and stability and violate unanimous Security Council resolutions.
  
The North’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday accused the five European countries of “repeating an absurd argument of condemnation and violation resolutions of the U.N. whenever we conducted military drills.” 
  
“The illogical thinking and sophism of these countries are just gradually bearing a close resemblance to the U.S. which is hostile to us,” a ministry statement said. “The reckless behavior of these countries instigated by the U.S. will become a fuse that will trigger our yet another momentous reaction.”
  
Last week, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister leveled diatribes and crude insults against South Korea for criticizing its earlier live-fire exercises, but her statement was followed by Kim sending a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressing condolences over its coronavirus outbreak. 
  
Some experts say North Korea may intend to catch South Korea off balance before seeking help in reviving its dilapidated economy, since the U.S. has said sanctions on North Korea will stay in place unless it takes significant steps toward denuclearization.
  
Nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington remain stalled since the second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, in early 2019 ended without any agreement.
  
Subsequent talks between the two countries failed to produce much progress amid disputes over how much sanctions relief should be given in return for a limited step to move away from nuclear weapons by North Korea. 

(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

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