france24--2020-05-22--Israel’s Arabs escaped the worst, but Covid-19 signals economic trouble ahead

Muslim worshipers hold Ramadan prayers in Jerusalem 's Old City on April 27 , 2020 , when a strict lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus kept mosques closed around the country .
Houses of worship have gradually opened , but the number of worshipers allowed to gather is still limited .
Israel has gradually been emerging from a strict two-month lockdown , cautiously opening sector after business sector as it continues to monitor the number of Covid-19 cases among the citizens of its diverse communities .
And to the surprise of many , the one that has suffered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country ’ s Arab populace .
With a population of around 9 million , Israel has been relatively successful in protecting against the virus .
There have been 16,667 cases and 279 deaths as of May 21 , according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center – a 1.7 percent case-fatality ratio and 3.14 deaths per 100,000 people .
The number of infections per capita has been much lower than in places like France , Spain , Belgium , Italy and the United States , according to the Jerusalem-based Taub Center for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been “ lower than any country in North America , Western Europe or Scandinavia , including Germany , Finland and Iceland ” , according to the center ’ s website .
Israel ’ s Arab citizens – including Palestinians , Bedouins and Druze , and mostly Muslim or Christian – make up about 20 percent of the population .
It is a fragile community often neglected by the government , and when the coronavirus pandemic reached the country , there was concern that the Arab populace , along with the ultra-Orthodox Jews @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The two communities are the country ’ s poorest .
According to the National Insurance Institute , 47 percent of Arab citizens and 52 percent of ultra-Orthodox Jewish citizens were living under the poverty threshold in 2018 .
Another crucial factor is the communities ’ strained relationship with the majority and with the government .
But despite the forecasts , Israel ’ s Arab community had the smallest number of cases and casualties due to the virus , with a little more than 1,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and only five deaths .
Ultra-Orthodox @ @ @ @ @ @ @ become Covid-19 hotspots .
According to a report released Wednesday by the Taub Center , 22 percent of all new confirmed infections in Israel between March 31 and May 12 , in towns with 5,000 and more residents , were located in entirely ultra-Orthodox towns and cities ( home to only 5 percent of the country ’ s total population ) .
A further 26 percent of total new cases were recorded in three cities with large ultra-Orthodox populations .
“ Other Jewish cities and towns contributed around 34 percent to the growth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the population , ” according to the report , titled , “ A Picture of the Nation 2020 ” .
The infection rate in Arab towns , however , accounted for less than 8 percent of the increase in cases in that period , and in Bedouin towns for about 1 percent of the increase .
“ Virtually none of the increase in the national rate could be ascribed to Druze areas , where infection rates remained around 18 per 100,000 , ” the report said – roughly one-tenth of the national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ?
The Arab political leadership attributes it to the close cooperation and swift organization of local political , professional and religious leaders – and the discipline of their constituents .
“ The organization of the Arab population , in spite of all the neglect on the part of the government in handling and preparing for the coronavirus in this community , was impressive , ” said Aida Touma-Suleiman , a Knesset ( parliament ) member for the Joint List , an alliance of three mainly Arab parties , and chairwoman of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ From the start , “ we created a war room for the Arab population , which included the biggest experts of our population – health experts , employment experts , information and communications experts – and everybody cooperated , ” Touma-Suleiman told FRANCE 24 .
“ It took the health ministry two weeks to react to our call to translate all the health information messages to Arabic , but we were already working , within the population , and we had already launched an information campaign in the Arabic language , calling on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she said .
Ali Salam , the mayor of Nazareth in the country ’ s north and Israel ’ s largest Arab city , with 110,000 residents , said the municipality ’ s cooperation with the religious leaders and the Israeli security forces was invaluable .
“ At first there was concern that the virus would spread among the Arab population .
But it was the other way around , ” Salam told FRANCE 24 .
“ On March 8 , I formed a committee and we met with homeland security and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Nazareth ’ s three hospitals , and we worked together and came out with one voice , calling on residents to follow the social-distancing instructions … That cooperation was crucial.
” Salam also credited the residents ’ discipline .
“ They didn ’ t leave their houses , except to buy food , and even then , they followed the social-distancing rules .
Also , we drove around the city in a car equipped with a loudspeaker , 24 hours a day , with my voice urging the residents not to leave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the health minister and the prime minister and the mayor , ” he added .
That discipline was understandable , according to Touma-Suleiman .
“ The population demonstrated exemplary responsibility , because they understood that if there would be an outbreak of the virus within this population , it would be a catastrophe .
The health services infrastructure in our communities is very weak .
The hospitals in Nazareth are not prepared , ” she said .
“ Also , the Arab villages and towns are very crowded , and that could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ All these factors made it easy for the citizens to understand the need to be careful , and for the local leaders to understand the need to prepare.
” Kafr Qasim , an Arab city about 20 kilometers east of Tel Aviv with a population of about 23,000 , also managed to avoid the spread of Covid-19 .
Kafr Qasim resident Sheikh Sahwat Freij , deputy head of the Islamic movement in Israel and chairman of the movement ’ s national emergency committee , said strict instructions from religious leaders and councils played @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down .
“ We closed the schools , the mosques , places of worship , and we gave them not ‘ recommendations ’ but a ‘ fatwa ’ – a formal religious ruling that they are not allowed to gather for now and that they must stay home as much as possible with their families and avoid going out into the streets , ” Freij told FRANCE 24 .
“ It worked , even though some tried to resist .
There are people who go to pray at the mosque five times a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ praying this way for decades , and so it ’ s very difficult .
Some of them really cried .
But we told them : ‘ We have to remain alive in order to return to the mosques and reopen then and go back to our lives.
’ ” The government and local authorities worried that the lockdown would be especially difficult to enforce during the month of Ramadan , when families gather to break the fast at the end of every day .
“ We managed to go through the entire month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ together – the entire extended family , 40-50 people .
This time , they kept it down to six , seven people or 10 people tops , and they didn ’ t go out after the meal .
So the discipline really helped , ” said Salam , the mayor of Nazareth .
With the easing of the lockdown measures , mosques and churches are also reopening .
“ Instead of limiting the number of worshipers to 10 people , now we ’ re limiting it to 50-60 people , ” Salam said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ Eid al-Fitr , the end of Ramadan ] but we told them that even during the holiday there can ’ t be more than 50 to 60 people present ” for the services .
Other factors also likely played a role in the low infection and mortality rate among Israel ’ s Arabs .
One is the population ’ s average age , according to Knesset member Sami Abu Shehadeh of the Joint List .
“ The Arab minority in Israel is very young .
And tests in Arab society began very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how far the virus really spread among the Arab public in Israel because of the lack of tests .
It ’ s possible that there was , indeed , an outbreak of the virus , but since this is a mainly young population , very few people came to be diagnosed and , of those who were diagnosed , very few died , ” Abu Shehadeh told FRANCE 24 .
“ In addition to that , in Israel there is segregation , ” Abu Shehadeh said .
“ Over 90 percent of residents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Arabs on their own .
And the Arabs are quite closed off in their areas , and their areas are small .
So even if the disease spreads , as it did in Deir el Asad [ in the country ’ s north ] , it ’ s under total control.
” Where government involvement was perceived as lacking , associations and grassroots organizations filled the gap .
The Islamic Movement , for example , set up emergency assistance centers with more than 6,000 volunteers around the country .
“ We delivered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we distributed tens of thousands of care packages to homes throughout the country .
That also helped us keep the situation under control .
Because when you send people help and you send them food , then of course when you then give them instructions they take them seriously because they know you ’ re on their side , ” Freij said .
He added that assistance was not only offered to Arab communities .
When the ultra-Orthodox Jewish city of Bnei Brak , just 18km west of Kafr Qasim , was found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Kafr Qasim ’ s Mayor Adel Badir , also of the Islamic Movement , called the mayor of Bnei Brak to offer help .
“ Because , you know , the coronavirus doesn ’ t differentiate between Jew and Arab , ” Freij said .
“ And also , I think that if the situation was reversed , Bnei Brak and the other cities would have offered their help.
” It ’ s not the virus , it ’ s the economy Another factor that helped stem the spread of the disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are employed in the services sector , according to Abu Shehadeh .
“ Garages , restaurant work , construction , housework , hotel work – all of these businesses closed .
Some still haven ’ t opened , like restaurants and hotels .
Therefore , the virus couldn ’ t spread , because these workers stayed home.
” But this also means that the Arabs were among the hardest hit economically from the lockdown .
“ Like with any great disaster that befalls any country in the world , the weak are always @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arab population is below the poverty threshold , and the shutting of the services economy has dealt them a serious blow , ” Abu Shehadeh said .
“ And because of the poverty , the crime rate in our society is also much higher than the national average .
Unfortunately , organized crime in past years has played a growing role in our communities , and a lot of the revenue from organized crime comes from loans they give at an interest to citizens .
This will complicate matters very much in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were poor in the first place have now been deprived of their jobs and have had to take out loans in the grey market .
And those running the grey market did not take a leave of absence during the coronavirus epidemic , unfortunately , ” he added .
Touma-Suleiman said it was clear that the community ’ s unemployment and poverty rates were going to grow .
“ Some small businesses have already collapsed and others are on their way to collapse , ” she said .
“ And now statistics show @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employment are young Arabs and Arab women .
This will be a big blow to the population further down .
I don ’ t foresee them being able to reintegrate in the workforce soon.
” Another issue for the community , Touma-Suleiman said , is that the government decided not to grant unemployment benefits to people under 20 – which only hurts the Arab population , since Israelis under 20 serve in the army and therefore benefit from an allowance , food and board .
“ But if he ’ s an Arab @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and paying social security , he still can ’ t get unemployment .
So these are young people who , for three months , had no income.
” Arab society escaped the worst in terms of infection and mortality rates caused by the coronavirus .
But economically , they are likely to be the hardest hit , Touma-Suleiman said .
“ The Israeli population usually faces crises at a national security level .
And then , the rift between the communities deepens , or the Arabs simply keep their distance and keep silent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was a different crisis .
A civil crisis .
A crisis that affects us all , and we are all equal in the face of it .
Although , in fact , we ’ re not really equal , because in terms of physical immunity , it ’ s true , both Jews and Arabs can become infected .
But in terms of health services on the Jewish side , in terms of tests and treatment , it gave them a kind of head start , ” she said .
“ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ society in terms of services and in policies , ” she said .
“ But it also exposed the benefit and the need for a civil emergency mobilisation effort rather than a national security effort.
” A paradox of Israeli society is that while half of the country ’ s Arab population is poor , 20 percent of Israel ’ s doctors are Arab – as are 25 percent of nurses and about half of all pharmacists .
Arab doctors are department heads at some of the country ’ s main hospitals , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ top virologists , Jihad Bishar .
“ There was amazing and very fruitful cooperation between the medical teams in the hospitals , ” said Abu Shehadeh .
The central role played by the Arab doctors as well as the care and maintenance staff “ must have affected thousands of people ” , he said .
“ The Arab medical staff contributed enormously to the battle against the coronavirus .
That also influenced their relationships with their Jewish colleagues in the hospitals , and also affected their status and their image in society , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people , ” he added .
Those interviewed for this article welcomed the cooperation efforts , but were skeptical that it would lead to significant change once the crisis was over .
“ If you look at this new government that has just been established , the largest government in the country ’ s history , without even one Arab minister – when you talk about the government and the issues , then the Arab community is not among them , so that ’ s not a good omen , ” said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And also , this whole matter of the government ’ s plan to annex the West Bank and the Jordan Valley – because you know everything that happens there also influences us here .
I hope they ’ ll change direction .
”

Israel has gradually been emerging from a strict two-month lockdown, cautiously opening sector after business sector as it continues to monitor the number of Covid-19 cases among the citizens of its diverse communities. And to the surprise of many, the one that has suffered the fewest losses to the outbreak is the country’s Arab populace.
Muslim worshipers hold Ramadan prayers in Jerusalem's Old City on April 27, 2020, when a strict lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus kept mosques closed around the country. Houses of worship have gradually opened, but the number of worshipers allowed to gather is still limited.
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With a population of around 9 million, Israel has been relatively successful in protecting against the virus. There have been 16,667 cases and 279 deaths as of May 21, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center – a 1.7 percent case-fatality ratio and 3.14 deaths per 100,000 people.
The number of infections per capita has been much lower than in places like France, Spain, Belgium, Italy and the United States, according to the Jerusalem-based Taub Center for Social Policies. And the mortality rate has been “lower than any country in North America, Western Europe or Scandinavia, including Germany, Finland and Iceland”, according to the center’s website.
Israel’s Arab citizens – including Palestinians, Bedouins and Druze, and mostly Muslim or Christian – make up about 20 percent of the population. It is a fragile community often neglected by the government, and when the coronavirus pandemic reached the country, there was concern that the Arab populace, along with the ultra-Orthodox Jews, would be the hardest hit.
The two communities are the country’s poorest. According to the National Insurance Institute, 47 percent of Arab citizens and 52 percent of ultra-Orthodox Jewish citizens were living under the poverty threshold in 2018. Another crucial factor is the communities’ strained relationship with the majority and with the government.
But despite the forecasts, Israel’s Arab community had the smallest number of cases and casualties due to the virus, with a little more than 1,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and only five deaths.
Ultra-Orthodox towns and neighborhoods did, indeed, become Covid-19 hotspots. According to a report released Wednesday by the Taub Center, 22 percent of all new confirmed infections in Israel between March 31 and May 12, in towns with 5,000 and more residents, were located in entirely ultra-Orthodox towns and cities (home to only 5 percent of the country’s total population). A further 26 percent of total new cases were recorded in three cities with large ultra-Orthodox populations.
“Other Jewish cities and towns contributed around 34 percent to the growth – though they represent roughly 60 percent of the population,” according to the report, titled, “A Picture of the Nation 2020”.
The infection rate in Arab towns, however, accounted for less than 8 percent of the increase in cases in that period, and in Bedouin towns for about 1 percent of the increase.
“Virtually none of the increase in the national rate could be ascribed to Druze areas, where infection rates remained around 18 per 100,000,” the report said – roughly one-tenth of the national average.
“This is a remarkable accomplishment.”
Cooperation and discipline
So how did they do it? The Arab political leadership attributes it to the close cooperation and swift organization of local political, professional and religious leaders – and the discipline of their constituents.
“The organization of the Arab population, in spite of all the neglect on the part of the government in handling and preparing for the coronavirus in this community, was impressive,” said Aida Touma-Suleiman, a Knesset (parliament) member for the Joint List, an alliance of three mainly Arab parties, and chairwoman of the special committee for labor and welfare.
From the start, “we created a war room for the Arab population, which included the biggest experts of our population – health experts, employment experts, information and communications experts – and everybody cooperated,” Touma-Suleiman told FRANCE 24.
“It took the health ministry two weeks to react to our call to translate all the health information messages to Arabic, but we were already working, within the population, and we had already launched an information campaign in the Arabic language, calling on the public to be cautious,” she said.
Ali Salam, the mayor of Nazareth in the country’s north and Israel’s largest Arab city, with 110,000 residents, said the municipality’s cooperation with the religious leaders and the Israeli security forces was invaluable.
“At first there was concern that the virus would spread among the Arab population. But it was the other way around,” Salam told FRANCE 24. “On March 8, I formed a committee and we met with homeland security and the police, religious leaders, the directors of Nazareth’s three hospitals, and we worked together and came out with one voice, calling on residents to follow the social-distancing instructions … That cooperation was crucial.”
Salam also credited the residents’ discipline. “They didn’t leave their houses, except to buy food, and even then, they followed the social-distancing rules. Also, we drove around the city in a car equipped with a loudspeaker, 24 hours a day, with my voice urging the residents not to leave their homes and to follow the guidelines of the health minister and the prime minister and the mayor,” he added.
That discipline was understandable, according to Touma-Suleiman. “The population demonstrated exemplary responsibility, because they understood that if there would be an outbreak of the virus within this population, it would be a catastrophe. The health services infrastructure in our communities is very weak. The hospitals in Nazareth are not prepared,” she said.
“Also, the Arab villages and towns are very crowded, and that could have led to a serious problem. All these factors made it easy for the citizens to understand the need to be careful, and for the local leaders to understand the need to prepare.”
The role of religion
Kafr Qasim, an Arab city about 20 kilometers east of Tel Aviv with a population of about 23,000, also managed to avoid the spread of Covid-19. Kafr Qasim resident Sheikh Sahwat Freij, deputy head of the Islamic Movement in Israel and chairman of the movement’s national emergency committee, said strict instructions from religious leaders and councils played a significant role in keeping the numbers down.
“We closed the schools, the mosques, places of worship, and we gave them not ‘recommendations’ but a ‘fatwa’ – a formal religious ruling that they are not allowed to gather for now and that they must stay home as much as possible with their families and avoid going out into the streets,” Freij told FRANCE 24.
“It worked, even though some tried to resist. There are people who go to pray at the mosque five times a day and some older people have been praying this way for decades, and so it’s very difficult. Some of them really cried. But we told them: ‘We have to remain alive in order to return to the mosques and reopen then and go back to our lives.’”
The government and local authorities worried that the lockdown would be especially difficult to enforce during the month of Ramadan, when families gather to break the fast at the end of every day.
“We managed to go through the entire month of Ramadan, when Muslims usually feast together – the entire extended family, 40-50 people. This time, they kept it down to six, seven people or 10 people tops, and they didn’t go out after the meal. So the discipline really helped,” said Salam, the mayor of Nazareth.
With the easing of the lockdown measures, mosques and churches are also reopening. “Instead of limiting the number of worshipers to 10 people, now we’re limiting it to 50-60 people,” Salam said. “Sunday will be a holiday [Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan] but we told them that even during the holiday there can’t be more than 50 to 60 people present” for the services.
Other factors also likely played a role in the low infection and mortality rate among Israel’s Arabs. One is the population’s average age, according to Knesset member Sami Abu Shehadeh of the Joint List.
“The Arab minority in Israel is very young. And tests in Arab society began very late. We don’t know how far the virus really spread among the Arab public in Israel because of the lack of tests. It’s possible that there was, indeed, an outbreak of the virus, but since this is a mainly young population, very few people came to be diagnosed and, of those who were diagnosed, very few died,” Abu Shehadeh told FRANCE 24.
“In addition to that, in Israel there is segregation,” Abu Shehadeh said. “Over 90 percent of residents live segregated: Jews on their own and Arabs on their own. And the Arabs are quite closed off in their areas, and their areas are small. So even if the disease spreads, as it did in Deir el Asad [in the country’s north], it’s under total control.”
Where government involvement was perceived as lacking, associations and grassroots organizations filled the gap. The Islamic Movement, for example, set up emergency assistance centers with more than 6,000 volunteers around the country.
“We delivered food packages to people in need and we distributed tens of thousands of care packages to homes throughout the country. That also helped us keep the situation under control. Because when you send people help and you send them food, then of course when you then give them instructions they take them seriously because they know you’re on their side,” Freij said.
He added that assistance was not only offered to Arab communities. When the ultra-Orthodox Jewish city of Bnei Brak, just 18km west of Kafr Qasim, was found to be a major hotspot for Covid-19, Kafr Qasim’s Mayor Adel Badir, also of the Islamic Movement, called the mayor of Bnei Brak to offer help.
“Because, you know, the coronavirus doesn’t differentiate between Jew and Arab,” Freij said. “And also, I think that if the situation was reversed, Bnei Brak and the other cities would have offered their help.”
It’s not the virus, it’s the economy
Another factor that helped stem the spread of the disease was the fact that most Arab citizens are employed in the services sector, according to Abu Shehadeh. “Garages, restaurant work, construction, housework, hotel work – all of these businesses closed. Some still haven’t opened, like restaurants and hotels. Therefore, the virus couldn’t spread, because these workers stayed home.”
But this also means that the Arabs were among the hardest hit economically from the lockdown.
“Like with any great disaster that befalls any country in the world, the weak are always the worst off. Half of the Arab population is below the poverty threshold, and the shutting of the services economy has dealt them a serious blow,” Abu Shehadeh said.
“And because of the poverty, the crime rate in our society is also much higher than the national average. Unfortunately, organized crime in past years has played a growing role in our communities, and a lot of the revenue from organized crime comes from loans they give at an interest to citizens. This will complicate matters very much in the near future, since the people who were poor in the first place have now been deprived of their jobs and have had to take out loans in the grey market. And those running the grey market did not take a leave of absence during the coronavirus epidemic, unfortunately,” he added.
Touma-Suleiman said it was clear that the community’s unemployment and poverty rates were going to grow. “Some small businesses have already collapsed and others are on their way to collapse,” she said. “And now statistics show that the worst hit in terms of employment are young Arabs and Arab women. This will be a big blow to the population further down. I don’t foresee them being able to reintegrate in the workforce soon.”
Another issue for the community, Touma-Suleiman said, is that the government decided not to grant unemployment benefits to people under 20 – which only hurts the Arab population, since Israelis under 20 serve in the army and therefore benefit from an allowance, food and board. “But if he’s an Arab under 20 and has already been working and paying social security, he still can’t get unemployment. So these are young people who, for three months, had no income.”
Crisis exposes gaps
Arab society escaped the worst in terms of infection and mortality rates caused by the coronavirus. But economically, they are likely to be the hardest hit, Touma-Suleiman said.
“The Israeli population usually faces crises at a national security level. And then, the rift between the communities deepens, or the Arabs simply keep their distance and keep silent until after the storm. This time it was a different crisis. A civil crisis. A crisis that affects us all, and we are all equal in the face of it. Although, in fact, we’re not really equal, because in terms of physical immunity, it’s true, both Jews and Arabs can become infected. But in terms of health services on the Jewish side, in terms of tests and treatment, it gave them a kind of head start,” she said.
“The crisis exposed the existing gaps in Israeli society in terms of services and in policies,” she said. “But it also exposed the benefit and the need for a civil emergency mobilisation effort rather than a national security effort.”
A paradox of Israeli society is that while half of the country’s Arab population is poor, 20 percent of Israel’s doctors are Arab – as are 25 percent of nurses and about half of all pharmacists. Arab doctors are department heads at some of the country’s main hospitals, including one of the country’s top virologists, Jihad Bishar.
“There was amazing and very fruitful cooperation between the medical teams in the hospitals,” said Abu Shehadeh. The central role played by the Arab doctors as well as the care and maintenance staff “must have affected thousands of people”, he said.
“The Arab medical staff contributed enormously to the battle against the coronavirus. That also influenced their relationships with their Jewish colleagues in the hospitals, and also affected their status and their image in society, and it also helped and saved thousands of people,” he added.
Those interviewed for this article welcomed the cooperation efforts, but were skeptical that it would lead to significant change once the crisis was over.
“If you look at this new government that has just been established, the largest government in the country’s history, without even one Arab minister – when you talk about the government and the issues, then the Arab community is not among them, so that’s not a good omen,” said Freij of the Islamic Movement. “And also, this whole matter of the government’s plan to annex the West Bank and the Jordan Valley – because you know everything that happens there also influences us here. I hope they’ll change direction.”
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france24--2020-05-22--Passenger plane with almost 100 on board crashes in Karachi, at least two survivors

The security services and the army search the site of a plane crash in Karachi on May 22 , 2020 .
A Pakistan International Airlines Airbus jet with 99 people aboard crashed into the city of Karachi on Friday while approaching the airport .
At least 56 people were confirmed to have died , hospital officials told Reuters , though other officials gave different figures and authorities did not release an estimate of casualties on the ground .
Two passengers survived , including Zafar Masood , president of the Bank of Punjab , a Sindh provincial government spokesman said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ but was `` conscious and responding well '' .
The other survivor , engineer Muhammad Zubair , told Geo News the pilot came down for one landing , briefly touched down , then took off again .
After around 10 more minutes of flying , the pilot announced to passengers he was going to go around for a second go , then crashed as he approached the runway , Zubair said from his bed in Civil Hospital Karachi .
`` All I could see around was smoke and fire , '' he added @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all directions .
Kids and adults .
All I could see was fire .
I couldn ’ t see any people – just hear their screams .
`` I opened my seat belt and saw some light – I went towards the light .
I had to jump down about 10 feet to get to safety.
” Smoke billowed from the scene where flight PK 8303 came down at about 2:45 p.m. ( 0945 GMT ) .
Twisted fuselage lay in the rubble of multi-storey buildings as ambulances rushed through chaotic crowds .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Muslim festival of Eid , when Pakistanis travel to visit relatives .
`` The aeroplane first hit a mobile tower and crashed over houses , '' witness Shakeel Ahmed said near the site , a few kilometres short of the airport .
The Airbus A320 was flying from the eastern city of Lahore to Karachi in the south with 91 passengers and eight crew , civil aviation authorities said , just as Pakistan was resuming domestic flights in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic .
A total of 56 bodies were brought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Karachi , officials from both institutions said .
The airline 's chief executive , Arshad Malik , told reporters he knew of 41 confirmed deaths .
Seconds before the crash , the pilot told air traffic controllers he had lost power from both engines , according to a recording posted on liveatc.net , a widely respected aviation monitoring website .
`` We are returning back , sir , we have lost engines , '' a man was heard saying in a recording released by the website .
The controller freed up both the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ man called `` Mayday !
Mayday !
Mayday ! ''
.
There was no further communication from the plane , according to the tape , which could not immediately be authenticated .
`` The last we heard from the pilot was that he has some technical problem ...
It is a very tragic incident , '' said the state carrier 's spokesman , Abdullah H. Khan .
Another senior civil aviation official told Reuters it appeared the plane had been unable to lower its undercarriage for the first approach due to a technical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to determine the cause .
Aviation safety experts say air crashes typically have multiple causes , and that it is too early to understand them within the first hours or days .
Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted : `` Shocked & saddened by the PIA crash ...
Immediate inquiry will be instituted .
Prayers & condolences go to families of the deceased . ''
Airbus said the jet first flew in 2004 and was fitted with engines built by CFM International , co-owned by General Electric and France 's Safran .

A Pakistan International Airlines Airbus jet with 99 people aboard crashed into the city of Karachi on Friday while approaching the airport.
The security services and the army search the site of a plane crash in Karachi on May 22, 2020.
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At least 56 people were confirmed to have died, hospital officials told Reuters, though other officials gave different figures and authorities did not release an estimate of casualties on the ground.
Two passengers survived, including Zafar Masood, president of the Bank of Punjab, a Sindh provincial government spokesman said. The bank said he had suffered fractures but was "conscious and responding well".
The other survivor, engineer Muhammad Zubair, told Geo News the pilot came down for one landing, briefly touched down, then took off again.
After around 10 more minutes of flying, the pilot announced to passengers he was going to go around for a second go, then crashed as he approached the runway, Zubair said from his bed in Civil Hospital Karachi.
"All I could see around was smoke and fire," he added. "I could hear screams from all directions. Kids and adults. All I could see was fire. I couldn’t see any people – just hear their screams.
"I opened my seat belt and saw some light – I went towards the light. I had to jump down about 10 feet to get to safety.”
#COAS condoles loss of precious lives in tragic PIA plane crash. Shares grief of bereaved families in this difficult time. COAS directed provision of full assistance to civil administration in rescue/ relief effort. — DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) May 22, 2020
'We have lost engines'
Smoke billowed from the scene where flight PK 8303 came down at about 2:45 p.m. (0945 GMT). Twisted fuselage lay in the rubble of multi-storey buildings as ambulances rushed through chaotic crowds.
The crash happened on the eve of the Muslim festival of Eid, when Pakistanis travel to visit relatives.
"The aeroplane first hit a mobile tower and crashed over houses," witness Shakeel Ahmed said near the site, a few kilometres short of the airport.
The Airbus A320 was flying from the eastern city of Lahore to Karachi in the south with 91 passengers and eight crew, civil aviation authorities said, just as Pakistan was resuming domestic flights in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 56 bodies were brought to JPMC hospital and the Civil Hospital Karachi, officials from both institutions said. The airline's chief executive, Arshad Malik, told reporters he knew of 41 confirmed deaths.
Seconds before the crash, the pilot told air traffic controllers he had lost power from both engines, according to a recording posted on liveatc.net, a widely respected aviation monitoring website.
"We are returning back, sir, we have lost engines," a man was heard saying in a recording released by the website. The controller freed up both the airport's runways but moments later the man called "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!".
'Immediate inquiry'
There was no further communication from the plane, according to the tape, which could not immediately be authenticated.
"The last we heard from the pilot was that he has some technical problem ... It is a very tragic incident," said the state carrier's spokesman, Abdullah H. Khan.
Another senior civil aviation official told Reuters it appeared the plane had been unable to lower its undercarriage for the first approach due to a technical fault, but it was too early to determine the cause.
Aviation safety experts say air crashes typically have multiple causes, and that it is too early to understand them within the first hours or days.
Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted: "Shocked & saddened by the PIA crash ... Immediate inquiry will be instituted. Prayers & condolences go to families of the deceased."
Airbus said the jet first flew in 2004 and was fitted with engines built by CFM International, co-owned by General Electric and France's Safran.
(REUTERS)
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france24--2020-05-22--Covid-19: France doesn’t give daily death rate as hospitalisations continue to fall

For the first time since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus , French health authorities did not report the daily @ @ @ @ @ infection , adding in a statement published on Friday those figures will be updated Monday @ @ @ @ @ of Thursday , the country 's fatalities toll stood at 28,215 , the fourth-highest in @ @ @ @ @ States , Britain and Italy .
The number of confirmed cases increased by 393 to @ @ @ @ @ 0.3 % , in line with the average rise per day seen since the end @ @ @ @ @ 11 .
On Wednesday , the number of cases rose by 318 .

French health authorities for a second day did not report the daily additional deaths linked to the infection, adding in a statement published on Friday those figures will be updated Monday, May 25.
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As of Thursday, the country's fatalities toll stood at 28,215, the fourth-highest in the world behind the United States, Britain and Italy.
The number of confirmed cases increased by 393 to 144,556, an increase of 0.3%, in line with the average rise per day seen since the end of a lockdown on May 11. On Wednesday, the number of cases rose by 318.
On Saturday, Europe's coronavirus infections topped 2 million.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)
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france24--2020-05-22--Britain to quarantine all international travellers from June 8

Britain 's interior minister , Priti Patel , attending a remote press conference to update the nation on the coronavirus pandemic , inside 10 Downing Street in London on May 22 , 2020 .
Britain will introduce a COVID-19 quarantine for all travellers arriving from overseas from June 8 , interior minister Priti Patel said on Friday , a measure that airlines have warned will devastate their industry .
All international arrivals , including returning Britons , will be required to self-isolate for 14 days and provide details of where they will be staying to the authorities .
`` Now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus , we must take steps to guard against imported cases triggering a resurgence of this deadly disease , '' Patel said at a news conference .
She said those who breached the quarantine in England could be fined 1,000 pounds ( $ 1,218 ) , and that spot checks would be carried out by health and border officials .
The quarantine measures will not apply to those arriving from the Irish Republic , and there are also exemptions for freight drivers , medical professionals and seasonal agricultural workers .
Unlike many other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carried out few tests and checks on visitors , with quarantine limited only to arrivals from China at the start of the outbreak .
That has led to accusations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson 's government has been too slow to act , but it now also faces criticism over plans to bring in the quarantine .
Airline bosses have said the measures would have severe repercussions , with Michael O'Leary , Ryanair 's chief executive , saying they would be `` unenforceable and unpoliceable '' and would be ignored .
`` Introducing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sense and will mean very limited international aviation at best , '' said Tim Alderslade , Chief Executive of industry body Airlines UK .
`` It is just about the worst thing government could do if their aim is to restart the economy . ''

Britain will introduce a COVID-19 quarantine for all travellers arriving from overseas from June 8, interior minister Priti Patel said on Friday, a measure that airlines have warned will devastate their industry.
Britain's interior minister, Priti Patel, attending a remote press conference to update the nation on the coronavirus pandemic, inside 10 Downing Street in London on May 22, 2020.
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All international arrivals, including returning Britons, will be required to self-isolate for 14 days and provide details of where they will be staying to the authorities.
"Now we are past the peak of this virus, we must take steps to guard against imported cases triggering a resurgence of this deadly disease," Patel said at a news conference.
She said those who breached the quarantine in England could be fined 1,000 pounds ($1,218), and that spot checks would be carried out by health and border officials.
The quarantine measures will not apply to those arriving from the Irish Republic, and there are also exemptions for freight drivers, medical professionals and seasonal agricultural workers.
Unlike many other countries across the world, Britain has carried out few tests and checks on visitors, with quarantine limited only to arrivals from China at the start of the outbreak.
That has led to accusations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has been too slow to act, but it now also faces criticism over plans to bring in the quarantine.
Airline bosses have said the measures would have severe repercussions, with Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, saying they would be "unenforceable and unpoliceable" and would be ignored.
"Introducing a quarantine at this stage makes no sense and will mean very limited international aviation at best," said Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive of industry body Airlines UK.
"It is just about the worst thing government could do if their aim is to restart the economy."
(REUTERS)
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france24--2020-05-22--NASA approves crewed SpaceX flight, first US launch in nine years

NASA said Friday that it has given the green light to next week 's launch of two astronauts aboard a SpaceX vessel -- the first crewed space flight to leave from US soil in nine years .
Top officials at the US space agency and Elon Musk 's company have been meeting since Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final verifications ahead of the May 27 mission , which comes amid the coronavirus pandemic gripping the United States .
`` The Flight Readiness Review has concluded !
NASA 's SpaceX Crew Dragon mission is cleared to proceed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agency said on Twitter .
US astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are scheduled to blast off from Kennedy 's Launch Pad 39A at 4:33 pm ( 2033 GMT ) on Wednesday for the International Space Station , which is currently housing two Russians and one American .
American astronauts have been flying to the ISS on Russian Soyuz rockets since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 after three decades of service .
Should the SpaceX mission succeed , the US will have achieved its goal of no longer having to buy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ astronauts rides to the ISS .
The United States has spent billions of dollars in recent years on SpaceX and Boeing in a bid to regain the capability to send astronauts into space .

NASA said Friday that it has given the green light to next week's launch of two astronauts aboard a SpaceX vessel -- the first crewed space flight to leave from US soil in nine years.
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Top officials at the US space agency and Elon Musk's company have been meeting since Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final verifications ahead of the May 27 mission, which comes amid the coronavirus pandemic gripping the United States.
"The Flight Readiness Review has concluded! NASA's SpaceX Crew Dragon mission is cleared to proceed toward liftoff," the US space agency said on Twitter.
US astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are scheduled to blast off from Kennedy's Launch Pad 39A at 4:33 pm (2033 GMT) on Wednesday for the International Space Station, which is currently housing two Russians and one American.
American astronauts have been flying to the ISS on Russian Soyuz rockets since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 after three decades of service.
Should the SpaceX mission succeed, the US will have achieved its goal of no longer having to buy seats on Soyuz rockets to give its astronauts rides to the ISS.
The United States has spent billions of dollars in recent years on SpaceX and Boeing in a bid to regain the capability to send astronauts into space.
(AFP)
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france24--2020-05-22--After Covid-19, fears of social instability as China’s jobless rate peaks

After Covid-19 , fears of social instability as China ’ s jobless rate peaks As China 's National People 's @ @ @ @ @ session , the issue of unemployment will be one of the items at the top @ @ @ @ @ the first quarter of 2020 , the country entered a recession for the first time @ @ @ @ @ type of economic data .
A rise in unemployment quickly followed , with the jobless @ @ @ @ @ of 6.2 percent in February .
But the real figure could be much higher , @ @ @ @ @ population of migrant workers is not counted in official statistics .
Beijing has vowed to @ @ @ @ @ to curb this worrying trend , which could lead to social instability and resentment towards @ @ @ @ @ report is brought to you by Charles Pellegrin and Li Yupu .
Take international news @ @ @ @ @ the France 24 app

After Covid-19, fears of social instability as China’s jobless rate peaks
05:15 FOCUS © France 24 screengrab
By: Charles PELLEGRIN Follow | Li YUPU
As China's National People's Congress convenes for its annual session, the issue of unemployment will be one of the items at the top of the agenda. In the first quarter of 2020, the country entered a recession for the first time since it started recording this type of economic data. A rise in unemployment quickly followed, with the jobless rate hitting a historic peak of 6.2 percent in February. But the real figure could be much higher, as the country's huge population of migrant workers is not counted in official statistics.


france24--2020-05-22--Animal trafficking, 'wet markets' increase human exposure to viruses, says top biodiversity research

Animal trafficking, 'wet markets' increase human exposure to viruses, says top biodiversity researcher

Philippe Grandcolas , a senior researcher at France 's National Centre for Scientific Research , spoke to FRANCE 24 on the International Day of Biodiversity about how humans can improve preservation of the environment .
Philippe Grandcolas , a senior researcher at France ’ s National Centre for Scientific Research , told FRANCE 24 on the International Day of Biodiversity on Friday that decades of deforestation and pollution have been `` a disaster '' and that animal trafficking puts humans at risk of viral infections .
Grandcolas , who leads the biodiversity laboratory at France ’ s Natural History Museum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the planet ’ s natural environment , but that animal trafficking and `` wet markets '' in cities can lead to human exposure .
“ We need to educate people and try to break the connection between people that are using animals for food in a traditional way and the big cities where these kinds of food and markets should not be developed anymore , ” he said .
“ It ’ s ... also a matter of economic policy to replace the income [ made by ] these people poaching and trafficking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be more beneficial to society.
” Grandcolas spoke to FRANCE 24 two days after the European Commission unveiled plans to build a more sustainable food system , insisting on the need to both reduce the use of pesticides and promote organic farming , and protect biodiversity across the 27-nation bloc .
In line with its ambition of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to zero by mid-century , the EU 's executive arm wants to halve the use of chemical pesticides by 2030 and to ensure that at least 25 percent of agricultural land is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 8 percent at the moment .
The commission also wants to plant at least three billion trees over the next 10 years .
According to EU figures , agricultural activities generate about 10 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions .
“ Nature is vital for our physical and mental wellbeing .
It filters our air and water , it regulates the climate and it pollinates our crops , ” said Stella Kyriakides , the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety .
“ But we are acting as if it didn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unprecedented rate.
” Frans Timmermans , the commission vice-president in charge of the so-called Green Deal , said the new plans , which need to be endorsed by member states , will help the bloc recover from the economic crisis induced by the coronavirus pandemic .

Philippe Grandcolas, a senior researcher at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, told FRANCE 24 on the International Day of Biodiversity on Friday that decades of deforestation and pollution have been "a disaster" and that animal trafficking puts humans at risk of viral infections.
Philippe Grandcolas, a senior researcher at France's National Centre for Scientific Research, spoke to FRANCE 24 on the International Day of Biodiversity about how humans can improve preservation of the environment.
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Grandcolas, who leads the biodiversity laboratory at France’s Natural History Museum, said that viruses are part of the planet’s natural environment, but that animal trafficking and "wet markets" in cities can lead to human exposure.
“We need to educate people and try to break the connection between people that are using animals for food in a traditional way and the big cities where these kinds of food and markets should not be developed anymore,” he said.
“It’s ... also a matter of economic policy to replace the income [made by] these people poaching and trafficking by other kinds of incomes that could be more beneficial to society.”
Grandcolas spoke to FRANCE 24 two days after the European Commission unveiled plans to build a more sustainable food system, insisting on the need to both reduce the use of pesticides and promote organic farming, and protect biodiversity across the 27-nation bloc.
In line with its ambition of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to zero by mid-century, the EU's executive arm wants to halve the use of chemical pesticides by 2030 and to ensure that at least 25 percent of agricultural land is reserved for organic farming, compared to 8 percent at the moment. The commission also wants to plant at least three billion trees over the next 10 years.
According to EU figures, agricultural activities generate about 10 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
“Nature is vital for our physical and mental wellbeing. It filters our air and water, it regulates the climate and it pollinates our crops,” said Stella Kyriakides, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. “But we are acting as if it didn’t matter, and losing it at an unprecedented rate.”
Frans Timmermans, the commission vice-president in charge of the so-called Green Deal, said the new plans, which need to be endorsed by member states, will help the bloc recover from the economic crisis induced by the coronavirus pandemic.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
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france24--2020-05-22--Week in Review: Sweden's Covid-19 strategy backfires, inventive social distancing and nostalgia for

Week in Review: Sweden's Covid-19 strategy backfires, inventive social distancing and nostalgia for Cannes

This week FRANCE 24 looked at how Sweden 's Covid-19 strategy led to a rise in infections compared with its Nordic neighbours , why France 's army collapsed so quickly in the face of Germany 's 1940 invasion , and if the World Health Organization 's review of its pandemic response will be influenced by China .
We also take a trip down memory lane for those who are missing the Cannes Film Festival .
Sweden ’ s Covid-19 strategy has caused an ‘ amplification of the epidemic ’ Sweden is famously one of the few countries to have opted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the coronavirus .
But given that the country has a much higher death toll per million than its Nordic neighbours , many observers have suggested that the Swedish approach has failed .
Why did France lose to Germany in 1940 ?
The speed with which France crumbled and capitulated in the face of the May 1940 German invasion is still shocking , 80 years on .
Who hijacked the WHO and can it impact the Covid-19 whodunnit ?
Taiwan ’ s exclusion from this week ’ s annual meeting of the World @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China ’ s power grab of multilateral institutions .
With Beijing ’ s renewed commitment to the UN health agency and Trump ’ s funding cut , is an international investigation likely to reveal the mishaps and cover-ups of the Covid-19 pandemic ?
An increasing number of developing countries that have joined Beijing ’ s “ New Silk Road ” initiative are facing economic problems sparked by the coronavirus crisis .
China now finds itself facing a dilemma between trying to salvage its own economy or forgiving and renegotiating its partners ’ loans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of transport , citizens across the world have turned to inventive means to go about their daily lives while still respecting social distancing rules .
With the Covid-19 pandemic taking a heavy toll on Brazil ’ s Amazonas state , some Amazon tribes are turning to traditional medicine to treat the illness amid what they say is a lack of help from the country ’ s government .
OECD chief says tackling Covid-19 is not a choice between lives and livelihoods The global economy has been turned on its head by the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recession in 90 years .
The head of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development ( OECD ) , Angel Gurria , tells FRANCE 24 that it is a “ false dilemma '' to say we have to choose between `` lives and livelihoods '' and that dealing with both the virus and the economic consequences are interlinked .
Barbara Hendricks on sheltering in place : 'This is how refugees feel all the time' Barbara Hendricks has used her voice for two things : in the service of a superlative musical career and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As a lifetime ambassador for the UN 's High Commissioner for Refugees , she ’ s staging a concert from Stockholm ’ s Vasateatern to help this vulnerable sector of society .
YOU ARE HERE France is full of small museums that retrace its history .
In the southwestern town of Agen , the museum of fine arts houses 3,000 works of art .
Ranging from ancient times to the present day , they are housed in four Renaissance-era mansions which have been graced by the presence of Catherine de Medici and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ north , the small Normandy port of Honfleur has dedicated a museum to local artist Eugène Boudin .
He was one of the first Impressionist painters to capture the changing light on this stretch of the French coast .
FRANCE 24 was supposed to be at the 73rd edition of the Cannes Film Festival , the highlight of the cinematic year .
Instead , we have taken a journey down memory lane to review our past Cannes coverage , including interviews with Stephen Spielberg , John Travolta , Robert DeNiro and Aishwarya Rai @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the time of Corona How do actors shoot love scenes in a time of social distancing ?
We also look at France ’ s pop-up drive-ins ; French documentary `` La Cravate '' ( The Tie ) , about a young man enthusiastic about Marine Le Pen and the National Front party ; and writer-director Hirokazu Kore-Eda ’ s first project outside his native Japan , `` The Truth '' , which is set in Paris and stars Catherine Deneuve as a famous actress whose memoirs are about to be published .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , healthcare workers have been going into daily battle against Covid-19 .
Surrounded by a deadly invisible virus and caring for patients in their final moments , they have been on the front line for the past two months – and the psychological toll has been heavy .
In a hospital in Saint-Denis , in Paris ’ s northern suburbs , a team of psychologists has been doing the rounds to help doctors and nurses navigate the trauma and speak out about their experiences .
Concern mounts for detainees in Russia after authorities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of an uprising in the Angarsk prison east of Moscow on April 10 , 2020 , the families of more than 60 inmates are desperate for news of their relatives .
They want to know whether loved ones are dead or alive .
Prison authorities have reported the death of one inmate “ by hanging ” , but said all others were incarcerated in good conditions .
For the worried wives and relatives , the fight to find out the truth continues .
As people across the globe stay home amid the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While households used to cook on average once or twice a day , many are now making at least three meals on a daily basis , generating along the way an abundant yet unexploited resource : food waste .
We take a look at the lack of women leaders in the scientific and medical fields and talk about what that means for the fight against Covid-19 with Professor Sarah Hawkes , a specialist in gender and health at University College London .
We also meet some of the few women scientists and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus .
Populism and the pandemic : The great divide in Brazil Populist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is refusing to sacrifice the economy for the sake of public health amid the Covid-19 pandemic .
Like him , his supporters downplay the crisis and denounce `` coronavirus tyranny '' .
But local authorities have adopted lockdown measures against the president 's advice .
And in the cramped , working-class favelas , the locals are afraid of Covid-19 and are doing what they can to combat a potential health disaster .
Dressed in her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ de Castelbajac , British singer-songwriter Shingai is adding the final touches to her new single `` War Drums '' .
The former member of the pop-soul group Noisettes has a message .
She believes the current Covid-19 crisis provides an exciting opportunity to transform society .
But how ?
As unlikely as it sounds , haircare could be a good place to start .

WEEK IN REVIEW
This week FRANCE 24 looked at how Sweden's Covid-19 strategy led to a rise in infections compared with its Nordic neighbours, why France's army collapsed so quickly in the face of Germany's 1940 invasion, and if the World Health Organization's review of its pandemic response will be influenced by China. We also take a trip down memory lane for those who are missing the Cannes Film Festival.
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ARTICLES
Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy has caused an ‘amplification of the epidemic’
Sweden is famously one of the few countries to have opted against a lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus. But given that the country has a much higher death toll per million than its Nordic neighbours, many observers have suggested that the Swedish approach has failed.
Why did France lose to Germany in 1940?
The speed with which France crumbled and capitulated in the face of the May 1940 German invasion is still shocking, 80 years on.
Who hijacked the WHO and can it impact the Covid-19 whodunnit?
Taiwan’s exclusion from this week’s annual meeting of the World Health Organization’s governing body highlighted China’s power grab of multilateral institutions. With Beijing’s renewed commitment to the UN health agency and Trump’s funding cut, is an international investigation likely to reveal the mishaps and cover-ups of the Covid-19 pandemic?
Covid-19 creates bumps in China’s ‘New Silk Road’
An increasing number of developing countries that have joined Beijing’s “New Silk Road” initiative are facing economic problems sparked by the coronavirus crisis. China now finds itself facing a dilemma between trying to salvage its own economy or forgiving and renegotiating its partners’ loans.
VIDEO REPORTS
Covid-19: Inventive social distancing around the world
From unusual headwear to unique modes of transport, citizens across the world have turned to inventive means to go about their daily lives while still respecting social distancing rules.
People around the world have turned to inventive social distancing methods to keep safe during the coronavirus crisis. © AFP / FRANCE 24
Covid-19: Neglected by government, Amazon tribes turn to traditional medicine
With the Covid-19 pandemic taking a heavy toll on Brazil’s Amazonas state, some Amazon tribes are turning to traditional medicine to treat the illness amid what they say is a lack of help from the country’s government.
A member of the Sateré Mawé collects ingredients for traditional medicine in the Amazon rain forest on May 17,2020. © AFP / FRANCE 24
TV SHOWS ONLINE
THE INTERVIEW
OECD chief says tackling Covid-19 is not a choice between lives and livelihoods
The global economy has been turned on its head by the coronavirus pandemic, with predictions of the worst recession in 90 years. The head of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), Angel Gurria, tells FRANCE 24 that it is a “false dilemma" to say we have to choose between "lives and livelihoods" and that dealing with both the virus and the economic consequences are interlinked.
Barbara Hendricks on sheltering in place: 'This is how refugees feel all the time'
Barbara Hendricks has used her voice for two things: in the service of a superlative musical career and as a staunch defender of human rights. As a lifetime ambassador for the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, she’s staging a concert from Stockholm’s Vasateatern to help this vulnerable sector of society.
THE INTERVIEW © France 24 screengrab
YOU ARE HERE
Discovering France's lesser-known museums
France is full of small museums that retrace its history. In the southwestern town of Agen, the museum of fine arts houses 3,000 works of art. Ranging from ancient times to the present day, they are housed in four Renaissance-era mansions which have been graced by the presence of Catherine de Medici and Queen Margot. Meanwhile, 800 kilometres north, the small Normandy port of Honfleur has dedicated a museum to local artist Eugène Boudin. He was one of the first Impressionist painters to capture the changing light on this stretch of the French coast.
VOUS ETES ICI © France 24
ENCORE!
Missing Cannes? A trip down memory lane
FRANCE 24 was supposed to be at the 73rd edition of the Cannes Film Festival, the highlight of the cinematic year. Instead, we have taken a journey down memory lane to review our past Cannes coverage, including interviews with Stephen Spielberg, John Travolta, Robert DeNiro and Aishwarya Rai.
A l'Affiche! © FRANCE 24
Film show: Love scenes in the time of Corona
How do actors shoot love scenes in a time of social distancing? We also look at France’s pop-up drive-ins; French documentary "La Cravate" (The Tie), about a young man enthusiastic about Marine Le Pen and the National Front party; and writer-director Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s first project outside his native Japan, "The Truth", which is set in Paris and stars Catherine Deneuve as a famous actress whose memoirs are about to be published.
Encore! © Screen grab
FOCUS
Covid-19 debrief: Paris nurses, doctors reveal heavy toll on mental health
In hospitals across France and around the world, healthcare workers have been going into daily battle against Covid-19. Surrounded by a deadly invisible virus and caring for patients in their final moments, they have been on the front line for the past two months – and the psychological toll has been heavy. In a hospital in Saint-Denis, in Paris’s northern suburbs, a team of psychologists has been doing the rounds to help doctors and nurses navigate the trauma and speak out about their experiences.
Concern mounts for detainees in Russia after authorities suppress prison uprising
After the brutal suppression of an uprising in the Angarsk prison east of Moscow on April 10, 2020, the families of more than 60 inmates are desperate for news of their relatives. They want to know whether loved ones are dead or alive. Prison authorities have reported the death of one inmate “by hanging”, but said all others were incarcerated in good conditions. For the worried wives and relatives, the fight to find out the truth continues.
FOCUS © France 24 screengrab
DOWN TO EARTH
Food waste: Turning trash into treasure
As people across the globe stay home amid the coronavirus pandemic, residential trash has increased dramatically. While households used to cook on average once or twice a day, many are now making at least three meals on a daily basis, generating along the way an abundant yet unexploited resource: food waste.
THE 51 PERCENT
The women fighting Covid-19: Pandemic highlights lack of female representation
We take a look at the lack of women leaders in the scientific and medical fields and talk about what that means for the fight against Covid-19 with Professor Sarah Hawkes, a specialist in gender and health at University College London. We also meet some of the few women scientists and doctors who are leading the battle against the virus.
REPORTERS
Populism and the pandemic: The great divide in Brazil
Populist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is refusing to sacrifice the economy for the sake of public health amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Like him, his supporters downplay the crisis and denounce "coronavirus tyranny". But local authorities have adopted lockdown measures against the president's advice. And in the cramped, working-class favelas, the locals are afraid of Covid-19 and are doing what they can to combat a potential health disaster.
FASHION
Free afro hair! The message from British singer-songwriter Shingai
Dressed in her lucky vintage waterproof by French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, British singer-songwriter Shingai is adding the final touches to her new single "War Drums". The former member of the pop-soul group Noisettes has a message. She believes the current Covid-19 crisis provides an exciting opportunity to transform society. But how? As unlikely as it sounds, haircare could be a good place to start.
Fashion © France 24
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france24--2020-05-22--Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown: 'My poem "The Virus" was like a prophecy'

Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown : 'My poem `` The Virus '' was like a prophecy' American poet Jericho Brown @ @ @ @ @ winning the Pulitzer Prize for poetry , his collection “ The Tradition ” and how @ @ @ @ @ '' was like a prophecy of what was to come .

Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown: 'My poem "The Virus" was like a prophecy'
13:07 ENCORE! © France 24 screengrab
American poet Jericho Brown speaks to Eve Jackson about winning the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, his collection “The Tradition” and how his poem "The Virus" was like a prophecy of what was to come.


france24--2020-05-22--‘All of France wanted masks, now they're not wearing them’

IN THE PRESS , Friday , May 22 : We look at what papers in China and Hong Kong have to say about Beijing 's plan to impose new security laws , a study that calls into question the effectiveness of Sweden 's `` laissez-faire '' coronavirus strategy , the lax attitude of Parisians toward mask wearing and an emotional reunion between a Spanish man and his donkey .
Drastically different views are emerging on Beijing ’ s new security laws in China , Hong Kong and Western countries .
Today ’ s China Daily editorial says that reports about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kit for an anti-Beijing virus ” .
The paper adds that those who find the news comforting have Hong Kong ’ s “ stability , prosperity , and rule of law in their hearts ” and “ those speaking ill of it mostly have an axe to grind when it comes to the Chinese mainland ” .
Hong Kong ’ s South China Morning Post cites opposition politicians who say that enacting this legislation is like announcing the death of the “ one country , two systems ” policy and forecasts another massive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus is concerned , according to the paper ’ s cartoonist Harry Harrison .
He depicted one virus particle saying to the others : “ I think Hong Kong is getting distracted by other issues.
” A report from Sweden ’ s public health agency has found that by the end of April just over 7 percent of Stockholm ’ s population had developed antibodies to the coronavirus – that ’ s well below the minimum 40 percent required for herd immunity .
The Guardian writes that it adds to concerns about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strategy for combating the virus .
Parisians also seem to be adopting a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to masks .
The newspaper Le Parisien took to the streets of Paris on what was a very balmy Thursday to count the number of mask-wearers .
It concluded that barely 1 in 10 Parisians are covering their faces .
One person who was wearing a mask told the paper : “ Everybody in France was clamouring for access to masks .
Now that they have them they ’ re not wearing them.
” The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ easing this week many people have been carried away by reunions with friends and family and , as our last story shows , even with pets .
A man in Spain filmed his emotional reunion with his donkey , Baldomera , after two months apart .
She is seen rushing towards him loudly braying as he pets her ; he breaks into tears .
You can watch the heart-warming encounter by clicking on the video link in this article from Metro news .

IN THE PRESS, Friday, May 22: We look at what papers in China and Hong Kong have to say about Beijing's plan to impose new security laws, a study that calls into question the effectiveness of Sweden's "laissez-faire" coronavirus strategy, the lax attitude of Parisians toward mask wearing and an emotional reunion between a Spanish man and his donkey.
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Drastically different views are emerging on Beijing’s new security laws in China, Hong Kong and Western countries. Today’s China Daily editorial says that reports about the legislation are “like a testing kit for an anti-Beijing virus”. The paper adds that those who find the news comforting have Hong Kong’s “stability, prosperity, and rule of law in their hearts” and “those speaking ill of it mostly have an axe to grind when it comes to the Chinese mainland”.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post cites opposition politicians who say that enacting this legislation is like announcing the death of the “one country, two systems” policy and forecasts another massive wave of pro-democracy protests. Even the coronavirus is concerned, according to the paper’s cartoonist Harry Harrison. He depicted one virus particle saying to the others: “I think Hong Kong is getting distracted by other issues.”
A report from Sweden’s public health agency has found that by the end of April just over 7 percent of Stockholm’s population had developed antibodies to the coronavirus – that’s well below the minimum 40 percent required for herd immunity. The Guardian writes that it adds to concerns about the Swedish government’s "laissez-faire" strategy for combating the virus.
Parisians also seem to be adopting a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to masks. The newspaper Le Parisien took to the streets of Paris on what was a very balmy Thursday to count the number of mask-wearers. It concluded that barely 1 in 10 Parisians are covering their faces. One person who was wearing a mask told the paper: “Everybody in France was clamouring for access to masks. Now that they have them they’re not wearing them.”
The paper concedes that since the lockdown began easing this week many people have been carried away by reunions with friends and family and, as our last story shows, even with pets. A man in Spain filmed his emotional reunion with his donkey, Baldomera, after two months apart. She is seen rushing towards him loudly braying as he pets her; he breaks into tears. You can watch the heart-warming encounter by clicking on the video link in this article from Metro news.
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france24--2020-05-22--France’s overcrowded centres for migrant workers turn deadly during pandemic

Many images show the kitchen , which is shared by 18 people and poses an immense risk for disease transmission during the Covid-19 pandemic .
This image shows one of the group kitchens , which is shared by 18 residents in the centre .
Some kitchens have become even more overcrowded as homeless people have moved in , as shown in the video above .
Covid-19 has already killed two people in a cramped centre for migrant workers run by the French semi-public company Adoma in a Paris suburb .
Remaining residents reached out to the FRANCE 24 Observers to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are desperately trying to isolate in their tiny rooms , which measure 7m² , but are still forced to share kitchens and bathrooms with their neighbours.A group of residents and activists filmed a series of videos on May 10 to document the terrible living conditions at a centre for migrant workers in Les Ulis , located in the Essonne department near Paris.The centre is located about 30 kilometres to the south of Paris .
Its 325 rooms house both migrant workers and asylum seekers.When the centre was built in 1973 , it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ measuring 14m² .
In the end , however , the rooms were cut in half .
They now measure about 7 m² and are rented for about €300 per month.The centre is run by Adoma , a semi-public company .
That means that it is partially owned by the French government and the Caisse des Dépôts , a public sector financial institution which is often called the “ investment arm ” of the French government .

FRANCE
These photos and videos were captured by residents of a French centre for migrants run by Adoma in April and May 2020.
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Covid-19 has already killed two people in a cramped centre for migrant workers run by the French semi-public company Adoma in a Paris suburb. Remaining residents reached out to the FRANCE 24 Observers to highlight their horrendous living conditions. They are desperately trying to isolate in their tiny rooms, which measure 7m², but are still forced to share kitchens and bathrooms with their neighbours.
A group of residents and activists filmed a series of videos on May 10 to document the terrible living conditions at a centre for migrant workers in Les Ulis, located in the Essonne department near Paris.
Many images show the kitchen, which is shared by 18 people and poses an immense risk for disease transmission during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The centre is located about 30 kilometres to the south of Paris. Its 325 rooms house both migrant workers and asylum seekers.
When the centre was built in 1973, it was supposed to include 163 rooms, each measuring 14m². In the end, however, the rooms were cut in half. They now measure about 7 m² and are rented for about €300 per month.
The centre is run by Adoma, a semi-public company. That means that it is partially owned by the French government and the Caisse des Dépôts, a public sector financial institution which is often called the “investment arm” of the French government.
This image shows one of the group kitchens, which is shared by 18 residents in the centre. Some kitchens have become even more overcrowded as homeless people have moved in, as shown in the video above.
"Blackened walls, prostitutes, bedbugs and dealers”
Forty-three-year-old Issa Dambele came to France from Mali 15 years ago. He’s been living in the centre since 2008. Dambele, who works as a garbage collector, first contacted the FRANCE 24 Observers team in February about the poor living conditions residents were enduring and their growing terror as Covid-19 spread:
I’ve never been comfortable in this centre, between the dirtiness and the impoliteness, the dealers and the bed bugs. I’ve often found myself in a crisis situation, without resources or any kind of assistance. I’ve had to go knock on my neighbour’s doors for a bit of sugar for my coffee, a bit of oil for cooking or a bit of soap. There are young people from the nearby projects who come and sell drugs in the stairwells. If we ask them to leave, the tone gets heated. It’s common to get death threats or knife marks on your door. The building managers, who work for Adoma, try to get rid of the dealers but it is impossible. As soon as the police get here, they flee and go and hide in one of the rooms.
This is a screengrab of a video filmed by our Observer in March 2020. It shows one of the stairwells covered with bottle caps, cigarette butts and unidentified liquids. Our Observer says that the mess was left by dealers and a minority of residents.
"We try to rest up so we can go to work. We often have tiring jobs”
Some of the walls are blackened from a mix of spit and urine and coffee. There are Nigerian prostitutes who use the rooms to meet clients on the weekends. And in the midst of all that, there are people like me who are trying to live a normal life, trying to rest up so we can go back to work every day, often in tiring jobs.
One of the blackened walls in the Ullis migrant centre, as photographed in April 2020 by activist Lamine Sidibe.
It’s a dangerous place for our health. When I think about the Chibanis, who have been living in these places for 35 or 40 years, I get shivers [Editor’s note: the Chibanis are migrant workers who came to France after WWII from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali and Senegal. Today, many of them have now retired but remain both poor and isolated and often still live in these centres.] When Covid-19 hit, I realised it would be impossible to practise lockdown in the centre. It’s overcrowded and there is a lack of hygiene. You have to share the bathrooms with the 17 other residents on your floor. In mid-March, I decided to leave the centre and went to go and stay with my girlfriend.
Since Dambele left the centre, two residents have died of Covid-19. Both men were over 70 and both died in the hospital, according to Adoma. A third elderly man was found dead in his room during the lockdown, though his death likely had nothing to do with Covid-19. Eight other people have shown symptoms of the virus and four of those people have been hospitalised.
"These people are left in a place where confinement is impossible”
Lamine Sidibe, the president of ASTI (an organisation whose name translates to the Association of Solidarity with All Immigrants) in Les Ulis, is trying to defend the human rights of the people living in the centre. Years ago, Sidibe was a resident there himself.
With these deaths and hospitalisations, we’re sure that the virus is circulating within these centres. And yet these sometimes extremely vulnerable people are left in a place where it is impossible to practice self-isolation or social distancing. At the very beginning of the crisis, I warned both politicians as well as the centre management. Adoma told me that precautions had been taken. Faced with this exceptional crisis and potential health scandal, I thought that they were taking exceptional measures. But these measures weren’t taken and we’ve had deaths. This centre is no longer fit for purpose. It needs to be declared unsafe and unsanitary and a new building needs to be constructed so that these residents can live in decent housing. Trapping a man in a room that measures 7m² is like living in a cage. It’s inhuman.
"I can touch it with two fingers [Editor’s note: the walls on opposite sides of the room], 7m² is worse than a prison,” says one resident in this video from May 10. In a prison in France, the average cell size is 9m².
Adoma says that the most important steps have already been taken
Christophe Roussel, who is the manager for Adoma centres in the Essonne department, says that important measures have already been taken. Roussel says they’ve cleaned door handles and light switches, put up posters and tried to raise awareness. He says they’ve been checking in on vulnerable people by telephone. He also says that anyone who reports symptoms is moved to the hospital or special housing reserved for those with Covid-19. He says that 12 people were tested for the virus in late April and three of those cases were positive. A further 25 people were set to be tested on May 15.
"Families live in these tiny rooms"
The Youssef Nazario Association has been delivering meals and groceries to people in these migrant centres. The organisation’s coordinator, Youssef Naggaou, spoke to the FRANCE 24 Observers team.
"We’re launching an appeal for donations for some of the people living in the Adoma centre who are struggling to get enough to eat. They need rice, pasta, oil, canned vegetables and sugar,” the group posted on Facebook on April 14 before going to distribute food (as shown in the video, above).
What really struck me is that there is a 10-year-old child who I often see playing with the children from my neighbourhood. When I went to the centre, I realized that he was living there with his family. It must be so difficult for an entire family to live in one of these tiny rooms. But it is either that or the streets…
In 2012, socialist member of parliament Maud Olivier spoke to the National Assembly about this establishment, which she said “forced its residents to endure the most disgraceful living conditions".
This photo shows a shower in the centre. The photo was taken in April 2020 by Lamine Sibide
Adoma is renting rooms that are smaller than the 9m² minimum allowed for private rentals, but that standard doesn’t seem to apply to them.
"The 9m² rule doesn’t apply to centres like this. Legal precedent has stated the enjoyment and use of common areas must be considered as well. However, the obligation to provide decent housing that doesn’t compromise the safety or health of residents remains,” says Agathe Céleste, a specialist in immigration law.
"There was a centre with rooms that measured 4.5 m2 in Argenteuil"
Michael Hoare is the president of a group called Collective for the Future of Foyers (foyer is the French word for immigrant workers residences like this one). In French the name is Collectif pour l’avenir des foyers (COPAF). Hoare says that what is happening in Les Ulis is far from an isolated case:
In Argenteuil (which is 15km northwest of Paris), there was a centre with rooms that measured 4.5m², but the centre has since been destroyed and replaced. It was common practice to chop the rooms in two, especially when it came to housing immigrants who came to reconstruct France after the war. However, back then, these buildings were considered spaces for group living. There was a big table in the kitchen, a recreation room and a cafeteria, for example. All of that made the living situations more bearable. But all of that disappeared for security reasons. These centres were built in troubled neighbourhoods and there were often problems with squatting, for example.
"No to prison-foyers,” reads this banner hung up in front of the Riquet foyer, or immigrant workers residence, in Paris’s 19th arrondissement. (Photo: Archive COPAF, 2017).
Covid-19 has transformed these spaces from very difficult to live in to downright dangerous. Luckily, for the time being, we haven’t seen any massacres in the centres that we are keeping an eye on. Though there are centres that have had one, two or three deaths from the virus. The problem is that these centres are important considering the immense affordable housing shortage that exists in France, especially in large cities, where it is incredibly hard to access affordable housing.
Adoma runs about half of the centres for migrant workers in France. On May 14, it reported that there had been 36 deaths from Covid-19 in its centres.
Impossible to rebuild the centre in Les Ulis
Everyone interviewed by FRANCE 24 says the current Adoma centre in Les Ulis is impossible to renovate and should be demolished. In its place, they say a decent building that is up to code should be built and that it should include individual studios that are at least 15m².
The FRANCE 24 Observers team spoke to Les Ulis independent mayor Françoise Marhuenda , who said that a new building containing 160 spaces should be built on the site and a second building, offering a further 165 spaces, should be built in a different area so as to “reduce the burden on a neighborhood facing many challenges”.
"However, when we talk to neighbouring communities about putting up a building with 165 spaces, discussions stall,” she said. “The government, which could bang its fist on the table, isn’t helping us at all.”
The building containing the migrant centre is nine stories tall and is located at the edge of the Western Quarter, a struggling, low-income community in Les Ulis. (Photo: Lamine Sibide)
Christophe Roussel, the manager for Adoma migrant centres in Essonne says that he is disappointed by the qualms expressed by people in neighbouring towns:
We’ve been trying for the past 23 years. When someone presents a project for a migrant centre to the residents of a neighbourhood, people almost always react badly and the cities back off. So we’re stuck and the situation drags on. We can’t find another site and the people in Les Ulis are stuck living in these conditions. We hope that the current health crisis will result in a general increase in awareness. This type of centre is no longer viable.
But for residents, these tensions between city governments don’t justify their poor living conditions.
"Every year, they tell us, ‘Don’t worry. The new building is coming, it’ll be this year!’ I’ve heard that for the past 12 years. I’m really sick of it. Adoma needs to take action, knock down this centre and take matters into its hands,” Dambele said.
Article by Liselotte Mas.


france24--2020-05-23--‘I saw so much smoke and fire’: Survivor recalls aftermath of Pakistan jet crash

A firefighter sprays water on the wreckage of a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft after it crashed in a residential area in Karachi on May 22 , 2020 .
When the plane jolted violently , Mohammad Zubair thought it was turbulence .
Then the pilot came on the intercom to warn that the landing could be “ troublesome.
” Moments later , the Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed into a crowded neighborhood near Karachi 's international airport , killing at least 97 people , all of whom are believed to be passengers and crew members .
Zubair was one of just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the provincial Health Department spokeswoman , said only 19 of the bodies from Friday 's crash have been identified and that most of the bodies were badly burned .
Three people on the ground were reportedly injured , and rescue crews were still sifting through the rubble on Saturday .
The plane crashed near Jinnah International Airport , in the poor and congested residential area known as Model Colony .
At least five houses were destroyed .
Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Kokhar said the Airbus A230 was carrying 91 passengers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ survivor of the crash was Zafar Masood , a bank executive .
In a telephone interview from his hospital bed , Zubair , a mechanical engineer , said flight PK8308 had taken off on time from the eastern city of Lahore at 1 p.m .
It was a smooth , uneventful flight until the aircraft began its descent shortly before 3 p.m. “ Suddenly the plane jerked violently , once and then again , ” said Zubair .
The aircraft turned and the pilot 's voice came over the intercom .
They were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be “ troublesome , ” the pilot said .
That was the last thing Zubair remembered until he woke up in a scene of chaos .
“ I saw so much smoke and fire .
I heard people crying , children crying.
” He crawled his way out of the smoke and rubble , and was eventually pulled from the ground and rushed into an ambulance .
Pakistan had only earlier this week resumed domestic flights ahead of Eid-al Fitr , which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan .
Many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ families returning home for the holiday , said Science Minister Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry .
Between the coronavirus pandemic and the plane crash , this year has been a “ catastrophe , '' he said .
“ What is most unfortunate and sad is whole families have died , whole families who were travelling together for the Eid holiday , ” he told The Associated Press .
Social media and local news reports said Zara Abid , an actor and an award-winning model , was among those killed .
A senior banker , his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reportedly killed .
Shabaz Hussein , whose mother died in the crash , told The Associated Press he identified her body at a local hospital and was waiting to take it away for burial .
Pakistan has been in a countrywide lockdown since mid-March because of the coronavirus , and when flights resumed every other seat was left vacant to promote social distancing .
Southern Sindh province , of which Karachi is the capital , is the epicenter of Pakistan 's outbreak , with nearly 20,000 of the country ’ s more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deaths from the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus .
A transmission of the pilot ’ s final exchange with air traffic control , posted on the website LiveATC.net , indicated he had failed to land and was circling to make another attempt .
“ We are proceeding direct , sir — we have lost engine , ” the pilot said .
“ Confirm your attempt on belly , ” the air traffic controller said , offering a runway .
“ Sir , mayday , mayday , mayday , mayday Pakistan 8303 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ended .
PIA Chairman Arshad Malik told reporters Friday in Karachi that an independent inquiry would be held but said the aircraft was in good working order .
Airworthiness documents showed the plane last received a government check on Nov. 1 , 2019 .
PIA ’ s chief engineer signed a separate certificate April 28 saying all maintenance had been conducted .
It said “ the aircraft is fully airworthy and meets all the safety ” standards .
Ownership records for the Airbus A320 showed China Eastern Airlines flew the plane from 2004 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PIA ’ s fleet , leased from GE Capital Aviation Services .
Airbus said the plane had logged 47,100 flight hours and 25,860 flights as of Friday .
The plane had two CFM56-5B4 engines .
Airbus said it would provide technical assistance to investigators in France and Pakistan , as well as the airline and engine manufacturers .
“ We at Airbus are deeply saddened by the tragic news of flight # PK8303 , ” tweeted Executive Director Guillaume Faury .
“ In aviation , we all work hard to prevent this .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ investigating authorities .
”

When the plane jolted violently, Mohammad Zubair thought it was turbulence. Then the pilot came on the intercom to warn that the landing could be “troublesome.”
A firefighter sprays water on the wreckage of a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft after it crashed in a residential area in Karachi on May 22, 2020.
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Moments later, the Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed into a crowded neighborhood near Karachi's international airport, killing at least 97 people, all of whom are believed to be passengers and crew members. Zubair was one of just two surviving passengers.
Meeran Yousaf, the provincial Health Department spokeswoman, said only 19 of the bodies from Friday's crash have been identified and that most of the bodies were badly burned. Three people on the ground were reportedly injured, and rescue crews were still sifting through the rubble on Saturday.
The plane crashed near Jinnah International Airport, in the poor and congested residential area known as Model Colony. At least five houses were destroyed.
Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Kokhar said the Airbus A230 was carrying 91 passengers and eight crew members. The only other survivor of the crash was Zafar Masood, a bank executive.
In a telephone interview from his hospital bed, Zubair, a mechanical engineer, said flight PK8308 had taken off on time from the eastern city of Lahore at 1 p.m. It was a smooth, uneventful flight until the aircraft began its descent shortly before 3 p.m.
“Suddenly the plane jerked violently, once and then again,” said Zubair. The aircraft turned and the pilot's voice came over the intercom. They were experiencing engine trouble and the landing could be “troublesome,” the pilot said. That was the last thing Zubair remembered until he woke up in a scene of chaos.
“I saw so much smoke and fire. I heard people crying, children crying.”
He crawled his way out of the smoke and rubble, and was eventually pulled from the ground and rushed into an ambulance.
'Whole families have died'
Pakistan had only earlier this week resumed domestic flights ahead of Eid-al Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Many of the passengers aboard the flight were families returning home for the holiday, said Science Minister Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry.
Between the coronavirus pandemic and the plane crash, this year has been a “catastrophe," he said.
“What is most unfortunate and sad is whole families have died, whole families who were travelling together for the Eid holiday,” he told The Associated Press.
Social media and local news reports said Zara Abid, an actor and an award-winning model, was among those killed. A senior banker, his wife and three young children were also reportedly killed. Shabaz Hussein, whose mother died in the crash, told The Associated Press he identified her body at a local hospital and was waiting to take it away for burial.
Pakistan has been in a countrywide lockdown since mid-March because of the coronavirus, and when flights resumed every other seat was left vacant to promote social distancing.
Southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, is the epicenter of Pakistan's outbreak, with nearly 20,000 of the country’s more than 50,000 cases. Pakistan has reported 1,101 deaths from the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus.
A transmission of the pilot’s final exchange with air traffic control, posted on the website LiveATC.net, indicated he had failed to land and was circling to make another attempt.
“We are proceeding direct, sir — we have lost engine,” the pilot said.
“Confirm your attempt on belly,” the air traffic controller said, offering a runway.
“Sir, mayday, mayday, mayday, mayday Pakistan 8303,” the pilot said before the transmission ended.
Airbus to aid investigation
PIA Chairman Arshad Malik told reporters Friday in Karachi that an independent inquiry would be held but said the aircraft was in good working order.
Airworthiness documents showed the plane last received a government check on Nov. 1, 2019. PIA’s chief engineer signed a separate certificate April 28 saying all maintenance had been conducted. It said “the aircraft is fully airworthy and meets all the safety” standards.
Ownership records for the Airbus A320 showed China Eastern Airlines flew the plane from 2004 until 2014. The plane then entered PIA’s fleet, leased from GE Capital Aviation Services.
Airbus said the plane had logged 47,100 flight hours and 25,860 flights as of Friday. The plane had two CFM56-5B4 engines.
Airbus said it would provide technical assistance to investigators in France and Pakistan, as well as the airline and engine manufacturers.
“We at Airbus are deeply saddened by the tragic news of flight #PK8303,” tweeted Executive Director Guillaume Faury. “In aviation, we all work hard to prevent this. Airbus will provide full assistance to the investigating authorities.”
(AP)
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