Portal:Current events/2020 April 14

• The U.S. Department of Justice returns US$300 million recovered from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal to Malaysia. The repatriation was due for February, but was delayed due to technical issues and Malaysia's ongoing political crisis. (Reuters)
• Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism
  • Airbnb secures a US$1 billion loan to stay afloat as the pandemic causes worldwide demand for its services to drop. This follows a separate bond deal, also worth US$1 billion, it negotiated last week for similar reasons. (Reuters)

• 2020 Chernobyl Exclusion Zone wildfires
  • Officials of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine announce the successful extinguishment of all open fires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. (Deutsche Welle)
  • The ghost city of Pripyat was left unscathed by the fire while several abandoned villages burnt to the ground. (Forbes)

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India, 2020 coronavirus lockdown in India
      • Prime Minister Narendra Modi extends India's nationwide lockdown until May 3. (Al Jazeera)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines
      • The Philippine Department of Health initiates a nationwide "mass" testing program, but prioritizes the critically ill and vulnerable. (Arab News)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
      • The death toll from COVID-19 in the United States rises by 2,228 in a single day, the highest number of COVID-19 linked deaths reported in any country in a single day, as total cases rise to over 600,000. (Reuters)

• United States and the United Nations, World Health Organization's response to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic
  • U.S. President Donald Trump announces the United States is suspending funding of the World Health Organization (WHO) pending an investigation of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its relationship with China. (CNN)
• China–Kazakhstan relations
  • The Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs summons the Chinese ambassador after an article claiming that Kazakhs are "eager to return to China" and "do not have too many complaints" about China's historical invasions of Kazakhstan is published on the private Chinese website Sohu. (Reuters)

• COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
    • Turkey will free one-third of its prisoners to curb the spread of COVID-19. At least 45,000 prisoners will be freed until the end of May, with the exception of those accused of terrorist offenses, as well as journalists and politicians accused of plotting the 2016 coup attempt. (Al Jazeera)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Jordan, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on religion
    • Jordan bans public worship at mosques during Ramadan, and will not allow evening prayers, as a precaution to fight the virus. (Reuters)
• A 30-year-old man is arrested and charged with making terroristic threats after he allegedly threatened to kill his father and his ex-girlfriends, as well as blow up the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park. Explosive devices are discovered in his Upper West Side apartment. (The New York Post) (Yahoo! News)

• China appoints Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps general secretary Sun Jinlong as the new Communist Party Secretary of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. (Reuters)
• Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign
  • Former U.S. President Barack Obama officially endorses his former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee in the Democratic Party primaries. (The New York Times)
• 2020 Kiribati parliamentary election
  • Citizens of Kiribati cast their votes in the first round of the country's latest parliamentary election. (Radio New Zealand)