One more strong earthquake shook Zagreb at 7 am. Material damage on buildings in the centre of the city was visible, including the top of Zagreb’s Cathedral. There was an electricity outage in some residential areas.

Mr Netanyahu made his proposal during a television interview, calling for the formation of a three-year 'emergency' unity government with the rival Blue and White Party. With the public largely confined to their homes, the economy appears to be in great danger, with tens of thousands of people losing their jobs.

Israel this month held its third inconclusive election in under a year. Mr Netanyahu's Likud emerged as the largest single party, but fell short of securing a required parliamentary majority.

The overall price tag of the package is more than $1 trillion, making it one of the largest federal emergency fiscal packages ever assembled.

The US debt is soaring, and the country has kicked the can down the road so many times on entitlement spending. It may be entering into unprecedented and dangerous territory, and hastening a reckoning it has been trying to avoid.

The Palestinian leaders, who are pursuing their efforts to prosecute Israelis for "war crimes," have been concealing from their own people and the international community the fact that Israel is assisting them in the war on the coronavirus.

For Palestinian leaders, it seems that the war on Israel is more important than the battle against a pandemic and saving the lives of their own people. Yet, these leaders and their families, if they are diagnosed with the disease, will undoubtedly be the first to rush to Israel to seek medical treatment there.

The departure of the Bundeswehr from the exercises of Defender Europe 20 means a stop on the entire supply line of military equipment and weapons for the exercises. According to the AFP news agency, the further transfer of American soldiers to exercises from the US through German airports has been stopped. This means the actual curtailment of the teachings.

Recall also that earlier the Norwegian authorities decided to cancel the rest of the NATO Cold Response 20 exercises. As reported on the eve of March 11, the US European Command (EUCOM), this is due to precautionary measures in connection with the outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19.

Cressman works at Locust Watch, a division of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which gives emergency assistance to countries facing desert locust invasions and constantly monitors the status of potential infestations. According to the organization’s most recent forecast report, there are new “extremely alarming” swarms forming in Horn of Africa. Cressman, who has worked with the organization for over three decades, told The Times of Israel on Monday that the previous time the region has been in such danger was during the plague of 1987-1989.

The Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) “is the most destructive migratory pest in the world,” according to the Locust Watch website. As depicted in the Book of Exodus, when the highly mobile swarms of Desert Locust form, “they are ravenous eaters who consume their own weight per day, targeting food crops and forage.” While one locust may not seem a major fresser (eater, Yiddish), the swarms can grow to millions of individuals, “with the capacity to consume the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people.”

The current widespread breeding in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia represents “an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods at the beginning of the upcoming cropping season,” writes the Locust Watch website. It appears that the hardest hit countries will include Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iran, Pakistan, and Sudan, the last of which will likely be affected later this summer, said Cressman.

KENYA. Widespread swarm breeding continues in northern and central counties where an increasing number of hopper bands and first-generation immature swarms are forming. This may be supplemented by new-generation immature swarms arriving from Somalia. Further concentration is expected in Marsabit and Turkana. Aerial and ground control operations continue.

ETHIOPIA. Breeding continues within a widespread area of Oromiya and SNNPR regions, including the Rift Valley, where early instar hopper bands are forming in some places. Immature swarms are present in the south where cross-border movements are likely from adjacent areas of Somalia and Kenya. Aerial and ground control operations continue.

SOMALIA. Late instar hopper bands, maturing adult groups and at least one mature swarm on the northwest coast where egg-laying continues. Ground control operations underway with biopesticides.

SUDAN. Late instar hopper band, fledglings and immature adult group and swarm on the southern coast of the Red Sea near the Eritrea border. Scattered adults in Tokar Delta, the northeast and in the Nile Valley.

ERITREA. Immature adult groups on the northern coast of the Red Sea near the Sudan border. Hopper groups on the Buri Peninsula.

SAUDI ARABIA. Mature swarm and laying adult groups near the Persian Gulf between Dammam and Qaryat Al Ulya. Scattered adults on the central Red Sea coast.

KUWAIT. Immature swarms in the north and near Kuwait City.

UAE. Immature swarm on the western coast near Qatar.

IRAN. Swarms laying eggs in the southwest (southern Khuzestan, Busherh, southern Fars, western Hormozgan provinces) that will start to hatch later this week and form hopper bands. Local breeding continues in the southeast where hoppers are forming groups and bands in eastern Hormozgan. Control operations are in progress.

PAKISTAN. Mature adult groups laying eggs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Dera Ismail Khan, Lucky Marwat) and Baluchistan (Dalbandin, Kharan, Khuzdar, Washtuk, Turbat) that will hatch during the second half of March and form hopper groups and small bands. New generation immature groups and small swarms are likely to start forming in Baluchistan by the end of March.

He said that means all Brits (around 66 million people) staying out of pubs, clubs, theatres and cinemas for weeks - and potentially months into the summer. All who can can should work from home, he said. The over 70s, those who are pregnant, and anyone with underlying health conditions (around 20 million Brits) should try not to leave their homes if they can, and avoid crowded spaces immediately. This will continue for the "long haul" - likely weeks or months.

And those with severe illnesses like cancer (around 1.4 million Brits) must start cocooning themselves in their homes and get food delivered in from this weekend. It comes as 55 Brits have been killed by the illness, with more than 1,500 cases across the country.

What I am scared about is the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic, stockpiling obscene quantities of anything that could fill a bomb shelter adequately in a post-apocalyptic world.

I’m scared those same epidemic fears will limit trade, harm partnerships in multiple sectors, business and otherwise, and ultimately culminate in a global recession.

But mostly, I’m scared about what message we are telling our kids when faced with a threat. Instead of reason, rationality, openmindedness and altruism, we are telling them to panic, be fearful, suspicious, reactionary and self-interested.

Governors and mayors closed restaurants, bars, and schools as the nation sank deeper into chaos. Travelers returning home from abroad were stuck in line for hours at major airports for screenings, crammed into just the kind of crowded spaces that public health officials have urged people to avoid.

In a sign of impending economic gloom, the Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark interest rate to near zero. President Donald Trump sought to calm a jittery nation by declaring the government has “tremendous control” over the situation and urging people to stop the panic buying of grocery staples that has depleted store shelves nationwide. Gun stores started seeing a similar run on weapons and ammunition as the panic intensified.

As Americans struggled with changing their daily habits, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a dramatic recommendation: Because large events can fuel the spread of the disease, it said gatherings of 50 people or more should be canceled or postponed throughout the country for the next eight weeks. It added that, at any event, people should take proper precautions, including handwashing and keeping one’s distance.

But in a sign of the difficulty of striking the right balance, the CDC statement also said the recommendation does not apply to “the day to day operation of organizations such as schools, institutes of higher learning, or businesses.” For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover.