EU finance ministers cut a deal (FT) worth over five hundred billion euros to soften the effects of the coronavirus across the bloc. But they failed to specify whether much-disputed joint European bonds could be issued to pay for relief.

The rescue package, which still must be approved by EU leaders, includes (Politico) loans to address the economic fallout of the virus, credit lines to pay for health costs, and jobless reinsurance funds. Italy and Spain called for joint pooling of EU debt to keep individual nations’ borrowing costs down, but countries including Germany and the Netherlands opposed the possibility. Eurozone output is projected to shrink by as much as 10 percent (NYT) this year.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen denied (Bloomberg) World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s claims that Taiwan was the source of a racist social media campaign against him. Taiwanese investigators said that Chinese internet trolls spread posts fomenting the spat.
 
CFR’s Jerome A. Cohen and Yu-Jie Chen examine why Taiwan is excluded from the WHO.
 
South Korea: Two days of early voting (Yonhap) began ahead of parliamentary elections set for April 15. Voters face strict social-distancing measures, including temperature checks at polling places.

Pakistan called for Afghan authorities to hand over (Hindustan Times) Aslam Farooqi, a captured leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, for his involvement in “anti-Pakistan activities.”
 
Afghanistan: The Afghan government released (TOLO) one hundred Taliban prisoners on Thursday, proceeding with confidence-building measures toward talks with the Taliban even after the militant group described meetings between the two sides as “fruitless.”

A spokesperson for the Houthi rebels in Yemen said the group will continue fighting (Al Jazeera) despite a cease-fire declared by the rival Saudi-led coalition, claiming that coalition air strikes have continued (Guardian) after the declaration.
 
Syria: Damascus denied a report (AP) from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that found the government used chemical weapons on the rebel-held town of Latamneh in 2017.

France will redirect nearly $1.3 billion (FT) worth of development assistance to nineteen African countries to fight the coronavirus. France’s foreign minister called for restructuring or canceling African countries’ debts.
 
In Foreign Affairs, Robert Malley and Richard Malley write that much of the response to the coronavirus in developing countries must come from the outside.
 
Niger: Hundreds of migrants are stuck (Al Jazeera) in Niger, a transit corridor for regional migration, due to border closures. The International Organization for Migration said it is overwhelmed with requests for aid.

France’s competition watchdog ruled Google must negotiate payments (Ars Technica) with publishers for use of their content in online search results.

Canada renegotiated (CBC) a stalled sale of armed vehicles to Saudi Arabia, ending an eighteen-month freeze (WaPo) on arms exports to the country due to its human rights record.

Around 6.6 million Americans filed new unemployment claims (WaPo) last week. Economists estimate the U.S. unemployment rate is now around 13 percent, the highest since the Great Depression.
 
In Foreign Affairs, Branko Milanovic discusses the risk of social collapse due to the coronavirus’s economic toll.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia reached a preliminary deal (FT) to cut oil output by ten million barrels per day, or roughly 10 percent of global supply. OPEC called on other producers, including the United States, to pledge to cut five million more barrels when Group of Twenty (G20) oil ministers meet today.
 
CFR’s Amy Myers Jaffe discusses the competing interests behind the negotiations.