Japan’s economy sinks into recession

Japan’s economy slipped into recession for the first time in 4-1/2 years in the last quarter, putting the nation on course for its deepest postwar slump as the coronavirus crisis ravages businesses and consumers.

The world’s third-largest economy contracted at a 3.4% annual, seasonally adjusted rate in January-march, the cabinet office reported on Monday.

It shrank 0.9% from the previous quarter. Monday’s firstquarter GDP data underlined the broadening impact of the outbreak, with exports plunging the most since the devastating March 2011 earthquake as global lockdowns and supply chain disruptions hit shipments of Japanese goods.

Japan is extremely vulnerable to repercussions from the pandemic given its dependence on trade with both China and the US, the country where the pandemic began and the country where it has been hit hardest.

and the Vatican opened a new phase in the virus crisis on Monday, with churches resuming public masses after a sharp confrontation between the Italian church and state over limits on worshipping in the era of Covid-19.

Guards in hazmat suits took the temperature of the faithful entering St Peter’s Basilica, where Pope Francis celebrated an early morning mass for a handful of people in a side chapel to commemorate the centenary of the birth of St John Paul II.

It was all part of Italy’s next step in emerging from the West’s first coronavirus lockdown, with commercial shops and restaurants reopening and barbers going back to work for the first time since March 10.

Italy has so far registered 225,435 positive cases and 31,908 deaths.