Some say that the worst is yet to come, as last week's figures may fail to show an accurate picture.

"It's the tip of the iceberg, and they're going to be ugly. It depends on the speed at which the claims were filed, and the next week will probably be worse," chief economist at Grant Thornton, Diane Swonk, said as cited by CNBC.

Last week, new jobless claims in the US saw the biggest weekly surge in nearly eight years as they hit a two-and-a-half year high of 281,000.

Canada also saw an unprecedented jump in jobless claims. According to government sources cited by various media, 929,000 people (or around five percent of the labor force), applied for unemployment insurance last week.

Key American stock indexes opened higher on Thursday despite fresh jobs data revealing a worse than expected number of unemployment claims which has surged to over three million.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 500 points, or over two percent during early trading. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped more than one percent higher. Thursday's trading marked the third consecutive positive opening for US stocks, which have been on a wild ride in recent weeks.

Negative US jobs data sent European markets down, with stocks in London, Paris and Frankfurt trading nearly one percent lower. Asian markets also fell earlier in the day, with Japan's Nikkei plunging almost five percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng losing over one percent.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 1.5 percent in early trade on Thursday, with basic resources tumbling 2.7 percent to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses plunged into negative territory.

Britain's FTSE 100 index shed almost three percent at the opening bell in London. France's CAC 40 is down by 2.4 percent, while Germany's DAX slid 219 points or 2.3 percent.

Asia Pacific markets also stumbled earlier in the day, with Japan's Nikkei closing down by almost five percent.

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Tips leading to the narcotrafficking arrest or conviction of National Constituent Assembly President Diosdado Cabello Rondon, retired generals Hugo Carvajal Barrios and Clive Alcala Cordones, or Minister for Industry and National Production Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah can net as much as $10 million, the statement continued.

The rewards were unveiled on the same day as the US Justice Department unsealed indictments against the Venezuelan leaders for the same drug trafficking crimes - suggesting that Washington's evidence isn't as solid as Attorney General William Barr has claimed.

If evidence against Maduro and his compatriots is at such a premium that the State Department will pay $15 million for it, the Venezuelans are unlikely to see the inside of a US court anytime soon.

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Saudi whistle-blower Mujtahid, who is believed to be a member of or have a well-connected source in the royal family, revealed that several soldiers fighting under Riyadh's command against Yemen have been infected with the new deadly coronavirus.

"Coronavirus has reached Jizzan and Najran too and a large number of Yemeni military men who are fighting under the Saudi-led coalition's flag have been infected with coronavirus. There is no investigation and no data on the number of the Yemeni and coalition forces who have been in contact with these infected people."

Mujtahid had also last week disclosed that Riyadh was hiding the data related to the coronavirus cases in the country, saying that thousands were infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia.

"The Saudi officials conceal the real number of people infected with coronavirus and the number now stands at thousands and even tens of thousands," Mujtahid wrote on his twitter page on Sunday. He added that over 5,000 people in Qatif and over 900 others in Mecca had been infected with the COVID-19 virus, saying that the number was higher in Riyadh but the data were concealed.

Could be, but these numbers sound greatly inflated or made up, given statistics in other countries. Why would Saudi Arabia's be off the chart? FYI: Mujtahid has been leaking Saudi information since at least 2015.

Mujtahid said that al-Riyadh specialized hospital had been evacuated to run as a coronavirus patient center, but in essence, it has been equipped to receive the royal family and officials in case of infection to the lethal virus.

Saudi Arabia confirmed its first coronavirus-related death on Tuesday. It was confirmed that a 51-year-old Afghan-Saudi resident was the one who succumbed to the new deadly COVID-19 in Medina. The Persian Gulf country has so far reported over 800 cases of the coronavirus.

The Wahhabi kingdom had already imposed strict measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic, including suspension of international flights, closing schools and universities and temporarily closing off the eastern province of Qatif, which has most of the country's COVID-19 cases.

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• Russia's stealth medical aid operation to Italy avoided not only Polish airspace, but US attempts to stop it

Over the past 24 hours in a major move, Russia has sent an unprecedented military humanitarian mission to Italy, a NATO country, which in its official press reports tactfully called "an operational group of military doctors, specialists in the field of virology and epidemiology, with modern equipment for diagnosis and disinfection."

The wording, which does not mention that these units are belonging of the Russians to the Armed Forces, was chosen from diplomatic considerations so as not to stoke NATO reactions when the real aim is to support Italians in trouble.

It's no joke, a convoy of Russian troops in full view of Europe is moving through a country that is a member of NATO. Evil tongues will still find a reason to gossip, so why give them an extra reason.

"In fact, Italians were dumbfounded by the speed of our group, they simply were not ready to take our planes in such numbers," the Russian military told KP.ru.

"Their capabilities made it possible to land one plane every two hours."

After the fourth, they prayed: "Make haste, we do not have time."

We in Moscow stood busy and waited for their team. However, some units to the airfield made a 450-kilometer march.

And then from Rome there was still a column to go 600 kilometers to Bergamo. Why didn't they put you closer?

- Just for our big company they decided to allocate the largest airbase. They did not know our capabilities. After the first meeting, at which we informed them that we can - the equipment that arrived there is ready to process up to 20 thousand square meters or 360 cars per hour - they were impressed. And they determined the city of Bergamo for us, which must be completely disinfected. At the same time, they thanked us very much. They do not have such a technique as a class.

Moscow sent 20 such special vehicles to Italy, while in Russia there are over 2,000 of them. Among the equipment is a laboratory capable of doing up to 100 tests for coronavirus per hour. In the homeland - 14 more of the same. That is, no one exposed the rear.

On the way to Bergamo, the convoy stopped for refueling in Florence.

"It's unusual, of course, to go abroad," admitted one of the drivers, Senior Sergeant Alexander Matryukhin. "But we are ready to carry out any task."

- There were no breakdowns. The roads are empty, it's clear that it is quarantine, "said Colonel Igor Bogomolov, head of the Research Center. "But those rare cars that meet greet us and give signals." Nicely.

As it became known to "KP" from a military-diplomatic source, our units will be deployed in Bergamo and carry out tasks both in the city itself and in nearby settlements. Medical specialists are seconded to the central hospital of Bergamo and the officer hospital of the Alpine Corps deployed in the suburbs.

Specialists of radiochemical and biological protection have so far determined the task of disinfecting transport, special treatment of the internal and external walls of hospitals and hospitals, as well as vehicles that transport the dead.

In fact, the Russian military flew to help not a member of the NATO bloc, which is expanding to the East, and not a member of the EU, which amicably extends American sanctions against us.

They help ordinary people who are not guilty of anything. This is primarily a humanitarian, not a political action. At the same time, a dangerous business trip, no doubt, has purely practical benefits.

Russian experts had a unique opportunity to look at the enemy - the coronavirus - in the face, to study its habits, weaknesses.

Test your new technologies and medical developments on it. Prepare to repel the attack already on their land.