Disney theme Park on Tuesday decided to lay-off 28,000 people in the United States as the coronavirus pandemic hits its parks and resorts business.

Around 67 percent employees who are losing their jobs are part-timers, Disney sayd, reports CNN.

Disney has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic in many ways, but its theme parks and resort business has arguably taken the biggest hit of all. Disney's parks unit which brought in more than $26 billion in fiscal 2019, was crushed during the second quarter of this year.

The segment's operating profit fell 58 percent compared with the previous year, and Disney reported a loss of billion dollars in profit just a few weeks into the global health crisis.

Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro defended the staffing cuts as “necessary” citing the "prolonged impact" of coronavirus on business. That included "limited capacity due to physical distancing requirements and the continued uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic."

In a statement, D'Amaro said that Disney's employees have always "been the key to our success, playing a valued and important role in delivering a world-class experience".

"We look forward to providing opportunities where we can for them to return," he said.

The Disney theme parks have been closed globally during the Covid-19 pandemic, hampering its business.

According to the sources, 67 percent of the employees laid off will be part-time workers and the cuts will also affect the Disney's Parks, Experiences and Products unit and more than 100,000 US employees are working in the Disney Parks and resorts division.

Due to the pandemic, the company’s profit dropped 91 percent during the first three months of 2020.

D'Amaro also blamed the state of California for its "unwillingness to lift restrictions” that would allow Disneyland to reopen. "Disneyland and California Adventure, the company's flagship resorts in California, have been closed since March.

Disney World, the company's resort in Florida, closed its doors in March as well, but they began their operation for its parks in July.

The resort reopened with safety protocols and health measures that included reduced capacity at its parks and requiring all employees and guests to wear masks.

Disney notified its employees in April that because of coronavirus it would furlough employees "whose jobs aren't necessary at this time" starting on April 19.

"As you can imagine, a decision of this magnitude is not easy," D'Amaro wrote in a memo to employees that was obtained by CNN Business. "We've cut expenses, suspended capital projects, furloughed our cast members while still paying benefits, and modified our operations to run as efficiently as possible, however, we simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while operating at such limited capacity."

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Human rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday said that it has been forced to halt its India operations after the government froze several of the organisation’s bank accounts.

The watchdog has also accused the government of indulging in a "witch-hunt of human rights organisations", reports BBC.

Amnesty says its bank accounts have been frozen and it's been forced to lay off staff in the country, and suspend all its campaign and research work.

“The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India which it came to know on 10 September 2020, brings all the work being done by the organization to a grinding halt,” the organisation said in a statement on its website, reports Hindustan Times.

The government is yet to respond to the allegations.

Amnesty further claimed that it has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all ongoing campaign and research work.

“For a movement that has done nothing but raise its voices against injustice, this latest attack is akin to freezing dissent,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International India.

The statement also claimed that Amnesty India stands in full compliance with all applicable Indian and international laws.

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"We are facing a rather unprecedented situation in India. Amnesty International India has been facing an onslaught of attacks, bullying and harassment by the government in a very systematic manner," Rajat Khosla, the group's senior director of research, advocacy and policy, told the BBC.

"This is all down to the human rights work that we were doing and the government not wanting to answer questions we raised, whether it's in terms of our investigations into the Delhi riots, or the silencing of voices in Jammu and Kashmir."

In a report released last month, the group said police in the Indian capital, Delhi, committed human rights violations during deadly religious riots between Hindus and Muslims in February.

Rebutting the claims, the Delhi police told The Hindu newspaper that Amnesty's report was "lopsided, biased and malicious".

Earlier in August, on the first anniversary of the revocation of Indian-administered Kashmir's special status, Amnesty had called for the release of all detained political leaders, activists and journalists, and for the resumption of high-speed internet services in the region.

In 2019, the watchdog testified before the US Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing on human rights in South Asia, where it highlighted its findings on arbitrary detentions, and the use of excessive force and torture in Kashmir.

Amnesty has also repeatedly condemned what it says is a crackdown on dissent in India.

China will continue to exempt certain US goods from additional tariffs for another year, the Chinese Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said Tuesday.

The country announced in September last year that 16 items from the United States would be excluded from the first round of tariff countermeasures against the U.S. Section 301 measures, effective from Sept. 17, 2019 to Sept. 16, 2020.

After the extension, the exemption will last until Sept. 16, 2021, the commission said in a statement. 

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Amazon will be hiring another 100,000 people to keep up with a surge of online orders.

The company said the new hires will help pack, ship or sort orders, working in part-time and full-time roles, reports AP. Amazon said the jobs are not related to its typical holiday hiring.

Business has been booming for the Seattle-based online behemoth.

Amazon made record profit and revenue between April and June, as more people turned to it during the pandemic to buy groceries and supplies.

The company already had to hire 175,000 people earlier this year to keep up with the rush of orders, and last week said it had 33,000 corporate and tech jobs it needed to fill.

This time around, Amazon said it needs the people at the 100 new warehouses, package sorting centers and other facilities it's opening this month.

Alicia Boler Davis, who oversees Amazon’s warehouses, said the company is offering $1,000 sign-on bonuses in some cities where it may be harder for it to find workers, such as Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and Louisville, Kentucky.

Starting pay at Amazon is $15 an hour.

Things are about to get a lot busier at Amazon's warehouses. In addition to the holiday shopping rush, Amazon plans to hold its one of its busiest shopping days, Prime Day, in the fall this year after postponing it from July.

Amazon will be monitoring whether it needs to hire more workers for the holidays, but doesn't have anything to announce yet, Boler Davis said.

Last year, it hired 200,000 ahead of the holidays.

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