WORLD

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | While the world waits for a coronavirus vaccine, medicines used to deal with the symptoms of the disease are increasingly in critically short supply in Europe, the worst-hit continent. From sedatives needed to intubate patients struggling to breathe to anti-malarial drugs heavily backed by US …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in intensive care in St Thomas’ Hospital in London with persistent coronavirus symptoms. Here’s how the COVID-19 crisis has unfolded for the embattled British leader. – Early response – The British leader has been criticised for initially not taking …

Lara, Australia | AFP | Cardinal George Pell was released from prison Tuesday, hours after Australia’s High Court quashed his conviction for child sex abuse, bringing an end to the most high-profile paedophilia case faced by the Catholic Church. The 78-year-old left Barwon Prison near Melbourne after the court overturned five …

Washington, United States | AFP |  Americans were put on notice Monday not to let up in the fight against the coronavirus, as a grim milestone of 10,000 deaths cast a pall over the first signs of optimism about the outbreak’s trajectory. The United States has emerged as one of the …

Washington, United States | AFP |  In a residential neighborhood of the US capital, children are hunting for bears. Not the ferocious ones, of course — but stuffed animals peering out from neighbors’ windows. In Washington as in other cities and towns across America and around the world, the collective scavenger …

United Nations, United States | AFP |  The UN Security Council will on Thursday hold its first meeting on the coronavirus pandemic — by videoconference — after weeks of divisions among its five permanent members, diplomats said Monday. Last week, exasperated by the back-and-forth that has paralyzed the council, including between …

Dakar, Senegal | AFP |  A Senegal judge has granted Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre two months’ leave from prison, where he is serving life for crimes against humanity, as the jail is being used to hold new detainees in coronavirus quarantine. Habre, who ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990, was …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | As COVID-19 captures global headlines, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday that the world needs nearly six million nurses. The UN’s health agency along with partners Nursing Now and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) underscored in a report the crucial role played by nurses, …

Washington, United States | AFP | The United States has begun taking blood samples from across the country to determine the true number of people infected with the coronavirus, using a test that works retrospectively, according to reports. The new tests are based on serological surveys, which differ from the nasal swabs used to determine …

Washington, United States | AFP | Democrat Joe Biden and President Donald Trump finally spoke by phone Monday, both sides confirmed, ending days of teasing and squabbling between the presidential election rivals to discuss the national coronavirus upheaval. The call marked a rare moment of unity for the country seven months before election day and …