WORLD

New York, United States | AFP |  As they gradually reopen, US shopping malls are requiring masks and implementing social distancing policies in hopes of convincing customers that they can shop safely in the coronavirus era. But these once-dominant shopping behemoths are in survival mode following lengthy pandemic shutdowns that have …

Ypsilanti, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump said Thursday he’d finally overcome his aversion to wearing masks against the coronavirus — but didn’t want be photographed. Touring a Ford auto factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where workers have converted to building respirators and other medical equipment for fighting COVID-19, Trump held up a mask …

Washington, United States | AFP | Leaders of China, France, Germany, and the World Health Organization want any coronavirus vaccine to be deemed a “global public good,” but President Donald Trump has another idea: vaccinate America first. Behind the principle of “global public good” lie two distinct issues: intellectual property rights …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Stock markets mostly slipped Thursday after rallying for much of the week amid concerns over the long-term impact of the virus and worsening China-US relations. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index slipped into negative territory at the opening bell, while in Europe, Frankfurt and …

Shenzhen, China | AFP | Construction cranes at Huawei’s headquarters busily expand an already massive faux-European campus that Walt Disney would envy, as well as an in-house “university” that trains the Chinese telecom giant’s growing global workforce. If the United States hoped to stop the company in its tracks, it hasn’t …

Singapore, Singapore | AFP | A yellow robot dog called Spot which found fame online for dancing to hit song “Uptown Funk” has been deployed to patrol a Singapore park and ensure people observe social distancing. The hi-tech hound is remote-controlled and can clamber easily over all types of terrain, which its creators say means …

Paris, France | AFP | Global infections from the novel coronavirus passed five million on Thursday as the pandemic played out unevenly across the planet, with China eager to declare a victory, Europe tentatively emerging from its shell and deaths still rising in hotspots in Latin America. The grim milestone comes …

Milan, Italy | AFP | On a street in Milan, the capital of Italy’s Lombardy region, which has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis begs for alms, his cassock in tatters. In another, the Argentine pontiff lies on a cardboard mattress, his famous black briefcase under his head as a pillow. …

Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP |  Lufthansa on Thursday confirmed it was in talks with the German government over a nine-billion-euro ($10 billion) rescue that will see Berlin take a massive stake in the coronavirus-stricken airline. “The concept, which has not yet been finalised, provides for stabilisation measures in the …

New York, United States | AFP |  Seven weeks ago Dianne King left her Alabama home to fight COVID-19 in hard-hit New York, traveling to a city she’d never seen to battle a virus killing hundreds of people per day. And after a grueling schedule on the front lines in America’s …