Beijing, China | AFP | China announced Thursday it will give another $30 million to the World Health Organization to help in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, days after Washington said it would freeze funding. The US, which is the WHO’s biggest contributor, accused the organisation last week of …
Read More »For Russians, humble dacha provides refuge from coronavirus
Sokolniki, Russia | AFP | After years spent on submarines with Russia’s Northern Fleet, Ivan Chernyshyov is having no problem adjusting to life on coronavirus lockdown — especially as, like many Russians, the retired sailor can escape to the countryside. “It’s good here. We’ll grow carrots and strawberries and maybe …
Read More »Coronavirus highlights role of foreign staff in British hospitals
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Joan Pons Laplana is a senior digital charge nurse working on the frontline in an intensive care unit treating coronavirus patients at Sheffield Teaching Hospital in the north of England. Like many of his colleagues in the state-run National Health Service (NHS), the 45-year-old medic …
Read More »Divided EU leaders meet on virus recovery plan
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | EU leaders are set to haggle on Thursday over a giant package to help their economies recover from the coronavirus pandemic, but bitter divisions mean little progress is expected. The situation facing the EU is dire: more than 110,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and an economy set …
Read More »In Navajo Nation, pandemic exposes water crisis and health disparities
Washington, United States | AFP | The coronavirus is hitting the United States’ largest Native American territory hard, with a spike in cases bringing long-standing disparities to the fore in a land marked by the trauma of past waves of disease. With its towering sandstone mesas, majestic canyons and ancient ruins, …
Read More »Trump curbs immigration, saying hopes to protect devastated US job market
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he has partially suspended immigration to the United States, with the aim of keeping foreigners out of local jobs during the coronavirus crisis. “In order to protect our great American workers, I’ve just signed an executive order temporarily suspending immigration …
Read More »Virus will be with us for a long time: WHO
Genève, Switzerland | AFP | COVID-19 will stalk the planet for a long time to come, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, warning that most countries were still in the early stages of tackling the pandemic. WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said some countries that thought they had the new coronavirus …
Read More »Oil rockets higher, boosting global equities
New York, United States | AFP | Beaten-down US oil prices rallied Wednesday following dramatic declines earlier this week, lifting global equities, even as American crude inventories surged closer to capacity levels. Futures for the benchmark West Texas Intermediate for June delivery jumped 19 percent to $13.78 a barrel in New …
Read More »Fight climate change like coronavirus: UN
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The world should fight climate change with the same determination it is showing in the battle against the new coronavirus, the United Nations said on Wednesday. The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said it was time to flatten the curve on climate change as well, with its …
Read More »World Bank warns remittance payments to plunge amid pandemic
Washington, United States | AFP | Developing countries are losing a key source of revenue as the coronavirus pandemic causes worldwide shutdowns, sharply reducing payments from workers living abroad, the World Bank said Wednesday. Remittances are expected to plunge by about 20 percent globally this year, the biggest decline in recent …
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