WORLD

United Nations, United States | AFP |  The clash between China and the United States over COVID-19 has caused a rift between European nations at the UN Security Council over a call for ceasefires in some conflict zones during the pandemic. For two months, France has been trying to corral Washington …

United Nations, United States | AFP | China on Friday issued a statement calling on all UN member states to “actively fulfill their financial obligations to the United Nations,” stressing that Washington owes the organization more than $2 billion. “As of May 14, the total unpaid assessments under the UN regular budget and peacekeeping budget …

Paris, France | AFP | People living in the most deprived areas of Britain are more than four times likelier to test positive for COVID-19 than those living in the richest neighbourhoods, new research showed Saturday. A University of Oxford study looked at more than 3,600 COVID-19 test results from national programmes and found that …

Vienna, Austria | AFP | President Donald Trump voiced hope Friday that a coronavirus vaccine will be available by late 2020, cushioning dire US economic news as parts of Europe re-open despite fears of a second wave of the pandemic. Several nations have eased restrictions to stem the economic damage from …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization on Friday urged countries, companies and researchers to pull down the barriers and open up their findings on COVID-19 as it unveiled a global knowledge-sharing platform. The information pool is intended to be a voluntary worldwide repository of intellectual property and open-sourced data, allowing everyone involved …

Washington, United States | AFP | Robots will do the shopping at a US startup which is banking on fully automated warehouses for groceries and other merchandise at a time when the pandemic has made workplace safety a key concern. The new Home Delivery Service aims to create a “touchless” and …

Washington, United States | AFP | US officials moved Friday to cut off Chinese tech giant Huawei from global chipmakers, ramping up sanctions on the company seen by Washington as a national security risk. The Commerce Department said it was broadening its sanctions enforcement to include semiconductor designs that are developed …

Washington, United States | AFP |  A specially formulated antimicrobial coating can keep surfaces clear of a human coronavirus for up to 90 days with just one application, a preliminary study said Friday, suggesting a new line of defense against COVID-19. The paper by researchers at the University of Arizona …

Paris, France | AFP | Some 28.4 million planned surgeries could be cancelled or postponed globally due to the new coronavirus pandemic, according to new research warning that huge backlogs risk “potentially devastating” consequences for patients and health systems. The study, published this week in the British Journal of Surgery, modelled …

Darova, Romania | AFP |  Maria Avadanei is exhilarated: after receiving a tablet as a donation, she can finally take her online lessons. “I was afraid of failing my classes,” says the 15-year-old from Darova, a rural commune in Transylvania in western Romania. Avadanei is among hundreds of thousands at increased …