WORLD

Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Tom Cruise will film his next Hollywood blockbuster on location — 250 miles up in the air and orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes. The “Top Gun” star will fly through the stratosphere to shoot an as-yet-unknown film aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA said on …

Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday approved a coalition deal between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival-turned-ally Benny Gantz, paving the way for a unity government to be sworn in next week. The alliance formed last month between the right-wing incumbent and his centrist challenger …

Vienna, Austria | AFP | The UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Wednesday warned of increased risks to human trafficking victims due to the coronavirus crisis with people more vulnerable to exploitation and protection limited. New UNODC analysis found, other than the risk of catching the virus, some rescued victims have been unable …

Beijing, China | AFP | The Chinese laboratory accused by top American officials of being the source of the coronavirus pandemic conducts research on the world’s most dangerous diseases. US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have both claimed that there is evidence the pathogen came from the …

Washington, United States | AFP | Like a global tsunami, the coronavirus pandemic has caused a huge loss of life and taken a massive economic toll. In the US economy, skyrocketing unemployment is the most-visible sign of the devastation: almost overnight, at least 30 million workers lost their jobs. The April …

Washington, United States | AFP | A biting new anti-Trump ad by a group of dissident Republicans, including the husband of a top White House aide, prompted the US president to lash out Tuesday at the “losers” who created it. Tens of thousands of Americans have been killed by “a deadly …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday he could begin to ease a nationwide coronavirus lockdown next week, but warned he would do nothing that would risk a new surge of cases. He was speaking the day after Britain overtook Italy to become the worst-hit …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to backtrack on plans announced the previous day to shut down the task force advising him on the coronavirus pandemic. The White House’s earlier suggestion that the high-level team could close around the start of June was Trump’s latest …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday chaired a meeting to discuss a gradual withdrawal from lockdown as Russia registered the world’s sixth highest total number of coronavirus cases. Russia recorded more than 10,000 new cases for the fourth day in a row, bringing the total number of …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | German Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders on Wednesday gave the Bundesliga the green light to restart behind closed doors from mid-May after weeks of shutdown imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus. The political blessing makes the German top-flight the first of Europe’s five …