WORLD

Los Angeles, United States | AFP |  Faith in divine protection, defending the economy, or simply an ideological stance: A handful of rural US states, many fierce supporters of President Donald Trump, have stubbornly refused to issue stay-at-home orders despite the ravages of coronavirus. Two of them — South Dakota and …

  Washington, United States | AFP | With an aircraft carrier forced into port and staff at bases handling nuclear missiles hit by COVID-19, the US military wants rivals to understand: don’t test us, we have not been weakened. Statement after statement from the Pentagon has sought to deliver that …

Rome, Italy | AFP | The global coronavirus death toll topped 100,000 Friday as Easter celebrations around the world kicked off in near-empty churches with billions of people stuck indoors to halt the pandemic’s deadly march. The grim milestone came as the World Health Organization issued a dire warning that …

Paris, France | AFP | In the emergency rooms of virus hotspots around the world, medical staff are seeing a greater number of men than women suffering severe symptoms of COVID-19, with obesity emerging as another potentially aggravating factor. But experts are still unsure why. What first began to appear as …

Rome, Italy | AFP | Criminal organisations in Italy are distributing food and ordering interest-free lending to the needy to try to extend their influence, Italian anti-mafia author Roberto Saviano has warned. Italy’s mafia groups are also poised to snatch up struggling businesses as the country — which is in crisis …

Paris, France | AFP | The Archbishop of Paris led a small prayer ceremony Friday at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, marking the start of the Catholic Easter weekend one year after a fire that nearly destroyed the world heritage monument. “There is still life here,” Archbishop Michel Aupetit said after he …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organisation on Friday denied having brushed off a Taiwanese warning on human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus soon after its outbreak in China late last year. The US has accused the body of “putting politics first” by ignoring Taiwan’s warning in late December, …

Paris, France | AFP |  Shuttered bars, cancelled concerts and no sporting matches: European beer brewers large and small are bracing for a catastrophic summer as demand dries up during the lockdowns imposed to curtail the coronavirus outbreak. “When it’s nice out, that’s when you sell beer,” said Maxime Costilhes, head of …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  When The Beatles went their separate ways in the early 1970s, few thought that half a century later the pioneering band would still influence pop music culture. But, with Friday marking 50 years since their unofficial break-up, the so-called “Fab Four” are still popular and …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  Major oil producers except Mexico agreed to cut output in May and June by 10 million barrels per day, OPEC said Friday, after marathon talks to counter a collapse in prices. The agreement, which reduces production to eight million bpd from July to December, depends …