WORLD

Paris, France | AFP |  The coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating threats to press freedom around the world, with authoritarian states including China and Iran suppressing details of the outbreak, activists said on Tuesday. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its annual press freedom rankings the pandemic was “highlighting and amplifying the …

Washington, United States | AFP |  Donald Trump said he would temporarily ban immigration to the United States because of the “Invisible Enemy” of the coronavirus, as angry Americans took to the streets to demand an end to crippling lockdowns. In just four months, the virus has turned the world upside …

  Seoul, South Korea | AFP | South Korea played down a report Tuesday that the North’s leader Kim Jong Un was being treated after surgery, as speculation mounted over his absence from a key anniversary. Pyongyang marked the birthday of its late founder, Kim’s grandfather Kim Il Sung, on …

Paris, France | AFP |  Whether it came from a bat or a pangolin is not certain, but one thing is: the coronavirus outbreak that has killed tens of thousands and turned the world upside down comes from the animal world. It is human activity enabled the virus to jump to …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP |  Sofiane Rahmani can hardly believe his luck. After several years of living on the street and bouncing between shelters, he now has his own hotel room, personal bathroom and all meals provided. “It’s true luxury,” the 16-year-old Algerian illegal migrant told AFP at the three-star Bel …

Montreal, Canada | AFP |  Investigators on Monday scoured crime scenes from the worst mass shooting in Canadian history to try to understand why a dental worker with no criminal past killed at least 18 people. The gunman, identified by police as 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, began his rampage late Saturday in …

Washington, United States | AFP | The Trump administration on Monday sent out the first payments meant to help save airline jobs as the industry is ravaged by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The US Treasury sent the first $2.9 billion of the plan — agreed upon last week after …

Paris, France | AFP | Will the novel coronavirus leave you short of breath or make you lose your sense of smell? And if you have had it once, can you be confident you are immune? So far, the research on COVID-19 has raised as many questions as it has answered. …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization insisted Monday that it sounded the alarm on the novel coronavirus right from the very start and had hidden nothing from Washington about the deadly pandemic. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there were no secrets at the UN agency after being …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have blacklisted four major British tabloid newspapers because of their reporting, in the latest escalation of their public battle with the media. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused The Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail and Daily Express of …