WORLD

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Saturday that there is no evidence that people who test positive for the new coronavirus are immunised and protected against reinfection. The warning suggests that the issuance of “immune passports” may promote the continued spread of the pandemic. “There is currently no evidence …

Washington, United States | AFP | The global coronavirus death toll approached 200,000 on Saturday as the United Nations launched an international push for a vaccine to defeat the pandemic. Governments around the world are struggling to limit the economic devastation unleashed by the virus, which has infected nearly 2.8 million …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to return to work soon after his recovery from COVID-19, as pressure mounts on his government to explain how to get Britain out of lockdown. Johnson, 55, has been recuperating at the British prime ministerial retreat, Chequers, outside London …

Puebla, Mexico | AFP |  All around the world, the coronavirus pandemic has left people scrambling for protective face coverings. But in Mexico, where the masked stars of “lucha libre” wrestling are already cultural icons, people are using their colorful masks to ward off the disease in style. The wrestling masks, fitted …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The race is on to produce a vaccine against COVID-19 but it is not certain that one can be found, the head of the global vaccines alliance said Friday. Seth Berkley said the more competition the better in the scientific fightback against the new coronavirus pandemic, …

Washington, United States | AFP | The growing use of export restrictions by governments can be “dangerously counterproductive” as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic, the IMF and WTO warned Friday. The two institutions called on global leaders to commit to refrain from imposing or tightening controls on product sales, as they did at …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The United Nations on Friday launched a global push to speed up production of a vaccine for the new coronavirus as US President Donald Trump came under fire for suggesting injecting patients with disinfectant. The pandemic has upended life around the planet as nations try to …

Steinebrunn, Austria | AFP |  As in many Western countries, one of the shocks of the coronavirus crisis in Austria was how vulnerable farms were when suddenly deprived of foreign labour — but the country is having some success in getting Austrians to plug the gap. The Schreiber family farm in …

Budapest, Hungary | AFP |  A Budapest care home ravaged by the novel coronavirus has become a frontline in an escalating battle between Prime Minister Viktor Orban, emboldened by new emergency powers, and Hungary’s beleaguered opposition. Orban and the Budapest municipality, run by a liberal mayor, blame each other for a …

Moscow, Russia | AFP |  Elena Milashina had received death threats before. But they were never so direct or brazen. The erratic and iron-fisted leader of Chechnya in southern Russia, unhappy with her journalism about the coronavirus, put out an unambiguous call for violence against the reporter on social media this …