schema:articleBody
| - Duty Editor: Karl Malakunas Tel: +852 2829 6211 -- TOP STORIES -- + Biden joins Senate battle, McConnell accepts loss + European nations impose pre-Christmas viris curbs + Super cyclone threatents mass destruction in Fiji + 'Traditional' Hungary approves anti-LGBTQ package + Lovesick man jailed for anti-lockdown jetski trip US-vote,WRAP ATLANTA President-elect Joe Biden throws his weight into the Democratic battle for control of the US Senate, as his White House win is finally acknowledged by top Republicans and holdout foreign leaders. 750 words moved by Jim Watson with Michael Mathes in Washington. Graphic. Picture. Video Health-virus,WRAP BERLIN Several European countries impose tighter coronavirus restrictions ahead of Christmas, as the United States reports a record number of new infections. 650 words 0600 GMT by AFP Bureaus. Picture. Video. Graphic. Videographics Fiji-Tonga-weather,lead SUVA Fijians living in the path of an approaching super cyclone are told to hunker down at home or head to emergency shelters immediately as authorities warn of the storm's potential cause mass destruction. 500 words moved Hungary-LGBT-law-family-social-politics,WRAP BUDAPEST Hungarian MPs approve a package of new measures targeting the country's beleaguered LGBTQ community, the government's latest salvo in defence of "traditional" values. 700 words moved by Geza Molnar Also moving: Hungary-social-LGBT-politics,FOCUS UK-coronavirus-lockdown-offbeat LONDON A lovesick Scottish man who bought a jet-ski so he could evade lockdown measures to visit his girlfriend in the Isle of Man has been jailed for breaching coronavirus restrictions, reports say. 300 words moved -- SPOTLIGHT -- Mongolia-China-language-culture-education,FOCUS ULAANBAATAR In a classroom in Mongolia's capital students pass over the Soviet-era Cyrillic alphabet they grew up with and turn their copybooks sideways to practice the traditional, vertical Mongolian script that dates back to the empire of Genghis Khan. 750 words moved by Khaliun Bayartsogt. Picture. Video. Graphic Indonesia-environment-forests-gender-social,FEATURE BENER MERIAH, Indonesia Awake at dawn, Sumini does her household chores then leads a team of women into the jungles of Indonesia's Sumatra island on a mission to combat rampant deforestation and wildlife poaching. 800 words moved by Alfath Asmunda. Picture. Video -- CORONAVIRUS -- Health-virus-vaccine-development-diplomacy PARIS At least a fifth of the world's population may not have access to a Covid-19 vaccine until 2022, according to a study, with wealthier nations reserving more than half of next year's potential doses. 650 words moved by Kelly Macnamara Health-virus-Moderna-vaccine WASHINGTON US regulators release new data confirming Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective, a strong sign that it could receive emergency approval in days and be ready to roll out by next week. 750 words moved by Issam Ahmed. File picture. Graphic. Health-virus-US-vaccine-society-minority,FOCUS NEW YORK The first Americans to receive the coronavirus vaccine, live on television, were Black caregivers, optics that illustrate a daunting challenge facing the nationwide campaign: persuading skeptical African Americans to get inoculated. 650 words moved by Catherine Triomphe. File picture. Video -- ROHINGYA SPECIAL REPORT -- Rohingya-migration-trafficking-brides,SPECIALREPORT KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh Stay in a squalid refugee camp, hopeless and starving, or leave, risking death, rape and months at sea to reach a husband you've never met. This is the bleak choice many Rohingya women, already scarred from fleeing persecution in Myanmar, are now facing. 1,300 words 0600 GMT by Sam Jahan, with Haeril Halim in Lhokseumawe, Indonesia and Sam Reeves in Kuala Lumpur. Picture. Video. Graphic Rohingya-migration-trafficking-family,FOCUS LHOKSEUMAWE, Indonesia Weeks after a funeral for the wife and daughter he thought had died at sea while trying to sail to him, Nemah Shah was stunned when he saw online images of them emerging from a refugee boat in Indonesia. 550 words 0600 GMT by Haeril Halim. Picture. Video. Graphic -- ASIA -- China-Australia-trade-barley,WRAP SYDNEY Australia says it will ask the World Trade Organization to probe Chinese tariffs on barley imports, ramping up tensions between the two a day after Canberra hit out at a reported ban on coal exports as a breach of WTO rules. 650 words 0830 GMT by Andrew Beatty. Picture. Video -- AMERICAS -- US-vote-Cabinet-Buttigieg-transport,FOCUS WASHINGTON Pete Buttigieg's nomination to be transportation secretary caps a meteoric rise for the former small town Indiana mayor and make him the first openly gay Senate-confirmed member of a US presidential cabinet. 500 words moved by Chris Lefkow. File picture Health-virus-US-hospital,FOCUS LOS ANGELES California officials order thousands of extra body bags as record coronavirus cases left Los Angeles with fewer than 100 intensive care beds available for a county of 10 million people. 550 words moved by Laurent Banguet. Picture -- EUROPE -- EU-tech-law,WRAP BRUSSELS The European Union unveils tough draft rules targeting tech giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook, whose power Brussels sees as a threat to competition and even democracy. 750 words moved by Daniel Aronssohn. Picture. Video France-attacks-justice,WRAP PARIS Judges will issue their verdict on 14 suspected accomplices of the Islamist gunmen who murdered some of France's most famous cartoonists at weekly Charlie Hebo in 2015, killings that horrified the nation. 700 words moved by Anne-Sophie Lasserre and Clare Byrne. Video. Sketch Health-virus-Spain-economy-internet,FOCUS VILLALBA DE DUERO, Spain Tired of Madrid's crowds, Antonio Linaje took advantage of the shift to telework sparked by the pandemic to move back to the village where he spent his holidays as a child. 650 words moved by Alvaro Villalobos. Picture. Video -- MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA -- Iraq-alcohol-conflict-minorities,FOCUS BAGHDAD Escalating attacks on the Iraqi capital's few liquor stores have terrified shop-owners who fear hard-line Islamists are flexing their muscle against alcohol consumption. 750 words moved by Ammar Karim. Video. Picture -- AFRICA -- Nigeria-kidnapping-children-unrest-BokoHaram,FOCUS LAGOS Nigeria's dreaded Boko Haram has sounded a grim warning in claiming responsibility for a mass kidnapping in the country's northwest, analysts say. 650 words moved by Camille Malpat. Picture. Video. Graphic Also moved: Nigeria-kidnapping-children-unrest,WRAP Nigeria-unrest-BokoHaram,FACTS -- ENTERTAINMENT -- Entertainment-US-film-MaRainey,FOCUS LOS ANGELES Four months after his death shocked the world, trailblazing US actor Chadwick Boseman makes his heartbreaking, hotly Oscar-tipped final film appearance in 1920s blues drama "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." 700 words moved by Andrew Marszal afp
|