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| - Duty Editor: Tanya Willmer Tel: +33 1 40.41.46.36 -- TOP STORIES -- + Pandemic batters major world economies + Ground-zero Wuhan opens after lockdown + Watchdog blames Damascus for chemical attacks + EU fails to agree on virus bailout + COVID-19 may spark global condom shortage Health-virus,WRAP PARIS The coronavirus pandemic batters the world's major economies and could trigger the deepest global recession in generations, experts say, as rising death tolls in Europe and the US discourage hopes of a quick turnaround. 800 words 1500 GMT by Herve Bar with Jing Xuan Teng in Wuhan and Clement Zampa in Brussels. Picture. Video. Graphic Health-virus-China-Wuhan,WRAP WUHAN, China Voicing joy and excitement from behind face masks, tens of thousands of people flee Wuhan after a 76-day travel ban is lifted on the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic first emerged. 800 words moved by Jing Xuan Teng. Picture. Video. Live video Syria-conflict-chemical-arms-OPCW,WRAP THE HAGUE The world's chemical weapons watchdog for the first time explicitly blames Syria for toxic attacks in the war-torn country, saying President Bashar al-Assad's regime used sarin and chlorine in three attacks in a nothern Syrian town in 2017. 650 words 1530 GMT by Jan Hennop and Charlotte van Ouwerkerk. File picture Health-virus-EU-economy,WRAP BRUSSELS EU finance ministers fail to agree on a rescue plan to help hard-hit member states face the coronavirus outbreak, after the Netherlands blocked the deal over bailout conditions. 650 words moved by Alex Pigman. Picture Also moved: Health-virus-EU-politics-economy-climate-energy,FOCUS Health-virus-condoms-Malaysia,FOCUS KUALA LUMPUR A global condom shortage is looming as the coronavirus pandemic shutters factories and disrupts supply chains, the world's top maker of the contraceptives said, with the United Nations warning of "devastating" consequences. 700 words moved by Sam Reeves with Beiyi Seow in Beijing. Picture. Video -- EUROPE -- Health-virus-Britain-Johnson LONDON British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is "responding to treatment" as he spends a third day in intensive care battling the coronavirus that has claimed over 6,000 lives nationwide. 800 words moved by Alice Ritchie and Joe Jackson. Picture. Video Health-virus-Europe,FOCUS PARIS Even with the death toll still climbing, Europe's home confinement measures appear to be bearing fruit with an initial flood of hospital admissions starting to slow. But experts say dropping the guard now risks undoing all the sacrifices made and unleashing a second infection wave. 700 words 1500 GMT by Juliette Collen Also moving: Health-virus-Europe-confinement,FACTS Health-virus-Italy-hospital,INVESTIGATION ROME Infiltration by the mafia, severe shortages of doctors, and a regional health agency hundreds of millions of euros in debt are just a few of the challenges Locri hospital in southern Italy confronted in 2019 alone. And that was before coronavirus. 1,800 words moved by Alexandria Sage. Picture Health-virus-Russia,lead MOSCOW Russia will pay considerable bonuses to doctors, nurses and other medical staff on the "frontline" against the coronavirus, President Vladimir Putin says, as the country sees a surge in confirmed cases. 500 words 1530 GMT Picture. Video Health-virus-Russia-medicine,SCENE MOSCOW A grey-haired Muscovite speaks via video link from his flat, telling a doctor he doesn't feel too bad but is still wheezing. This is a consultation via Moscow's new telemedicine centre -- where doctors treat those who have tested positive for the coronavirus but are well enough to stay at home. 650 words moved by Anna Malpas. Picture. Video Health-virus-Belgium-drink,SCENE WATERLOO, Belgium Belgium's gin and whisky drinkers have been shut up at home for three weeks to avoid the epidemic, but one Waterloo distillery is taking the battle to the coronavirus. 450 words moved by Kilian Fichou. Video. Picture -- MIDDLE EAST -- Health-virus-Iran-IMF,2ndlead TEHRAN Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urges the International Monetary Fund to give the sanctions-hit country a $5 billion emergency loan to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. 500 words moved by Amir Havasi. Picture. Video Health-virus-Israel-government-Judaism,FOCUS JERUSALEM To some, Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman is guilty of a "catastrophic failure" of leadership for not urgently conveying the coronavirus threat to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community that elected him. 800 words moved by Ben Simon Health-virus-Lebanon-poverty BEIRUT Millions in Lebanon risk food insecurity due to a lockdown to stem the novel coronavirus unless the government steps in to provide urgent assistance, Human Rights Watch warns. 450 words moved Health-virus-Egypt-poverty,FOCUS CAIRO Haggard and dishevelled from the stress of making ends meet, day labourers line up in Cairo for food parcels after losing their jobs to the sharp downturn caused by the coronavirus. 650 words moved by Farid Farid. Picture. Video Health-virus-Kuwait-quarantine,FOCUS KUWAIT CITY The meat is too fatty and the staff are slow to clean up coffee stains -- some Kuwaitis quarantined in five-star hotels due to the coronavirus outbreak have a litany of complaints. 650 words moved. File picture Health-virus-Gulf-internet,FOCUS DUBAI From extravagant trips to the Amalfi Coast and sunset photoshoots on Dubai's beaches to an almost complete lockdown -- the coronavirus has forced the Gulf's social media "influencers" indoors but hasn't lowered their glamour factor. 750 words moved by Dana Moukhhallati. Picture -- AFRICA -- Health-virus-SAfrica-AIDS-TB,FOCUS JOHANNESBURG With the world's highest HIV-positive population, South Africa is moving to protect this particularly vulnerable group from coronavirus. 700 words 1430 GMT by Beatrice Debut. Video Health-virus-SAfrica-wildlife,FOCUS JOHANNESBURG A pride of lions flop lazily across a track at a South African game reserve, enjoying newfound tranquility since last month's closure of all national parks to support an anti-coronavirus lockdown. 450 words 1500 GMT by Sofia Christensen. Video -- AMERICAS -- Health-virus-US-Texas-Louisiana,SCENE ORANGE, Texas Texas is usually known for its friendliness but the Lone Star State is making things extra lonely for its neighbors to the east -- requiring visitors from coronavirus-stricken Louisiana to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in the state. 450 words 1500 GMT by Julia Bennarous. Picture. Video -- ASIA -- Vanuatu-Fiji-weather-cyclone,WRAP SUVA A deadly Pacific storm slams into Fiji, tearing off roofs and flooding towns, after leaving a trail of destruction in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. 650 words moved by Joshua Kuku. Picture. Video. Graphic Japan-food-gender-sushi,FOCUS TOKYO Women have warm hands, their periods alter their sense of taste and they can't work long hours -- just some of the claims from those in Japan who believe women can't be sushi chefs. 800 words moved by Natsuko Fukue. Picture. Video SKorea-NKorea-politics-vote-diplomacy,INTERVIEW SEOUL For decades, Thae Yong Ho served the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the North is officially known, rising to become its deputy ambassador to London before defecting. Now he is standing for election in the South's multi-party democracy. 700 words moved by Sunghee Hwang. Picture. Video Bangladesh-unrest-arrest-politics DHAKA A Bangladesh military captain arrested after nearly 25 years on the run over the assassination of the country's founding leader will be executed, officials say. 400 words moved. File picture China-politics-rights BEIJING An outspoken Chinese Communist Party critic and millionaire property tycoon, Ren Zhiqiang, has been placed under investigation for "serious violations of discipline and law", an anti-graft watchdog says. 500 words moved -- BUSINESS/ECONOMY -- Health-virus-trade-WTO,WRAP GENEVA Global trade growth is expected to plummet by up to a third in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the World Trade Organization says, warning that the numbers would be "ugly". 650 words 1500 GMT by Nina Larson. Video Health-virus-Germany-France-economy-recession,WRAP FRANKFURT Germany and France, the EU's two largest economies, are bracing for a painful recession as the coronavirus pandemic slashes output to the lowest levels in decades. 650 words moved by Michelle Fitzpatrick. Picture Markets-world,WRAP LONDON European stock markets slide as EU finance ministers fail to agree on a coronavirus bailout package for hard hit countries such as Italy and Spain. 650 words 1600 GMT -- ENVIRONMENT -- Health-virus-environment-collapse,FOCUS PARIS Could the coronavirus crisis be a warning of just how fragile industrial societies are to collapse? 700 words 1800 GMT by Stephane Orjollet -- ENTERTAINMENT -- Health-virus-film-Cannes PARIS Fresh doubts hang over the coronavirus-hit Cannes film festival after its director said he could not see it happening online. 400 words moved by Fiachra Gibbons. afp
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