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| - Duty Editor: Susan Stumme Email: Susan.Stumme@afp.com -- TOP STORIES -- + France's Macron tests positive as Europe battles virus surge + Russia to miss Tokyo Olympics after doping ruling + Nigeria jihadists release kidnapped schoolboys video + UK, EU leaders talk as MEPs press Brexit talks deadline + Snow brings joy, and misery, to pandemic-weary New York Health-virus,WRAP PARIS French President Emmanuel Macron becomes the latest national leader to test positive for coronavirus, forcing several other European politicians into quarantine as the continent becomes the first region to pass 500,000 deaths. 700 words 2000 GMT by Stuart Williams with AFP bureaus. Picture. Graphic. Video Also moved: Health-virus-France-Macron,FOCUS Health-virus-toll-Europe,lead Doping-Russia-RUS-Oly-2020-2021-court-WADA,WRAP LAUSANNE Sport's highest court bans Russia from the international stage for two years including the rearranged Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Games, but the halving of the initial punishment is described by a leading US official as "a catastrophic blow to clean athletes and the integrity of sport". 700 words 2000 GMT by Coralie Febvre. Picture, File picture, Graphic Nigeria-kidnapping-unrest,WRAP KANKARA, Nigeria The Boko Haram jihadist group releases a video claiming to show schoolboys seized in a mass kidnapping in northwest Nigeria last week. 650 words moved by Aminu Abubakar. Picture. Graphic Britain-EU-politics-Brexit,WRAP BRUSSELS British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen hold their latest cross-Channel crisis call as negotiations for a post-Brexit trade approach a make-or-break weekend. 650 words 2100 GMT by Dave Clark and Clement Zampa. Picture. Video Already moved: Brexit-Britain-trade-France US-weather-snow,SCENE NEW YORK Children skip online classes to sled and adults glide on cross-country skis as New York's heaviest snowfall in years brings some relief from the coronavirus pandemic but piles more misery on restaurants and businesses. 550 words moved by Peter Hutchison. Picture. Video -- CORONAVIRUS -- Health-virus-US-vaccine-Moderna,2ndlead WASHINGTON US experts are poised to approve Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for six million doses to start shipping this weekend. 700 words 2000 GMT by Issam Ahmed Health-virus-China-Wuhan-photographer,PHOTOESSAY WUHAN, China AFP's Chilean photographer Hector Retamal, based in Shanghai, has been named news agency photographer of the year by The Guardian for work including his reporting on the ordeal of people in Wuhan, the city where the Covid-19 pandemic started. He recounts his experiences. 1,300 words moved by Hector Retamal. Pictures. Health-virus-Russia-Putin MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin says Russia managed the coronavirus pandemic better than other developed countries and announces he intends to be vaccinated with his country's flagship virus jab. 650 words moved by Anastasia Clark. Picture. Video -- RUSSIA DOPING -- Doping-Russia-RUS-Oly-2020-2021-court-WADA-USA,REAX LOS ANGELES The United States Anti-Doping Agency condemns the Court of Arbitration for Sport's decision to halve Russia's doping ban as a "tragedy" for the global fight against drug cheats, slamming the ruling as a "weak and loophole-riddled outcome." 600 words moved by Rob Woollard Doping-Russia-RUS-Oly-2020 2021-court-WADA,INTERVIEW MONTREAL By excluding Russia from major international sporting competitions for the next two years over systematic doping, the Court of Arbitration for Sport made a "very strong" move that validates the work of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), its director general Olivier Niggli tells AFP. 400 words moved by Eric Thomas. Picture. Video Also moved: doping-trial-Oly-2020-2021-RUS-CAS-WADA-timeline -- AMERICAS -- US-economy-unemployment-politics-stimulus,WRAP WASHINGTON As lawmakers inch closer to a new stimulus package to help the pandemic-battered US economy, more workers are applying for unemployment benefits as the recovery stalls. 650 words 1930 GMT by Heather Scott. File picture. -- EUROPE -- France-attack-trial-US,WRAP PARIS A French court jails for life a Moroccan man who planned a terror attack on a Paris-bound international train in 2015 but was thwarted by passengers including off-duty US soldiers. 550 words moved. Sketch. France-US-crime-fashion,WRAP PARIS Prominent French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, a former close associate of disgraced American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, is detained in France on accusations of sex crimes, prosecutors say. 600 words moved by Eleonore Dermy -- MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA -- Arab-revolution-anniversary-Tunisia,WRAP SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia Ten years since the intoxicating early days of the Arab revolutions, dreams for a better future lie crushed, and in the rural Tunisian town where it began, the mood is one of anger rather than hope. 780 words moved by Kaouther Larbi. Picture. Video Also moved: Arab-revolution-anniversary,SPECIALREPORT Arab-revolution-anniversary,CHRONO Arab-revolution-anniversary-Tunisia,FOCUS Arab-revolution-anniversary-Tunisia,INTERVIEW Iraq-politics-economy,FOCUS BAGHDAD A year of economic agony for pandemic-hit and oil-reliant Iraq is drawing to a close, but a draft 2021 budget involving a hefty currency devaluation could bring more pain for citizens. 800 words moved by Maya Gebeily -- ASIA -- Afghanistan-conflict-talks-US-military,WRAP WASHINGTON The top US military officer presses Afghanistan's Taliban to reduce violence in a rare meeting as outgoing President Donald Trump seeks to hasten the end of the nearly 20-year war. 550 words moved by Sylvie Lanteaume Fiji-Tonga-weather-cyclone,WRAP SUVA Super cyclone Yasa slams into Fiji's second-largest island, tearing roofs off buildings as it triggers flash floods and landslides in the Pacific island nation. 650 words moved by Leon Lord. Graphic. Picture. Video -- AFRICA -- CAfrica-vote-unrest,Q&A BANGUI The key issues as the Central African Republic heads towards elections that are freighted with risk for one of the world's poorest and most troubled nations. 550 words moved by Camille Laffont. File picture. Graphic -- BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY -- US-IT-politics-antitrust-Google,WRAP SAN FRANCISCO Dozens of US states hit Google with its third antitrust suit in as many months, accusing the internet giant of abusing its internet search dominance to eliminate competition. 600 words 2030 GMT by Glenn Chapman. File picture. EU-Google-Fitbit-merger,lead BRUSSELS The EU approves Google's $2.1 billion purchase of smartwatch maker Fitbit, after the tech titan agrees conditions including not using health data from European users for advertising. 450 words moved by Max Delany afp
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