As the coronavirus leaves colleges holding "virtual graduation" events online, many schools are recruiting famous figures to deliver speeches over their laptops instead of the lectern. This year's college graduates won't get to take their triumphant walk across the stage. They won't get to toss their caps amid a sea of classmates. Instead, they have to settle for online ceremonies while their ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump threatened to cut ties with China over its role in the spread of the coronavirus, as the global death toll from the disease topped 300,000. Despite fears of a second wave of infections, national and local governments around the world are easing lockdown orders as they try to get stalled economies moving again. But there were warnings Friday that som...

LONDON (AFP) -- The deadly coronavirus pandemic will cost the global insurance industry about $203 billion (188 billion euros), Lloyd's of London insurance market forecast on Thursday. Lloyd's said it had examined underwriting losses and reductions in the value of investments that companies hold to fund future claim payments. Lloyd's itself expects to pay out up to $4.3 billion on coronavirus c...

THE HAGUE (AFP) -- A vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be ready in a year's time under an "optimistic" scenario, based on trials that are underway, the European Medicines Agency said Thursday. The Amsterdam-based EU agency also played down fears expressed by the WHO that the virus might never go away, saying it would be "surprised" if a vaccine was not found eventually. "We can see the po...

WUHAN (AFP) -- Nervous residents of China's pandemic epicentre of Wuhan queued up across the city to be tested for the coronavirus on Thursday after a new cluster of cases sparked a mass screening campaign. Lines of socially distanced people formed at makeshift testing sites set up under tents in parking lots, parks and residential communities as it rained in the metropolis of 11 million people....

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The EU insisted Thursday that any vaccine against coronavirus must be available fairly to all countries after French drug giant Sanofi said it was reserving first shipments for the US. "The vaccine against COVID-19 should be a global public good and its access needs to be equitable and universal," European Commission spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker told reporters. Sanofi's ch...

GENEVA (AFP) -- The coronavirus may never go away and populations will have to learn to live with it just as they have HIV, the World Health Organization has warned, as the global death toll from the disease nears 300,000. There were also gloomy forecasts from the US Federal Reserve, which said prolonged shutdowns to stem the spread of the virus could cause lasting economic damage in America. W...

The UN children’s agency said an estimated 46 million people - 19 million of them children - fled violence and conflict last year but remained in their home countries, and millions more were displaced by disasters. A UNICEF report said there has been a steep increase in the number of internally displaced people as a result of conflict and violence, from 25 million a decade ago to more than 40 ...

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong's government risks reigniting last year's political unrest by pushing ahead with a controversial bill outlawing insults to China's national anthem, opposition lawmakers said Tuesday. Pro-democracy lawmakers warned history was repeating itself, noting that the fast-tracking of a bill last year to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland was the spark that lit ...

Shanghai Disneyland which was closed on Jan. 25 reopened on Monday, reflecting a loosening of social distancing linked to the novel coronavirus outbreak. It is the first of its kind to reopen among all other entertainment parks in the US, Japan, Europe and Hong Kong. Along with rides and attractions, Shanghai Disneyland opened all shops, restaurants and cafes within the park to its visitors. H...

'A tremendous snapback' Kudlow, pushing back on reports of growing partisan tensions in Washington over another tranche of emergency relief, said informal talks with Democrats were under way, but he and Mnuchin emphasized the need to move ahead with deliberation. "We just want to make sure that before we jump back in and spend another few trillion of taxpayers' money, that we do it carefully," ...

More Americans are now spending less each month than at any time since the Great Recession, a new Gallup survey showed. When asked about money habits compared to previous months, 51 percent said they're now spending less - an increase from 32 percent last year. It’s the highest figure since 2010, when 57 percent said they were spending less. More Americans are being careful with money as the...

Russian servicemen marched across the Red Square on Saturday during a parade for the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. Moscow’s city square was later filled with people celebrating the day that marked Nazi Germany’s surrender and the end of World War II in Europe. At the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin watched the marching parade and the flypast. VE Day ended with fireworks ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Former president Barack Obama has launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it an "absolute chaotic disaster." In a leaked web call Friday night with former members of his administration, Obama also said the Justice Department's decision to drop charges against Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who plead...

A full moon, also called the Supermoon or Flower Moon, shines bright in every part of the world. The Supermoon rises above the Statue of Liberty in New Jersey, US. A silhouette of a bird is seen as it files past the moon that is behind Lomonosov Moscow State University in Moscow, Russia. The Supermoon glows red in an astronomical event that occurs when the moon is closest to the Earth in its o...