Researchers identify two coronavirus types as China cases dwindle
Scientists in China studying the coronavirus outbreak said they had found two main types of the disease could be causing infections.
‘Never happier’: Quarantine over for diplomats in North Korea
Relieved foreign diplomats in North Korea were finally getting out of their compounds this week after the end of a month-long quarantine over the coronavirus outbreak.
Driving trucks, blasting rocks – Women break the mold at Burkina Faso gold mines
Tene Konate takes pride in telling incredulous relatives about her job driving a 72-tonne dump truck around the vast open pit at the Hounde gold mine in western Burkina Faso.
Sanitizers get priority over South Korea’s soju drink in virus crisis
Makers of soju, South Korea’s national drink and one of the world’s best selling spirits, are jumping into the fight on the largest outbreak of coronavirus outside China by sharing their stockpiles of alcohol with makers of sanitizers.
Philippines’ Duterte resumes loan talks with backers of U.N. drugs war investigation
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has allowed talks about loans and grants from countries that backed a U.N. investigation into his bloody war on drugs to resume, his office said on Wednesday.
Russia says rebel positions in Syria’s Idlib have merged with Turkish army posts
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that fortified rebel positions in Syria’s Idlib province had merged with Turkish observation posts, and that artillery attacks on nearby civilian areas and Russia’s air base in Syria had become daily.
Kremlin hopes Putin, Erdogan can agree joint measures at Syria talks
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it hoped Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan would be able to agree on a set of joint measures for the Syrian province of Idlib when they meet for talks in Moscow on Thursday.
Grieving families in Philippine drugs war turn to theater for healing, therapy
Relatives of some of the thousands killed in the Philippines’ war on drugs acted out their journey of loss and healing in a theater performance in Manila on Wednesday, capping a month-long therapy program for grieving urban poor families.
Iraq reports its first coronavirus death, in Kurdish region
Iraq reported its first coronavirus death on Wednesday, an elderly man in the Kurdish province of Sulaimaniya, the local health department said.
China vies to run U.N. patent office in bid for fifth leadership
A Singaporean candidate is ahead of a Chinese lawyer in a race to head the world patent office as Beijing seeks its fifth U.N. leadership role in a move critics say would give it an unprecedented level of influence over new technologies.
