Ancient French brotherhood braves pandemic to bury the destitute

AFP / DENIS CHARLETThis is not the first time the brotherhood has braved disease: it was founded in the 12th century when France was gripped by the plague

A ringing bell breaks the silence of the cemetery as five members of the Charitable Brotherhood of Saint Eloi in Bethune solemnly remove their two-pointed hats. All are wearing black capes, white gloves and, of course, face masks.

Founded eight centuries ago during a plague outbreak that devastated this region of northern France, the charity is continuing its mission to give homeless people a respectable burial -- even during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Our role remains the same. Regardless of the social rank of the deceased, we do exactly the same thing," Robert Guenot, the charity's provost, told AFP.

The 25 volunteer members bury nearly 300 dead every year. But the COVID-19 outbreak, which has led to an unprecedented lockdown of France's population and limited funeral attendance to around 20 people, has forced the organisation to adapt its traditions and rituals.

"We've reduced our activities because there are no longer any religious ceremonies, but we've also reduced our presence: there are now only five volunteers per service, as opposed to the usual 11, because we don't want to penalise families," said 72-year-old Guenot.

They also take sanitary precautions.

AFP / DENIS CHARLETThe Charitable Brotherhood of Saint-Eloi de Bethune have been burying the destitute more than 800 years

"We try to protect ourselves as much as possible. Anyone who feels ill of course refuses to be in the service. There's no taking risks," said Patrick Tijeras, 55, who became a member in November.

"We feel that we have a social value," Tijeras said. "Just as a sick person has the right to be cared for, the dead person has the right to this dignified treatment."

- 'A painful situation' -

On one recent morning, the cemetery was almost deserted.

The deceased was a homeless 34-year-old man who had no known family or friends. Around the light-coloured wooden coffin, the charity's members gathered for a moment of silence.

Once the ceremony ended, the five men gathered around a circle drawn on the ground, as is the custom.

"I thank you for accepting this summons. In these difficult times, it's nice to be able to continue what we've been doing for 832 years," Guenot told the other members.

AFP / DENIS CHARLETFounded in 1188, the Charitables have for eight centuries taken care of funerals for the inhabitants of Bethune regardless of religion or wealth

Across the continent, grieving families are having to cope with the additional trauma of draconian restrictions to stop the spread of the pandemic, such as strict rules that limit travel or participation in funerals.

It is during these times that the brotherhood's original role is restored, Guenot said.

"We want to continue to provide a little support and comfort to the families, who can no longer find each other," said Guenot.

All things considered, the context is reminiscent of the birth of the organisation.

According to legend, members said, gravediggers were no longer able to bury the dead during an outbreak of the plague and Saint Eloi, patron saint of blacksmiths and also known as Saint Eligius, asked two blacksmiths to ensure decent burials.

"We have these masks, this virus above our heads that makes us sad and afraid," said Pierre Decool, 66, who nevertheless feels the need to "help people".

"It's a painful situation, which our ancestors also experienced," he said. "But we'll get through it."

31MAR2020

   

Amazon workers protest over virus safety

AFP / Angela WeissAmazon workers at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse stage a walkout to demand that the facility be shut down and cleaned after one staffer tested positive for the coronavirus

Amazon warehouse employees and Instacart delivery workers joined protests Monday to press safety demands, highlighting the risks for workers on the front lines of supplying Americans largely sheltering at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An estimated 50 to 60 employees joined a walkout at an Amazon worker warehouse in the New York borough of Staten Island, demanding that the facility be shut down and cleaned after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus.

"There are positive cases working in these buildings infecting thousands," warehouse worker Christian Smalls wrote on Twitter.

Amazon, responding to an AFP query, said Smalls made "misleading" statements about conditions and that he was supposed to be in quarantine.

"Like all businesses grappling with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we are working hard to keep employees safe while serving communities and the most vulnerable," Amazon said in a statement.

"We have taken extreme measures to keep people safe."

After the protest, Smalls was officially fired by Amazon.

When contacted by AFP for comment, Amazon confirmed the decision, which it said was due to Smalls's failure to comply with the company's request that he self-isolate after he came in contact with another employee who tested positive for COVID-19.

By taking part in Monday's demonstration, he put "the teams at risk. This is unacceptable," Amazon said in a statement, noting that only 15 of the more than 5,000 employees at the site had taken part in the protest.

New York state attorney general Letitia James called Smalls's dismissal "disgraceful" and pointed out that the law protects employee's right to protest.

"At a time when so many New Yorkers are struggling and are deeply concerned about their safety, this action was also immoral and inhumane," she said in a statement.

AFP / Angela WeissAn estimated 50-60 Amazon workers walked out of a New York warehouse to demand that the facility be shut down and cleaned after one staffer tested positive for the coronavirus

James said she was exploring options for legal recourse and had asked the National Labor Relations Board to investigate the incident.

Meanwhile a group calling itself the Gig Workers Collective said it was maintaining its call for Instacart's independent contractors to strike despite new safety measures announced late Sunday by the company.

"Workers aren't filling orders until our full demands are met," a spokesperson told AFP. "This isn't just about us, we want to also protect our customers."

It was not immediately clear how many of Instacart "shoppers" who are independent "gig" workers, were participating in the stoppage.

Instacart, which recently announced plans to hire some 300,000 people to help meet demand for grocery delivery, said in a statement it was "fully operational" and that the walkout caused "no impact."

"We're continuing to see the highest customer demand in Instacart history and have more active shoppers on our platform today than ever before picking and delivering groceries for millions of consumers," said the San Francisco company, which operates in some 5,500 cities in the US and Canada.

- More safety gear -

The firm said Sunday it would provide additional health and safety supplies to full-service "shoppers" and would set a "default" tip based on customers' prior orders.

The labor group, whose numbers were not known, called the Instacart moves "a sick joke."

AFP/File / Angela WeissFood delivery personnel for Instacart were among those joining US job actions to press for improved health and safety measures for key employees during the coronavirus lockdown

"We had been asking for hand sanitizer for many, many weeks. But apparently the company is capable of sourcing some with two days of work? Where was this before," the group said in a Medium post.

A separate group of workers at the Amazon-owned grocery chain Whole Foods meanwhile called for a one-day stoppage or "sickout" on Tuesday to press demands for improved health measures.

The group calling itself "Whole Worker" said it was seeking guaranteed paid leave for quarantined workers, among other things.

With much of the US population locked down, Americans are increasingly relying on delivery of food and other supplies from firms like Amazon.

A report by NBC News said Amazon workers at two Southern California warehouses had presented demands to shut down the facilities for two weeks for sterilization while employees are tested for the virus.

Amazon has announced plans to hire an additional 100,000 people in the US, while rival Walmart is seeking to expand its workforce by 150,000.

Extreme isolation: world's last virus-free corners hold tight

AFP/File / NEIL SANDSTonga is one of the Pacific nations that has reported zero virus cases, along with Palau, Micronesia and others

A coronavirus-free tropical island nestled in the northern Pacific may seem the perfect place to ride out a pandemic -- but residents on Palau say life right now is far from idyllic.

The microstate of 18,000 people is among a dwindling number of places on Earth that still report zero cases of COVID-19 as figures mount daily elsewhere.

The disparate group also includes Samoa, Turkmenistan, North Korea and bases on the frozen continent of Antarctica.

A dot in the ocean hundreds of kilometres from its nearest neighbours, Palau is surrounded by the vast Pacific, which has acted as a buffer against the virus.

Along with strict travel restrictions, this seems to have kept infections at bay for a number of nations including Tonga, the Solomons Islands, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.

But remoteness is not certain to stop the relentless march of the new disease. The Northern Mariana Islands confirmed its first cases over the weekend, followed by a suspected death on Monday.

AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP / ADAM FULTON, ADAM FULTONThere is no need for social distancing in the tundra

Klamiokl Tulop, a 28-year-old artist and single mum, is hopeful Palau can avoid the fate of Wuhan, New York or Madrid -- where better-resourced health services were overrun.

But she describes a growing sense of dread, a fear that the virus is coming or could already be on the island undetected.

"You can feel a rising tension and anxiety just shopping," she told AFP. "Stores are crowded even more during non-payday weeks."

There have been several scares on Palau, including a potential case that saw one person placed into quarantine this week as authorities await test results.

- Antarctic seclusion -

Inside Australia's four remote Antarctic research bases, around 90 people have found themselves ensconced on the only virus-free continent as they watch their old home transform beyond recognition.

AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP / NISHA HARRIS, NISHA HARRISInside Australia's four remote Antarctic research bases, around 90 people have found themselves ensconced on the only virus-free continent

There is no need for social distancing in the tundra.

"They're probably the only Australians at the moment that can have a large dinner together or have the bar still open or the gym still open," Antarctic Division Operations manager Robb Clifton told AFP.

The bases are now isolated until November, so the group is safe, but Clifton admits "the main thing that's on the mind of expeditioners is how their loved ones are going back home."

In some places, reporting no cases does not always mean there are no cases to report.

AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP / DARREN SHOOBRIDGE, DARREN SHOOBRIDGEThe bases are now isolated until November, so the group is safe

North Korea has portrayed emergency measures as an unqualified success in keeping COVID-19 out, despite sustained epidemics in neighbouring China and South Korea.

But state media also appears to have doctored images to give ordinary North Koreans face masks -- handing sceptics reason to believe the world's most secretive government may not be telling the whole truth.

- 'Waiting for the inevitable?' -

While Palau has no confirmed cases, it has still been gripped by the society-altering fears and economic paralysis that have affected the rest of the world.

Supermarket aisles in the country's largest town Koror have seen panic buying and there are shortages of hand sanitisers, masks and alcohol.

The islands depend heavily on goods being shipped or flown in, meaning supplies can quickly run low.

United Airlines used to fly six times a week from nearby Guam -- which has seen more than 50 cases -- but now there is just one flight a week.

"Look at how bad we coped when shipments were late before this pandemic happened," Tulop said. "Everyone was practically in uproar."

AFP / KIM Won JinNorth Korea has portrayed emergency measures as an unqualified success in keeping COVID-19 out, despite sustained epidemics in neighbouring China and South Korea

Residents have been practising social distancing. Doctors are waiting for test kits to arrive from Taiwan. The government is building five isolation rooms that will be able to hold up to 14 patients.

It all feels like waiting for the inevitable.

"I would like to be optimistic we won't get the virus," Tulop said. "But Palau would most definitely get it. We rely heavily on tourism and most of us even need to travel for work."

Rondy Ronny's job is to host big tourist events, but work has already dried up, and he admits to being "very anxious".

"I have loans and bills and payments due," he said. "This will definitely put me back, I hope the government will do something about our economy too, to help it recover."

Palau's biggest test may yet come with the first positive case.

But even in the most remote corners of the world, the impact of this truly global pandemic is already being felt.

Nowhere, it seems, is truly virus-free.

Hungry and in chains, 

Thailand's tourist elephants face crisis

ELEPHANT NATURE PARK/AFP / HandoutWith global travel paralysed the animals are unable to pay their way, including the 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of food a day a captive elephant needs to survive

Underfed and chained up for endless hours, many elephants working in Thailand's tourism sector may starve, be sold to zoos or be shifted into the illegal logging trade, campaigners warn, as the coronavirus decimates visitor numbers.

Before the virus, life for the kingdom's estimated 2,000 elephants working in tourism was already stressful, with abusive methods often used to 'break them' into giving rides and performing tricks at money-spinning animal shows.

With global travel paralysed the animals are unable to pay their way, including the 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of food a day a captive elephant needs to survive.

Elephant camps and conservationists warn hunger and the threat of renewed exploitation lie ahead, without an urgent bailout.

"My boss is doing what he can but we have no money," Kosin, a mahout -- or elephant handler -- says of the Chiang Mai camp where his elephant Ekkasit is living on a restricted diet.

Chiang Mai is Thailand's northern tourist hub, an area of rolling hills dotted by elephant camps and sanctuaries ranging from the exploitative to the humane.

THAI ELEPHANT ALLIANCE ASSOCIATION/AFP / HandoutAround 2,000 elephants are currently "unemployed" as the virus eviscerates Thailand's tourist industry, says Theerapat Trungprakan, president of the Thai Elephant Alliance Association

Footage sent to AFP from another camp in the area shows lines of elephants tethered by a foot to wooden poles, some visibly distressed, rocking their heads back and forth.

Around 2,000 elephants are currently "unemployed" as the virus eviscerates Thailand's tourist industry, says Theerapat Trungprakan, president of the Thai Elephant Alliance Association.

The lack of cash is limiting the fibrous food available to the elephants "which will have a physical effect", he added.

Wages for the mahouts who look after them have dropped by 70 percent.

Theerapat fears the creatures could soon be used in illegal logging activities along the Thai-Myanmar border -- in breach of a 30-year-old law banning the use of elephants to transport wood.

Others "could be forced (to beg) on the streets," he said.

It is yet another twist in the saga of the exploitation of elephants, which animal rights campaigners have long been fighting to protect from the abusive tourism industry.

- 'Crisis point' -

For those hawking a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the giant creatures -- whether from afar or up close -- the slump began in late January.

Chinese visitors, who make up the majority of Thailand's 40 million tourists, plunged by more than 80 percent in February as China locked down cities hard-hit by the virus and banned external travel.

By March, the travel restrictions into Thailand -- which has 1,388 confirmed cases of the virus -- had extended to Western countries.

With elephants increasingly malnourished due to the loss of income, the situation is "at a crisis point," says Saengduean Chailert, owner of Elephant Nature Park.

AFP/File / Mladen ANTONOVBefore the virus, life for the kingdom's estimated 2,000 elephants working in tourism was already stressful, with abusive methods often used to 'break them' into giving rides and performing tricks at money-spinning animal shows

Her sanctuary for around 80 rescued pachyderms only allows visitors to observe the creatures, a philosophy at odds with venues that have them performing tricks and offering rides.

She has organised a fund to feed elephants and help mahouts in almost 50 camps nationwide, fearing the only options will soon be limited to zoos, starvation or logging work.

For those restrained by short chains all day, the stress could lead to fights breaking out, says Saengduean, of camps that can no longer afford medical treatment for the creatures.

Calls are mounting for the government to fund stricken camps to ensure the welfare of elephants.

"We need 1,000 baht a day (about $30) for each elephant," says Apichet Duangdee, who runs the Elephant Rescue Park.

Freeing his eight mammals rescued from circuses and loggers into the forests is out of the question as they would likely be killed in territorial fights with wild elephants.

He is planning to take out a two million baht ($61,000) loan soon to keep his elephants fed.

"I will not abandon them," he added.

Air Canada to temporarily lay off half 

its workforce

AFP/File / JOEL SAGETAir Canada has suspended most of its international flights due to the coronavirus

Air Canada announced Monday it would temporarily lay off nearly half of its employees and reduce activity by up to 90 percent in the second quarter due to the coronavirus.

The measures would affect 15,200 employees and about 1,300 managers from April 3, the airline said in a press release.

Last week, Air Canada -- the first Canadian airline to be hit hard by the pandemic -- announced the temporary layoff of more than 5,100 flight attendants, including 1,500 members of its low-cost subsidiary Air Canada Rouge.

"The unpredictable extent and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic requires a significant overall response," Air Canada president Calin Rovinescu said in the statement.

"To furlough such a large proportion of our employees is an extremely painful decision but one we are required to take given our dramatically smaller operations for the next while."

The Montreal-based company will reduce operations for the second quarter of 2020 by 85 to 90 percent compared to the same period the previous year.

A cost reduction program will be implemented to generate "at least $500 million" (320 million euros). Senior executives will give up a part of their salary, and the president and chief financial officer will give up their entire salary.

Air Canada has suspended most of its international flights, including to the United States, after the announcement of the temporary closure of the US-Canada border in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The number of airports in Canada it is now serving has been reduced from 62 to 40.

Air Canada employs 36,000 people around the world, according to the company website.

Canada's second-largest airline, Air Transat, which is being acquired by Air Canada, also announced it would lay off nearly 2,000 flight attendants, beginning in early April.

Race for vaccine tests limits of drug innovation

AFP/File / Thibault SavaryDozens of pharmaceuticals and research labs across the world are racing to develop a vaccine

From medical workers struggling to care for the rising tide of COVID-19 patients to the billions of people told to stay home to slow the pandemic, everyone is waiting for one thing: a vaccine.

There is no known treatment for the new coronavirus that emerged in China late last year and has since proliferated across the planet, infecting more than half a million people and claiming more than 30,000 lives.

In mid-January, researchers from China published the genetic sequence of the virus, firing the starting gun for dozens of research labs across the world in the race to find effective drugs.

The approaches have varied dramatically. Some teams are looking at the effects of existing medicines as potential treatments, some are experimenting with repurposing common drugs. Others are using cutting-edge technologies to fashion radically new types of vaccines.

Just over 60 days after the genetic sequence of COVID-19 was shared, the first potential vaccine began human trials.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed it "an incredible achievement" and experts have raised cautious hopes that a vaccine will be ready within 18 months.

This may seem like a dauntingly long time for those in the path of the virus.

But Seth Berkley, the head of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, has cautioned that it normally takes between 10 and 15 years for a drug to go from development, through testing phases and onto licensing and large-scale manufacture, although the Ebola vaccine was ready in five.

AFP/File / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS

Experts have raised hopes that a vaccine could be ready in as little as 18 months

"How lucky will we be in getting a good immune response? Which approaches will work? Will they be scalable?" he said in an interview with the TED organisation last week.

Berkley told AFP that a possible way to speed up the licencing process -- which worked during the Ebola response -- could be to get a drug that shows efficacy and run a clinical trial with health workers.

"There could be areas where you could give an experimental vaccine under informed consent, and use it to try to help with the epidemic before you have that licensed product," he said.

But he cautioned against rushing the broader licencing process for a vaccine or vaccines that could be used across the world.

"We need to make sure what we do makes sense, is safe and has efficacy. I know that seems like a luxury we don't have time for but it is very important," he said.

GAVI, which is making funding available for lower-income countries to respond to the coronavirus crisis, has urged world leaders to ensure potential treatments and vaccines are accessible to everyone.

Amid concerns over a shortfall in global cooperation over the virus, G20 nations on Thursday announced a $5-trillion injection to boost the global economy and pledged to "work together to increase research and development funding for vaccines and medicines".

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global organisation based in Oslo, has called for $2 billion to support the development of a vaccine.

Meanwhile, the United States is funding several companies through its Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

- A new type of vaccine -

The traditional method for developing vaccines, based on principles dating back to smallpox vaccine in 1796, has been to introduce a modified part of the infectious agent to stimulate the body's immune system without doing harm.

But an emerging technique aims to trigger this immune response in a different way, by incorporating a strand of the virus' genetic material.

Within weeks of Chinese researchers making the genome of the virus public, a team at the University of Texas at Austin was able to create a replica model of its spike protein, the part which attatches to and infects human cells, and image it using a cryogenic (cooled) electron microscope.

AFP / John SAEKI  Virus cell hijack

This replica itself is now the basis for a vaccine candidate. NIH is working with Moderna, a relatively new firm founded in 2010, to make a vaccine using the protein's genetic information to grow it inside human muscle tissue, rather than having to inject it in.

This information is stored in an intermediary transient substance called "messenger RNA" that carries genetic code from DNA to cells.

"The advantage is that it's really fast," Jason McLellan, who led the UT Austin team, told AFP.

The human trials began this month and if all goes to plan, it could be available in about a year and a half, according to NIH's Anthony Fauci.

French drugmaker Sanofi is using a different genetic approach.

It is partnering with the US government to use a so-called "recombinant DNA platform" to produce a vaccine candidate.

It takes the virus' DNA and combines it with DNA from a harmless virus, creating a chimera that can provoke an immune response.

The antigens it produces can then be scaled up.

The technology is already the basis of Sanofi's influenza vaccine, and the firm believes it has a head start due to a SARS vaccine it developed that offered partial protection in animals.

- Treatment quicker than cure? -

While the world waits for a vaccine, scientists are experimenting with other existing drugs in the hunt for treatments for severely ill patients.

The WHO has selected four drugs or combinations for a large scale global trial involving patients from Argentina to Thailand.

These are the experimental antiviral treatment remdesivir; a combination of two HIV drugs, lopinavir and ritonavir; those two drugs plus interferon beta, an immune system medication; and the malaria drug chloroquine.

Remdesivir, made by US-based Gilead Sciences, is already in the final stages of clinical trials in Asia and doctors in China have reported it has proven effective in fighting the disease.

It was developed to fight other viruses including Ebola (where it was shown to be ineffective) and it has not yet been approved for anything.

Remdesivir gets modified inside the human body to become similar to one of the four building blocks of DNA, called nucleotides.

Benjamin Neuman, a virologist at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, told AFP that when viruses copy themselves, they do it "quickly and a bit sloppily," meaning they might incorporate remdevisir into their structure -- though human cells, which are more fastidious, won't make the same mistake.

If the virus incorporates the remdesivir into itself, the drug adds unwanted mutations that can destroy the virus.

In an early trial, the lopinavir-ritonavir combination had disappointing results in a study of 199 patients in Wuhan, China, published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers concluded that the drugs did not significantly improve clinical outcomes.

US President Donald Trump has stoked excitement about hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine (CQ), related compounds that are synthetic forms of quinine, which comes from cinchona trees and has been used for centuries to treat malaria.

HCQ, which is the less toxic of the two, is also used as an anti-inflammatory to treat conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

The medicines have shown promise against the COVID-19 illness in early studies in France and China.

But Fauci has cautioned that the small studies carried out so far amount to "anecdotal" evidence.

And the drugs are not without their risks.

About one percent of people are at high risk of blackouts, seizure or even sudden death from cardiac arrest because of heart rhythm issues they may themselves be unaware of, Michael Ackerman, a genetic cardiologist at Mayo Clinic told AFP.

- Multi-purpose drug -

Regeneron last year developed an intravenous drug that was shown to significantly boost survival rates among Ebola patients using what are known as "monoclonal antibodies".

They genetically modified mice to give them human-like immune systems. The mice are exposed to viruses, or weakened forms of them, in order to produce human antibodies, Christos Kyratsous, the company's vice president of research told AFP.

These antibodies are then isolated and screened to find the most potent ones, which are grown in labs, purified and given to humans intravenously.

The drug could work as both a treatment and as a vaccine, by dosing up people before they are exposed -- though these effects would be only temporary.

- Old vaccines, new purpose -

One CEPI-backed project -- a collaboration with France's Institut Pasteur, biotech firm Themis and the University of Pittsburgh -- uses the measles vaccine as "a vehicle".

This would take a vaccine that is widely manufactured across the world and redesign it to express the antigen of the new coronavirus.

Australian scientists are taking an even more direct approach.

Researchers at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne are fast-tracking large-scale human testing of the BCG vaccine, used for decades to prevent tuberculosis, to see if it can protect health workers from COVID-19.

Coronavirus the worst global crisis since WW II, says UN chief

AFP/File / Fabrice COFFRINIUN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a stark warning about the coronavirus threat to the world

The coronavirus pandemic is the worst global crisis since World War II, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday, expressing concern that it could trigger conflicts around the world.

Guterres said that the scale of the crisis was due to "a disease that represents a threat to everybody in the world and... an economic impact that will bring a recession that probably has no parallel in the recent past."

"The combination of the two facts and the risk that it contributes to enhanced instability, enhanced unrest, and enhanced conflict are things that make us believe that this is the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War," he told reporters.

The New York-based United Nations was founded at the end of the war in 1945 and has 193 member states.

"A stronger and more effective response... is only possible in solidarity if everybody comes together and if we forget political games and understand that it is humankind that is at stake," Guterres added.

More than 40,000 people have been killed so far as the disease spreads across the world, and causes economic devastation.

"We are far from having a global package to help the developing world to create the conditions both to suppress the disease and to address the dramatic consequences," Guterres warned, pointing to unemployment, the collapse of small firms and vulnerable people in the informal economy.

"We are slowly moving in the right direction, but we need to speed up, and we need to do much more if we want to defeat the virus."

The UN on Tuesday created a new fund to help developing countries after last week appealing for donations for poor and conflict-hit nations.

Beyond traditional aid from rich countries "we need to have innovative financial instruments," so that developing nations are able to respond to the crisis, Guterres said.

He warned that the coronavirus outbreak could return from poorer countries, especially in Africa, to hit wealthy countries again, and that millions could die.

Cooler tone in new US Soccer women's equal pay filings

GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File / RONALD MARTINEZUS star Megan Rapinoe wears her jersey inside-out to hide the US Soccer Federation logo during the national anthem before a SheBelieves Cup match against Japan in Frisco, Texas

Women players suing US Soccer say in court documents filed Tuesday that the federation has acknowledged the jobs of men and women footballers require equal skill.

The language seemed to signal a decrease in tension between the parties after language in documents filed by federation lawyers earlier in March provoked widespread outrage in saying that playing on the men's national team required a higher level of skill based on speed and strength and carried greater responsibility.

The fierce backlash, not only from the women players but from sponsors such as Coca-Cola, ultimately forced Carlos Cordeiro to resign as president of the federation, to be replaced by vice president Cindy Parlow Cone -- a former US international.

US Soccer brought in new legal counsel, which has focused in court filings on refuting the plaintiffs' claims that the federation violated the US Equal Pay Act and other anti-discrimination legislation.

"The parties have significantly narrowed the issues to be tried by way of discovery and briefing," Tuesday's filing from the players' lawyers said.

"USSF no longer disputes that the jobs of the WNT and MNT players require equal skill, effort and responsibility -- and therefore have necessarily conceded that they perform equal work."

The documents filed by the federation outlining the case they plan to make said the women players had not identified comparable male counterparts under the law -- which requires equal payment for men and women working "in the same establishment."

"The undisputed facts show that the WNT and MNT are both geographically and operationally distinct," the US Soccer filing said.

"The WNT and MNT play in different venues in different cities (and often different countries), and participate in separate competitions against completely different pools of opponents."

The federation again stated that apparent pay discrepancies are due to a different pay structure negotiated by the women's union.

The case is set to go to trial May 5.

Parlow Cone told reporters in a conference call last week that she would like to settle the case sooner.

"I don't think a trial is good for either party or for soccer, both in this country or internationally," she said. "Obviously our women's team is the best team in the world, and I am hopeful that we can find a resolution before this goes to trial."

Tuesday's filings also included potential witnesses for both sides. The lists included all four class representatives in the lawsuit: Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn.

Former US coach Jill Ellis, Cordeiro and another former federation chief, Sunil Gulati, could also appear.

Sixty Australian newspapers to stop printing

COVID-19 TAKES DOWN CAPITALISM

AFP/File / DAVID HANCOCKFalling readerships and the rise of Google and Facebook as dominant players in advertising has made news organisations less profitable

Rupert Murdoch's Australian flagship media group News Corp announced Wednesday it will stop printing around 60 regional newspapers, as the troubled sector received a fresh blow from a COVID-19 advertising downturn.

News Corp said papers in the states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia would cease printing and move online.

"We have not taken this decision lightly," News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller was quoted as saying by the group's Australian newspaper title.

"The coronavirus crisis has created unprecedented economic pressures and we are doing everything we can to preserve as many jobs as possible."

"The suspension of our community print editions has been forced on us by the rapid decline in advertising revenues following the restrictions placed on real estate auctions and home inspections, the forced closure of event venues and dine-in restaurants in the wake of the coronavirus emergency, " he added.

Many Australian media groups had already been shifting to focus to online content before the pandemic began.

The announcement follows a series of media closure announcements, including national wire AAP, which is due to cease work later this year.

The move has echoed a global trend.

The largest US newspaper publisher, Gannett, said on Monday it was making unspecified furloughs and pay cuts for its staff.

Falling readerships and the rise of Google and Facebook as dominant players in advertising has made news organisations less profitable.