AN APARTMENT BLOCK REFLECTS THE NEW UKRAINE
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Soviet-era apartment blocks at the end of a tram line in this western Ukrainian city show an indifferent face to the world, blank and gray. But behind every lighted window is a story.
There is the couple who lament that they may never live in the house being built for them in bloody Bucha. There is the family that spent hours in their basement shelter in Irpin, trapped between armies. There is the woman who fled Kharkiv, becoming displaced for the second time in a decade.
DEATH AND DENIAL IN BRAZIL'S AMAZON CAPITAL
MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — As the white van approached Perfect Love Street, one by one chatting neighbors fell silent, covered their mouths and noses and scattered.
Men in full body suits carried an empty coffin into the small, blue house where Edgar Silva had spent two feverish days gasping for air before drawing his last breath on May 12.
THE DAILY TERRORS: IMPROVISING IN A MAKESHIFT ICU IN SPAIN
BADALONA, Spain (AP) — The tension is palpable. There is no non-essential talking. An orchestra of medical monitors marks the tempo with an endless series of soft, distinct beeps.
Never have so many people been inside the library of the Germans Trias i Pujol hospital in northeastern Spain. But the health care workers in improvised protective gear aren’t consulting medical books. Instead, they’re treating patients in critical condition suffering from pneumonia caused by the coronavirus.
COFFINS IN THE PARKING LOT: A SPANISH FUNERAL HOME COPES
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Jordi Fernández’s 16-year-career as a mortician didn’t prepare him for the hundreds of bodies that are streaming into the Barcelona funeral home where he works.
Many are victims of COVID-19, and Fernandez cannot truly do his job.
As head thanatopracticioner, Fernández is usually tasked with preparing the corpses for their funerals, to disguise “the colors of death” and instead give the deceased an appearance of peace and tranquility.
IN BRAZIL AMAZON, HELP A FLIGHT AWAY FOR MANY VIRUS PATIENTS
SANTO ANTONIO DO ICA, Brazil (AP) — Residents of Santo Antonio do Ica hid from the sun under umbrellas as they waited anxiously for the twin turboprop plane to land in their town in the farthest reaches of the Brazilian Amazon.
Aboard the aircraft, doctor Daniel Siqueira and nurse Janete Vieira prepared for the day’s mission: the evacuation of two patients from the municipality of some 22,000 people. Because COVID-19 has slammed its small population, with almost 500 cases, the town has the highest incidence per capita of any Brazilian municipality, according to a compilation of official data by the G1 news portal.
MAKING MISERY PAY: LIBYA MILITIAS TAKE EU FUNDS FOR MIGRANTS
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — When the European Union started funneling millions of euros into Libya to slow the tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, the money came with EU promises to improve detention centers notorious for abuse and fight human trafficking.
That hasn’t happened. Instead, the misery of migrants in Libya has spawned a thriving and highly lucrative web of businesses funded in part by the EU and enabled by the United Nations, an Associated Press investigation has found.