NewsPlexus Media June 2, 2020

It’s nothing flashy. But then, it’s not supposed to be. The plywood wall that surrounds a building site, painted with the words "WE GRIEVE″ in massive letters, has become a focal point for people of the Stamford Hill neighborhood. It is there that they gather each Thursday to remember those who have died during the coronavirus pandemic. It might seem an odd venue. But it’s central and there’s space for social distancing — a place for civic grief.

NewsPlexus Media May 31, 2020

When Shaosong Hu saw robotic waiters serving food in China last fall, he knew exactly what he wanted for his oriental restaurant in the Dutch beachside town of Renesse. He just didn't have a clue how useful they would prove. The coronavirus pandemic has turned a whimsical idea into perhaps a window into a dystopian future where a human touch may make people cringe with fear, and a waiter clearing the table sends a customer tense with stress — only to be relieved by a soothing brush with plastic.

NewsPlexus Media May 31, 2020

As daylight drained from the sky in Brazil's capital, dozens of cars formed a line, all filled with passengers set to indulge in one of the few diversions allowed in the age of social distancing: a film at the drive-in. Red lantern in hand, Jair de Souza guided the drivers through the drive-in's entrance and showed them to their designated parking spots. "Every car must respect the distance, leaving a free parking space between you," he tells each of them.

NewsPlexus Media May 29, 2020

A groovy rendition of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" blasts from speakers outside an apartment block in the outskirts of Kenya's capital, Nairobi. Children, some in diapers, dance on the balconies above, accompanied by their parents, to the tunes bellowed out by Rev. Paul Machira and a supporting band. Coronavirus restrictions don't stop Machira in a country where traditional church services have been suspended.

NewsPlexus Media May 26, 2020

San Francisco is joining other U.S. cities in authorizing homeless tent encampments in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a move officials have long resisted but are now reluctantly embracing to safeguard homeless people. About 80 tents are now neatly spaced out on a wide street near San Francisco City Hall as part of a “safe sleeping village" opened earlier this month. The area between the city's central library and its Asian Art Museum is fenced off to outsiders, monitored around the clock and provides meals, showers, clean water and trash pickup.

NewsPlexus Media May 22, 2020

Emily Bauman is a believer in the power of music. So when she got her stimulus check, she put that power to work — for New Orleans's hospital workers and the city's out-of-work musicians. Bauman and a friend funded the stimulus serenade, a concert for front-line health care workers in one of the nation's coronavirus hot spots, and a paying gig for musicians who badly need one.

NewsPlexus Media May 20, 2020

Diners in a Maryland beach town are bouncing back into dining out amid the coronavirus pandemic with a little help from inflatable inner tubes on wheels. About a dozen of the so-called “bumper tables” were rolled out at Fish Tales, a restaurant in Ocean City, Maryland, on Saturday, news outlets reported.

NewsPlexus Media May 21, 2020

Across southern Europe, in places where tourism drives much of the economy, officials are weighing how to entice travelers to come back, even while the pandemic remains a threat. Juggling the sometimes-competing needs of health and business, authorities are introducing measures to reassure visitors that taking a holiday is safe again.

NewsPlexus Media May 20, 2020

Tristan Van den Bosch, an operator of mobile platforms, saw his equipment stand idle because of the coronavirus pandemic and realized too many families could not see their locked-up elderly in care homes. Two problems created one solution and Van den Bosch has been driving his cranes to care homes in several towns across Belgium to lift the spirits of all involved.

NewsPlexus Media May 19, 2020

As couples do all over the world, Darshana Kumara Wijenarayana and his fiance, Pawani Rasanga, spent months planning a grand wedding. And everything was on course for the Sri Lankan couple — until the coronavirus struck the island nation off India's southern tip, leading to an indefinite lockdown. Family and friends urged them to postpone their April 27 wedding. Instead, the couple chose to celebrate their love by feeding the poor.

NewsPlexus Media May 19, 2020

A Roman Catholic priest in the Detroit area has taken aim at his parishioners in a bid to maintain social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, using a squirt gun to shoot holy water. Photos posted on social media by the St. Ambrose Church show the Rev. Tim Pelc shooting water into a car window as it stopped by the steps of the church on Easter.

NewsPlexus Media May 17, 2020

One of the country's most renowned restaurants says mannequins will add a touch of whimsy and help with social distancing when customers return to its grand dining room later this month.

NewsPlexus Media May 16, 2020

Sarah Ignash spends her days looking after dogs in normal times. With her business temporarily shuttered because of the coronavirus, though, she's taken to walks on the wild side through her Detroit suburb with dancing bears, bipedal zebras and the like. Ignash, whose business in nearby Roseville specializes in boarding, grooming and day care for dogs, is one of the roughly two dozen members of the Ferndale T-Rex Walking Club who have been donning inflatable costumes for feel-good jaunts during these stressful times.

NewsPlexus Media May 15, 2020

Detroit-area Muslims who've had to socially distance themselves from the more communal aspects of Ramadan because of the coronavirus pandemic are instead celebrating the holy month in lights. Some friends have teamed up to host the inaugural Ramadan Lights contest, calling attention to the local house-decorating practices that make the area’s Muslim community so visible during the holy season that runs for another week-and-a-half.

NewsPlexus Media May 14, 2020

Home confinement rules have upset some people in Albania, but humans getting their wings clipped during the coronavirus pandemic has allowed flamingos and other birds to flourish in a coastal lagoon by the Adriatic Sea. Local officials and residents say the flamingo population is up to about 3,000 at Narta Lagoon, an important waterfowl habitat that greater flamingos returned to in recent years after a long absence.

NewsPlexus Media May 13, 2020

The coronavirus has revived a hairstyle in East Africa, one with braided spikes that echo the virus' distinctive shape. The style's growing popularity is in part due to economic hardships linked to virus restrictions — it's cheap, mothers say — and to the goal of spreading awareness that the coronavirus is real.

NewsPlexus Media May 12, 2020

The millions of unemployed in Thailand due to the coronavirus include elephants dependent on tourists to feed their voracious appetites. With scant numbers of foreign visitors, commercial elephant camps and sanctuaries lack funds for their upkeep and have sent more than 100 of the animals trudging as far as 150 kilometers back to their homes.

NewsPlexus Media May 9, 2020

Cambodian archaeologists have unearthed a large centuries-old statue of a turtle at the Angkor temple complex. The 56-by-93 centimeter (22-by-37 inch) carved stone turtle believed to date from the 10th century was discovered Wednesday during digging at what was the site of a small temple that had been built on Srah Srang, one of Angkor's several reservoirs.

NewsPlexus Media May 8, 2020

A new work by the elusive street artist Banksy, honoring health workers, has been unveiled at a British hospital. The framed picture, titled "Game Changer," depicts a young boy sitting on the floor playing with a nurse superhero toy. Batman and Spiderman action figure toys lie in a wastepaper basket next to the boy.

NewsPlexus Media May 8, 2020

Navy SEAL recruits and their instructors are being tested for the coronavirus as the candidates in one of the military's most grueling programs return to training with new social distancing guidelines, a top official said Tuesday.

NewsPlexus Media May 6, 2020

Many Americans are getting their first taste of what pandemic shopping looks like at their local mall. Simon Property Group, the nation's largest mall operator, reopened several dozen shopping centers across Texas, Georgia and roughly ten other states between Friday and Monday. There, a new reality is on display: Play areas and water fountains are off limits. Employees wear masks and shopping in groups is banned. Shoppers can also get their temperature checked for free on the premises.

NewsPlexus Media May 4, 2020

Beijing's parks and museums including the ancient Forbidden City reopened to the public Friday after being closed for months by the coronavirus pandemic. The Forbidden City, past home to China's emperors, is allowing just 5,000 visitors daily, down from 80,000. And parks are allowing people to visit at 30% of the usual capacity.

NewsPlexus Media May 3, 2020

It’s a stunning sound, emerging amid the clanging and the whooping and the banging and the honking at 7 p.m. each night as New Yorkers cheer front-line workers: the velvety, buttery baritone of Brian Stokes Mitchell. For decades, Mitchell’s voice has been one of the most celebrated in the Broadway theater, evoking goosebumps in musicals like “Kiss Me, Kate,” for which he won a Tony, and “Man of La Mancha,” in which he played Don Quixote. Now, with Broadway's houses shuttered due to the coronavirus, the voice rings out from a fifth-floor apartment on the Upper West Side — fittingly on Broadway, a couple miles up from the theater district.

NewsPlexus Media May 2, 2020

Romania's Orthodox Church on Wednesday criticized a billboard campaign showing doctors dealing with the coronavirus epidemic as saints with halos shaped like the virus. The campaign is "marked by bad taste fed by ignorance and a hideous ideology that only knows how to caricaturize Christianity," said spokesman Vasile Banescu.

NewsPlexus Media April 30, 2020

Paul Stein felt useless — stuck in his Brooklyn brownstone apartment, watching his neighbors suffer deprivations as COVID-19 swept the city. Then, on television, the retired public-sector lawyer and political activist saw people around the world rallying: “I saw people in France and Italy banging pots and pans out their windows, clapping and singing from balconies. I wanted to do this in my neighborhood. “ He knew what he had to do. He took out his accordion. And he played.

NewsPlexus Media April 28, 2020

Inspiration is contagious, too. The coronavirus pandemic has brought an outpouring of messages from stranger to stranger — in windows, on front doors, across walls, and colored onto driveways and sidewalks. Some messages offer encouragement: “Strong Together.” “Always Look at the Bright Side of Life.” Others are spiritual: “Have Faith.” “Jesus Loves You Always.” Some offer humor: “United We Stand — 6 Feet Apart.” “Send Toilet Paper!” And there are rainbows. So many rainbows.

NewsPlexus Media April 28, 2020

A one-eyed squirrel that gained a social media following is being returned to nature. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries took Willamina the squirrel from Emily Istre of Lafayette on Thursday, the Acadiana Advocate reported. Istre created an Instagram account for the squirrel, @one_eyed_willa, and posted images of it eating off a plate, snuggling with her or hanging out in an elaborate indoor treehouse. In videos, she sings a lullaby to it and does yoga while the squirrel scampers underneath.

NewsPlexus Media April 22, 2020

A South Texas emergency room physician has chosen a novel place to self-isolate as he’s treating patients with the novel coronavirus. Dr. Jason Barnes made a temporary home of his children’s treehouse in the backyard of the family’s Corpus Christi home. He is among many health care workers who are leaving their homes or or taking other precautions to protect their families after being exposed to the virus.

NewsPlexus Media April 21, 2020

More than a week after Easter, there's still one mythical creature hopping around a Florida neighborhood trying to spread happiness. Corey Jurgensen, 40, donned a 7-foot-tall inflatable unicorn costume to jog, jump and dance around the streets near her Tampa home last week in an effort to cheer up neighbors stuck indoors amid the coronavirus pandemic.

NewsPlexus Media April 19, 2020

When COVID-19 came to Nepal, attention turned to an unlikely group of victims: hundreds of monkeys, cows and pigeons. Normally, the animals are fed by thousands of devotees at the country's most revered Hindu temple, Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu. But last month Nepal's government ordered a complete lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus. People were forbidden from leaving their homes. Temples closed. And the animals risked starvation. Now, every morning and evening, a few guards, about a dozen staff and some volunteers come out to ensure that the animals survive.

NewsPlexus Media April 18, 2020

Between surgeries one stressful morning, Ben Cayer and Mindy Brock — husband and wife, and fellow nurse anesthetists — peered through layers of protective gear, and locked eyes. It was a lovers' gaze in the most unlikely situation. A co-worker was there to snap a picture. Now the image, shared on social media, is inspiring people around the globe.

NewsPlexus Media April 18, 2020

For the first time in decades, bald eagles have been found nesting in an Arizona saguaro cactus. The Arizona Game and Fish Department revealed Wednesday that biologists discovered a pair of eagles and their eaglets in the arms of a large saguaro during a recent eagle survey.

NewsPlexus Media April 14, 2020

In the coronavirus lockdown, Russians can’t go to their beloved and renowned museums. So they’re filling the holes in their souls by recreating artworks while stuck at home and posting them on social media. The Facebook group where the works are posted has become a huge hit. The art recreations range from studious and reverent to flippant and goofy.

NewsPlexus Media April 13, 2020

It starts with a few people letting loose with some tentative yelps. Then neighbors emerge from their homes and join, forming a roiling chorus of howls and screams that pierces the twilight to end another day’s monotonous forced isolation. From California to Colorado to Georgia and upstate New York, Americans are taking a moment each night at 8 p.m. to howl in a quickly spreading ritual that has become a wrenching response of a society cut off from one another by the coronavirus pandemic.

NewsPlexus Media April 12, 2020

Master chocolatier Dominique Persoone stood forlorn on his huge workfloor, a faint smell of cocoa lingering amid the idle machinery — in a mere memory of better times. Easter Sunday is normally the most important date on the chocolate makers' calendar. But the coronavirus pandemic, with its lockdowns and social distancing, has struck a hard blow to the 5-billion-euro ($5.5-billion) industry that's one of Belgium's most emblematic.

NewsPlexus Media April 11, 2020

On the day set aside to mark Christ’s crucifixion, most churches stood empty. Streets normally filled with emotional processions were silent. St. Peter's Square was almost deserted. And many religious sites in the Holy Land were closed. Instead, Christians around the world commemorated Good Friday behind closed doors, seeking solace in online services and trying to uphold centuries-old traditions in a world locked down by the coronavirus pandemic.

NewsPlexus Media April 11, 2020

They don't chant, they don't move, and they mostly wear the wrong colors. They're not even real. Defending Belarusian league champion Dynamo Brest has started boosting its home crowds with mannequins in soccer shirts and adorned with the faces of "virtual fans" who bought tickets online.

NewsPlexus Media April 11, 2020

Mounds of harvested zucchini and yellow squash ripened and then rotted in the hot Florida sun. Juicy tomatoes were left to wither — unpicked — in farmers' fields. Thousands of acres of fruits and vegetables grown in Florida are being plowed over or left to rot because farmers can’t sell to restaurants, theme parks or schools nationwide that have closed because of the coronavirus.

NewsPlexus Media April 10, 2020

Providing exactly what's needed in these trying times, Zoo Miami has shared images of two clouded leopard cubs. The male and female have been secluded in a den with their mother, Serai, since their Feb. 11 birth so that they could properly bond while avoiding external stress, according to a news release from the South Florida zoo.

NewsPlexus Media April 8, 2020

Decked out in full firefighting gear, Elielson Silva stands 150 feet above the ground atop a retractable ladder poking up from a red fire truck. His lofty perch is about as high as Rio de Janeiro's colossal Maracana soccer stadium behind him. Silva faces a row of apartment buildings filled with Brazilians sheltering from the new coronavirus and watching from their windows and balconies. He raises his silver trumpet to his lips and the notes soar toward his audience, helping extinguish the blues from being cooped up inside their homes.

NewsPlexus Media April 8, 2020

Thomas Metzmacher was faced with the prospect of having to shut down his Frankfurt restaurant specializing in a traditional tart hard cider due to German regulations prohibiting groups of people from gathering amid the coronavirus pandemic. So he came up with a novel solution. After toying with the idea of a delivery service, he instead turned his half-timbered restaurant into a makeshift drive-thru.

NewsPlexus Media April 7, 2020

Pope Francis celebrated Palm Sunday Mass in the shelter of St. Peter's Basilica without the public because of the coronavirus pandemic, while parish priests elsewhere in Rome took to church rooftops and bell towers to lead services so at least some faithful could follow the familiar ritual.

NewsPlexus Media April 6, 2020

Homeless people in Las Vegas have been directed to sleep in rectangles painted on the pavement in a makeshift parking lot camp as a way to limit the spread of the coronavirus, a move that is stirring outrage by some on social media.

NewsPlexus Media April 5, 2020

After Amy Simonson and Dan Stuglik’s wedding plans were disrupted amid the outbreak, a packaging company donated more than 100 cardboard cutouts to pose as stand-ins for the family and friends who couldn’t attend the wedding this Saturday because of Michigan’s stay-at-home order.

NewsPlexus Media April 4, 2020

The Santa Teresa distillery in Venezuela has lifted spirits for generations with its amber-red rum, famous around the world for being slowly sipped over ice or mixed into cocktails like the Cuba Libre. Now, the company has turned its steel vats and steaming distillation towers on a colonial-era hacienda covered by palms and sugarcane fields in Venezuela's countryside to fight the new coronavirus.

NewsPlexus Media April 2, 2020

Un-baaaaa-lievable: This wild bunch is completely ignoring rules on social distancing. With humans sheltering indoors to escape the new coronavirus, mountain goats are taking advantage of the peace and space to roam in frisky clumps through the streets of Llandudno, a town in North Wales.

NewsPlexus Media March 31, 2020

Three days after a photo posted on Facebook showed an Arkansas doctor looking through a glass door to see his 1-year-old son crawl for the first time, the family's home in Jonesboro was destroyed by a tornado.

NewsPlexus Media March 30, 2020

Grocery stores across the U.S. are installing protective plastic shields at checkouts to help keep cashiers and shoppers from infecting one another with the coronavirus.

NewsPlexus Media March 29, 2020

The hottest new bar's dress code? Your sweatpants. And you don't even have to leave your couch. With bars shuttered and stressed-out workers stuck at home, companies and friend groups across the U.S. are holding happy hours over video chat to commiserate and keep spirits high amid the new coronavirus pandemic. In one community, neighbors are toasting to one another every night from the ends of their driveways to unwind — while keeping a safe distance, of course.

NewsPlexus Media March 25, 2020

At a time of isolation, people in many European cities hit hard by the new coronavirus are taking at least a minute each night to come together in gratitude. They stand at open windows or on balconies in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Athens and Amsterdam, singing, cheering and applauding even though they know their intended audience is too busy to listen. The adulation is for the doctors, nurses and other health care workers putting themselves at risk on the front lines of the pandemic that is forcing most residents to stay home.