Duty Editor: Anita Chang Beattie Contact: anita.beattie@afp.com -- TOP STORIES -- + Hard-hit France, Spain inch toward easing of lockdown + Drug cocktail speeds up COVID recovery: study + Rock legend Little Richard dead at 87 Health-virus,WRAP PARIS Long-confined people in France and Spain, two of Europe's countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, prepare for an easing of lockdown rules, as a growing number of governments struggle to balance a dire need for economic revival against the grim prospect of new deaths. 1,000 words 2100 GMT by Bertrand de Saisset. Picture. Video. Graphic. Videographic Health-virus-pharmacology-study PARIS Researchers in Hong Kong have found that patients suffering milder illness caused by the new coronavirus recover more quickly if they are treated with a three-drug antiviral cocktail soon after symptoms appear. 550 words moved by Kelly Macnamara Entertainment-US-music-celebrity-LittleRichard,OBIT NEW YORK Little Richard, whose outrageous showmanship and lightning-fast rhythms intoxicated crowds with hits like "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally," has died at age 87. 900 words 2000 GMT by Maggy Donaldson with Shaun Tandon in Washington. File picture -- CORONAVIRUS -- Health-virus-France-toll,2ndlead PARIS French health officials announce a month low of 80 coronavirus deaths over 24 hours as the country prepares to emerge from eight weeks of lockdown -- although a health state of emergency will stay in place until July. 450 words by 1930 GMT. Picture Health-virus-Britain-travel,2ndlead LONDON Britain could introduce a 14-day mandatory quarantine for international arrivals to stem the spread of coronavirus, an airline association says, sparking alarm in an industry already hard hit by the global pandemic. 550 words moved by Alice Ritchie. File picture. Video Also moved: Health-virus-Britain-gardening,FOCUS Health-virus-Switzerland,SCENE GENEVA In one of the world's most expensive cities, thousands of people line up for free food, as the COVID-19 crisis casts a spotlight on Geneva's usually invisible poor. 800 words moved by Nina Larson. Picture Health-virus-Spain-sexwork,FOCUS MADRID With the coronavirus pandemic emptying the streets of Madrid, life has become even more precarious for sex workers Evelyn, Alenca and Beyonce under the lockdown. 700 words moved. Pictures Health-virus-Turkey,FOCUS ISTANBUL In full protective gear, two doctors climb the stairs four at a time. Their first task of the day: to test a woman who has had contact with a coronavirus patient in Istanbul. 650 words moved by Gokan Gunes. Picture. Video Health-virus-Tunisia-aid TUNIS A Tunisian NGO has set up a food bank that dispenses aid by text message to some 300 needy families rendered more vulnerable because of the coronavirus pandemic. 475 words moved by Aymen Jamli. Picture Health-virus-Lebanon-lifestyle,PHOTOESSAY BEIRUT Usually the kingdom of water tanks and satellite dishes, Lebanon's rooftops have recently been graced by unlikely scenes of locked-down residents fleeing their flats. 450 words moved by Jean Marc Mojon and Joseph Eid. Picture -- AMERICAS -- Entertainment-US-music-celebrity-LittleRichard-life,FOCUS NEW YORK A ferocious pianist with a madcap rubberband of a voice and bombastic stage personality, Little Richard was a key architect behind years of rock's music world dominance. But despite his sexual ambiguity onstage, his upbringing in the church underwrote a complicated lifelong journey with religion and sexuality. 700 words 2000 GMT by Maggy Donaldson with Shaun Tandon in Washington. File picture - EUROPE -- Russia-Germany-history-virus,WRAP MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin tells Russians they are "invincible" when they stand together as the country marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in lockdown from the coronavirus. 750 words moved by Michael Mainville. Picture. Video. Also moved: Russia-Germany-history-health-virus,SCENE -- AFRICA -- Mozambique-media-missing,FOCUS MAPUTO Media rights groups have been pressuring the Maputo government to help locate a Mozambique journalist who went missing one month ago in jihadist-hit Cabo Delgado province, as friends and relatives begin to fear the worst. 750 words moved by Joaquim Nhamirre -- ASIA -- India-accident-chemicals-demonstration VISHAKHAPATNAM, India Angry protesters carrying dead bodies storm an Indian chemical plant to demand the facility's closure after a toxic gas leak that killed 12 people days earlier. 350 words moved by Padmanabha Rao. Video. Picture Bangladesh-Armenia-religion-death,OBIT DHAKA Michael Joseph Martin, Bangladesh's last Armenian, has died aged 89, bringing an end to the more than 300-year presence of the once thriving and powerful minority Christian community. 550 words moved by Shafiqul Alam. File picture. afp