Duty Editor: Tanya Willmer Tel: +33 1 40.41.76.80 -- TOP STORIES -- + Global coronavirus cases top 18 million + SpaceX brings NASA astronauts home safe + Microsoft continues talks to buy TikTok + Nobel Peace laureate John Hume dies + Champions League back from virus hiatus Health-virus,WRAP MELBOURNE Australia's second-largest city starts a six-week curfew and the Philippine capital is ordered back into lockdown, as the number of global coronavirus cases tops 18 million. 650 words moved by Carly Waters with AFP bureaus. Picture. Graphic. Video US-space-NASA-SpaceX,WRAP WASHINGTON America's first crewed spaceship to fly to the International Space Station in nearly a decade returns safely to Earth, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. 700 words moved by Issam Ahmed. Picture. Video. Graphic US-China-politics-Internet,WRAP WASHINGTON Microsoft announces it will continue talks to acquire the US operations of popular video-sharing app TikTok, after meeting with President Donald Trump who seemingly backed off his earlier threats to ban the Chinese-owned platform. 650 words moved Britain-NIreland-politics-Hume,WRAP LONDON John Hume, who won a Nobel prize for his role in brokering the Northern Ireland peace process, has died aged 83, his family announces. 600 words 1000 GMT by Joe Jackson. File picture. Also moving: Britain-NIreland-politics-Hume,OBIT Fbl-Eur-C1-C3,ADVANCER PARIS After an enforced hiatus of almost five months, the UEFA Champions League and Europa League resume this week in order to clear up the last remaining business in a troubled season. 650 words moved by Andy Scott -- EUROPE -- Italy-transport-accident-bridge,WRAP GENOA, Italy Italy inaugurates a sleek new bridge in Genoa, although relatives of the 43 people killed when the old viaduct collapsed say the pomp and ceremony risk overshadowing the tragedy. 550 words moved by Giovanni Grezzi with Ella Ide in Rome. File picture Health-virus-Germany-education,FOCUS ROSTOCK, Germany Lunchbox, books, pencil case -- masks? Germany watches anxiously as the first batch of children start a new school year with full-time classes, after months of home learning or curtailed hours due to the coronavirus pandemic. 600 words 1200 GMT by David Courbet. Picture. Video France-transport-Austria-Sweden-leisure,FOCUS PARIS Increased awareness of the carbon footprint from air travel -- coupled with shrinkage in the airline sector due to the coronavirus epidemic -- means that night trains may be in line for an unexpected renaissance. 700 words moved by Jean Liou and AFP bureaus. File picture Health-virus-Spain-tourism-Ibiza-clubbing,FOCUS IBIZA, Spain Without its thousands of party-goers, the Hi Ibiza mega club is just a large, silent, empty hangar, as the Spanish island's iconic nightclubs remain shut due to the pandemic. 600 words moved by Thomas Perroteau. Picure. Video -- MIDDLE EAST -- Lebanon-politics,WRAP BEIRUT Lebanon's foreign minister resigns in protest at the government's mishandling of the worst economic crisis in decades that has forced Beirut to ask for IMF support. 600 words 1130 GMT by Tony Gamal-Gabriel. File Picture. File video Lebanon-UN-tribunal-Hariri,ADVANCER THE HAGUE A UN-backed tribunal will give its verdict Friday on the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri, but questions will remain over a long and costly trial whose suspects remain at large. 650 words 1030 GMT by Danny Kemp with Jean-Marc Mojon in Beirut Also moved: Lebanon-UN-tribunal-Hariri,FACTS Lebanon-UN-tribunal-Hariri-accused,FACTS Lebanon-UN-tribunal-Hariri,CHRONO Health-virus-Lebanon-hospital,FOCUS BEIRUT Dr Firass Abiad was a little-known Beirut hospital director until the coronavirus pandemic propelled him into the spotlight and restored at least some faith in Lebanon's much-maligned public sector. 750 words moved by Layal Abou Rahal. Picture. Video Israel-food-animal-environment,FOCUS GOLAN HEIGHTS From biblical plague to modern day protein, one Israeli firm wants to make locusts a sustainable food choice in the Holy Land and beyond. 850 words moved by Jonah Mandel. Picture. Video -- AFRICA -- Health-virus-Kenya-teenagers-social,FOCUS NAIROBI Thousands of teenagers fall pregnant every year in Kenya, a problem experts fear is worsening during the coronavirus pandemic. 850 words moved by Fran Blandy. Picture. Video -- ASIA -- Health-virus-Australia,SCENE MELBOURNE Anxiety is rising for residents of Australia's second-biggest city as they come to terms with a new six-week curfew and the country's most radical virus restrictions to date. 500 words 0930 GMT by Carly Waters. Picture. Video Health-virus-Philippines MANILA More than 27 million people in the Philippines -- about a quarter of the population -- will go back into lockdown after overwhelmed health workers warn the country is losing the battle against the coronavirus. 400 words moved -- AMERICAS -- Health-virus-Brazil-politics-healthcare,FOCUS RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil's public health care system, considered among the world's most advanced when it was launched, is being pushed to the brink by the coronavirus pandemic, which has exposed the impact of years of under-funding and mismanagement. 700 words moved by Louis Genot. File picture US-Bahamas-weather-hurricane,WRAP MIAMI Tropical storm Isaias threatens to bring strong winds, flash flooding and life-threatening storm surges to North and South Carolina as it roars up the east coast of the United States. 350 words moved by Leila Macor. Picture. Video. Graphic -- BUSINESS -- HongKong-Britain-HSBC-earnings,WRAP HONG KONG HSBC says profits for the first half of 2020 plunged by 69 percent on year as the banking giant was hammered by the coronavirus pandemic and spiralling China-US tensions. 600 words moved by Jerome Taylor. Picture afp