- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
Shanghai locals sleep at work and ration food as lockdown bites
By day it's Romeo's workplace, by night it's his home. Like many other finance sector workers in Shanghai, he has moved into the office to keep the wheels of commerce turning during a harsh Covid lockdown of the megacity.
Anticipating that creeping closures would catch him out, Romeo decamped to the Pudong finance district in late March shortly before the city shut down.
The business hub has since become the epicentre of China's biggest Covid-19 outbreak since the virus emerged more than two years ago, recording around 25,000 infections a day.
Most of Shanghai's 25 million residents are under strict stay-at-home orders, raging at food shortages and fearful of testing positive for Covid as it would land them in a giant quarantine centre.
Some, like Romeo, are living strangely dislocated lives as businesses struggle to keep operating in one of the world's major financial hubs.
"There are people sleeping on the first and second floors, each person goes to their own office," Romeo told AFP, declining to use his real, Chinese name.
"There's no forced conversation... everyone is quiet and respectful of each other's distance and privacy."
At night the social graces of office hours continue, he said.
For other workers in Shanghai, privacy is in short supply. Social media videos show staff sleeping on bunks in closed factories that are trying to continue manufacturing their goods.
- $63 noodles -
Shanghai's slide into crisis caught many unprepared.
Frank Tsai, who is locked down in his apartment in Puxi, the western half of Shanghai, stocked up with food for four days as initially ordered by authorities.
Seven days later, his portions are "getting smaller and smaller".
"I've thought about my meals and my food intake more than I ever have in my life," said Tsai, whose business organises public lectures in normal times.
Some residents have resorted to bartering or paying over the odds for food as the lockdown grinds on.
A Shanghai resident surnamed Ma said she paid 400 yuan ($63) just for a box of instant noodles and a soda.
"I'm just trying to stock up," she said. "I'm not sure how long this will continue."
- 'Unreasonable, unsustainable' -
Shanghai is now a city of silence with the quiet broken only by robot dogs and drones broadcasting orders to test for Covid and stay inside.
Workers in hazmat suits -- dubbed the "Big Whites" -- carry out testing inside residential compounds, where every few days residents line up for swabbing filled with dread at a positive result.
Some have seen the lighter side. One foreigner queuing for testing last week dressed in a tuxedo complete with bow-tie has made waves online as people make the most of their few minutes outside.
Dog owners have been unable to walk their pets and are forced to put their pooches through crash courses on using a litter tray -- or sneak out in the dead of the night for the animals to relieve themselves.
"I trained my dog to pee and poop inside, but it came to a point where, to keep myself sane and my dog sane, I took him down at 3am," said one owner.
Authorities are struggling to provide enough beds at makeshift hospitals for people who test positive.
The government has said 130,000 new beds are ready or under construction as part of its mass quarantine regime.
But the policy is testing the tolerance of many.
Leona Cheng, a student in her early 20s, emerged from 13 days of quarantine on Friday.
"It is unreasonable and unsustainable," she told AFP of Shanghai's strategy.
"Too many people are getting infected and the rate of infection is too fast."
A.Seabra--PC