Sophie Kinsella: Queen of chick lit puts shopping aside

Details are sketchy but we can confirm that the inferno started from the top floor of the one storey building.

Online shopping is an increasingly popular option in rural Africa for those who wish to avoid a very long trip to the nearest store. The e-commerce sector has great potential in Africa but has many hurdles to overcome.

Members of the Jewish community worried about the increased harassment and attacks. New York is home to a large Jewish community where the number of anti-Semitic incident has been on the rise in recent months.

In this week's French Connections show, Florence Villeminot and Genie Godula explore how the French are adapting to life in a time of confinement. France has already been under strict lockdown for a month, with the measures now extended to May 11. One of the few reasons people are allowed to go out is to go shopping for essential goods. So what counts as an "essential good" and what shops are open? And in a country so famous for food and gastronomy, what are people cooking? We tell you more.

Delivery workers rush to sort out packages and deliver to Chinese households ahead of the annual “Single's Day” online shopping festival. The event occurs on November 11, and is considered the world's biggest shopping day and a bellwether of consumer sentiment in the world's second-largest economy.

Black Friday, the biggest shopping day in the US, will be more like a bleak Friday for brick-and-mortar retailers as shoppers continue their migration online. Still, city centers are here to stay.

COVID-19 has made 2020 a record year for online shopping, placing huge pressure on parcel delivery companies. As the need to work smarter and greener grows, exciting new challengers and concepts are emerging.

US law student David MacMillan and his friend got more than just groceries during a recent supermarket trip in Washington, DC, as they were each offered a shot of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, after health care workers had not shown up for their appointments to get the doses. MacMillan posted a recording of himself getting the shot on TikTok, where it had been viewed more than 700,000 times.

A supermarket in Hungary has brought smiles to faces and romantic opportunities to shoppers by providing shopping baskets for "Singles" in time for Valentine's Day on Sunday. Shoppers entering the Auchan store in Csomor, east of Budapest, can choose a blue or pink basket with a "Single Seeking Mate" sign. A sign above the stack of baskets reads: "Are you single? Use the singles baskets, so you can meet 'the one' in your favourite store".

Businesses board up windows and residents remain on alert as Brooklyn Center, Minnesota braces for another night of protests following the police shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man, in a traffic stop on Sunday. "It’s an uneasy, not very pleasant feeling just to know there’s a lot of tension in the air," a part-time resident tells AFPTV. National Guard troops have been deployed and a curfew has been put in place as tensions escalate.

Driving the streets of London in an old milk float, Ella Shone delivers food and household products sold without packaging and without plastic. Created last year during the first coronavirus lockdown, her "top-up truck" has not been short of orders since, selling lentils, nuts and even vinegar or laundry detergent to customers using their own containers.