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Today's Paper | March 19, 2026

Published 18 Jun, 2020 10:00pm

Diplomacy in the time of coronavirus: Johnson and Macron trade bows, thumbs up

Standing apart on either side of a strip of red carpet outside Number 10 Downing Street in London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron demonstrated the unusual reality of international diplomacy in the coronavirus era.

Macron put his palms together and offered a small bow — a gesture Johnson clumsily reciprocated while waving one hand around to direct the French leader to stand at a suitable distance.

Macron’s visit to London to mark the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle’s call for wartime resistance is one of the most high-profile foreign trips by a head of state since many countries imposed lockdowns to curb the virus.

Read the full Reuters story here.

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