Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Renowned US epidemiologist Larry Brilliant has urged China to be “radically transparent” if it wants to fend off suspicion over the origin of the novel coronavirus. Theories abound about the provenance of the virus that has sparked the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 300,000 people worldwide in a …
Read More »China slams US after Trump virus ‘attack’ claim
Beijing, China | AFP | China accused the United States on Thursday of trying to shift blame over the coronavirus, after President Donald Trump said the pandemic was a worse “attack” than Pearl Harbor or 9/11. Tension between the world’s two biggest economies has reached fever pitch in recent days as …
Read More »The U.S.-China coronavirus blame game
Their conspiracies are getting dangerous when what the world needs today is cooperation not confrontation COMMENT | JOHN POMFRET | In early 1952, the three-year-old People’s Republic of China faced a public relations crisis in the middle of the Korean War. After agreeing to let prisoners of war (POWs) …
Read More »Equities tumble as Trump revives trade war fears
Hong Kong, China | AFP | Stock markets suffered steep losses Monday, tracking a selloff in New York after Donald Trump sparked fears of a renewed trade war with China over its role in the coronavirus pandemic. Claims by the US president and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the disease …
Read More »WHO wants invite to China’s probe into virus origins
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization said Friday it hoped China would invite it to take part in its investigations into the animal origins of the novel coronavirus. “WHO would be keen to work with international partners and at the invitation of the Chinese government to participate in …
Read More »US, China block UN resolution in spat over WHO handling of pandemic
United Nations, United States | AFP | The United States and China remained at loggerheads Thursday over a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for a 90-day humanitarian pause in conflicts worldwide in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The stalemate — over a mention of the World Health Organization — …
Read More »New coronavirus not man-made or genetically modified: US intelligence
Washington, United States | AFP | The US intelligence community said Thursday it had concluded that the novel coronavirus that has swept the globe originated in China but was not man-made or engineered. “The entire Intelligence Community has been consistently providing critical support to US policymakers and those responding to the …
Read More »China to give WHO $30 million more after US freezes funds
Beijing, China | AFP | China announced Thursday it will give another $30 million to the World Health Organization to help in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, days after Washington said it would freeze funding. The US, which is the WHO’s biggest contributor, accused the organisation last week of …
Read More »Govt dismisses Bobi Wine offer to airlift Ugandans stranded in China
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Foreign Affairs Ministry has rubbished a proposal by Kyandondo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi to repatriate Ugandans and Africans stuck in China. In a letter dated 15th of April addressed to the Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, Kyagulanyi said he has partnered with …
Read More »COVID-19: China under mounting pressure over virus origins
Washington, United States | AFP | China on Thursday came under mounting pressure over the coronavirus pandemic from Western powers led by the United States, which said it was probing whether the virus that has infected more than 2.1 million people actually originated in a Wuhan laboratory. The new focus …
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