Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Thursday marked the “sad milestone” of 100,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States, after his earlier silence prompted criticism that he was failing in his duty to console victims and their loved ones. “We have just reached a very sad milestone with the coronavirus pandemic …
Read More »African Development Bank chief hits back over graft accusations
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | The president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, hit back on Wednesday at accusations of corruption and vowed to continue working. In a press statement, Adesina slammed “unprecedented attempts by some to tarnish my reputation” and declared “I will… continue to work with …
Read More »Trump threatens to ‘close down’ social media after tweets tagged
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to shutter social media platforms after Twitter for the first time acted against his false tweets, prompting the enraged Republican to double down on unsubstantiated claims and conspiracy theories. Twitter tagged just two of Trump’s tweets in which he’d …
Read More »Trump urges quicker US reopening from virus lockdown
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Thursday pressed for a broader reopening of the United States as coronavirus-related job losses mounted, while parts of Europe embraced post-lockdown life. With summer approaching on both sides of the Atlantic, more stores opened their doors and beaches welcomed tourists, despite …
Read More »Huawei’s ambitions unbowed despite US pressure
Shenzhen, China | AFP | Construction cranes at Huawei’s headquarters busily expand an already massive faux-European campus that Walt Disney would envy, as well as an in-house “university” that trains the Chinese telecom giant’s growing global workforce. If the United States hoped to stop the company in its tracks, it hasn’t …
Read More »Virus vaccine will be ‘global public good’: top US official
Washington, United States | AFP | If the United States is the first to develop an effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus, it has to quickly share it with the world, the head of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, told AFP in an interview. President Donald Trump’s administration has …
Read More »Russia denounces US attempts to ‘break’ WHO
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia on Tuesday denounced President Donald Trump’s threat to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “Yes, there are opportunities to improve it… and we are ready — as before — to play an active role in this work,” deputy …
Read More »WHO faces virus probe after Trump ultimatum
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | World Health Organization member states agreed Tuesday to launch an investigation into its coronavirus response, after US President Donald Trump threatened to quit the UN agency and branded it a “puppet of China”. Trump has been locked in a bitter spat with Beijing, alleging it covered …
Read More »China tells US to stop ‘unreasonable suppression’ of Huawei
Beijing, China | AFP | Beijing has urged the United States to stop the “unreasonable suppression of Huawei and Chinese enterprises” after Washington announced new export controls to restrict the tech giant’s access to semiconductor technology. The latest restrictions on the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer, which is at the centre of US spying allegations, are …
Read More »China calls on US to pay its debts to the United Nations
United Nations, United States | AFP | China on Friday issued a statement calling on all UN member states to “actively fulfill their financial obligations to the United Nations,” stressing that Washington owes the organization more than $2 billion. “As of May 14, the total unpaid assessments under the UN regular budget and peacekeeping budget …
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