United States

Delta Variant Reignites US Mask Debate

The recent surge of COVID-19, driven by the Delta variant, has reignited political controversy around mask-wearing in the United States (US), with some governors opposing all measures to make masks mandatory despite advice from health authorities. The dispute feels familiar, harkening back to the early days of the pandemic when masks became a symbol of political affiliation in the US - the clash led by then-president Donald Trump, who made it a point of&amp

11 August 2021
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The Great COVID Stonewall Of China

COVID-19 has now been with us for more than a year and a half. It has stopped societies in their tracks, triggered sharp economic downturns, and killed more than 4.2 million people. But we still do not know where the deadly virus came from, for a simple reason: China does not want us to know. China first reported that a novel coronavirus had emerged in Wuhan weeks after its initial detection. This should not be a surprise.

7 August 2021
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Plot To Kill Myanmar's Anti-Junta UN Envoy Foiled

United States (US) prosecutors said Friday they had charged two Myanmar citizens in a plot to attack the country's United Nations (UN) ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, an outspoken supporter of the democracy movement who has refused junta orders to quit.In an alleged conspiracy foiled by US investigators, the pair spoke of hiring hitmen who would force Kyaw Moe Tun to resign or, if he refused, to kill him, officials said.The pair "plotted to seriously injure or kill Myanmar's ambassad

7 August 2021
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COVID Cases Top 200 Million Worldwide

The number of COVID-19 infections recorded worldwide passed 200 million on Thursday, an AFP count showed, as the pandemic surges around the world, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where the Australian city of Melbourne locked down again.The highly contagious Delta variant has driven the virus to return with a vengeance, the number of daily cases recorded worldwide rising by 68 percent since mid-June.But as more of the world gets vaccinated against the coronavirus – particularly in weal

6 August 2021
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US To Vaccinate The World As Delta Surges

The United States (US) said Tuesday it has distributed more than 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses overseas – more than all other countries combined – as President Joe Biden touts his record on countering the Delta variant cutting a deadly swath across the planet.The announcement, which follows the administration belatedly achieving its 4 July target for getting 70 percent of American adults at least one shot, marked "just the beginning" of US efforts to help the world battle the p

4 August 2021
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S’pore PM Warns US Against Hard Line Towards China

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday warned the United States (US) against aggressively challenging China, saying Washington's increasingly hard-line views could be "very dangerous."He said the US had moved from an approach of healthy competition with China to the view that America "must win, one way or another.""There is (US) bipartisan consensus today on one thing, which is relations with China," he told the Aspen Security Forum."But th

4 August 2021
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COVID: US Money Used To Fund Research In China?

As the debate continues over the origins of the coronavirus, a heated political battle is taking place over virus research carried out in China using United States (US) funds.It's linked to the unproven theory that the virus could have leaked from a lab in Wuhan, the Chinese city where it was first detected.A report released by Republican lawmakers cites "ample evidence" that the lab was working to modify coronaviruses to infect humans and calls for a bipartisan investigation i

3 August 2021
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US: No To Myanmar Election Plan, ASEAN Must Act

The United States (US) said Monday that Myanmar's junta was playing for time with a two-year election timeframe as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to encourage Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to appoint an envoy.Blinken is participating virtually in a week of talks involving foreign ministers of ASEAN, the latest bid by President Joe Biden's administration to engage a region at the frontlines of US competition with China.Ahead of the ASEAN talks, Myanmar&#0

3 August 2021
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World Races To Contain Delta Variant

Governments around the world on Thursday raced to head off a surge in coronavirus cases driven by the Delta variant, with US President Joe Biden offering new incentives to vaccine holdouts and Israel authorizing booster shots.The World Health Organization (WHO) warned the highly transmissible strain of the virus, first detected in India, could unleash a "fourth wave" of cases in its Eastern Mediterranean zone – an area stretching from Morocco to Pakistan.Those countries are especial

30 July 2021
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Pfizer Lifts 2021 Outlook On Surging Vaccine Sales

Pfizer lifted its annual revenue and profit projections Wednesday on surging demand for COVID-19 vaccine doses as executives amplified their case for booster shots amid the latest wave of infections.The two-shot inoculation accounted for more than 40 percent of Pfizer's sales in the second quarter, boosting revenues sharply compared with the same three months of 2020. Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said more than a billion doses of the vaccine have been delivered so far.Th

29 July 2021
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US: China's Sea Claims Have 'No Basis'

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that Beijing's expansive claims in the South China Sea have "no basis in international law", taking aim at China's growing assertiveness in the hotly contested waters.Austin's broadside came at the start of his first trip to Southeast Asia as United States (US) defence secretary, as he seeks to rally allies in the region as a bulwark to China.President Joe Biden's administration wants to reset relations with Asian countrie

28 July 2021
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