Public opinion in the United States (US) pins the blame for the COVID-19 pandemic squarely on China. After all, that’s where the virus started. And President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have fanned the flames by accusing China of covering up the outbreak and knowingly allowing the novel coronavirus to spread.
China said Sunday that relations with the United States (US) were "on the brink of a new Cold War", fuelled in part by tensions over the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 350,000 people worldwide and pitched the global economy into a massive downturn. Fresh tensions between Beijing and Washington emerged as Muslims around the world celebrated an end to the holy month of Ramadan muted by virus restrictions and as more European nations prepared to further ease their
America, Dr Trump will see you now.While United States (US) President Donald Trump admits he's not actually a doctor, he's long been convinced of his scientific talents - and the coronavirus pandemic has given him the ultimate stage to test his theories.The Republican leader's announcement on Monday that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for almost two weeks as a preventative measure against COVID-19 was a shock.While Trump claimed to have "heard a lot of good stories,
Global tensions simmered over the race for a coronavirus vaccine Thursday, as the United States (US) and China traded jabs, and France slammed pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi for suggesting the US would get any eventual vaccine first.Scientists are working at breakneck speed to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide and pummelled economies.From the US to Europe to Asia, national and local governments are easing lockdow
United States (US) President Donald Trump further hardened his rhetoric towards China on Thursday, saying he no longer wishes to speak with Xi Jinping and warning darkly he might cut ties over the rival superpower's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.Tensions have ratcheted up between Washington and Beijing as they trade barbs over the origin of the pandemic - which first appeared in late 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and which Trump has dubbed the "Plague from China."&q
As the COVID-19 pandemic drives the global economy into recession, the temptation to pursue aggressive monetary easing is growing. Already, the United States (US) Federal Reserve (Fed) has pushed interest rates near zero and committed to pump trillions of dollars into the economy. The European Central Bank (ECB) has also ramped up bond purchases, though Germany’s constitutional court is mounting some resistance.
The United States (US) Federal Bureau of Investigation and cybersecurity experts believe Chinese hackers are trying to steal research on developing a vaccine against coronavirus, two newspapers reported Monday.The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are planning to release a warning about the Chinese hacking as governments and private firms race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported.The hackers are also targeting information and intellectua
China said Friday it supports a World Health Organization (WHO)-led review into the global response to the coronavirus outbreak, but only "after the pandemic is over".The comments from foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying came as China faces increasing global pressure to allow an international investigation into the origins of the pandemic.The review should be conducted in an "open, transparent and inclusive manner" under the leadership of WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghe
I had been captive in Afghanistan for about two weeks when the government of my home country, Canada, contacted those attempting to negotiate my release. They told negotiators to get me on the phone the next day, when the United States (US) military would be flying a drone over where they thought I was being held, in order to determine my whereabouts.The negotiators were unable to secure that concession.
The COVID-19 crisis has brought economies around the world to a standstill. Huge swaths of manufacturing have been idled, and sectors such as aviation and tourism are largely shuttered. Amid all the economic ruin, some have pointed to a supposed silver lining: cleaner air.
“This is not a discrete one-off episode,” Wellcome Trust head Jeremy Farrar has warned. “This is now an endemic human infection.”COVID-19, as Farrar suggests, knows no boundaries, geographic, political, or otherwise. Nor must our efforts to defeat it.
Running parallel to the global battle against the coronavirus pandemic is a tug of war between two competing narratives about how the world ought to be governed. Although addressing the pandemic is more urgent, which narrative prevails will have equally far-reaching consequences.The first narrative is straightforward: a global health crisis has further demonstrated the need for multilateralism and exposed the fallacy of go-it-alone nationalism or isolationism.
