Beijing
Growing number of countries mull TikTok restriction over China links
US President Donald Trump looming TikTok ban may only be the beginning of the popular video app’s headaches, as a growing number of nations are becoming suspicious of its ties to China. The post Growing number of countries mull TikTok restriction over China links appeared first on TODAY. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
China takes over closed US consulate in Chengdu
The American flag was lowered at the US consulate in China’s Chengdu city on Monday and Chinese authorities entered the building, as Beijing carried out a Cold War-style retaliatory closure of the mission. Earlier in the morning state broadcaster, CCTV showed footage of the flag being lowered, after diplomatic tensions soared between the two powers with both alleging the other had endangered national security. Beijing later confirmed the consulate had closed at 10am (0200 GMT). “Afterwards, Chinese authorities entered through the front entrance and took it over,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Relations have deteriorated in recent weeks in an intensifying standoff, with the Chengdu mission Friday ordered to shut in retaliation for the forced closure of Beijing’s consulate in Hou...
Zambia asks China to cancel its debt
File Photo Zambian President Edgar Lungu has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for some “debt relief and cancellation” in a telephone conversation between the two leaders. That is according to a statement issued by Lusaka after the chat that reportedly took place on Monday. “President Lungu called for debt relief and cancellation in light of reduced revenue due to the negative impact of the pandemic, as well as competing needs for the country to secure adequate resources to fight the pandemic and to stimulate the economy,” said a statement issued by Spokesman Isaac Chipampe. Zambia’s public debt has increased significantly in recent years although it’s unclear exactly how much is actually owed to China. The two leaders agreed to continue working closely together to safeguard common intere...
China bans US chickens, shuts Pepsi plant
China banned imports from a top US poultry producer and ordered a Beijing Pepsi factory to close Sunday as authorities clamped down on food production and distribution amid a new coronavirus cluster in the capital. Health officials also reported 22 new virus cases in Beijing, where they have tested more than two million residents as they seek to contain a wave of new infections linked to a wholesale market in the capital. Imports of frozen chicken from Tyson Foods have been “temporarily suspended”, the General Administration of Customs said, after a virus outbreak was found at one of the company’s production facilities in the US. Products from the firm that have already arrived in China will be confiscated, the statement said. US food and drinks giant PepsiCo was also ordered to shut down ...
US coronavirus death toll exceeds 90,000 as Donald Trump urges reopening
The coronavirus death toll in the United States surpassed 90,000 on Monday as the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeded 1.5 million across the country, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. The grim milestones came as President Donald Trump tweeted to “REOPEN OUR COUNTRY!” and the White House attempted to shift blame, including onto its own scientists, for the high number of deaths. On Sunday, members of Trump administration disagreed on whether the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) let the country down with testing efforts. “Early on in this crisis, the CDC, which really had the most trusted brand around the world in this space, really let the country down with the testing,” Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, told NBC’s Meet the Press programme....
China admits to destroying early coronavirus samples, says action was taken due to safety concerns
China has acknowledged it destroyed early samples of COVID-19, confirming a claim put forward by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo late last month. On Friday, Liu Dengfeng, a supervisor with China’s National Health Commission, admitted that ‘the Chinese government issued an order on January 3 to dispose of coronavirus samples’ at unauthorized laboratories, according to Newsweek. But Liu denied that the samples were destroyed as part of a cover-up, insisting that they were disposed of so as to ‘prevent risk to laboratory biological safety and prevent secondary disasters caused by unidentified pathogens.’ He stated that the labs were ‘unauthorized’ to handle such samples, and they had to be terminated in order to comply with Chinese public health laws. Liu did not specify how many labs des...
Taiwan rejects China’s main condition for WHO participation
Taiwan’s health minister, on Friday, rejected China’s main condition for the island to be able to take part in the World Health Organisation (WHO) – that it accepts it is part of China – ahead of a key meeting of the body during a pandemic, Reuters reported. Non-WHO member Taiwan has lobbied to take part as an observer in next week’s World Health Assembly (WHA), drawing strong objections from Beijing, which considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces. Taiwan says the coronavirus pandemic has made it more urgent than ever that it be allowed proper access to the WHO. China says Taiwan can only participate under the “one China” principle, in which it accepts it is a part of China. China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party refused to do this, a...
Donald Trump threatens to cut China ties over coronavirus spread
US President Donald Trump threatened to cut ties with China over its role in the spread of the coronavirus, as the global death toll from the disease topped 300,000. Despite fears of a second wave of infections, national and local governments around the world are easing lockdown orders as they try to get stalled economies moving again. But there were warnings Friday that some of the world’s poorest people remain the most vulnerable, with predictions that a quarter of a billion Africans could be infected without urgent action. The nexus of poverty and risk was highlighted by the discovery of cases in the world’s biggest refugee camp, where upwards of a million Rohingya live in squalor. “We are looking at the very real prospect that thousands of people may die from COVID-19” in these camps, ...
WHO warns virus may be here to stay as toll nears 300,000
The coronavirus may never go away and populations will have to learn to live with it just as they have HIV, the World Health Organization has warned, as the global death toll from the disease nears 300,000. There were also gloomy forecasts from the US Federal Reserve, which said prolonged shutdowns to stem the spread of the virus could cause lasting economic damage in America. Washington ratcheted up tensions over the pandemic by accusing China of trying to steal research into a vaccine, while US President Donald Trump upped the rhetoric with a colourful phrase that could anger Beijing. “We just made a great Trade Deal, the ink was barely dry, and the World was hit by the Plague from China. 100 Trade Deals wouldn’t make up the difference — and all those innocent lives lost!” Trump tweeted....
Nigeria increases coronavirus testing above 27, 000
The Federal Government on Monday said the country has ramped up testing for the coronavirus to 27,078. Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, disclosed this in Abuja at the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) briefing on COVID-19 in the country. Ehanire said this has yielded about 4,399 cases in 35 states with a gender ratio of 30 per cent to 70 per cent of men and women. He said 778 persons have been discharged with 143 deaths. The minister added that personnel in federal hospitals participated in a multi-national teleconference with medical and academic experts in Beijing on the COVID-19 treatment strategy of China. “Our COVID-19 response must become a concerted national collaborative drive to become more effective. “This requires synergies across all tiers of government levels which should be...
China admits coronavirus exposed ‘shortcomings’ in healthcare system
The coronavirus outbreak exposed “shortcomings” in China’s public healthcare system, a top health official admitted Saturday, saying that reforms are underway to improve the country’s disease prevention and control mechanisms. China has faced criticism both at home and abroad for downplaying the virus and concealing information about the outbreak when it first emerged in the central city of Wuhan in December. The virus has since infected nearly four million people worldwide — claiming more than 270,000 lives — and crippled the global economy. Beijing has insisted it has always shared information with the World Health Organization and other countries in a timely manner. But on Saturday Li Bin, deputy director of China’s National Health Commission, made a rare admission when he said the heal...
