World News

Investigators from the World Health Organization (WHO) looking into the origins of coronavirus in China have discovered signs the outbreak was much wider in Wuhan in December 2019 than previously thought, and are urgently seeking access to hundreds of thousands of blood samples from the city that China has not so far let them examine.

Chinese authorities refused to provide World Health Organization investigators with raw, personalized data on early Covid-19 cases that could help them determine how and when the coronavirus first began to spread in China, according to WHO investigators who described heated exchanges over the lack of detail.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is pushing back on suggestions that the group has “discarded” the hypothesis that SARS-Cov-2 leaked from a Chinese lab, following a WHO researching team wrapping its fact-finding mission this week in Wuhan, China, where the virus was first reported.

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Saturday off the coast of Japan’s Fukushima prefecture, which was home to one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters almost a decade ago.

The former head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, has been sworn-in as Italy’s prime minister after political turmoil over coronavirus policies.

China has barred BBC World News from airing in the country, a move that comes not long after the British broadcasting license for a Chinese state-owned entity called CGTN was revoked.

China’s military increased both warship and warplane missions in the South China where two U.S. aircraft carriers recently conducted operations to bolster international rights to the seas there, the commander of a carrier strike group in the region said.

Iran has begun producing small amounts of uranium metal, the UN atomic watchdog said on February 10, in the latest breach of Tehran’s 2015 deal with world powers as it seeks to ramp up pressure on U.S. President Joe Biden’s new administration.

Peter Daszak’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party call into question the validity of his and the World Health Organization (WHO) investigative team which concluded that it is “extremely unlikely” COVID-19 came from a Chinese Communist Party lab. Their claims echo Chinese Communist Party narratives, and Daszak himself implored the world to not “rely” on U.S. intelligence for it is “wrong on many aspects” and “politically charged.”

The United Nations Security Council was unable to reach agreement on a joint declaration about the devastating war in Syria after yet another round of UN peace talks on Tuesday, i24News reports. It was hoped a new declaration would revive the grid-locked peace talks.

Germany’s Interior Ministry hired scientists to help create an atmosphere of fear to justify government-imposed lockdowns and other restrictive measures during the coronavirus pandemic, internal documents show, prompting outrage among opposition leaders.

Thousands of Christian villagers have reportedly fled bombardments in Myanmar since the coup that ousted the nation’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, on February 1.

Iran will build nuclear weapons if Tehran’s demands regarding economic sanctions are not met, according to a top government official.

Haitian President Jovenel Moise has retired three Supreme Court justices, two days after announcing a foiled coup attempt.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday that the Biden administration had decided to return the US to the UN Human Rights Council, reversing the departure by former president Donald Trump, who cited ongoing Israel bias by the body in his decision to leave.

North Korea maintained and developed its nuclear and ballistic missile programs throughout 2020 in violation of international sanctions, helping fund them with some $300 million stolen through cyber hacks, according to a confidential United Nations report seen by Reuters on Monday.

Pope Francis urged world leaders to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to “rethink the relationship between individuals and the economy,” in his annual foreign policy address to the Holy See diplomatic corps on Monday.

Haitian authorities said Sunday they had foiled an attempt to kill President Jovenel Moise and overthrow the government, as a dispute rages over when his term ends.

South Africa is suspending its rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after findings suggested it offers limited protection against mild disease caused by the COVID-19 variant discovered there.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that the United States must lift all sanctions before Tehran reverses any nuclear production steps.