US President Donald Trump has hinted that there would be consequences for China’s alleged misinformation to the international community and the WHO on coronavirus, that originated from its Wuhan city last year, and has claimed 119,666 lives with nearly two million infections globally.
Trump shot back at a reporter on Monday during his White House press conference on coronavirus when repeatedly asked why there are no consequences for China. “How do you know that there are no consequences?” Trump asked. “I wouldn’t tell you. China will find out. Why would I tell you?” Trump replied when repeatedly asked if China was going to face the consequences of the alleged misinformation. “You’re going to find out,” Trump said as members of the US Congress ramped up their rhetoric and move against China. Senator Steve Daines sent a letter to Trump urging him to end the US government’s reliance on medical supplies and equipment from China and bring back drug manufacturing jobs to America in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear how relying upon China for medicine or essential medical equipment and components is detrimental to our national security and endangers public health,” Daines wrote.
Most international soccer might not be played until 2021 due to coronavirus pandemic travel restrictions and the need to give club competitions the chance to resume, a FIFA vice president has said. Victor Montagliani, a Canadian who is president of the governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, has been heading a FIFA working group formulating plans to deal with the implications of the world’s biggest sport being largely shut down since last month. FIFA already has called off matches between countries that were due to be played in March and June. Montagliani, CONCACAF’s president, believes the September, October and November windows for national team matches could be scrapped. “I personally think that might be a bit of a challenge, not so much because of just the health issues around the world and the various degrees of preparedness, but also committing to international travel as soon as we come back,” Montagliani said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think that domestic football is a priority.
Prestigious US educational institutions Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are implementing salary and hiring freeze and their top leadership will take pay cuts as part of “hard choices” to control costs in a tough economic environment resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic, according to a report. The report in The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, said that Harvard was “instituting an immediate university-wide salary and hiring freeze, cancelling or deferring discretionary spending, and considering deferring all capital projects.” University President Lawrence Bacow announced in an email to Harvard affiliates on Monday that he along with Executive Vice President Katherine Lapp and University Provost Alan Garber will each cut their salaries by 25 per cent. The report added that senior school administrators, including the deans of Harvard’s 12 schools, their vice presidents and vice provosts will also be either reducing their salaries or contributing to a support fund for employees experiencing hardship.
The Turkish parliament on Tuesday approved a law that allows for the release tens of thousands of prisoners as a safety measure against the coronavirus outbreak. “The draft has become law after being accepted,” the official Twitter account for the parliament’s general assembly said. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International have criticised the law because detainees charged under controversial anti-terrorism laws are not included. The rights groups also have condemned the exclusion of other inmates including journalists, politicians and lawyers in pre-trial detention. This includes people jailed while awaiting a date for their trial to begin, those waiting for a formal indictment or suspects currently being tried.
