China claims Covid wave has peaked with severe cases, deaths falling fast
But reporting from inside China during the lunar new year period suggests rates of infection and fatalities exceeding official reports
China’s health authorities have said the Covid wave is past its peak, with rapid decline in both severe cases and deaths in hospitals, but experts remain wary of the government’s official data.
According to China’s Center for Disease Control (CDC), the number of critically ill patients in hospital peaked in the first week of January, then rapidly declined by more than 70%. The number of deaths also reached its highest level that week, the data said.
Prof Chi Chun-huei, director of the centre for global health at Oregon University, said local officials were incentivised – via punishments and rewards – to under-report infection figures during the zero-Covid policy. Now that policy was gone, they were incentivised to exaggerate infection rates and under-report deaths.
Fears of escalating conflict as gunman injures two Israelis in East Jerusalem
Shooting comes hours after seven people killed outside synagogue and two days after deadliest Israeli raid in West Bank for 20 years
Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem
Two Israelis have been shot in occupied East Jerusalem hours after a gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue, as the worst violence in years across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories continues to escalate.
Israel’s ambulance service said a father and son, in their 50s and 20s, were badly hurt in the incident in a Jewish neighbourhood near the Old City on Saturday morning. Police said the assailant had been shot by armed passersby. There were conflicting reports on his condition.
Police identified the attacker as a 13-year-old boy. Unconfirmed Arabic and Hebrew media reports said he was from the nearby Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan.
Man arrested after six British children found living in wine cellar in Austria
Six children, said to have been born in Britain, discovered with husband and wife
A family including six young children born in Britain were found living in an abandoned wine cellar in a small Austrian village.
An unnamed man, 54, was arrested after the children - all under the age of five - were discovered in the illegal hideout in Obritz, about 47 miles north of the capital Vienna.
Local media reports said the man, who has been linked to conspiracy theories and those rejecting the Austrian state, was detained for resisting state authority.
Taliban ban women from NGO work in Afghanistan
Since returning to power in 2021, Taliban leaders have made life increasingly difficult for Afghan women. A ban on women working for nongovernmental organizations spells disaster for humanitarian work.
Afghanistan is heading into a "humanitarian catastrophe," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said earlier this week at a meeting with her European counterparts in Brussels. It is brutal, she said, to witness the Taliban cut off millions of Afghans from aid.
Baerbock's comments come in response to the Taliban's decision in December to ban women from working for aid agencies in the country. The new rules apply for Afghan as well as foreign organizations.
Taliban leaders justified their decision by saying some aid workers had ignored the country's Islamic dress code. Any organization that continues to employ women will lose its license to operate. Baerbock said this ban would make it harder for German aid deliveries to reach the country and called on the Taliban to allow girls and women back to workplaces, schools and universities.
Dentsu officials admit to Tokyo Olympic test event bid rigging
Several officials of Japanese ad giant Dentsu Inc have admitted to collusion over bid rigging for contracts related to test events for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, a source familiar with the matter say.
The officials admitted to the wrongdoing during voluntary questioning with prosecutors, while maintaining they were not aware of any illegality at first when the bid rigging took place, according to the source.
A former operations executive of the event's organizers is suspected of playing a lead role in the rigging, along with several Dentsu staff, some of whom were seconded to work for the games.
Does the West’s decision to arm Ukraine with tanks bring it closer to war with Russia?
The West’s decision to finally send tanks to Ukraine has caused some to ask the uncomfortable question: Does this mean that NATO is now in direct conflict with Russia?
This narrative, which is being pushed hard by the Kremlin, undoubtedly helps Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies deflect from the fact that Russia launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine and illegally occupied parts of a sovereign state.
It also, perhaps more conveniently for Putin, gives the NATO allies pause for thought when it comes to deciding exactly how much military assistance they should give Ukraine.
No comments:
Post a Comment