Worldwide: Headlines
Beijing reports new local coronavirus cases as testing at Xinfadi wholesale market continues
The number of new local coronavirus cases in China’s capital has jumped as the city rushes to track the latest outbreak and contain its spread.
The city’s health authority said 27 cases were reported on Monday, bringing the total number of infections in the city since Thursday to 106. In addition to the new cases in Beijing, four were reported in Hebei and one in Sichuan.
This comes after an outbreak at the Xinfadi wholesale market in Beijing’s southwestern district of Fengtai.
Full Coverage: South China Morning Post
Global coronavirus cases reach over 8 million as outbreak expands in Latin America
(Reuters) – Global cases of the novel coronavirus reached over 8 million on Monday, as infections surge in Latin America and the United States and China grapple with fresh outbreaks.
The United States still leads the world with the highest number of infections, about 2 million or 25% of all reported cases. However, the outbreak is growing fastest in Latin America, which now accounts for 21% of all cases, according to a Reuters tally.
Brazil’s COVID-19 cases and deaths have surged to make it the No.2 hot spot in the world.
The first case was reported in China in early January and it took until early May to reach 4 million cases. It has taken just five weeks to double to 8 million cases, according to a Reuters tally.
Global deaths stand at over 434,000 and have doubled in seven weeks.
Although Brazil’s official death toll from the pandemic has risen to nearly 44,000, the true impact is likely far greater than the data show, health experts said, citing a lack of widespread testing in Latin America’s largest country.
Full Coverage: Reuters
Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou accuses US of giving Canadian court ‘grossly misleading’ evidence summary in extradition case
Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou has accused the United States of providing a “grossly inaccurate [and] misleading” summary of evidence to the Canadian court hearing her extradition case, arguing that the case should be thrown out as a result.
The new claims in Meng’s bid to avoid extradition to the US to face fraud charges include that the US misrepresented and omitted details of a crucial PowerPoint presentation that Meng delivered to a HSBC banker in Hong Kong.
The 2013 presentation forms the basis of the US claims that she defrauded HSBC by lying about Huawei’s business in Iran, allegedly in breach of US sanctions, and that she should be sent to New York to face trial.
“Ms Meng will submit that the Requesting State’s summary of evidence … is grossly inaccurate and based on deliberate and/or reckless misstatements of fact and material omissions, thereby constituting a serious abuse of the extradition process that should disentitle the Requesting State to proceed,” her lawyers said in a memo, released on Monday by the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Meng was arrested by Canadian police, acting on a US request, at Vancouver’s airport on December 1, 2018, throwing China’s relations with Canada and the US into turmoil.
The new claims also allege that the US falsely asserted that only junior HSBC employees were aware of the nature of Huawei’s relationship with Skycom, a company in Iran that the US says conducted business there on behalf of Huawei.
Full Coverage: South China Morning Post
U.S. companies can work with Huawei on 5G, other standards: Commerce Department
(Reuters) – The United States on Monday confirmed a Reuters report that it will amend its prohibitions on U.S. companies doing business with China’s Huawei [HWT.UL] to allow them to work together on setting standards for next-generation 5G networks.
The U.S. Commerce Department and other agencies signed off on the rule change, which is awaiting publication in the Federal Register, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The rule was sent to the Federal Register on Friday and is set to be published as early as Tuesday.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed the action in a statement to Reuters.
“The United States will not cede leadership in global innovation,” Ross said. “The department is committed to protecting U.S. national security and foreign policy interests by encouraging U.S. industry to fully engage and advocate for U.S. technologies to become international standards.”
The Commerce Department publicly announced the move later on Monday. It noted that U.S. participation in standards-setting “influences the future of 5G, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies.”
In the telecommunications industry, 5G, or fifth-generation wireless networks are expected to power everything from high-speed video transmissions to self-driving cars.
Full Coverage: Reuters
Oil prices ease as coronavirus infections rise
TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices dipped on Tuesday on jitters that a rise in coronavirus infections around the world could hurt fuel demand, but hopes that production cuts could be extended kept declines in check.
Brent crude was down 14 cents, or 0.4%, at $39.58 a barrel at 0027 GMT, having gained 2.6% on Monday. U.S. oil fell 24 cents, or 0.7%, to $36.88 a barrel, after closing 2.4% higher in the previous session.
Coronavirus cases rose to more than 8 million worldwide by Monday, with infections surging in Latin America, while the United States and China are dealing with fresh outbreaks.
“Renewed optimism that OPEC+ production cuts could remain in place if we see second wave concerns intensify have oil prices refusing to enter freefall,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Oil prices rose on Monday after the United Arab Emirates’ energy minister expressed confidence that OPEC+ producers that have not been in full compliance with agreed cuts would up their game. He also said there were signs that oil demand was increasing as countries eased lockdowns in some parts of the world.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, a grouping known as OPEC+, agreed this month to extend production cuts of 9.7 million barrels per day through July.
Full Coverage: Reuters
More ‘oomph’: UK’s Johnson eyes Brexit trade deal by July
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he believed stuttering post-Brexit trade talks could conclude by as early as next month, after a meeting with EU chiefs that saw both sides commit to ramping up negotiations.
An upbeat Johnson emerged from an hour-long video conference call with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and other leaders to reveal he had told them to “put a tiger in the tank” and add “a bit of oomph” to three months of talks.
“I don’t think we are actually that far apart,” he said. “The faster we can do this, the better, and we see no reason why you shouldn’t get that done in July…
“I don’t want to see (the talks) going on until the autumn, winter.”
The two sides earlier said in a joint statement that “new momentum” was required, after four rounds of negotiations and little to show for it.
The leaders also agreed to pursue a possible “early understanding” on the broad principles of the deal, in an acknowledgment that negotiations could run out of time.
Full Coverage: Bangkok Post
Europe reopens borders, but virus looms large elsewhere
A raft of EU nations reopened their borders to fellow Europeans Monday, but a new coronavirus outbreak in China and surging death tolls in the Americas underlined the bleak struggles still ahead in the pandemic.
More than eight million people have now been infected with the virus worldwide since it emerged in China late last year, and more than 435,000 have died, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
The virus is surging in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the death toll passed 80,000 — the majority in Brazil, which has the second-highest number of infections and deaths in the world, after the United States.
Iran, India and Saudi Arabia have also reported worrying increases in deaths and infections, adding to concern the world still faces a long fight against COVID-19.
– ‘It’s been five months’ –
Caseloads have declined recently across many parts of Europe, and governments are keen to ease lockdowns that have saved lives but devastated economies and taken a psychological and emotional toll.
Belgium, France, Germany and Greece were among the countries that lifted border restrictions Monday. In Spain, a planeload of German tourists flew to the Balearic islands in an experimental pilot project.
Full Coverage: Yahoo News
North Korea is preparing to send troops into DMZ, state media says
North Korean state media said Kim Jong-un’s regime is reviewing a plan to send its army into some areas of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the country from South Korea.
The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said it was on high alert, according to a report on Tuesday on the official Korean Central News Agency, escalating its threats aimed at forcing South Korea to halt activists from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border by balloon.
“Our army is keeping a close watch on the current situation in which the north-south relations are turning worse and worse, and getting itself fully ready for providing a sure military guarantee to any external measures to be taken by the party and government,” the army staff was quoted as saying by KCNA.
North Korea did not provide details of what areas it meant but appears to be referring to a disarmed region near a now shuttered joint factory park with South Korea in the western city of Kaesong and a closed joint resort on the east around North Korea’s Mount Kumgang, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The plan does not appear to call for a scrapping of the terms set out in the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended fighting in the Korean war and led to a 4km-wide DMZ buffer to be set up across the peninsula. North and South Korea have about 1 million troops stationed near their ends of the buffer zone, making it one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world.
North Korea has also called on South Korea to abide by the terms of a 2018 agreement between the two nations aimed at reducing accidental border clashes. The accord, seen as a landmark in reconciliation, led to the two Koreas to each destroy 10 frontline guard posts, enforce a ban on military exercises in the area and impose a no-fly zone.
Full Coverage: South China Morning Post
