WORLD

Brussels, Belgium | XINHUA | The European Commission has signed a 63 million-euro contract with American pharmaceutical company Gilead to secure treatment doses of Veklury, the brand name for Remdesivir, for the treatment of COVID-19, it announced on Wednesday. The commission said in a statement that batches of Veklury will …

Washington, US | XINHUA | U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday renewed his defense of using anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine against COVID-19, despite medical evidence disproving its effectiveness. “It’s safe. It doesn’t cause problems. I had no problem. I had absolutely no problem,” Trump said during a press briefing at the …

Brussels, Belgium | XINHUA | The Chinese Mission to the European Union (EU) on Tuesday said it firmly opposes the EU’s wrong moves against the national security legislation for Hong Kong and urged the pan-Europe body to stop meddling in China’s internal affairs. China has repeatedly elaborated on its position …

Washington, US | XINHUA | U.S. President Donald Trump wondered on Tuesday why Anthony Fauci, a top infectious diseases expert and key member of the White House coronavirus task force, has enjoyed a higher approval rating among the public than he has on the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “He’s …

Rome, Italy | XINHUA | The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is threatening access to food by some of the world’s most vulnerable — children, according to a new white paper written by the heads of four United Nations agencies, including the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The white paper, …

Beijing, China | XINHUA | A research project aimed at lowering the incidence of liver cancer among patients with hepatitis B was launched in China on Tuesday, which was World Hepatitis Day. The project, sponsored by the Chinese Foundation for Hepatitis Prevention and Control, will observe and study the five-year …

Beijing, China | XINHUA | China’s recent acceleration in business reforms has helped the country become the top reformer among large economies, according to a report issued by the World Bank. Figures presented in the Doing Business 2020 report, the latest in a series of annual reports by the World …

Kampala, Uganda | XINHUA | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for efforts to build sustainable cities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In a video message for the launch of his policy brief on COVID-19 and cities, Guterres said urban areas are ground zero of the pandemic, with 90 percent …

Washington, US | XINHUA | Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli hit back at speculations that SARS-CoV-2 responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic was leaked from her lab, calling for more science-based cooperation, rather than slander, to find treatments and vaccines. “We have done bat virus surveillance in Hubei Province for many years, …

Kampala, Uganda | XINHUA |  World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that he will reconvene the Emergency Committee on Thursday to re-evaluate the COVID-19 pandemic, as global COVID-19 cases had doubled over the past six weeks. Saying that this Thursday (July 30) marks six months since …