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China, West Asia, North Africa stick together, strengthen friendship amid pandemic
May 21, 2020 07:39Under the principle of building a community of shared future for mankind, the Chinese government, enterprises and organizations have assisted West Asian and North African countries through donations of medical supplies, while experts in China have either been fighting the virus on the frontline or sharing anti-pandemic formulas via video conference, helping locals treat diseases as well as giving people a boost of confidence.
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Museums are losing millions but working hard to preserve COVID-19 artifacts
May 20, 2020 10:37In the future, generations will need the means to understand how the coronavirus pandemic affected our world, just as they can now reflect on the Spanish flu or the Black Death. The world heritage sector is already working hard to preserve the COVID-19 moment, predicting that future generations will need documentary evidence, photographic archives and artifacts to help them understand this period of history.
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Nuclear disarmament possible, a legally binding obligation
May 13, 2020 14:28Three international conferences on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, in 2013 and 2014, concluded that irrespective of its cause, the impact of nuclear detonations will not be limited to national boundaries but would cause deep, lasting and potentially irreversible harm to the environment, human health and well-being, as well as to socioeconomic development and social order, threatening the very survival of our species.
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Coronavirus has created a rift between the US and China that may take a generation to heal
May 12, 2020 18:44The novel coronavirus has destroyed lives and livelihoods in both the United States and China. But instead of bonding the two nations together to fight the pandemic, it has sent their already strained relations on a rapid downward spiral -- and fanned the flames of a potentially dangerous strain of nationalism.
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Trump's Wuhan Lab Conspiracy Theory a baseless disinformation campaign
May 12, 2020 08:11There is more and more evidence from around the world that the coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2, as it's known scientifically, that causes COVID-19, was probably circulating worldwide much earlier than when it was first identified in Wuhan. There's evidence now that it was circulating in France in December and of course, it could be much earlier than that.
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Trump administration pushing to rip global supply chains from China
May 10, 2020 10:24The US Commerce Department, State and other agencies are looking for ways to push companies to move both sourcing and manufacturing out of China. The current and former officials said tax incentives and potential re-shoring subsidies are among measures being considered to spur changes.
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Study finds protective masks can be effectively disinfected at home
May 01, 2020 08:47Researchers concluded that homemade masks and some medical masks can withstand simple disinfection without significantly reducing their effectiveness. A new study has found that disinfecting homemade masks by heating them may not significantly reduce their effectiveness — and that some medical masks can undergo this process and still be effective.
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Trump admits litany of US stupidity in West Asia, then acts stupidly himself
Apr 26, 2020 09:22Now, because of President Donald Trump’s ineptitude in handling the coronavirus pandemic, the US economy is imploding with an estimated unemployment rate of 20 percent, higher than during the global financial crisis of 2008. But rather than take responsibility for mishandling the coronavirus crisis, he has chosen to blame China, repeatedly referring to the SARS COV-2, the pathogen responsible for the COVID-19 outbreak, as the “Chinese” virus.
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Theories on origins of COVID-19 disease
Apr 23, 2020 08:58There are many theories about the exact origins of the novel coronavirus, designated “nCoV-2019” by World Health Organization or commonly referred to as COVID-19 disease, also called SARS-CoV-2 because it is related to SARS pathogen. Theories about the missing link for transmission of the new coronavirus from bats to humans abound.
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Tough times for tourism, but UNWTO predicts holiday traffic will return
Apr 22, 2020 14:20Tourism may have been brought to a near-standstill by COVID-19, but the industry — which accounts for 10 percent of global GDP — finds itself in a unique position to help put the global economy back on its feet, once the pandemic has passed. That’s the view from the UN World Travel Organization (UNWTO), which is closely monitoring the new coronavirus crisis from its Madrid headquarters and collaborating with other UN agencies on ways to mitigate its impact.