Peter Daszak and Hung Nguyen-Viet, members of the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of the new coronavirus disease, are pictured near their hotel in Wuhan, Hubei province, while on the WHO mission in China on February 6, 2021. Photo: Reuters South China Morning Post
Work in progress at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, in 2002. Research at the facility, equipped to handle dangerous pathogens such as Ebola and plague, was suspended in 2019 over safety concerns. Photo: AFP South China Morning Post
Advertisement The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, followed by the fall of much of the country to the Taliban, led to strong responses in Taiwan. The pan-Blue and pan-Green camps have fought over the meaning of the withdrawal for Taiwan along the lines of their respective political agendas. The Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party, currently in opposition, is the major party in the Blue camp, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of the Green bloc holds the presidency and a majority in the Legislative Yuan. Media personality Jaw Shaw-kong, who is…
A Chinese citizen journalist who was imprisoned for exposing the failures of the government’s initial response to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan is seriously ill from a hunger strike, according to messages from her family shared by her former lawyer and a friend. The journalist, Zhang Zhan, 37, had traveled to Wuhan from her home in Shanghai and spent the early days of the outbreak documenting the city’s strict lockdown and the severe impact it had on residents’ livelihoods and freedoms. Ms. Zhang’s reports challenged the government’s efforts to portray…
Since its inception in 2004, the goal of the Chinese jewelry brand Qeelin has been to create — as Dennis Chan, its Hong Kong-based co-founder and creative director, put it — “something with a rich culture but, at the same time, very contemporary.” The effort may be working. There are 38 Qeelin stores in mainland China, but the brand also has operated a boutique on Place Vendôme in Paris, a hub of high jewelry, since 2019. It is sold at department stores and boutiques such as David Jones in Australia…
“Primary schools will focus on cultivating love for the country, the Communist Party of China, and socialism. In middle schools, the focus will be on a combination of perceptual experience and knowledge study, to help students form basic political judgments and opinions,” state media outlet Global Times reported. BBC
Fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui hold a news conference on November 20, 2018 in New York, on the death of of tycoon Wang Jian in France on July 3, 2018. Don Emmert | AFP | Getty Images Wealthy Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, an outspoken critic of China’s government, and several others are accused of breaking state securities laws in a class-action lawsuit filed in Arizona. The civil complaint was filed in late June in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. The plaintiffs claim to have tried to…
The director of national intelligence on Tuesday delivered a report to President Biden on the origins of the coronavirus epidemic, according to U.S. officials, but the nation’s spy agencies have not yet concluded whether the disease was the result of an accidental leak from a lab or if it emerged naturally in a spillover from animals to humans. Mr. Biden had ordered the nation’s intelligence agencies three months ago to draft a report on the origins of the virus amid an intensifying debate over questions about its provenance, and in…
SINGAPORE — Vice President Kamala Harris sought to fortify the image of the United States as a credible ally by offering a sharp rebuke of China during an address on Tuesday in Southeast Asia. Her effort comes as the White House faces growing questions about its reliability as an international partner amid continuing violence in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. “In the South China Sea, we know that Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea,” Ms. Harris said in Singapore. She…
Imagine you are hunting online for a pair of square-toed slides from Bottega Veneta, one of the most-hyped luxury brands of the moment. A new season pair can cost more than $550 from the brand’s website, an old-guard department store like Neiman Marcus or a newer e-commerce player like Net-a-Porter. But what if you chose to buy from Cettire, a website offering discounts of up to 30 percent on the latest fashion styles? You would be a player in the multibillion-dollar luxury “gray” market, a fast-growing sales sector that has…