BEIJING: A team of WHO experts will land directly in Wuhan on Thursday, China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday, starting their long-delayed probe into COVID-19 at the virus epicenter.
The ten scientists will investigate the origins of the new virus in a politically fraught mission that comes more than a year after the pandemic began and after accusations Beijing has tried to thwart the project.
The World Health Organization team will leave from Singapore and fly straight to Wuhan, the central city where the first cluster of cases was detected in December 2019.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters this was the “current plan” and said the WHO team was set to arrive Thursday.
It is expected that they will have to complete two weeks of quarantine due to China’s strict border restrictions.
The investigation had been set to start last week but a last-minute hold up over entry permissions in China scuppered plans.
Marion Koopmans, part of the WHO team and head of the viroscience department at Rotterdam’s Erasmus University Medical Center, said they wanted to “reconstruct” how the pandemic started.
“I think it would be the start of a probably longer term project,” she told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN.
Beijing has argued that Wuhan is not necessarily the source of the virus, and officials have pushed theories that it began abroad.
When asked about the chance that the virus could have emerged overseas, Koopmans said the WHO team would “have an open mind to all hypotheses.”
“At this stage I don’t think we should rule anything out, but it is important to start where, obviously in Wuhan, a big outbreak occurred,” she said.
Experts say solving the mystery of how the virus first jumped from animals to humans is crucial to preventing another pandemic.
The WHO insisted this week that the investigation was not looking for “somebody to blame.”
Emergencies director at the UN health body Michael Ryan said the delayed mission was about science, not politics.
“Understanding the origins of disease is not about finding somebody to blame,” Ryan told a press conference in Geneva.
“It is about finding the scientific answers about the very important interface between the animal kingdom and the human kingdom.”
The novel coronavirus has killed nearly two million people since the outbreak first emerged in Wuhan.
Thousands of mutations in the virus have taken place as it has passed from person to person around the world, but new variants recently detected in Britain and South Africa are seemingly more contagious.
WHO experts to arrive in Wuhan for delayed virus probe
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WHO experts to arrive in Wuhan for delayed virus probe
- The ten scientists will investigate the origins of the new virus in a politically fraught mission
- The World Health Organization team will leave from Singapore and fly straight to Wuhan
Abkhazia leader says ready to resign if protesters vacate parliament
- Rare protests have erupted in recent days in the republic, nestled between the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea, over an economic deal with Moscow
- “I am ready to call elections, to resign.. and stand in elections. Let the people say who they will support,” the leader of the separatist republic Aslan Bzhania said
MOSCOW: The president of the Moscow-backed breakaway Georgian republic of Abkhazia announced Saturday that he is ready to resign after protesters stormed the regional parliament, opposing an investment deal with Russia.
Rare protests have erupted in recent days in the republic, nestled between the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea, over an economic deal with Moscow.
Abkhazia is recognized by most of the world as Georgian territory, but has been under de-facto Russian control since a brief 2008 war between Moscow and Tbilisi.
“I am ready to call elections, to resign.. and stand in elections. Let the people say who they will support,” the leader of the separatist republic Aslan Bzhania said.
He said his condition was that the protesters who entered parliament and a presidential administration building next door should vacate the premises.
“Those who took over the presidential administration should leave,” he said.
The tiny territory, known for its natural beauty, has been thrown into turmoil over concerns that a proposed investment deal with Moscow could see apartment complexes mushroom in the region.
Protesters have been blocking roads in the main city of Sukhumi for several days this week.
Russia on Friday advised its citizens not to travel to Abkhazia, a traditional holiday destination for Russians.
Dutch government survives dispute over Amsterdam violence
- Junior Finance Minister Nora Achahbar unexpectedly quit the cabinet on Friday to protest claims by some politicians that Dutch youths of Moroccan descent attacked Israeli fans
- “We have reached the conclusion that we want to remain, as a cabinet for all people in the Netherlands,” Schoof said
AMSTERDAM: Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof saved his governing coalition on Friday despite threats of an exodus by cabinet members over the right-wing government’s response to violence against Israeli soccer fans last week.
Junior Finance Minister Nora Achahbar unexpectedly quit the cabinet on Friday to protest claims by some politicians that Dutch youths of Moroccan descent attacked Israeli fans in Amsterdam around the Nov. 7 match between Dutch side Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Her resignation triggered a crisis cabinet meeting at which four ministers from her centrist NSC party also threatened to quit. If they had, the coalition would have lost its majority in parliament.
“We have reached the conclusion that we want to remain, as a cabinet for all people in the Netherlands,” Schoof said at a news conference late on Friday in The Hague.
Last week’s violence was roundly condemned by Israeli and Dutch politicians, with Amsterdam’s mayor saying “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” had attacked Israeli fans.
The city’s police department has said Maccabi fans were chased and beaten by gangs on scooters. Police also said the Israeli fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag.
Achahbar, a former judge and public prosecutor who was born in Morocco, felt comments by several political figures were hurtful and possibly racist, De Volkskrant daily reported.
“Polarization in the recent weeks has had such an effect on me that I no longer can, nor wish to fulfil my position in this cabinet,” Achahbar said in a statement.
Schoof, a former civil servant who does not have a party affiliation, denied any ministers in the cabinet are racist. Details of the cabinet discussion were not disclosed.
The coalition is led by the anti-Muslim populist party PVV of Geert Wilders, which came top in a general election a year ago. The government was installed in July after months of tense negotiations.
Wilders, who is not a cabinet member, has repeatedly said Dutch youth of Moroccan descent were the main attackers of the Israeli fans, although police have not specified the backgrounds of suspects.
Schoof said on Monday the incidents showed that some youth in the Netherlands with immigrant backgrounds did not share “Dutch core values.”
North Korean troops in Ukraine war ‘extremely significant’ for east Asia security: Japan minister
- “This will not only deepen the severity of the Ukraine situation, but also have extremely significant implications for east Asia’s security situation,” Iwaya said
- “We are seriously concerned over this development, and strongly condemn it“
KYIV: Japan’s foreign minister warned Saturday that North Korean troops entering the Ukraine conflict would have an “extremely significant” effect on east Asian security.
Takeshi Iwaya was in Ukraine after weeks of reports that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia, with the West and Ukraine saying they were already operating in Russia’s Kursk border region.
Japan has joined Seoul in condemning North Korea for supporting Moscow.
“This will not only deepen the severity of the Ukraine situation, but also have extremely significant implications for east Asia’s security situation,” Iwaya said. “We are seriously concerned over this development, and strongly condemn it.”
The minister visited Bucha, a town outside Kyiv where Russian forces are widely believed to have committed serious atrocities against civilians during a brief occupation early in the war.
He said that “our stance remains unchanged that Japan will stand side by side with Ukraine.”
Iwaya said he had agreed with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiga for Tokyo and Kyiv to hold a “bilateral high-level security policy dialogue,” including the strengthening of “our cooperation on intelligence-sharing on security.”
Sybiga said North Korean troops entering the Ukraine conflict is “evidence that the future of not only the European but also the global security architecture is being decided in Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian minister called his Japanese counterpart’s visit an “important sign of solidarity, especially in such a difficult time.
He praised ties with Tokyo:
“And although there are eight thousand kilometers between us, our countries are really close in values.”
Iran ‘categorically’ denies envoy’s meeting with Musk
TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman on Saturday “categorically” denied The New York Times report on Tehran’s ambassador to the United Nations meeting with US tech billionaire Elon Musk, state media reported.
In an interview with state news agency IRNA, spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei was reported as “categorically denying such a meeting” and expressing “surprise at the coverage of the American media in this regard.”
The Times reported on Friday that Musk, who is a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, met earlier this week with Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani.
It cited anonymous Iranian sources describing the encounter as “positive.”
Iranian newspapers, particularly those aligned with the reformist party that supports President Masoud Pezeshkian, largely described the meeting in positive terms before Baghaei’s statement.
In the weeks leading up to Trump’s re-election, Iranian officials have signalled a willingness to resolve issues with the West.
Iran and the United Stated cut diplomatic ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
Since then, both countries have communicated through the Swiss embassy in Tehran and the Sultanate of Oman.
Indian private university opens first international campus in Dubai
- Indian FM inaugurated the Dubai campus of Symbiosis International University on Thursday
- Under national education policy, New Delhi wants to internationalize Indian education system
New Delhi: A private Indian university has opened its first international campus in Dubai this week, marking a growing education cooperation between New Delhi and Abu Dhabi.
Symbiosis International University is a private higher education institution based in the western Indian city of Pune with at least five other campuses operating across the country, offering undergraduate, postgraduate and doctorate-level programs.
It is considered one of the top private business schools in the South Asian country, ranking 13th in management in the Indian Ministry of Education’s National Institutional Ranking Framework.
SIU’s Dubai campus, which will offer management, technology and media and communications courses, was officially inaugurated on Thursday by Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the UAE minister of tolerance and coexistence.
“I am sure that this campus will foster greater collaboration and research linkages between scholars of India and UAE, for mutual prosperity and global good,” Jaishankar said during the ceremony.
“(The) ceremony is not just an inauguration of a new campus; it is a celebration of the growing educational cooperation between our two countries. Right now, Indian curriculum and learning is being imparted through more than 100 International Indian Schools in UAE, benefitting more than 300,000 students.”
Under India’s National Education Policy 2020, New Delhi aims to internationalize the Indian education system, including by establishing campuses abroad.
Another top Indian school, the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, began its first undergraduate courses in September, after starting its teaching program in January with a master’s course in energy transition and sustainability.
Initially launched in September with more than 100 students, the SIU Dubai Campus is the first Indian university in Dubai to start operations with full accreditation and licensing from the UAE’s top education authorities, including the Ministry of Education.
“A university setting up a campus abroad is not just a bold step, but a concrete commitment to the goal of globalizing India. They certainly render an educational service, but even more, connect us to the world by strengthening our living bridges,” Jaishankar added as he addressed the students.
Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, pro-chancellor of Symbiosis International University, said that the school’s establishment in Dubai was in line with the UAE’s education goals.
“Internationalization is central to the UAE’s educational vision,” Yeravdekar said on Friday.
“By opening our campus in Dubai, we are creating a gateway for students from around the world to engage in a truly global academic experience, where they can benefit from international faculty, real-world industry collaborations, and a curriculum that meets the needs of a changing world.”
