BEIJING (AFP) -- The United States is pushing relations with China to "the brink of a new Cold War", China's foreign minister said Sunday, rejecting Washington's "lies" over the coronavirus while saying Beijing was open to an international effort to find its source. Keeping up the worsening war of words with Washington over the pandemic and a Beijing move to tighten control over Hong Kong, Wang Yi said the United States had been infected by a "political virus" com

South Korea's FC Seoul were fined a record 100 million won ($81,000) for using sex dolls to fill seats at a match held behind closed doors, with K-League officials saying the football club had "deeply humiliated women fans". With spectators barred because of the coronavirus, FC Seoul came under fire after dozens of dolls wearing T-shirts or holding placards with the logo of a sex-toy seller appeared at Sunday's game. The incident made headlines around the world. After reviewing th

BERLIN (AFP) -- From anger over lockdown measures to a purported vaccine plan by Bill Gates: a growing wave of demonstrations in Germany by conspiracy theorists, extremists and anti-vaxxers has alarmed even Chancellor Angela Merkel. Initially starting as a handful of protesters decrying tough restrictions on public life to halt transmission of the coronavirus, the protests have swelled in recent weeks to gatherings of thousands in major German cities. Thousands are set to mass again in S

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump threatened to cut ties with China over its role in the spread of the coronavirus, as the global death toll from the disease topped 300,000. Despite fears of a second wave of infections, national and local governments around the world are easing lockdown orders as they try to get stalled economies moving again. But there were warnings Friday that some of the world's poorest people remain the most vulnerable, with predictions that a quarter of a bi

LONDON (AFP) -- The deadly coronavirus pandemic will cost the global insurance industry about $203 billion (188 billion euros), Lloyd's of London insurance market forecast on Thursday. Lloyd's said it had examined underwriting losses and reductions in the value of investments that companies hold to fund future claim payments. Lloyd's itself expects to pay out up to $4.3 billion on coronavirus claims, putting the cost on a similar magnitude to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. "The

THE HAGUE (AFP) -- A vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be ready in a year's time under an "optimistic" scenario, based on trials that are underway, the European Medicines Agency said Thursday. The Amsterdam-based EU agency also played down fears expressed by the WHO that the virus might never go away, saying it would be "surprised" if a vaccine was not found eventually. "We can see the possibility if everything goes as planned that some of them (vaccines) could

WUHAN (AFP) -- Nervous residents of China's pandemic epicentre of Wuhan queued up across the city to be tested for the coronavirus on Thursday after a new cluster of cases sparked a mass screening campaign. Lines of socially distanced people formed at makeshift testing sites set up under tents in parking lots, parks and residential communities as it rained in the metropolis of 11 million people. "This is a good thing. It's a way to be responsible toward others and to yourself," a 4

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The EU insisted Thursday that any vaccine against coronavirus must be available fairly to all countries after French drug giant Sanofi said it was reserving first shipments for the US. "The vaccine against COVID-19 should be a global public good and its access needs to be equitable and universal," European Commission spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker told reporters. Sanofi's chief executive Paul Hudson caused fury in France by announcing that US patients would get

GENEVA (AFP) -- The coronavirus may never go away and populations will have to learn to live with it just as they have HIV, the World Health Organization has warned, as the global death toll from the disease nears 300,000. There were also gloomy forecasts from the US Federal Reserve, which said prolonged shutdowns to stem the spread of the virus could cause lasting economic damage in America. Washington ratcheted up tensions over the pandemic by accusing China of trying to steal research into

MOSCOW (AFP) -- Cars sales in Russia plummeted by a historic 72.4 percent in April, manufacturers said Wednesday, after the industry was hit by the sweeping restrictions imposed to slow the coronavirus pandemic. Year-on-year sales in April totalled just 38,922 units across the country, according to the Association of European Businesses which represents foreign investors in Russia. This is "the biggest drop of monthly sales in the history of AEB statistics" since records began in 20

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong's government risks reigniting last year's political unrest by pushing ahead with a controversial bill outlawing insults to China's national anthem, opposition lawmakers said Tuesday.  Pro-democracy lawmakers warned history was repeating itself, noting that the fast-tracking of a bill last year to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland was the spark that lit seven straight months of pro-democracy protests. On Tuesday Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam --

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Two top US economic advisers on Sunday defended the need for an expeditious reopening of the economy even as the coronavirus reached into the White House despite the extraordinary precautions taken there. The comments by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and economic adviser Larry Kudlow  came just two days after the country recorded its steepest job losses in history, with 20.5 million jobs lost in April, and as virus cases continued rising in some states with far mor

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Former president Barack Obama has launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it an "absolute chaotic disaster." In a leaked web call Friday night with former members of his administration, Obama also said the Justice Department's decision to drop charges against Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in the Russia probe, endangers the rule of law in the US. I

ROME (AFP) -- The fate of the Serie A championship remained in limbo on Thursday after state scientists met with football bosses in a desperate effort to save the coronavirus-interrupted season threatened by a new wave of positive tests among players. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) huddled with the government's technical scientific committee to discuss details of the medical protocol for a potential return to group training. The talks came with pressure mounting from sports-deprived f

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday stepped up a US campaign to hold China accountable for the spread of the deadly coronavirus, asserting there is "enormous evidence" the virus originated in a laboratory in the city of Wuhan. The high-security bio-containment facility, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, has called such claims "impossible". Pompeo, speaking on ABC's "This Week," did not elaborate on what he also described as "significa