An investigation by The Sunday Times today raises serious concerns that a major campaign by the Chinese state to secure influence over the WHO led the agency to blow the world’s only chance of stopping the Covid-19 pandemic

thetimes.co.uk/article/china-…
Financial and diplomatic pressure allegedly directed from Beijing has seen a body which took strong and successful action to suppress the Sars epidemic in 2003 transform into an organisation which praised North Korea’s health system and made Robert Mugabe a goodwill ambassador
When the Covid-19 pandemic began, the WHO’s leadership prioritised China’s economic interests over halting the spread of the virus with catastrophic results.

Why did the WHO malfunction so badly?
2017

Ethiopian foreign minister Tedros Adhanom – a close ally and friend to China – is propelled to power at the top of the WHO after Beijing uses its financial and diplomatic muscle to back his campaign
Jan 2020

China attempts to cover-up the Covid-19 outbreak by suppressing whistleblowers, scrubbing social media and withholding evidence about the virus. Tedros later praises Beijing for its openness and transparency
Jan 28 2020

Tedros travels to Beijing four weeks after first being warned about the pandemic and gives thanks to president Xi Jinping on behalf of the world for containing the Covid-19 virus in China. It is “rare leadership”, Tedros says
May-July 2020

Nations instruct Tedros to investigate the origins of Covid-19 but a secret deal in Beijing rules out a probe into the theory most hated by China: a lab leak. Instead, WHO will look at China’s pet theory that the virus was imported on frozen food
Aug-Nov 2020

The WHO allows China a veto over selection of the mission’s experts. US experts are rejected in favour of Peter Daszak, a fierce opponent of the laboratory theory who is a described as a “collaborator” with the Wuhan Institute of Virology

thetimes.co.uk/article/china-…
Jan 2021

The US government discloses intelligence that three WIV researchers fell ill with Covid-19-like symptoms in autumn of 2019. It urges the WHO inquiry team, now in Wuhan, to investigate the lab’s experiments which made coronaviruses more infectious to humans
Feb 2021

Tedros arranges for the joint mission - with no expertise to audit labs - to question Wuhan institute bosses. They are given no access to records and have to accept the word of those they question. The team concludes that the lab leak theory is “extremely unlikely”
March 2021 onwards

After the US raises “deep concerns” about the team’s findings, Tedros changes his approach and declares all origin theories should remain on the table. China, however, refuses to participate in further inquiries on its soil
China’s interference with the WHO over more than a decade is claimed to have blown the only chance the world had of avoiding the pandemic and now means we may never know how the virus started

thetimes.co.uk/article/china-…

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More from @thesundaytimes

15 Aug
When wildfires broke out across Algeria last week, people were left to fight the flames using only buckets of water and branches.

@venetiamenzies reports on the heroic efforts of soldiers and ordinary citizens combating the blaze thetimes.co.uk/article/heatwa…
The mountainous Kabylie region of Algeria, 16% of which is covered by forests, has been burning for a week. Seasonal fires are common in the country, but the heatwave and high winds have made these the deadliest wildfires yet.
25 soldiers - declared martyrs by the government - were filmed driving towards the flames armed with bottles of water and without protective clothing.

“Do not cry my dears, God is with you”, people shouted as they departed.
Read 8 tweets
15 Aug
“Dogs appear to do very little.”

The purpose of our dogs is something that @MrAndrewCotter has pondered a lot over the past year and a half.

But, he believes they can still teach us a great deal.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-ca…
Take joy from the simple things.

Is there anything more obvious than a dog’s experience of visceral pleasures? From the wind that blows scents around to the feeling of sand under their paws. Try to enjoy life in its most elemental form.
Don’t want for too much.

Dogs are minimalist creatures and we could all learn from that – they certainly wouldn’t be coveting the latest 60in plasma screen television.
Read 9 tweets
15 Aug
Bright young things

Meet seven of the most exciting writers appearing at the @CheltLitFest thetimes.co.uk/article/chelte…
Paul Mendez

Brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness, Mendez was “disfellowshipped” from the church as a teenager, became estranged from his family, moved to London and came out as gay

Mendez’s autobiographical novel, Rainbow Milk, was dubbed“a unique new voice in the British novel.”
.@Gabriel_Krauze

Krauze attempted to write a novel about the First World War aged 13 — the same year he first witnessed a stabbing and threatened someone with a knife.

He spent his twenties drug dealing and had two stints in prison. He is now a Booker Prize long listed author.
Read 9 tweets
14 Aug
"I'm being boycotted by Hollywood"

From pin-up to pariah — can Johnny Depp make a comeback? In his first interview since everything went wrong, the actor talks to The Sunday Times

thetimes.co.uk/article/johnny…
“Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd...”

The actor reflects on life after losing his legal battle not to be called a ‘wifebeater’

thetimes.co.uk/article/johnny… Image
Johnny Depp has a new film out this week. In the opening scene his character, the real-life photographer W Eugene Smith, says, “I’m done. My body is older than I am. I’m always in goddam pain. Even the drugs bore me."
Read 7 tweets
8 Aug
Record-breaker Adam Peaty is home from #Tokyo2020 and ready for a rest – after he’s jet-washed the garden fence. @rosiekinchen meets the king of the swimmers. thetimes.co.uk/article/adam-p…
Two weeks ago, Peaty’s torpedo-like form slid through the water to win the 100m breaststroke, winning the first gold medal of the #Olympics for Britain.

He went on to win another gold in the mixed 4x100m relay, in a world record time.
You would expect Peaty, 26, to be walking on air — yet days afterwards he announced that he was going to take a month off to prioritise his mental health.
Read 11 tweets
8 Aug
Jason Kenny became the most successful British Olympian in history this morning, now boasting nine medals, seven gold and two silver. On Friday, his wife Laura won her fifth gold medal.

Their son now has a total of 15 gold and silver toys to play with.

thetimes.co.uk/article/jason-…
Lauren Price has faced a long wait and winding road, but she delivered a last-day gold medal for Great Britain in convincing style at the Kokugikan Arena today.

thetimes.co.uk/article/tokyo-…
Tom Daley added a bronze in the men’s individual 10m platform to the gold medal he had won earlier in the synchronised version.

His husband, Dustin Lance Black, tweeted a clip of their son, Robbie, 3, watching his father on television, chanting “Go, Papa, go!”
Read 4 tweets

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