WHO LAUNCHES REVIEW OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE AFTER TRUMP CRITICISM

The World Health Organization named leaders of an independent panel to

review its response to the Covid-19 pandemic that has been criticized by the

US.

Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, and Ellen Johnson

Sirleaf, former president of Liberia, were selected as co-chairs, WHO

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a meeting with

member-states. The panel will present an interim report in November.

WHO has come under fire for its response to the coronavirus outbreak from

President Donald Trump who is pulling the US out of the global group, saying

that it's too close to China. Tedros has responded that the agency acted

appropriately with the information it had and the rest of the world had

plenty of time to prepare to fight the outbreak.

Clark and Johnson Sirleaf, who were chosen in consultation with experts and

member countries, will pick the rest of the committee, Tedros said. He

suggested that in addition to the interim report, the panel will provide

monthly updates. The panel will review the international response to the

pandemic, including that of the WHO. The full report is expected in May.

"It's time for a very honest reflection," Tedros said in the meeting. "All

of us must look in the mirror. The WHO, every member state, all involved in

the response, everyone. Are we ready to learn the big lessons?"

AUSTRALIA SUSPENDS EXTRADITION DEAL, EXTENDS VISAS FOR HONG KONG CITIZENS

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday announced measures to

assist Hong Kong citizens start a new life in Australia, including extending

visas by five years, after Beijing imposed a new security law on the Asian

financial hub.

Morrison also suspended an extradition agreement with Hong Kong. Under the

security law Hong Kong suspects can be sent for trial in Communist

Party-controlled courts in mainland China.

Morrison said the new national security law introduced last week in Hong

Kong was a fundamental change of circumstances and Australia would suspend

the extradition agreement.

"There will be citizens of Hong Kong who may be looking to move elsewhere,

to start a new life somewhere else, to take their skills, their businesses,"

Morrison said.

He announced visa measures that would assist Hong Kong citizens already in

Australia to stay. Hong Kong students who graduate in Australia will have

the opportunity to stay for five years and apply for permanent residency

after that time.

Hong Kong citizens on temporary work visas in Australia would also be

eligible to extend these for five years, and later apply for permanent

residency.

Morrison said there are 10,000 Hong Kong citizens in Australia on student

visas or temporary work visas.

Australia also made a pitch for international financial services, consulting

and media businesses with regional headquarters in Hong Kong to relocate to

Australia, and said it would offer incentives and visas packages to relocate

staff.

Britain, too, is extending residency rights for up to 3 million Hong Kongers

eligible for British National Overseas passports, allowing them to live and

work in the U.K. for five years.

Canada has suspected its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and is looking at

other options including migration.

XINJIANG: US SANCTIONS CHINESE OFFICIALS OVER 'ABUSE' OF MUSLIMS

The US has announced sanctions against Chinese politicians who it says are

responsible for human rights violations against Muslim minorities in

Xinjiang.

China is accused of mass detentions, religious persecution and forced

sterilisation of Uighurs and others.

The sanctions target US-based financial interests belonging to regional

Communist Party boss Chen Quanguo and three other officials.

China denies any mistreatment of Muslims in far-western Xinjiang.

Authorities there are thought to have detained about a million people in

re-education camps in recent years. They say "vocational training" is needed

to counter radicalism and separatism.

Mr Chen, who sits on the Chinese Communist Party's powerful Politburo, is

the highest-ranking Chinese official ever to be hit by US sanctions, the

Trump administration says. He is seen as the architect of Beijing's policies

against minorities.

It is now a crime in the US to conduct financial transactions with all of

them, and they will have their US-based assets frozen.

Sanctions have also been placed on the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau as a

whole.

CORONAVIRUS | CHINA OFFERS GLIMPSE INSIDE LAB NEAR WUHAN VIRUS ORIGIN

Chinese state media has offered a rare glimpse of the lab at the heart of

coronavirus conspiracy theories, as it seeks to push back against claims the

facility was the source of the global pandemic.

President Donald Trump and other U.S. figures have repeatedly suggested the

virus could have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or even been

deliberately produced there.

Footage broadcast by state-run CCTV is believed to be the first from within

the institute's P4 lab - for highly-dangerous Class 4 pathogens - since its

inauguration in 2017.

However, it offered no new information on the lab's workings.

It included only a few brief shots of actual laboratory areas, taken through

thick glass windows. The report said safety protocols prevented closer

access.

BLUELEAKS: GERMANY SEIZES SERVER HOSTING PILFERED US POLICE FILES

At the behest of the US government, German authorities have seized a

computer server that hosted a huge cache of files from scores of US federal,

state and local law enforcement agencies obtained in a Houston data breach

last month.

The server was being used by a WikiLeaks-like data transparency collective

called Distributed Denial of Secrets to share documents - many tagged "For

Official Use Only" - that shed light on US police practices.

The data, dating back to 1996, include emails, audio and video files and

police and FBI intelligence reports. DDoSecrets founder Emma Best said the

data, dubbed "BlueLeaks," comes from more than 200 agencies. It has been

stripped of references to sexual assault cases and references to children,

but names, phone numbers and emails of police officers were not redacted,

said Best, who uses they/their pronouns.

Best said that DDoSecrets obtained the data from an outside individual who

sympathized with nationwide protests against police killings of unarmed

Black people. Some of the files offer insights into the police response to

those protests, they said.

While hacking into computers and stealing data is a federal crime, US courts

have consistently ruled that journalists may publish stolen documents as

long as they are not involved in their theft. DDoSecrets says it is a

journalistic organization that shares documents in the public interest.

The documents came to light via a breach of Houston web-design company

Netsential, which hosts portals for law enforcement agencies and "fusion

centers," state-run operations created after the 9/11 attacks to share

threat intelligence with local and state police and private-sector partners.

The prosecutor's office in Zwickau, a German city near the Czech border,

said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the server was confiscated July

3 in the town of Falkenstein following a request from US authorities.

The Zwickau prosecutors' statement said it would be up to German judicial

authorities to decide whether to hand the server over to US authorities.

CORONAVIRUS | WHO: INDOOR AIRBORNE SPREAD OF VIRUS POSSIBLE

The World Health Organisation is acknowledging the possibility that COVID-19

might be spread in the air under certain conditions - after more than 200

scientists urged the agency to do so.

In a change to its previous thinking, WHO noted on Thursday that studies

evaluating COVID-19 outbreaks in restaurants, choir practices and fitness

classes suggested the virus might have been spread in the air.

Airborne spread "particularly in specific indoor locations, such as crowded

and inadequately ventilated spaces over a prolonged period of time with

infected persons cannot be ruled out, WHO said.

Still, officials also pointed out that other modes of transmission - like

contaminated surfaces or close contacts between people in such indoor

environments - might also have explained the disease's spread.

WHO's stance also recognised the importance of people spreading COVID-19

without symptoms, a phenomenon the organisation has long downplayed.

The agency said that most spread is via droplets from infected people who

cough or sneeze, but added that people without symptoms are also capable of

transmitting the disease.

The extent of truly asymptomatic infection in the community remains unknown,

WHO said.

GERMAN INTELLIGENCE WARNS AGAINST GIVING DATA TO CHINESE TECH FIRMS

Germany's domestic intelligence agency is warning consumers that personal

data they provide to Chinese payment companies or other tech firms could end

up in the hands of China's government.

In its annual report released Thursday, the BfV agency noted that Chinese

government offices have access to data stored in China by companies such as

Tencent, Alibaba "as well as other apps, web services and mobility providers

such as for example (bike sharing) providers" that operate in Germany.

The head of the BfV, Thomas Haldenwang, said German's data isn't safe with

Chinese companies because they were required by law to provide the data to

their government.

"Any customer here in Germany who uses such a system shouldn't be surprised

if this data is abused in Beijing," he told reporters. "We can only warn

against this."

Germany's top security official also expressed concern about what he called

the "hybrid threat" from China, which included the purchase of key German

companies.

"When it comes to critical infrastructure, in the energy supply or now with

5G lines, we have to consider how we can protect ourselves," said Horst

Seehofer, Germany's interior minister.

Seehofer added that Germany has yet to reach a "political decision" on

whether to let Chinese telecom equipment company Huawei supply

infrastructure to German cell-phone service providers.

SINGAPOREANS BEGIN VOTING WITH MASKS AND GLOVES UNDER COVID-19 CLOUD

Singaporeans wearing masks and gloves began casting their ballot on Friday

under the cloud of the Covid-19 pandemic that is pushing the city-state's

economy towards its deepest recession and has made concerns over jobs the

focus of the election.

In power since independence in 1965, the ruling People's Action Party (PAP)

is expected to carry Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to another comfortable,

and probably final victory.

The son of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding leader, Lee has held the

premiership since 2004, but aged 68 he has already flagged his intention to

step aside in coming years.

Seen as a measure of approval for both the government's response to the

coronavirus crisis and the next generation of leaders, the poll results will

be closely watched as even small shifts in the PAP's popularity can lead to

major policy changes.

Sample counts are expected soon after the close of polls at 8 p.m. (1200

GMT) with final results due in the early hours of Saturday.

Citizens have each been given a recommended voting window.

There are just 2.65 million voters, and election organisers are counting on

a fast, regimented and hygienic vote to minimise risks of coronavirus

infections.