CHINA SAYS PANDEMIC BROKE OUT IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD BEFORE WUHAN

REPORTED

Nearly a year after the country became the epicenter for the deadly

coronavirus outbreak that has cast a huge shadow on the entire world, China

on Friday made audacious claims that the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in

several parts of the world but it was reported only in the Chinese mainland,

and that it was the only country that acted first.

With these comments, China seems to have absolved itself from all the

accusations levelled against it of being responsible for the deaths of tens

of thousands of people amid a worldwide view that the contagion originated

in the central Chinese city, and Beijing kept it under wraps.

China also denied allegations levelled by the United States that the

Covid-19 virus emerged from a bio-laboratory in Wuhan, and at the same time

rejected claims that the virus emerged from a wet market in Wuhan from bats

or pangolins before spreading to humans.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said during a media

briefing in Beijing on Friday that "the epidemic broke out in various places

across the world towards the end of last year, while China was the first to

report the outbreak, identified the pathogen and shared the genome sequence

with the world", news agency PTI reported.

NOBEL PEACE FOR UN FOOD AGENCY

The United Nations food agency, the World Food Programme (WFP), won the

Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to combat hunger and improve

conditions for peace in areas affected by conflict.

The Rome-based organisation says it helps some 97 million people in about 88

countries each year, and that one in nine people worldwide still do not have

enough to eat.

"The need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more

conspicuous than ever," Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairwoman of the Norwegian

Nobel Committee, told a news conference.

The WFP is a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a

weapon of war and conflict, with the COVID-19 outbreak further boosting its

relevance, she said.

"The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number

of victims of hunger in the world," the Nobel committee said in its

citation.

The prize is worth 10 million Swedish crowns, or around $1.1 million, and

will be presented in Oslo on December 10.

ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN TALKS ON KARABAKH BEGIN IN MOSCOW

Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday began their first high-level talks after

nearly two weeks of clashes over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The top diplomats from the two countries said in a statement that the truce

is intended to exchange prisoners and recover the dead, adding that specific

details will be agreed on later.

The announcement follows 10 hours of talks between the diplomats in Moscow,

which were sponsored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Mr. Lavrov

said the cease-fire should pave way for talks on settling the conflict.

"It has begun," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on

Facebook, posting a picture of the foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and

Azerbaijan sitting at a round table in Moscow.

DEMS MOVE BILL SEEKING REMOVAL OF TRUMP'S POWERS ON MEDICAL GROUNDS

President Donald Trump plans to return to the campaign trail with a flurry

of online and in-person events, including a rally in Florida on Saturday,

even as Congressional Democrats introduced a bill providing for the removal

of the president's powers on medical grounds, starting with the next term.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced a legislation on Friday to set up the

'Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of

Office' under US Constitution's 25th amendment, which allows for the

transfer of presidential powers to the vice-president in case of president's

death, removal, resignation or incapacitation. "This is not about President

Donald Trump - he will face the judgment of the voters," Pelosi said at a

press conference at the Capitol.

Trump hit back in a tweet, saying Pelosi is the one that needed to be put

under observation.

The president will start his return to campaigning with a "radio rally" on

Friday on syndicated radio-host Rush Limbaugh's show and then do his first

on-camera interview since catching Covid-19 with Fox News, during which he

will undergo a "medical evaluation" by the show's medical contributor.

Sean Conley, Trump's physician, has cleared him for "safe return to public

engagements" on Saturday, the 10th day after the president was diagnosed for

Covid-19, saying Trump has "responded extremely well to treatment". But the

doctor has admitted before to projecting an "upbeat" picture of the

president's health.

CORONAVIRUS | CHINA JOINS COVAX VACCINE ALLIANCE

China, which has four coronavirus vaccine candidates in stage 3 clinical

trials, said on Friday that it is joining the coronavirus vaccine alliance

known as COVAX.

The country signed an agreement with GAVI, the co-leader of the alliance, on

Thursday, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Initially, China did

not agree to join the alliance, missing the global deadline to join in

September.

"We are taking this concrete step to ensure equitable distribution of

vaccines, especially to developing countries, and hope more capable

countries will also join and support COVAX," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

Hua Chunying said in a statement.

It is not yet clear the exact terms of the agreement and how China will

contribute. The country's leader Xi Jinping previously said that China would

make the vaccine a global public good.

The alliance is designed so that richer countries agree to buy into

potential vaccines and help finance access for poorer ones. The Trump

administration in the US had declined to join the alliance.

WHITE HOUSE HOSTED COVID 'SUPERSPREADER' EVENT, SAYS DR FAUCI

Top US virus expert Dr Anthony Fauci has criticised the White House for

hosting a gathering last month that has been linked to an outbreak of

Covid-19.

Dr Fauci, a member of the White House's coronavirus task force, said the

president's unveiling of his judicial nominee was a "superspreader event".

An event at the White House on Saturday 26 September, for the president's

nomination of Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court judge, is thought to be

the root of the localised outbreak, as many attendees have since tested

positive.

Dozens of White House aides and other contacts were reportedly infected.

"The data speak for themselves - we had a superspreader event in the White

House, and it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were

not wearing masks", Dr Fauci told CBS News.

President Donald Trump's doctors have just cleared him to hold public events

as he himself recovers from Covid-19.

Mr Trump - who was discharged from hospital on Monday after three nights -

held a medical "evaluation" on Fox News on Friday night.

He is expected to host an in-person White House event on Saturday.

EXPECT CHINA-STYLE DEVELOPMENT FOR SRI LANKA: GOTABAYA

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Friday said he was targeting a China-style

development model for Sri Lanka, even as he sought greater investment and a

larger market from the Asian giant.

Following his meeting with a high-level delegation from Beijing in Colombo,

a statement from the President's office said plans were afoot to recommence

discussions on the Sri Lanka-China Free Trade Agreement, and to swiftly

complete the China-backed Hambantota Industrial Zone and the Port City in

Colombo, a flagship $1.4 billion project in China's Belt and Road

Initiative.

Recalling his past visits to China - "13 times" - President Rajapaksa told

the delegation: "I have seen massive development, especially in rural areas.

My target is to bring about similar development, especially in rural areas

in Sri Lanka, and to raise the living conditions of the people in this

country, especially that of the poor. I look forward to seeing a visible

progress in the Port City project over the next four years", according to

the media statement.

Yang Jiechi, a top foreign policy official , who led the delegation from

Beijing said: In addition to pledging China's continued support to Sri Lanka

in international forums, including at the UN Human Rights Council, "China's

assistance will not be just lip service but concrete action to achieve the

development goals," the statement issued by the President's office said.

IRAN'S ROUHANI SAYS NEW US SANCTIONS CANNOT BREAK 'RESISTANCE'

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Friday dismissed new US sanctions as

unable to break the Islamic republic's "resistance" and said Washington has

already done all it can to pressure Tehran.

US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sweeping sanctions on

Iran's banking sector on Thursday by designating 18 major Iranian banks to

"stop illicit access to US dollars".

"The Americans have so far done all they could against the great nation of

Iran," Rouhani said, according to his official website.

"They cannot break the resistance of the Iranian nation with these inhumane"

actions, he added.

According to Rouhani, the US administration is following "domestic aims" by

such "political-propaganda attempts".

The US Treasury Department said it was exempting transactions in

humanitarian goods such as food and medicine.

But Rouhani said the sanctions are "attempts to create serious obstacles in

fund transfers for medicine and food" and called them "cruel, terrorist and

inhumane".

He also called on the world's "human rights advocates" to condemn the move.

The step could largely cut off the nation of 80 million people from the

world's financial system just as it tries to cope with the Covid-19

pandemic.

PAKISTAN BANS TIKTOK OVER INDECENT, IMMORAL CONTENT

Pakistan announced on Friday that it has banned TikTok after the country's

telecom regulator received complaints against immoral, indecent, obscene and

vulgar content hosted on the Chinese-owned video sharing app.

The Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) said a number of complaints from

different segments of the society were lodged against the app.

PTA earlier issued a final notice to TikTok and gave it "considerable time

to respond and comply with" instructions for development of an effective

mechanism for proactive moderation of "unlawful online content".

The move was met with surprise and criticism on social media.

The short video app has a huge user base among young Pakistanis, with some

attracting millions of followers.

But it has come up against backlash in the ultra-conservative Islamic

country, where in recent months several dating apps including Tinder and

Grindr have also been banned and YouTube was threatened with shutdown.

Pakistanis were unable to access the app on Friday evening.