DONALD TRUMP SHOOTS LETTER TO WHO, THREATENS TO EXIT WORLD BODY

US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to pull America out of the

World Health Organization (WHO) and permanently stop US funding for the

world body if it did not "commit to major substantive improvements" in the

next 30 days.

Underlining Washington's escalating fight with Beijing, Trump said the WHO

needs to show "independence from China". He earlier labelled the WHO as a

"puppet of China".

In a letter to WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Trump

accused the organisation of "repeated missteps" in responding to the

pandemic.

Trump shared the letter on Twitter hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping

addressed the WHO's governing body, the World Health Assembly, by video

link. Xi promised to devote $2 billion towards fighting the pandemic over

the next two years.

WHO head Tedros later said that he would keep leading the global fight

against the pandemic.

Commenting on Trump's letter, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian

said it was "full of insinuations" and aimed "to mislead the public and

achieve the purpose of stigmatising China's epidemic control efforts while

shirking its own responsibility". He said the US has an obligation to pay

the full WHO membership fee.

"Arbitrarily cutting funding to an international organisation is

unilateralist behaviour," Zhao said. "We urge the US to stop passing the

buck and deepen international cooperation."

In the letter, Trump wrote, "It is clear repeated missteps by you and your

organisation in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for

the world. The only way forward for the organisation is if it can actually

demonstrate independence from China."

He also wrote that if the WHO "does not commit to major substantive

improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze on US

funding permanent and reconsider our membership."

'MY DECISION TO MAKE': TRUMP DEFENDS CRITICISED USE OF ANTIMALARIAL DRUG HCQ

FOR COVID-19

President Donald Trump emphatically defended himself Tuesday against

criticism from medical experts that his announced use of a malaria drug

against the coronavirus could spark wide misuse by Americans of the unproven

treatment with potentially fatal side effects.

Trump's revelation a day earlier that he was taking hydroxychloroquine

caught many in his administration by surprise and set off an urgent effort

by officials to justify his action. But their attempt to address the

concerns of health professionals was undercut by the president himself.

He asserted without evidence that a study of veterans raising alarm about

the drug was "false" and an "enemy statement," even as his own government

warned that the drug should be administered for COVID-19 only in a hospital

or research setting.

"If you look at the one survey, the only bad survey, they were giving it to

people that were in very bad shape," Trump said. That was an apparent

reference to a study of hundreds of patients treated by the Department of

Veterans Affairs in which more of those in a group who were administered

hydroxychloroquine died than among those who weren't.

"This is an individual decision to make," Trump told reporters during a

visit to Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans. He later claimed,

"It's gotten a bad reputation only because I'm promoting it."

SPIKE IN CASES MAKE RUSSIA, BRAZIL NEW COVID HOTSPOTS

New coronavirus (COVID-19) cases have been spiking from India to South

Africa to Mexico in a clear indication that the pandemic is far from over,

while Russia and Brazil now sit behind only the United States in the number

of reported infections.

The surges come even as much of Asia, Europe and scores of the U.S. States

have seen enough progress in their fight against the coronavirus to focus on

how best to reopen their economies.

Russia reported a steady rise in new infections on Tuesday and new hot spots

have emerged across the vast nation of about 147 million.

Russia registered 9,263 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total

to nearly 300,000 infections - about half of them in Moscow. Authorities say

2,837 people with COVID-19 have died in Russia, a figure that international

health experts have questioned.

In Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg, one of the main hot

spots, all burials now must be with closed coffins irrespective of the cause

of death as an extra precaution. Previously the measure only applied to

COVID-19 deaths.

Russia's case load is second only to the U.S., which has seen 1.5 million

infections and over 90,000 deaths.

Brazil has recorded its highest daily death toll yet with 1,179 over that

past 24 hours. Overall, the virus has now been linked to almost 18,000

fatalities in the country.

In terms of infections, Brazils now has the world's third-highest number

with 271,885 confirmed cases. Over the past 24 hours alone, there were

17,408 new positive tests and observers say the country's peak is not

expected until June.

CORONAVIRUS | WHO STATES AGREE TO INDEPENDENT PROBE OF COVID-19 RESPONSE

World Health Organization member states agreed on Tuesday to an independent

probe into the United Nations agency's coronavirus (COVID-19) response as

the U.S. criticism mounted over its handling of the pandemic.

Countries taking part in the WHO's annual assembly, being held virtually for

the first time, adopted a resolution by consensus urging a joint response to

the crisis. The resolution, tabled by the European Union, called for an

"impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation" of the international

response to the pandemic, which has so far infected more than 4.8 million

people and killed over 3,18,000.

It said the investigation should include a probe of "the actions of WHO and

their time-lines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic".

The United States did not disassociate itself from the consensus as some had

feared after Washington chastised the WHO on the first day of the assembly

on Monday and lashed out further against China over its role in the

outbreak.

Tuesday's resolution at the WHO assembly - which is not binding and

mentioned no countries by name - also called for nations to commit to

ensuring "transparent, equitable and timely access" to any treatments or

vaccines developed against COVID-19.

And it addressed the controversial issue of the origin of the virus, which

first emerged in China late last year, urging the WHO to help investigate

"the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human

population".

GERMAN COURT LIMITS SPY AGENCY BND'S OVERSEAS INTERNET SURVEILLANCE POWERS

Germany's Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that monitoring the internet

traffic of foreign nationals abroad by the BND intelligence agency partly

breaches the Constitution.

The long-awaited ruling stated that internet surveillance of foreigners

abroad violates the freedom of the press enshrined in the country's

Constitution.

It is the first time that the court has ruled that the BND is subject to

Germany's Constitution even for its activities abroad and means that

complaints brought by foreign journalists and Reporters Without Borders were

largely successful.

STATES ACCUSED OF FUDGING OR BUNGLING COVID-19 TESTING DATA

As large parts of the US ease their lockdowns against the coronavirus,

public health officials in some states are being accused of bungling

infection statistics or even deliberately using a little sleight of hand to

make things look better than they are.

The result is that politicians, business owners and ordinary Americans who

are making decisions about reopenings and other day-to-day matters risk

being left with the impression that the virus is under more control than it

actually is.

In Virginia, Texas and Vermont, for example, officials said they have been

combining the results of viral tests, which show an active infection, with

antibody tests, which show a past infection. Public health experts say that

can make for impressive-looking testing totals but does not give a true

picture of how the virus is spreading.

In Florida, the data scientist who developed the state's coronavirus

dashboard, Rebekah Jones, said this week that she was fired for refusing to

manipulate data "to drum up support for the plan to reopen." Calls to health

officials for comment were not immediately returned Tuesday.

In Georgia, one of the earliest states to ease up on lockdowns and assure

the public it was safe to go out again, the Department of Public Health

published a graph around May 11 that purportedly showed new COVID-19 cases

declining over time in the most severely affected counties. The entries,

however, were not arranged in chronological order but in descending order.

Georgia state Rep. Jasmine Clark, a Democrat with a doctorate in

microbiology, called the graph a "prime example of malfeasance," adding:

"Science matters, and data manipulation is not only dangerous, but leads to

distrust in our institutions." Democratic state Rep. Scott Holcomb likewise

called the department's presentations "purposely misleading." Georgia Gov.

Brian Kemp's office denied there was any attempt to deceive the public.

HUNGARY OUTLAWS CHANGING BIRTH GENDER ON DOCUMENTS

Hungary's parliament has approved a law that bans transsexuals from changing

the gender they were assigned at birth on official documents.

The law, proposed by the governing right-wing Fidesz party, passed by 133

votes to 57.

Rights groups fear it will worsen discrimination against LGBTQ citizens; an

opposition MP said it was "evil".

But the government, led by PM Victor Orban, says it will end legal

uncertainty.

The administration insists it will not prevent anyone expressing their

identity.

The decision "to register children's biological sex in their birth

certificates does not affect men's and women's right to freely experience

and exercise their identities as they wish," the government's communications

office said.

The law is part of a wide-ranging package of legislation, presented by

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen.

A backlog of applications going back three years will now be rejected.

SCIENTISTS FEAR CAR SURGE WILL SEE CO2 REBOUND

Daily global emissions of CO2 fell by 17% at the peak of the shutdown

because of measures taken by governments in response to Covid-19, scientists

say.

Industry has temporarily closed down and demand for energy all over the

world has crashed. China has been responsible for the biggest drop, followed

by the US, Europe and India.

The most comprehensive account yet published says that almost half the

record decrease was due to fewer car journeys.

But the authors are worried that, as people return to work, car use will

soar again. They fear CO2 emissions could soon be higher than before the

crisis.

SOUTH KOREAN SENIORS RETURN TO SCHOOL

Hundreds of thousands of high school seniors are returning to school in

South Korea today - but things aren't exactly going to be the same.

For one, they'll have to get their temperatures checked, hands sanitised and

don a mask before they're able to step into school premises.

If a case is confirmed within a school, the school will switch back to

online classes immediately.

The country is implementing a phased return to the classroom - all of the

country's students will eventually get back to school by 8 June.

Watch the scenes outside one school this morning.