Global News

[ad_1] Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here. Hong Kong CNN  —  The US Department of Energy’s assessment that Covid-19 most likely emerged due to a laboratory accident in China has reignited fierce debate and attention on the question of how the pandemic began. But the “low confidence” determination , made in a newly updated classified report, has raised more questions than answers, as the department has publicly provided no new evidence to back the claim. It’s also generated fierce pushback from China. “We urge the US to respect science and facts, stop politicizing this issue, stop its intelligence-led, politics-driven origins-tracing,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday. ...

[ad_1] Hong Kong CNN  —  China is planning to offer free fertility treatment to citizens under its national insurance scheme in a bid to reverse its plummeting birth rate. The National Healthcare Security Administration said on Friday it would extend its coverage to help shoulder the costs for families trying to conceive. It said the new coverage would include assisted reproductive technology (ART) techniques and also cover labor analgesia to ease pain in childbirth. The most commonly performed ART procedure is in vitro fertilization (IVF). The administration described China’s falling population as one of the biggest obstacles to national development and stressed it had already added ovulation-inducing drugs to its coverage, to help “reduce the burden of infertility.” The expanded coverage is part of a wider attempt by Chinese authorities to persuade more people t...

[ad_1] CNN  —  One of Cambodia’s last remaining independent media outlets has been shut down by Prime Minister Hun Sen ahead of national elections in July, in a move condemned by rights groups as a blow to press freedom. Based in the capital Phnom Penh, Voice of Democracy (VOD), a local outlet run by the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, published radio and online reports about labor and rights issues , environmental crime and political corruption . It reported last week that Hun Manet, son of the prime minister, allegedly signed an agreement to donate aid to Turkey, which was struck by a catastrophic earthquake last week. The report alluded to an apparent overstep of his authority. Hun Sen refuted the report and issued statements on Facebook accusing the outlet of attacking his son and hurting the “dignity and reputation” of the Cambodian government. H...

[ad_1] Paris CNN  —  Impromptu protests broke out in Paris and across several French cities Thursday evening following a move by the government to force through reforms of the pension system that will push up the retirement age from 62 to 64. While the proposed reforms of France’s cherished pensions system were already controversial, it was the manner in which the bill was approved – sidestepping a vote in the country’s lower house, where President Emmanuel Macron’s party crucially lacks an outright majority – that arguably sparked the most anger. And that fury is widespread in France. Figures from pollster IFOP show that 83% of young adults (18-24) and 78% of those aged over 35 found the government’s manner of passing the bill “unjustified.” Even among pro-Macron voters – those who voted for him in the first round of last year’s presidential election, before a runoff with hi...

[ad_1] CNN  —  At least 190 people have died after Tropical Cyclone Freddy ripped through southern Malawi, local authorities said Tuesday as survivors continue to look for loved ones in badly hit areas. At least 584 have been injured and 37 people have been reported missing in the country.  The Malawi Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change said Tuesday the cyclone is “weakening but will continue to cause torrential rains associated with windy conditions in most parts of Southern Malawi districts.”  “The threat of heavy flooding and damaging winds remains very high,” the report added. Charles Kalemba, a commissioner for the Department of Disaster Management Affairs agency, told CNN Tuesday that the situation had worsened in southern Malawi. “It’s worse today. A number of places are floodin...

[ad_1] CNN  —  The seventh episode of Netflix’s “Full Swing” is named “Golf is Hard.” It could easily serve as the title for the series itself. Taken literally, it could refer to how golf’s latest fly-on-the-wall show, documenting the 2022 PGA Tour season, shows just how difficult it is to win even a single tournament, let alone multiple or a major. In the case of Matt Fitzpatrick, US Open triumph – his first PGA Tour win no less – proved the ultimate payoff to a dogged commitment to self-improvement, the reward for countless hours spent pouring over data and spreadsheets. Dubbed the hardest working player in the men’s game, the 28-year-old Englishman is shown to have logged details of his shots since the age of 15. Trawling through a plastic box stacked with yardage books, Fitzpatrick estimates he has recorded over 7,000 swings from both competitions and the driving range....