The head of the World Health Organization says he will begin an independent evaluation of the U.N. health agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic “at the earliest appropriate moment.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the pledge Monday after an independent oversight advisory body published its first interim report about the U.N. health agency’s response to COVID-19 from January to April.
The 11-page report raised questions such as whether WHO’s warning system for alerting the world to outbreaks is adequate, and suggested member states might need to “reassess” WHO’s role in providing travel advice to countries.
The advisory body’s review and recommendations appeared unlikely to appease the United States administration, which has been scathing in its criticism of WHO — in part over President Donald Trump’s allegation that it had criticized a U.S. travel ban that he ordered on people arriving from China, where the outbreak first appeared late last year.
Trump ordered a temporary suspension of funding for WHO from the United States — the health agency’s biggest single donor — pending a review of its early response. But the review panel, echoing comments from many countries, said such a review during the “heat of the response” could hurt WHO’s ability to respond to it.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell once again doubled down on the easy money policies that have defined the central bank's response to the pandemic-fueled economic downturn.
Stop AAPI Hate co-founder Cynthia Choi joined Cheddar to discuss anti-Asian hate crime reporting and what Americans can do to combat incidents of racial discrimination against Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.
With COVID cases rising in many places, governments are facing the dilemma to push on with a vaccine that is known to save lives or suspend use of AstraZeneca over reports of dangerous blood clots in a few recipients.
The police break up of a weekend vigil for a young murder victim abducted in London has touched off a national debate in Britain.
As a worldwide semiconductor shortage hammers American industries, trade groups are reaching out to the Biden administration with pleas to boost production in the U.S.
Microsoft President Brad Smith will testify before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Friday.
The Vatican has decreed that the Catholic Church won't bless same-sex unions, saying that God “cannot bless sin.”
More than a dozen congressional Democrats from New York, as well as both senators, put out statements in what appeared to be a coordinated release Friday morning, calling on the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, to resign.
What is up next for the Biden administration now that it has clocked its first major legislative win? This is your Washington Week Ahead.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
