New trouble threatens between Beijing and Washington
The announcement seems quite harmless at first, but it has it all: US President Joe Biden has tasked the US intelligence services with redoubling their efforts in the search for the
source of the coronavirus pandemic
.
He also ordered the services to give him the results of their investigations in 90 days.
That is new.
So far, Biden had always relied on the formula that the international community should investigate the matter independently on the sensitive issue.
Now he is relying on his own results and is taking the side of all those who are calling for a more aggressive US line in the matter.
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US President Biden
Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP
Biden's announcement could put a strain on the already strained relationship between the US and China.
If the US services come to the conclusion in their investigations that the virus
does
come from the mysterious
research laboratory in Wuhan
, China would be exposed to the global public.
In addition, the pressure would increase in the USA to punish China for the alleged wrongdoing in some form.
For example through sanctions.
At the same time, the
anti-China sentiment
in parts of the USA could continue to rise in the coming weeks. She is fueled by the sideline of ex-President Donald Trump, who said he had few doubts that the virus came from the laboratory in Wuhan. One can now omit the word "probably" in reports about it, said Trump in an interview. But even Democrats are now calling for Biden to crack down on Beijing. You accuse the Chinese leadership of being intransparent in clearing up the matter.
Biden himself, however, is still a bit more cautious.
He said US intelligence
leaned
on
different theories
, some supporting the laboratory orthosis, others continuing to believe that the virus was transmitted from animals to humans.
According to media reports, the number of US experts who now believe that the virus actually came from the laboratory is apparently growing behind the scenes.
Most recently, the "Wall Street Journal" caused a sensation with a report that employees from the laboratory in Wuhan had already been sick in the fall of 2019.
China has dismissed the report as nonsense.
Biologist on the origin of the coronavirus: The new vortex surrounding the laboratory orthosis - and what's behind it
Vaccination summit advises on children and vaccine distribution
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Chancellor Merkel
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the prime ministers of the federal states are meeting today
for their next vaccination summit.
There's a lot to talk about.
Among other things, it is about the question of when and how children and adolescents should be vaccinated.
Many countries are putting pressure on this, but so far there is neither a concrete plan nor a secure supply of
sufficient vaccine
to ensure swift vaccinations.
Above all, there is still the unresolved question of whether the
Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko)
wants to recommend vaccination for children and adolescents in general.
If she does not do this, many parents will probably consider even more carefully whether they want their children to be vaccinated at all.
Then the virus can continue to circulate and mutate in this age group.
Another important point of the meeting is likely to be the supply of vaccines, especially with a view to the
lifting of vaccination priorities
on June 7th.
Before the meeting, several prime ministers called on the federal government to provide more vaccine.
For example,
Hamburg's First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD)
criticized
that more than 40,000 doses of vaccine had not been delivered to his country.
"The vaccine distribution in Germany is unfair," Tschentscher told SPIEGEL.
“The disadvantage increases every week.
There has to be a swift compensation. «In no other country had so little vaccine been delivered as in Hamburg.
Before vaccination summit: Peter Tschentscher criticizes vaccine distribution
Lukashenko is also a bad liar
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Alexander Lukashenko
Photo: Sergei Shelega / dpa
It is often said that the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko is trying to copy his role model, Vladimir Putin. But the comparison between the two is crooked, because Putin is
clearly a few classes better than the Belarusian autocrat
at
tricking, camouflaging and deceiving
.
Lukashenko and his agents are pretty bad liars, as the crisis surrounding the hijacked
Ryanair jet
shows. Lukashenko had forced the plane to land in Minsk in order to arrest the opposition blogger
Roman Protasewitsch
. To cover up the matter, Lukashenko and his people made up the fairy tale of the
alleged bomb threat from
the Palestinian Hamas. They serve up this story in variations to get out of the affair.
Curious: the email that apparently contained the alleged bomb threat was probably
only received
on Sunday
at 12:57 p.m.
on an account at Minsk Airport - almost half an hour after the Belarusian flight control notified the Ryanair pilot of an alleged explosive device on board would have. The email was leaked to the London Dossier Center; SPIEGEL was able to see the content and times.
It has been faked better: The email has the
subject line "Allahu Akbar".
And: It was sent from the account of an "ahmed_yurlanov1988@protonmail.com".
On Twitter, this choice of name in particular causes a lot of ridicule.
Investigative journalist Michael Weiss noted with amusement that Yurlanov is a common Jewish surname.
The real Hamas would probably not use that.
Internal e-mail: Belarus urged a Ryanair jet to land - even before the alleged bomb threat was received
Loser of the day ...
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Shell logo
Photo: Toby Melville / REUTERS
... is Europe's largest energy group
Shell
. The company suffered a major defeat before a court in the Dutch city of The Hague. The court ordered the oil multinational to drastically reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. Shell had to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 45 percent net by 2030 compared to 2019, the court ruled. Never before has a company been forced by a judge to take drastic climate protection measures.
It is a victory for David over Goliath: Among others, environmentalists from the Milieudefensie group complained that Shell had long been accusing Shell of being an important driver of global CO₂ emissions through its oil and gas production.
If Shell were to actually implement the ruling, the group would probably have to part with a large part of its oil and gas business.
The Goliath now wants to appeal.
But David will probably not give up until the matter is finally decided.
The latest news from the night
Warming could soon reach 1.5 degrees:
Experts expect new temperature records in the next few years.
The probability that global warming will reach 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times by 2025 is 40 percent
Bayer fails in court - and gets out of proceedings:
Bayer wanted to cushion future lawsuits against the controversial weed agent glyphosate with two billion US dollars - but a judge dismissed it.
The group's reaction followed promptly
Author of "The
Very Hungry Caterpillar
" is dead:
A very, very hungry caterpillar made Eric Carle famous, the work of the children's book author and artist has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.
Now Carle has died at the age of 91
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I wish you a good start to the day.
Your Roland Nelles
