The Chinese government froze meaningful efforts to trace the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, despite publicly declaring that it supported an open scientific inquiry, an Associated Press investigation has found. The AP drew on thousands of pages of undisclosed emails and documents, leaked recordings and dozens of interviews that showed the freeze began far earlier than previously known — in the first weeks of the outbreak — and involved political and scientific infighting in China as much as international finger-pointing. That pattern continues to this day, with labs closed, collaborations shattered, foreign scientists forced out and Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country.
By COLLEEN LONG and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press
No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie of cocaine found in the West Wing lobby last week despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn't identify a suspect, according to summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained by The Associated Press. There are no leads on who brought the drugs into the White House. U.S. Secret Service agents found the white powder during a routine White House sweep on July 2, in a heavily trafficked West Wing lobby where staff go in and out and tour groups gather to drop their phones and other belongings.
A Sweden-based watchdog says global military spending grew for the eighth consecutive year in 2022 to an all-time high of $2.24 trillion. There was a sharp rise of 13% in Europe, chiefly due to Russian and Ukrainian expenditure. In a report released Monday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said military expenditure in Europe saw its steepest year-on-year increase in at least 30 years. Military aid to Ukraine and concerns about a heightened threat from Russia "strongly influenced many other states' spending decisions." The three largest spenders last year were the United States, China and Russia, who jointly accounted for 56% of the expenditure.
