China orders U.S. to close consulate in Chengdu


A Chinese paramilitary policeman stands guard at the entrance to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province on September 17, 2012.

The ministry also ordered the consulate general to cease operations.
“The current situation between China and the U.S. is something the Chinese side does not want to see,” the foreign ministry said in a Chinese-language statement translated by CNBC.
“The responsibility lies entirely with the U.S. side,” the statement added. “We again urge the U.S. side to immediately revoke its relevant wrong decisions, to create necessary conditions for the two countries’ relationship to return to normal.”

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing declined to comment.

Belgium prince Joachim tests positive after lockdown party


Belgian prince Joachim has been diagnosed with coronavirus just days after attending a private party in Spain which breached social distancing rules. He is the nephew of King Philippe of Belgium and ninth in line to the throne, attended the party on Tuesday in a private house in the city of Cordoba. According to Spanish news outlet El Pais, 27 people attended the private party, which is nearly double the number of people (15) currently allowed to congregate under one roof in the Andalusian city. All the guests who attended the party are now in quarantine, while it is not clear whether the prince contracted the virus at the party or whether he already had the virus beforehand.  Prince Laurent of Belgium, another of Joachim's uncles, confirmed the virus has been contracted by at least one member of his family.

How some cities 'flattened the curve' during the 1918 flu pandemic ..Today Coronavirus plays that role

Coronavirus, the first cases of which were discovered in the city of Wuhan in December 2019, continues to spread across the globe. So far more than 7.5 lakh cases of infection and 33 thousand more deaths have been registered. The Corona positive cases and deaths goes up day by day around the world. Especially Europe and United States of America are the great sufferers now. Panicky rumours are circulating on the Internet that over a thousand people are dying in Wuhan. At the Chinese border, Russians are refusing to work with goods from China because they believe they're infected. They are taking precautions at every level, and as a result prices are going up and business is going down. A dictatorship may be perfectly positioned to enforce a quarantine.CORONAVIRUS' epicentre is known to be Wuhan, a Chinese province - but an unearthed report claims the Spanish Flu pandemic may have originated in China more than a century ago, too.The Spanish flu is one of the worst has killed more than 100 million people maximum in 1918. The flu by positing that it developed first in Europe’s trenches. It began in the trenches or ended up there after the arrival of American troops, the virus spread quickly to German soldiers and to neutral Spain. Spain to erroneously think that it was alone in enduring such a brutal outbreak — hence the name `Spanish flu.` Russian POWs returning from Germany spread the disease to the newly created Soviet Union, and by May and June, various countries in Africa, as well as India, China, and Japan, all had outbreaks. In particular, had more brutal effects than typical influenza, not least because it was likelier than the ordinary flu to be joined by bacterial pneumonia. caused most of the deaths in the 1918 flu outbreak.While today countries keep detailed records of testing and diagnosis for new outbreaks (as they’ve been doing during the coronavirus crisis), there was no such record-keeping capacity in the late 1910s.

Pollution hangs over Indian capital as farm stubble fires rage

New Delhi’s air quality was at its worst this season on Thursday, as winds heavy with toxic smoke from polluting vehicles and smoldering cro...