Committed to support India's fight against black money: Swiss prez

Agencies
September 2, 2017

New Delhi, Sept 2: Switzerland President Doris Leuthard has said the country is committed to supporting India's fight against black money through exchange of related information. She said this last night during a ceremony at the Swiss Embassy here to launch celebrations commemorating the 70th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"India is a good friend. In these seven decades, we have listened to each other, given advice, and learned from each other. This is the foundation on which a relationship stands today," Leuthard said.

"And, Switzerland is committed to supporting India's fight against black money through exchange of related information and this year we await the approval in our Parliament," she said.

The Swiss president during her four-day India visit held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a wide range of issues, including combating black money and cooperation in several sectors.

The 70th year celebrations will be held till 2018. As part of the inaugural event, Leuthard, on the last leg of her trip, felicitated several "Friendship Ambassador" from both the countries, including noted economist M S Swaminathan, during the function at the Embassy.

She also emphasised on the business ties of the two countries, saying over 250 Swiss companies are operating in India, while 140 Indian firms have presence in Switzerland.

"Our trade volume is growing and various sectors on which we can collaborate more and work together are railways, design, film and tourism," she said.

"I thank you (India) for your friendship," the Swiss president said. Two short films on opportunities in Switzerland and its culture and 70 years of journey of the two nations were also screened on the occasion.

Ambassadors from several countries, representatives from the business, art and other sectors were also among those who attended the event hosted at the sprawling garden of the Embassy.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Geneva, May 27: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide has increased by nearly 100,000 over the past 24 hours to surpass 5.4 million, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

According to the WHO, the global case tally currently stands at 5,404,512 -- a rise by 99,780 over the past day.

The death count worldwide amounts to 343,514 -- an increase by 1,486.

Most cases of infection are recorded in the Americas -- 2,454,452, with 143,739 deaths.

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Agencies
March 6,2020

Up to 2,241 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported across the globe as of Thursday, bringing the total count to 95,333, according to the latest official data by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Five countries, territories and areas reported COVID-19 cases for the first time in the past 24 hours, the Xinhua news agency reported.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised the importance of implementing a comprehensive approach to mitigate the impact of the virus in a briefing on Wednesday.

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News Network
July 4,2020

Geneva, Jul 4: The World Health Organization has updated its account of the early stages of the COVID crisis to say it was alerted by its own office in China, and not by China itself, to the first pneumonia cases in Wuhan.

The UN health body has been accused by US President Donald Trump of failing to provide the information needed to stem the pandemic and of being complacent towards Beijing, charges it denies.

On April 9, WHO published an initial timeline of its communications, partly in response to criticism of its early response to the outbreak that has now claimed more than 521,000 lives worldwide.

In that chronology, WHO had said only that the Wuhan municipal health commission in the province of Hubei had on December 31 reported cases of pneumonia. The UN health agency did not however specify who had notified it.

WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference on April 20 the first report had come from China, without specifying whether the report had been sent by Chinese authorities or another source.

But a new chronology, published this week by the Geneva-based institution, offers a more detailed version of events.

It indicates that it was the WHO office in China that on December 31 notified its regional point of contact of a case of "viral pneumonia" after having found a declaration for the media on a Wuhan health commission website on the issue.

The same day, WHO's epidemic information service picked up another news report transmitted by the international epidemiological surveillance network ProMed -- based in the United States -- about the same group of cases of pneumonia from unknown causes in Wuhan.

After which, WHO asked the Chinese authorities on two occasions, on January 1 and January 2, for information about these cases, which they provided on January 3.

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference on Friday that countries have 24-48 hours to officially verify an event and provide the agency with additional information about the nature or cause of an event.

Ryan added that the Chinese authorities immediately contacted WHO's as soon as the agency asked to verify the report.

US President Donald Trump has announced that his country, the main financial contributor to WHO, will cut its bridges with the institution, which he accuses of being too close to China and of having poorly managed the pandemic.

The WHO denies any complacency toward China.

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