China has oil and gas trump card on US

The Donald Trump administration is ramping up retaliatory rhetoric against China over its handling of the coronavirus crisis and its corresponding devastation, a renewed trade war threat that promises to hit US energy producers if and when China retorts in kind. Read More

Deciphering Trump’s political attacks on China

US President Donald Trump has tied himself and onlookers in knots by his alternating speeches for and diatribes against China over Covid-19 in recent weeks. Only he can cut the Gordian knot, and he will be in a position to do so only after November when the US presidential election is over. Read More

How to build a hydrogen-boron fusion reactor

Hora’s approach is one of many – in various stages of development – proposed for achieving nuclear fusion power. I don’t intend to endorse one idea over another but writing about Hora’s extremely promising concept is an excellent way to acquaint readers with some of today’s most exciting areas of science and technology. Read More

ISIS eyes Covid-19 weakness in Indonesia

With battered Islamic State (ISIS) urging its followers to take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic’s disruption and launch renewed attacks around the world, Indonesian counter-terrorism police have seized a startling amount of ammunition in raids at opposite ends of Java. Read More

Duterte blacks out the news in the Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s long-running standoff with the Lopez business clan has finally come to a head with the forced closure of the family’s ABS-CBN media empire. The shutdown has sent shockwaves across the nation and beyond, raising fears that Duterte is moving towards full-fledged authoritarianism under emergency powers granted to him to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Read More

Is that your medical opinion, Doctor Trump?

As the pandemic swept over the world, in countries here and there people saw promising signs that one or the other of a couple of existing pharmaceutical treatments might help with Covid-19. There was the 100-year-old tuberculosis vaccine BCG, which most Japanese receive in infancy. And there were malaria drugs called chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. Read More

Taiwan makes fresh bid for WHO access

Taiwan is making a fresh bid to be seen and heard when the world’s top health officials and medical professionals congregate for an annual meeting of the World Health Organization. Health and foreign affairs officials of the self-ruled island said on Tuesday that Taiwan’s status and participation would be on the agenda at the WHO’s World Health Assembly, to be convened on May 18 via video. Read More

From the archives

China plays divide and rule in South China Sea: China exploits Indonesia-Vietnam sea clash to sow division and redraw the contested maritime region’s map.

CIA should know if China lied on Covid-19: But it wouldn't be the first time the dysfunctional US intelligence agency has been blindsided when it matters most.

‘Monster germ’ threat comes under the microscope: With the outbreak of Covid-19, the time may be ripe to revisit the role of the UN Biological Weapons Convention.
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What Asia Times staff are reading

Inside the Early Days of China’s Coronavirus Coverup: The dawn of a pandemic – as seen through the news and social media posts that vanished from China’s internet.

In Lebanon, a Pandemic of Hunger: Anger over a failing economy and unaffordable food has pushed protesters into the streets despite the coronavirus.

Li Hui, Rising Star at Forefront of China’s Art Scene, Has Died at 43: His grandiose installations filled with lasers and lights earned him significant attention.