North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned again that the North could preemptively use its nuclear weapons if threatened.

His latest comments came as he praised his top army officials for a massive military parade in Pyongyang this week. State media reported on Saturday that Kim expressed "firm will" to continue developing his nuclear-armed military so that it could "preemptively and thoroughly contain and frustrate all dangerous attempts and threatening moves, including ever-escalating nuclear threats from hostile forces, if necessary."

The parade on Monday came after a spate of missile tests that underscored Kim's willingness to force the United States to accept the North as a nuclear power and remove crippling economic sanctions.

SALINA, Kan. — Joe Kejr knows wheat.

"Not a real big one. Sometimes, you can see those in Kansas up to 20," said Kejr.

He's been farming it for quite a while.

"I graduated high school in '77 and kind of been farming since. It's kind of hard to believe how many years that's been, " he said.

Quite a while. You could say he knows a little bit about farming, especially wheat. The recent issues with the supply chain can keep him up at night.

I asked him which supply chain issue is most worrisome to him right now.

"Well, that probably changes by the hour, actually," he said.

Supply chain issues have been wreaking havoc on the farming industry for months, if not longer.

"It might be hard to get some of the fertilizers or parts that we need or even a tire that goes out on our air seater. You don't know if you're going to be able to get it," said Kejr.

But there could be an even bigger cloud hanging over the global supply of wheat – and other foods.

"You have 19-20% of the world's population with three times the amount of food that they need," said Jack Buffington.

Buffington is a supply chain economics professor at the University of Denver, and he's talking about China.

From this year's crop, China is expected to have 60% of the world's rice reserves, 51% of wheat, and 69% of corn. That's a lot of food.

"The food market is a global market, and prices are based on global markets, and for us, it translates into higher prices,"

The UN food price tracker reached an all-time high of 159.7 in March and dropped to just 158.5 in April, 30% higher than it was this time last year. That resulted in 5% inflation on a loaf of bread in 2022 in the US.

That's tough for working Americans trying to put food on the table. It's tough for Joe too. He doesn't have a lot of say about the price of wheat.

"We farm so we can help feed the world. You know, we care about people," Kejr said.

Hong Kong —

State-backed Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft's cloud-based security in hacking the email accounts of officials at multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to Beijing last month, officials said Wednesday.

The surgical, targeted espionage accessed the email of a small number of individuals at an unspecified number of U.S. agencies and was discovered in mid-June by the State Department, U.S. officials said. They said none of the breached systems were classified, nor was any of the stolen data.

Related video above: Rossen Reports: How to sign up for dark web monitoring

The hacked officials included Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. Export controls imposed by her agency have stung multiple Chinese companies.

One person familiar with the investigation said U.S. military and intelligence agencies were not among the agencies impacted in the monthlong spying campaign, which also affected unnamed foreign governments.

The officials spoke on condition they not be further identified.

In a technical advisory Wednesday and a call with reporters, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI said Microsoft determined the hackers gained access by impersonating authorized users.

Officials did not specify the nature of the stolen data. But one U.S. official said the intrusion was “directly targeted” at diplomats and others who deal with the China portfolio at the State Department and other agencies. The official added that it was not yet clear if there had been any significant compromise of information.

The Blinken trip went ahead as planned, although with customary information security procedures in place, which required his delegation to use “burner” phones and computers in China.

The hack was disclosed late Tuesday by Microsoft in a blog post. It said it was alerted to the breach, which it blamed on a state-backed, espionage-focused Chinese hacking group “known to target government agencies in Western Europe,” on June 16. Microsoft said the group, which it calls Storm-0558, had gained access to email accounts affecting about 25 organizations, including government agencies, since mid-May as well as to consumer accounts of individuals likely associated with those agencies.

Neither Microsoft nor U.S. officials would identify the agencies or governments impacted. A senior CISA official told reporters in a press call that the number of affected organizations in the United States is in the single digits.

While the official declined to say whether U.S. officials are displeased with Microsoft over the breach, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge noted that it was “government safeguards” that detected the intrusion and added, “We continue to hold the procurement providers of the U.S. Government to a high security threshold.”

In fact, those safeguards consist of a data-logging feature for which Microsoft charges a premium. The CISA official noted that some of the victims lacked the data-logging feature and, unable to detect the breach, learned of it from Microsoft.

But of greater concern to cybersecurity experts is that The Storm-0558 hackers broke in using forged authentication tokens — which are used to verify the identity of a user. Microsoft's executive vice president for security, Charlie Bell, said on the company's website that the hackers had done that by acquiring a “consumer signing key.”

Cybersecurity researcher Jake Williams, a former National Security Agency offensive hacker, said it remains unclear how the hackers accomplished that. Microsoft did not immediately respond to emailed questions, including whether it was breached by the hackers to obtain the signing key.

Williams was concerned the hackers could have forged tokens for wide use to hack any number of non-enterprise Microsoft users. “I can’t imagine China didn’t also use this access to target dissidents on personal subscriptions, too."

The head of intelligence for the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, Adam Meyers, said in a statement that the incident highlights the systemic risk of relying on a single technology provider in Microsoft. He said “having one monolithic vendor that is responsible for all of your technology, products, services and security - can end in disaster.”

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, called the U.S. accusation of hacking “disinformation” aimed at diverting attention from U.S. cyberespionage against China.

“No matter which agency issued this information, it will never change the fact that the United States is the world’s largest hacker empire conducting the most cyber theft,” Wang said in a routine briefing.

U.S. intelligence agencies also use hacking as a critical espionage tool and it is not a violation of international law.

Last month, Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant said suspected state-backed Chinese hackers broke into the networks of hundreds of public and private sector organizations globally exploiting a vulnerability in a popular email security tool.

Earlier this year, Microsoft said state-backed Chinese hackers were targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork to disrupt critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises.

____

Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington and Zen Soo in Hong Kong contributed to this report. Bajak reported from Boston.

The FBI and Justice Department recently disrupted the activities of a hacking group that was sponsored by the North Korean government and that targeted U.S. hospitals with ransomware.

The agencies were able to recover half a million dollars in ransom payments. That's according to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. She revealed new details of the attacks during a speech in New York on Tuesday.

She encouraged organizations hit by ransomware to report the crime to law enforcement, both so that officials can investigate and so that they can help victim companies try to get ransom payments back.

In one case, Monaco said, a Kansas hospital that paid a ransom last year after being attacked by ransomware also contacted the FBI, which traced the payment and identified China-based money launderers who assisted the North Korean hackers in cashing out the illicit proceeds. The FBI recovered half a million dollars, including the entire ransom payment from the hospital, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's flight to Taiwan, which bolstered American support for the island nation but angered China, was the single most heavily tracked flight in the history of the online flight tracking site Flightradar24.The website, which uses a network of receivers to track planes' location and speed, said Wednesday that more than 708,000 people across the globe were tracking the flight when it landed in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei. And more than 2.9 million people tracked at least a portion of the flight amid uncertainty about whether Pelosi would follow through on her pledge to visit the island nation, whose independence is not recognized by China.Though the stop in Taiwan was not part of Pelosi's official schedule for her tour of Asia, a Taiwanese and U.S. official confirmed to CNN on Monday that she would be making the stop off. The decision came amid warnings from Biden administration officials, who raised concerns about how China would respond.Pelosi, whose visit to Taiwan was the first of its kind in 25 years, said she intended the trip to make it "unequivocally clear" that the United States would "not abandon" the democratically governed island. She was greeted by Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, in a televised meeting. She thanked Pelosi for visiting and praised her commitment to democracy and bestowed on her Taiwan's highest civilian honor.Beijing warned that Pelosi's trip would have a "severe impact on the political foundation of China-U.S. relations" and responded with a series of military exercises that began on Tuesday.Pelosi traveled from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, to Taipei aboard a Boeing C-40C jet (a military version of the Boeing 737 jetliner) operated by the US Air Force, according to the flight tracker. The flight flew under the call sign "SPAR19."Flightradar24, which started as a passion project by two aviation enthusiasts, said in a blog post that traffic on its website became so intense that it nearly brought down the tracker, and it was forced to limit access to the site for non-subscribers by implementing a waiting room feature."An unprecedented, sustained interest in this particular flight led to extremely heavy load on Flightradar24 infrastructure. Our teams immediately began efforts to maintain the stability of our services. Unfortunately, due to the volume of users, it was necessary to deploy our waiting room functionality, which meters access to Flightradar24 for non-subscribers."Shortly after Pelosi's flight landed, the company was able to restore normal access for all users.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is banning the sale of communications equipment made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE and restricting the use of some China-made video surveillance systems, citing an "unacceptable risk" to national security.

The five-member Federal Communications Commission said Friday it has voted unanimously to adopt new rules that will block the importation or sale of certain technology products that pose security risks to U.S. critical infrastructure. It's the latest in a years-long escalation of U.S. restrictions of Chinese technology that began with President Donald Trump and has continued under President Joe Biden's administration.

"The FCC is committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, in a prepared statement.

Huawei declined comment Friday. Along with Huawei and ZTE, the order affects products made by companies such as Hikvision and Dahua, makers of widely used video surveillance cameras.

The FCC's order applies to future authorizations of equipment, though the agency leaves open the possibility it could revoke previous authorizations.

"Our unanimous decision represents the first time in FCC history that we have voted to prohibit the authorization of new equipment based on national security concerns," tweeted Brendan Carr, a Republican FCC commissioner.

Carr added that as "a result of our order, no new Huawei or ZTE equipment can be approved. And no new Dahua, Hikvision, or Hytera gear can be approved unless they assure the FCC that their gear won't be used for public safety, security of government facilities, & other national security purposes."

Hikvision said in a statement that its video products "present no security threat" to the U.S. but the FCC's decision "will do a great deal to make it more harmful and more expensive for US small businesses, local authorities, school districts, and individual consumers to protect themselves, their homes, businesses and property."

Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street in afternoon trading Monday as protests spread in China calling for President Xi Jinping to step down amid growing anger over severe COVID-19 restrictions.

The world's second largest economy has been stifled by a "zero COVID" policy which includes lockdowns that continually threaten the global supply chain at a time when recession fears hang over economies worldwide. The recent upheaval in China is the greatest show of public dissent against the ruling Communist Party in decades.

The S&P 500 fell 1.5% as of 2:53 p.m. Eastern, with about 90% of the stocks in the benchmark index in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 466 points, or 1.4%, to 33,882 and the Nasdaq fell 1.5%.

Markets in Asia and Europe fell. Bond yields were mostly higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.71% from 3.69% on Friday.

Technology companies were the biggest weights on the broader market. Apple, which has seen iPhone production hit hard by lockdowns in China, fell 2.8%.

Banks and industrial stocks also helped pull the market lower. JPMorgan fell 1.6% and Boeing slid 3.3%.

Several casino operators gained ground as the Chinese gambling haven of Macao tentatively renewed the their licenses. Las Vegas Sands rose 1.7% and Wynn Resorts gained 4.5%.

The fallout from the collapse of crypto exchange FTX continued. Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global fell 4.1% and the price of Bitcoin slipped 2%.

Smaller company stocks also lost ground. The Russell 2000 was down 1.8%.

Wall Street is coming off of a holiday-shortened week that was relatively light on corporate news and economic data. Investors have a busier week ahead as they continue monitoring the hottest inflation in decades and its impact on consumers, business and monetary policy.

Anxiety remains high over the ability of the Federal Reserve to tame inflation by raising interest rates without going too far and causing a recession. The central bank's benchmark rate currently stands at 3.75% to 4%, up from close to zero in March. It has warned it may have to ultimately raise rates to previously unanticipated levels to rein in high prices on everything from food to clothing.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak at the Brookings Institution about the outlook for the U.S. economy and the labor market on Wednesday.

The Conference Board will release its consumer confidence index for November on Tuesday. That could shed more light on how consumers have been holding up amid high prices and how they plan on spending through the holiday shopping season and into 2023.

The government will release several reports about the labor market this week that could give Wall Street more insight into one of the strongest sectors of the economy. A report about job openings and labor turnover for October will be released on Wednesday, followed by a weekly unemployment claims report on Thursday. The closely-watched monthly report on the job market will be released on Friday.

____

Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON —

China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019, part of a global effort by Beijing to upgrade its intelligence-gathering capabilities, according to a Biden administration official.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the U.S. intelligence community has been aware of China's spying from Cuba and a larger effort to set up intelligence-gathering operations around the globe for some time.

The Biden administration has stepped up efforts to thwart the Chinese push to expand its spying operations and believes it has made some progress through diplomacy and other unspecified action, according to the official, who was familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter.

The existence of the Chinese spy base was confirmed after The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that China and Cuba had reached an agreement in principle to build an electronic eavesdropping station on the island. The Journal reported China planned to pay cash-strapped Cuba billions of dollars as part of the negotiations.

The White House called the report inaccurate.

"I've seen that press report, it's not accurate," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an MSNBC interview Thursday. "What I can tell you is that we have been concerned since day one of this administration about China's influence activities around the world; certainly in this hemisphere and in this region, we're watching this very, very closely."

The U.S. intelligence community had determined Chinese spying from Cuba has been an "ongoing" matter and is "not a new development," the administration official said.

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío also refuted the report in a Twitter post Saturday.

"The slanderous speculation continues, evidently promoted by certain media to cause harm and alarm without observing minimum patterns of communication and without providing data or evidence to support what they disseminate," he wrote.

President Joe Biden's national security team was briefed by the intelligence community soon after he took office in January 2021 about a number of sensitive Chinese efforts around the globe where Beijing was weighing expanding logistics, basing and collection infrastructure as part of the People's Liberation Army's attempt to further its influence, the official said.

Chinese officials looked at sites spanning the Atlantic Ocean, Latin America, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and the Indo-Pacific. The effort included looking at existing collection facilities in Cuba, and China conducted an upgrade of its spying operation on the island in 2019, the official said.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have been fraught throughout Biden's term.

The relationship may have hit a nadir last year after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to democratically governed Taiwan. That visit, the first by a sitting House speaker since Newt Gingrich in 1997, led China, which claims the island as its territory, to launch military exercises around Taiwan.

U.S.-China relations became further strained early this year after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had crossed the United States.

Beijing also was angered by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's stopover in the U.S. last month which included an encounter with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The speaker hosted the Taiwanese leader at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in southern California.

Still, the White House has been eager to resume high-level communications between the two sides.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning to travel to China next week, a trip that was canceled as the balloon was flying over the U.S. Blinken expects to be in Beijing on June 18 for meetings with senior Chinese officials, according to U.S. officials, who spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because neither the State Department nor the Chinese foreign ministry has yet confirmed the trip.

CIA Director William Burns met in Beijing with his counterpart last month. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart in Vienna over two days in May and made clear that the administration wanted to improve high-level communications with the Chinese side.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently spoke briefly with Li Shangfu, China's minister of national defense, at the opening dinner of a security forum in Singapore. China had earlier rejected Austin's request for a meeting on the sidelines of the forum.

___

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

[related id='43360dcb-3964-4ef4-8ab1-14770011df20' align='center'][/related

Video above: Analysis: High stakes, modest gains as Biden-Xi talk

China's military sent 71 planes and seven ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force directed at the island, Taiwan's defense ministry said Monday, after China expressed anger at Taiwan-related provisions in a U.S. annual defense spending bill passed on Saturday.

China's military harassment of self-ruled Taiwan, which it claims is its own territory, has intensified in recent years, and the Communist Party's People's Liberation Army has sent planes or ships toward the island on a near-daily basis.

Between 6 a.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday, 47 of the Chinese planes crossed the median of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary once tacitly accepted by both sides, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense.

Among the planes China sent towards Taiwan were 18 J-16 fighter jets, 11 J-1 fighters, 6 Su-30 fighters and drones.

Taiwan said it monitored the Chinese moves through its land-based missile systems, as well as on its own navy vessels.

"This is a firm response to the current US-Taiwan escalation and provocation," said Shi Yi, the spokesman for the PLA's Eastern Theater Command, in a statement on Sunday night. It announced that the PLA was holding joint combat patrols and joint strike drills in the waters around Taiwan.

Shi was referring to the U.S. defense spending bill, which calls China a strategic challenge. With regard to the Indo-Pacific region, the legislation authorizes increased security cooperation with Taiwan and requires expanded cooperation with India on emerging defense technologies, readiness and logistics.

China's military has often used large military exercises as a demonstration of force in response to U.S. government actions in support of Taiwan. It conducted large live-fire military exercises in August in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Beijing views visits from foreign governments to the island as de facto recognition of the island as independent and a challenge to China's claim of sovereignty.

SINGAPORE —

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin vowed Saturday that Washington would not stand for any “coercion and bullying” of its allies and partners by China, while assuring Beijing that the United States remains committed to maintaining the status quo on Taiwan and would prefer dialogue over conflict.

Video above: Chinese jet intercepts US spy plane

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual forum bringing together top defense officials, diplomats and leaders in Singapore, Austin lobbied for support for Washington's vision of a “free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific within a world of rules and rights” as the best course to counter increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

The U.S. has been expanding its own activities around the Indo-Pacific to counter sweeping territorial claims from China, including regularly sailing through and flying over the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea.

“We are committed to ensuring that every country can fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," he said at the forum hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank. "And every country, large or small, must remain free to conduct lawful maritime activities.”

Austin noted that the U.S. had provided millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic and is regularly involved in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance efforts in the region. He said it is working to combat climate change, illegal fishing and ensure that supply chains do not suffer disruptions — ticking off many issues of importance to Asian-Pacific nations.

“We're doubling down on our alliances and partnerships,” he said.

He said the U.S. is also committed to deterring North Korea's missile threat and China's claims on Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy that Beijing says is its territory, and said Washington has been stepping up defense planning, coordination and training with partner nations in the region.

“To be clear, we do not seek conflict or confrontation,” he said. “But we will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion.”

Underscoring Austin's words, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer and a Canadian frigate sailed Saturday through the Taiwan Strait, “waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law,” the U.S. 7th Fleet said. There was no immediate word of a Chinese response.

In Singapore, Chinese Lt. Gen. Jing Jianfeng, a senior member of the delegation accompanying Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu, accused Austin of “overtly or covertly making false accusations against China” in his address.

Speaking with reporters after Austin spoke, Jing alleged the U.S. has been “deceiving and exploiting” Asia-Pacific nations to advance its own self-interests to preserve “its dominant position" in the region.

He suggested that Washington has been holding on to alliances that are “remnants of the Cold War” and establishing new pacts, like the AUKUS agreement with Britain and Australia and the “Quad” grouping with Australia, India and Japan “to divide the world into ideologically-driven camps and provoke confrontation.”

Jing, who took no questions, said that by contrast, “China is committed to the region's development and prosperity.”

Austin sought to assure China that the U.S. remained “deeply committed” to the longstanding one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing as the government of China but allows informal relations with Taiwan, and continues to “categorically oppose unilateral changes to the status quo from either side.”

He added that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had served to underline how dangerous the world would be if big countries were able to "just invade their peaceful neighbors with impunity.”

“Conflict is neither imminent nor inevitable,” Austin said. “Deterrence is strong today — and it’s our job to keep it that way. The whole world has a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

But Jing accused the U.S. of hollowing out the one-China policy, accusing Washington of supporting Taiwanese separatists without citing any evidence, and reiterating Beijing's claim that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's sovereign territory.”

“There's no room for us to concede or compromise,” he said.

He added that “China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and the adjacent waters.”

Li, who became China’s defense minister in March, declined Austin’s invitation to talk on the sidelines of the conference, though the two did shake hands before sitting down at opposite sides of the same table together as the forum opened Friday.

Austin said this was not enough.

“A cordial handshake over dinner is no substitute for a substantive engagement,” he said.

Li, who was named defense minister in March, is under American sanctions that are part of a broad package of measures against Russia — but predate its invasion of Ukraine — that were imposed in 2018 over Li’s involvement in China’s purchase of combat aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles from Moscow.

The sanctions, which broadly prevent Li from doing business in the United States, do not prevent him from holding official talks, American defense officials have said.

It was not clear whether Li, who is to address the forum Sunday morning, was in the room while Austin talked. He did join the American defense secretary and others later for a ministerial roundtable.

Austin reiterated calls that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made in his opening address at the forum for China to engage in regular, direct communications to help prevent any possible conflict.

“For responsible defense leaders, the right time to talk is anytime,” Austin said. “The right time to talk is every time. And the right time to talk is now.”

Jing said, however, that lines of communication needed to be based upon “mutual respect.”

“But the U.S. has been calling for communications on one hand and undermining China’s interests and concerns on the other,” he said.

The U.S. has noted that since 2021 — well before Li became defense minister — China has declined or failed to respond to more than a dozen requests from the U.S. Defense Department to talk with senior leaders, as well as multiple requests for standing dialogues and working-level engagements.

WASHINGTON —

Video above: Doctor compares current COVID-19 strains to original virus

A crucial question has eluded governments and health agencies around the world since the COVID-19 pandemic began: Did the virus originate in animals or leak from a Chinese lab?

Now, the U.S. Department of Energy has assessed with "low confidence" that it began with a lab leak, according to a person familiar with the report who wasn't authorized to discuss it. The report has not been made public.

But others in the U.S. intelligence community disagree.

"There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started," John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday. "There is just not an intelligence community consensus."

The DOE's conclusion was first reported over the weekend in the Wall Street Journal, which said the classified report was based on new intelligence and noted in an update to a 2021 document. The DOE oversees a national network of labs.

White House officials on Monday declined to confirm press reports about the assessment.

In 2021, officials released an intelligence report summary that said four members of the U.S. intelligence community believed with low confidence that the virus was first transmitted from an animal to a human, and a fifth believed with moderate confidence that the first human infection was linked to a lab.

While some scientists are open to the lab-leak theory, others continue to believe the virus came from animals, mutated, and jumped into people — as has happened in the past with viruses. Experts say the true origin of the pandemic may not be known for many years — if ever.

Calls for more investigation

The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the report. All 18 offices of the U.S. intelligence community had access to the information the DOE used in reaching its assessment.

Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, said she isn't sure what new intelligence the agencies had, but "it's reasonable to infer" it relates to activities at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. She said a 2018 research proposal co-authored by scientists there and their U.S. collaborators "essentially described a blueprint for COVID-like viruses."

"Less than two years later, such a virus was causing an outbreak in the city," she said.

The Wuhan institute had been studying coronaviruses for years, in part because of widespread concerns — tracing back to SARS — that coronaviruses could be the source of the next pandemic.

No intelligence agency has said they believe the coronavirus that caused COVID-19 was released intentionally. The unclassified 2021 summary was clear on this point, saying: "We judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon."

"Lab accidents happen at a surprising frequency. A lot of people don't really hear about lab accidents because they're not talked about publicly," said Chan, who co-authored a book about the search for COVID-19 origins. Such accidents "underscore a need to make work with highly dangerous pathogens more transparent and more accountable."

Last year, the World Health Organization recommended a deeper probe into a possible lab accident. Chan said she hopes the latest report sparks more investigation in the United States.

China has called the suggestion that COVID-19 came from a Chinese laboratory " baseless."

Support for animal theory

Many scientists believe the animal-to-human theory of the coronavirus remains much more plausible. They theorize it emerged in the wild and jumped from bats to humans, either directly or through another animal.

In a 2021 research paper in the journal Cell, scientists said the COVID-19 virus, is the ninth documented coronavirus to infect humans — and all the previous ones originated in animals.

Two studies, published last year by the journal Science, bolstered the animal origin theory. That research found that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was likely the early epicenter. Scientists concluded that the virus likely spilled from animals into people two separate times.

"The scientific literature contains essentially nothing but original research articles that support a natural origin of this virus pandemic," said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who has extensively studied COVID-19's origins.

He said the fact that others in the intelligence community looked at the same information as the DOE and "it apparently didn't move the needle speaks volumes." He said he takes such intelligence assessments with a grain of salt because he doesn't think the people making them "have the scientific expertise ... to really understand the most important evidence that they need to understand."

The U.S. should be more transparent and release the new intelligence that apparently swayed the DOE, Worobey said.

Reaction to the report

The DOE conclusion comes to light as House Republicans have been using their new majority power to investigate all aspects of the pandemic, including the origin, as well as what they contend were officials' efforts to conceal the fact that it leaked from a lab in Wuhan. Earlier this month, Republicans sent letters to Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Health Secretary Xavier Beccera and others as part of their investigative efforts.

The now-retired Fauci, who served as the country's top infectious disease expert under both Republican and Democratic presidents, has called the GOP criticism nonsense.

Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has asked the Biden administration to provide Congress with "a full and thorough" briefing on the report and the evidence behind it.

Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, emphasized that President Joe Biden believes it's important to know what happened "so we can better prevent future pandemics" but that such research "must be done in a safe and secure manner and as transparent as possible to the rest of the world."

___

AP reporters Farnoush Amiri, Nomaan Merchant and Seung Min Kim contributed. Ungar reported from Louisville, Kentucky.

WASHINGTON — From a possible TikTok ban being proposed in Congress to an increase in the United States military presence in the Pacific, it's no secret that relations between the United States and China are relatively tense right now.

In fact, the relationship with China is shaping policy around the world.

Just this week a new submarine agreement with the United Kingdom and Australia was announced, in part, to compete with China.

However, many Chinese Americans fear the tense relationship could result in an increase in hate crimes or discrimination.

CHINESE AMERICAN HISTORY

Because of all the recent stories — and tension with Beijing — it is worth a visit to the Chinese American museum in Washington, D.C., to speak with David Uy, the executive director.

"People often ask, what does a Chinese-American look like — I am one of them — I am half Chinese, and I am half Italian," Uy said.

What's important during this time is that all Americans know that just because politics with Beijing is tense, it doesn't give anyone an excuse to be rude — or hateful — to their neighbors, he urged.

"You may have issues with a country but those people in the U.S. are as American as you," Uy said.

"We don't want spy balloons drifting over the country," Uy added.

Unfortunately hate crimes against Asian Americans are on the rise.

Newly updated data from the FBI shows that in 2021 there were over 700 anti-Asian incidents nationwide. Uy's museum has felt it first-hand.

"We've had a rock thrown threw our window, and we have had hate speech left at one of our exhibits," he said.

Part of Uy's goal is to educate Americans more on Chinese-American history in the U.S.

For instance, the transcontinental railroad was largely built by Chinese laborers.

"Ten miles of rail track was laid in a single day," Uy said. One fear he has, is a return to the past.

From the 1880s to the 1960s, the United States Congress significantly restricted — and for many years, banned — Chinese citizens from migrating to the United States.

The Chinese Exclusion Act remains one of the most restrictive immigration laws ever passed by Congress.

"They were not always the most welcomed of immigrants," Uy said.

All of this is worth keeping in mind as the political rivalry between the United States and China intensifies.

Any political expert will tell you, it's a rivalry that won't be going away soon.

North Korea imported more than 1 million facial masks and 15,000 pairs of rubber gloves from China in July, shortly before declaring victory over COVID-19, Chinese trade figures show.Pyongyang last week declared victory over the coronavirus, ending a little-detailed fight against "fever" cases that had risen to 4.77 million in the country of around 26 million people. It has registered no new such cases since July 29.Still, China exported 1.23 million facial masks to North Korea in July, worth $44,307, surging from 17,000 the previous month, according to data released by Chinese customs at the weekend.From January to July, the last month for which data is available, the North bought more than 11.93 million masks from China, data showed.North Korea did not import any COVID-19 prevention and control products from China in May, the data showed.China's overall exports to North Korea surged to $59.74 million in July from $19.05 million in June.Top exports were semi- or wholly milled rice, cigarettes, disodium carbonate and smoked sheets of natural rubber.North Korea bought $5.16 million worth of semi- or wholly milled rice, $1.98 million of soybean oil and fractions, and $1.21 million of granulated sugar in July, the Chinese customs data showed.China suspended cross-border freight train services with North Korea following consultations due to COVID-19 infections in its border city of Dandong, China's Foreign Ministry said on April 29.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — When you look at a map of the world, you see lines and borders.

Some are created by water, others by man, and, often, by war.

If this week has taught anyone anything, it's that just because a country's borders are drawn a certain way, it doesn't mean they will stay that way.

WEST CONDEMNS RUSSIA

"This aggression cannot go unanswered," President Joe Biden said this week from the White House.

While the President and other world leaders are hoping severe sanctions force Russia to restore the borders in Europe to where they were at the start of the week, the reality is Russia has been interested in re-drawing Ukraine for years.

After all, Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union.

In 2014, Russia took Crimea, a part of Ukraine.

This week began with Russia sending troops to the Donbas region.

Now, the Russian military is spread throughout the country. Many military experts agree that Ukraine could fall completely since they are not equipped to fight Russia on their own.

THE WORLD IS WATCHING

A looming question is whether the invasion inspires other world leaders to do the same thing.

It’s something being watched closely in Washington.

For example, China has long wanted to claim Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, as their own.

North Korea has long had an interest in neighboring South Korea.

Iran has also expressed interest in land around the Middle East.

President Biden's statements about war could also lead to more tensions.

He has been very clear he doesn’t want American service members fighting in Ukraine. Last year, he made clear he didn’t want Americans fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

BIDEN'S APPROACH

President Biden does believe that severe economic penalties, like the ones he has imposed on Russia, are enough to end conflicts and prevent future ones.

"America stands up to bullies,” Biden said Thursday.

He also isn't completely opposed to military action, deploying thousands of American troops to eastern Europe who are prepared to fight should the war extend beyond Ukraine's borders.

ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA —

Freestyler skier Alex Hall led a 1-2 American finish in the men's Olympic slopestyle competition on Wednesday with a trick on his first run where he stopped his rotation midair and turned in the other direction before softly landing.

Hall's opening run drew a score of 90.01, which no one could match in three runs. His teammate Nick Goepper turned in a creative run on his second pass to earn silver. Jesper Tjader of Sweden took home bronze.

The American men have captured six of nine Olympic medals since the event made its debut in 2014. Goepper has three of them, adding Wednesday to his silver from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and bronze from the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"So proud of the boys and so proud of how they skied," said Skogen Sprang, the head coach of the U.S. freeski slopestyle pro team. "They've put in a ton of work and they stayed true to the way they want to ski and that's what we're all about in this sport. ... Landing it when it counts is huge."

Hall stole the show on a frigid day at the Genting Snow Park, where the temperature was around minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius). The 23-year-old who was born in Alaska, grew up in Switzerland and now lives in Utah, had a few did-that-just-happen moments as the seventh competitor to take the course.

He skimmed off the top of a bump and did an impressive trick on one feature — a risky and unorthodox move that he's been working on in practice but didn't know if it was going to score well with the judges (it did). That was just a warmup act for his midair spin on the last jump where he was able to stop his momentum and basically turn back around.

"To be able to stay true to the roots and incorporate a trick like that in an Olympic run is huge for our sport," Sprang said. "It just shows that you don't always have to just spin the most or do the ... tricks that people think are the hardest. There's room to be creative and do something new. That's what we're all about is creating new stuff and having fun."

Goepper came the closest to matching Hall's run with a score of 86.48.

It's another medal for Hall, who earned bronze at the 2021 world championships and another bronze last month at Winter X Games.

This was certainly a sign of things to come: Hall was a silver medalist at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games, where he finished behind Birk Ruud of Norway. Ruud, who won the big air contest last Wednesday, wound up fifth. Andri Ragettli, the top qualifier from Switzerland, finished just off the podium in fourth. He had an early mistake on his final run and shut it down.

"It wasn't meant to be, but I tried a hard run and I tried to do my best," Ruud said. "My skiing is good, and I feel like I'm there, but I just wasn't putting it down today."

Lindsey Jacobellis has won her second gold medal of the Olympics, teaming with 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner for the title in the new event of mixed snowboardcross.

The Italian team of Omar Visintin and Michela Moioli came in second and the Canadian duo of Eliot Grondin and Meryeta O’Dine finished third.

The 36-year-old Jacobellis took gold earlier this week in the women’s event; it came 16 years after a late showboat move as she was cruising in for an apparent win cost her the title at the Turin Games.

After a slow start, the U.S. now has five gold medals and 11 overall at the Games. Jacobellis accounts for two, while snowboarder Chloe Kim has another. Figure skater Nathan Chen also won a gold medal this week. The U.S. also won a gold medal in mixed team aerials event.

The race is on to snap up scarce 2022 Winter Olympic souvenirs. Dolls of mascot Bing Dwen Dwen, a panda in a winter coat, sold out after buyers waited in line overnight in freezing weather.

People showed up with stools outside the Gongmei Emporium on the Wangfujing pedestrian mall in central Beijing. Some were from a mini-industry of people who are paid to wait in line to buy the latest smartphones and other consumer crazes for clients.

A sign in Gongmei's window said it had 300 Bing Dwen Dwen figures and buyers were allowed one each. It promised more the following day. The official Xinhua News Agency said Olympics organizers have asked factories to make more.

Fans of the mascot have reportedly cheered louder from crowds than cheers heard for athletes competing, CNN reported.

Bing Dwen Dwen, known to some as "BDD," is easily spotted all around Beijing at event sites, in the stands for competitions as well as on signs and flags. Stuffed versions of the mascot are given to medalists, surrounded by a gold wreath, even before athletes receive their medals.

BEIJING —

Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has told a French newspaper that international concern over her well-being is based on “an enormous misunderstanding” and she denied having accused a Chinese official of sexual assault.

L’Equipe, which specializes in sports news, published the interview Monday. The publication said it spoke to the tennis player a day earlier in a Beijing hotel in an hour-long interview organized through China’s Olympic committee.

Also Monday, the International Olympic Committee released a statement saying IOC President Thomas Bach had dinner with Peng on Saturday, and she attended the China-Norway curling match with IOC member Kirsty Coventry.

The newspaper said it had to submit questions in advance and that a Chinese Olympic committee official sat in on the discussion and translated her comments from Chinese.

The newspaper published her comments verbatim – which it said was another pre-condition for interview – in question-and-answer form.

L’Equipe asked Peng about a post in November on her verified account on a leading Chinese social media platform, Weibo, which kicked off a storm of international concern about her.

In that post, Peng wrote that Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier and member of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, had forced her to have sex despite repeated refusals. Her post also said they had sex once seven years ago and she had feelings for him after that.

Peng briefly disappeared from public view, then appeared at some promotional appearances arranged by the government. The interview with L'Equipe was her first sit-down discussion with non-Chinese media since the accusation.

But speaking to L'Equipe, Peng denied having accused Zhang of assault.

“Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault,” the newspaper quoted her as saying.

“This post resulted in an enormous misunderstanding from the outside world,” she also said. “My wish is that the meaning of this post no longer be skewed.”

Democrats have quickly pushed legislation through the House that they say positions the U.S. to better compete with China economically by strengthening the domestic semiconductor industry and shoring up strained supply chains.

The bill passed by a vote of 222-210. Criticizing China has become a bipartisan playbook in Washington. But, in this case, Republicans panned the measure as "toothless" and short of what is needed to hold China accountable for a range of actions.

The nearly 3,000-page bill includes massive investments designed to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S., but Democrats have also tucked in other priorities that have raised GOP concerns.

As Reuters pointed out, a vote on the bill happened just hours after the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony. Congress has been critical of the International Olympic Committee for awarding China the opportunity to host the Games.

The need to increase manufacturing for chips is high.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told a group of reporters, "Every day we delay we fall farther behind and that increases our domestic national security risk."

The House has now taken the next step in authorizing nearly $300 billion for research and development, which would include $52 billion in semiconductor subsidies which are key to making automobiles and computers.

The publisher of the Wall Street Journal said Friday it believes it was hacked by Chinese intelligence.

The breach was discovered on January 20.

News Corp said data was stolen from journalists and other employees.

It is not known when hackers breached the network or how much data they stole.

The breach affected a limited number of email accounts and documents from News Corp headquarters, News Technology Services, Dow Jones, News UK and New York Post.

News Corp told employees in an email to staff that it believed the “threat activity is contained.”

Other newsrooms, including The New York Times have previously been hacked.

Journalists in Mexico, El Salvador and Qatar have also been hacked with spyware.

News Corp also owns HarperCollins, News Corp Australia and Storyful.

It does not appear employees at those companies were affected by the hack.

Dry Beijing barely gets any winter precipitation, making this year's Winter Games the first to rely almost entirely on artificial snow. Organizers are touting the event's green credentials, but experts do worry about the environmental impact of such a massive snowmaking operation given the huge amounts of water and electricity it takes.

At Yanqing north of Beijing, where organizers built the alpine ski venue from scratch, the slopes stand out as ribbons of white contrasting starkly against the surrounding brown hillsides. Snowmakers have also been deployed farther north in Zhangjiakou, which is hosting freestyle skiing, ski jumping and biathlon.

All of it is the product of months of snowmaking using sophisticated European equipment.

Here's a closer look at the Olympic snowmaking operation:

HOW IT WORKS

Natural snow is formed high up in the clouds when water vapor molecules cling to tiny particles like pollen or dust. In scientific lingo, these specks are dubbed nucleators. They create a snow nucleus that then attracts more water molecules to form snowflakes.

Snowmaking equipment tries to duplicate this process, artificially, by spraying atomized water into the air along with mechanically created nucleators -- tiny ice crystals — that act as seeds for the manufactured snowflakes. This process has been around for decades: simulated snow was first used at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

SNOW GUNS

TechnoAlpin won the bid to supply the Beijing games with snowmaking equipment, a contract worth $22 million.

The Italian company has blanketed the slopes with 272 snowmaking fan guns and another 82 stick “lances” to produce “technical snow” for the Winter Olympics skiing and snowboarding venues. They're all hooked up to a system of high pressure pumps and pipes that carry water chilled by cooling towers up the slopes.

TechnoAlpin's fan guns resemble small jet engines or oversized hair dryers, with nozzles spraying either atomized water or ice crystals mounted around the edge of a turbine. The guns, which can be aimed remotely using Bluetooth, blast the mixture dozens of meters into the air to cover broad downhill slopes.

“And while it’s falling to the ground, snow is created,” said Michael Mayr, TechnoAlpin's China sales manager.

Snow lances, meanwhile, are up to 10 meters tall and don't have fans, instead using gravity to carry the snowmaking mixture to the ground, making it a bit more like natural snowfall.

WATER WORRIES

Beijing and Zhanghiakou are both not far from the Gobi Desert and are “highly water stressed," China Water Risk, a Hong Kong-based consultancy, said in a 2019 report.

The International Olympic Committee even noted the issue in its own 2015 evaluation of Beijing’s bid, saying the two districts “have minimal annual snowfall” and that the Winter Games would have to rely completely on fake snow.

The “Beijing – Zhangjiakou area is becoming increasingly arid” because of climate change and other factors, the IOC said, adding that Beijing's bid “underestimated the amount of water" needed for snowmaking.

The Winter Games are expected to use 49 million gallons of water, the equivalent of 74 Olympic swimming pools, to make snow.

SUSTAINABILITY

The IOC now says snowmaking in Beijing was developed “to high technical and environmental standards."

“The regions where the snow sport events will be held are constantly very cold," the IOC said in a statement. “This allows a very efficient snow production and does not require the constant reproduction of snow," like ski resorts elsewhere with fluctuating temperatures that cause snowmelt.

Snowmaking can raise other environmental concerns, including over the chemicals sometimes used to help water freeze at higher temperatures, and the electricity needed to power the systems, which could mean a bigger carbon footprint. The IOC says all venues and facilities are powered by wind and solar energy and that no chemicals are used because of the region's cold temperatures.

“Of course we are using a lot of energy of making snow,” Bernhard Russi, chairman of the International Ski Federation's alpine committee, said at a press briefing Saturday. But he added that the challenge is how to store the snow over the summer for the next season - something already being done in Europe, allowing resorts to save up to half of it.

WHAT THE ATHLETES SAY

Athletes have voiced their concerns about competing on fake snow, saying it brings new risks.

Skiers and experts say manmade snow has more moisture, which means it ices up faster. Estonian Olympic biathlete Johanna Taliharm told the AP last month that artificial snow is “faster and more dangerous" because of the icing.

Russi, the 1972 downhill gold medalist in Japan, acknowledged that “of course ski racers and we organizers, we prefer to have natural snow,” but added that using machines to make snow allows them to get it to the right “hardness” for each discipline.

The IOC said artificial snow is used regularly at World Cup ski competitions and denied that it makes courses more dangerous,. "To the contrary, it creates a more consistent surface from the top to bottom, or start to finish, of a course. "

As the Winter Games begin, Russi said “the snow we find right now on the courses is absolutely perfect, you cannot have it better."

Video above: Olympics give boost to winter sports in China

Not even "The Great Wall” could stave off a piercing, bone-chilling wind.

The snow replica of China’s iconic monument lined the top of the Olympic slopestyle course to cut down on the blustery conditions. All it really did Saturday was provide an eye-catching backdrop.

In gusty conditions that led to arctic-feeling wind chills, two-time defending Olympic champion Jamie Anderson and the rest of the women's snowboarders glided through the rails and jumps — albeit a little chilled — during the qualifying round in the mountains above Beijing.

Some riders wore hand and feet warmers to protect against the elements. Others donned facemasks or neck sleeves to keep the whipping wind at bay.

Nothing fully worked. Not even the protection of “The Great Wall.”

“I like the Great Wall. I do think it's helping a little bit, for sure,” said Anderson, who finished fifth in qualifying to make Sunday's 12-woman final.

Then, she jokingly added: "They need a bigger wall.”

The temperature hovered around 5 degrees F and felt like minus-12 F during the competition. The wind was listed at 13 mph, but the more telling sight may have been a wind sleeve next to the final jump: It was blowing straight out, then sideways, then straight out again.

“It's cold,” Anderson said. “It’s hard to, like, keep your core temperature warm and then doing tricks feels a little bit more intimidating.”

Zoi Sadowski Synnott of New Zealand navigated the extreme conditions to turn in qualifying's top score of 86.75. Synnott might just be the biggest challenger to Anderson. She beat Anderson last month at the Winter X Games.

Then again, the wind could play a big role, too. It did four years ago at the Pyeongchang Olympics, when Anderson won her second straight title. It was held in windy, subpar conditions while across the mountain the Alpine race was called off.

Of the elements Saturday, Synnott said: "The wind is a bit tricky. You can feel it sometimes when you’re on the course, but not enough to throw you off your game. You just have to really adapt.”

That's what Hailey Langland did after wiping out on her first run. With hand warmers stuffed in her gloves and feet warmers in her boots, Langland blocked the wind out of her mind and just went for it.

“It's gnarly because the wind gusts, they’re no longer coming straight downhill. They’re now starting to swirl in between the jumps and in the rails and starting to come uphill,” said Langland, who finished ninth in qualifying. “That can really deter your gauge of what speed you should be taking into these features, which can cause, obviously, some really bad consequences.”

Another challenge were some of the jumps with approaches that were angled into the kickers instead of straight-on. They’re unlike most jumps riders spring off in other contests, but this style was featured four years ago in South Korea.

“I’m starting to get used to it more," said Julia Marino, who was sixth to advance.

Not so much the snow under their snowboards, though. The machine-made snow had a different feel, especially on a fall. Anderson said she had a bruise to show for the snow that felt — as Marino described — like concrete.

“I’m impressed that they did it,” Anderson said of the manmade snow. “But, damn, it’s like not that enjoyable to ride on.”

To keep warm before her run, Langland also bundled up in a giant parka. As for those warmers she just started to use, she had a description for them: “Life-changing,” she joked.

Tess Coady of Australia wore a dark facemask under her helmet, along with dark lenses in her goggles.

“Intimidation,” cracked Coady, who finished eighth. “It’s so cold. My nose is like dying.”

For Enni Rukajarvi, this felt almost balmy compared to what it's like back home in Finland.

“Somehow it feels warmer here than in Finland,” Rukajarvi said after taking third in qualifying. “When it's minus-20 in Finland, it’s way colder.”

Marino didn't even feel the cold on her final run, she said, simply because she was so focused after a mistake on her first attempt.

“I just wanted to make it to the end of the course,” said Marino, who hung out in the athletes' lounge at the top to stay warm before her run. “I did not look at the flags at all. I was just like, ‘I’m going to go for my run no matter what. I don’t care about the wind. I’m going throw down what I came here to throw down.’”

Adrenaline fueled that second run. Then, a blast of reality hit in the finish area.

“I’m starting to feel (the cold)," Marino said.

Hide Transcript
Show Transcript

scenes on social media echoed on state media, 400 busses carrying 9000 people to isolation zones in the last days. As frustrated as you'd imagine there's no food. This man says I have kids, there are old people. Why don't we isolate in our homes, Sequestered in gyms for two weeks? Not infected, Just those who live in what's classified as a high risk part of Hangzhou, a city of 12 million people with roughly 100 active cases. The heaviest of hands crushing the virus is spread immediately. How far does that go? Listen to a Beijing or who told our colleague working outside the closed olympic gloopy That he has just been released from quarantine because my wife and the first person infected with our Mekong in Beijing worked in the same building. I was isolated at home for 14 days. It's very uncomfortable. It's a nasal swab test and an anal swab test every two days. It's very uncomfortable. You heard him anal swabbing, thought to be more accurate at spotting covid. This is all perhaps shocking to an outsider. But Canadian Jonathan cheung, the china bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal explains china's leadership sees no other way. They'll say okay, you talk about freedom in the west in china. Um We emphasize life and we emphasize protecting our people and freedom has gotten you how many hundreds of thousands, how many millions dead? How many millions sick? Um here in china what we're doing is the responsible thing and so pop up mass testing and electronic tracking show a health code app to do everything, get a cab, go to a restaurant. It flashes green and people like 22 year old Bartender who all going along can proceed. And much of China does just carry on. That's a good thing, he says. But doesn't mean there aren't costs many people who are away from home can't get back. There are some local governments that might arbitrarily impose quarantine policies hard and fast. If you're jumping, you look at this and you say, well, we can't relent. We can't give up like the other countries or other zero covid countries in this part of the world. Many of them have given up and many of them have now seen cases break out there as well. The era of omicron maybe changing the covid story around the world, But china is not budging throwing everything it has at being right. The costs of being wrong too high to consider. Mm hmm.

'Within our expectations': As Beijing Games get going, new positive COVID cases reported

Updated: 2:21 AM EST Feb 5, 2022

A total of 45 new positive tests for COVID-19 have been announced by organizers of the Beijing Olympics.Athletes and officials account for 25 of the cases, with 20 detected in people arriving at the airport in Beijing and five more in daily PCR tests taken by everyone at the games.The 20 other cases involved people working at the games, including media, with six at the airport and 14 inside the Olympic bubbles.Organizing committee official Huang Chun says the numbers are “within our expectations.”A drop in cases is expected in the days ahead as fewer people arrive for the games and those inside the bubbles have already returned several days of negative tests.The overall total of COVID-19 cases at the games is 353 since Jan. 23. More than 12,000 people have arrived from outside China.

BEIJING —

A total of 45 new positive tests for COVID-19 have been announced by organizers of the Beijing Olympics.

Athletes and officials account for 25 of the cases, with 20 detected in people arriving at the airport in Beijing and five more in daily PCR tests taken by everyone at the games.

The 20 other cases involved people working at the games, including media, with six at the airport and 14 inside the Olympic bubbles.

Organizing committee official Huang Chun says the numbers are “within our expectations.”

A drop in cases is expected in the days ahead as fewer people arrive for the games and those inside the bubbles have already returned several days of negative tests.

The overall total of COVID-19 cases at the games is 353 since Jan. 23. More than 12,000 people have arrived from outside China.