Switzerland

GENEVA, Jan 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The new coronavirus has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China.

“The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The concern is that it could spread to countries with weaker health systems.

The death toll now stands at 170 people in China.

GENEVA (AP) — Sophisticated hackers infiltrated U.N. networks in Geneva and Vienna last year in an apparent espionage operation that top officials at the world body kept largely quiet. The hackers’ identity and the extent of the data they obtained are not known.

GENEVA, Jan 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization, which has sometimes been criticised for its handling of past disease outbreaks, admitted an error in its risk assessment of China’s deadly virus.

The Geneva-based UN agency said in a situation report that the risk was “very high in China, high at the regional level and high at the global level”.

In a footnote, the WHO explained that it had stated “incorrectly” in its previous reports on Thursday, Friday and Saturday that the global risk was “moderate”.

Davos, Jan 24 (PTI) The World Economic Forum on Friday announced the first global consortium focused on designing a framework for the governance of digital currencies, including stablecoins.

The Global Consortium for Digital Currency Governance will aim to increase access to the financial system through innovative policy solutions that are inclusive and interoperable.

DAVOS /Switzerland/, January 24. /TASS/: The US-China trade agreement poses threat for international trade and may trigger trade disputes starting 2021-2022, Russian Presidential Aide Maksim Oreshkin said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV news channel following the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The European reaction on the US-China deal, in which China commits to boosting purchases of US goods, raises fears," he said.

24 January 2020; AFP: The United States' financial chief on Thursday told Swedish teen Greta Thunberg to go study before calling for a fossil fuel halt, prompting the climate campaigner to reply it doesn't "take a degree" to understand the science.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif skipped this year’s Davos, but Tehran was still a hot topic for many Western and Middle Eastern powers hoping for detente less than three weeks after the United States killed Iran’s top general.

Zarif, normally a regular at the World Economic Forum, canceled on Monday, with his ministry citing program changes. Organizers of the annual gathering in the Swiss ski resort did not comment on the reason given.

DAVOS, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the United States would consider imposing tariffs on cars made in the United Kingdom if the country moves ahead with a tax on digital services.

Mnuchin said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that the United States regards digital services taxes such as the one imposed by France, and being planned by the United Kingdom and Italy, as being unfair to American tech companies.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said here on Thursday that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted in 2015, should become a master plan for each country's development, as well as an important reference for businesses.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is optimistic of reaching a deal on a global tax on digital companies, despite an initial failure to agree one with the United States.

“We are moving in the right direction,” Le Maire told Reuters TV at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos on Thursday, adding that he thought France was close to striking an agreement with the United States.