Global stocks sank Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with talks that are aimed at averting a trade war with China. Equities were also dented by poor eurozone economic data, and as Trump cast doubt on a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Trump (is) continuing to drive uncertainty over global trade,” said analyst Joshua Mahony at trading firm IG. “European markets are following their Asian counterparts lower, as a pessimistic tone from Trump is compounded by downbeat economic data,” he added. Markets had surged Monday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said they had agreed to pull back from imposing threatened tariffs on billions of dollars of goods, and continue talks on a variety of trade issues. However, Trump has declared that he was “not satisfied” with the status of the talks, fuelling worries that the world’s top two economies could still slug out an economically pain...
A spokeswoman for the UN’s public health agency, Fadela Chaib, told AFP that an announcement on the Mugabe fracas would be made “in the coming hours”.
She declined to comment on whether WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus would retract the honorary role he gave earlier this week to Zimbabwe’s 93-year-old authoritarian leader, which triggered widespread outrage.
Tedros tweeted late Saturday that he was “rethinking” the decision and calls for its reversal have continued to mount.
Activists, public health experts and key WHO donors like Britain, Canada and the United States have denounced a prospective role for Mugabe within the agency, saying Zimbabwe’s healthcare system has collapsed under his 37-year rule.
“The Mugabe appointment, coming at the end of (Tedros’s) first 100 days, was a misstep,” the director of the Global Health Institute at Harvard University, Ashish K. Jha, told AFP in an email.
“Reversing will actually be a strong sign that the leadership listens and is willing to be responsive to views of the global public,” he added.
The US ambassador to the United Nations during Barack Obama’s administration, Samantha Power, tweeted: “Tedros will surely revoke terrible apptmt of Mugabe as goodwill ambassador, but damage is done.
“The only person whose health 93-yo Mugabe has looked out for in his 37 year reign is his own.”
Richard Horton, the editor of the leading medical journal The Lancet said: “WHO DG stands for Director-General, not Dictator-General. Tedros, my friend, retract your decision, consult with colleagues, and rethink.”
Tedros, a former Ethiopian health minister, took charge of WHO in July.
His election as the first African leader of the organisation was billed as a key moment for the continent, where much of WHO’s work is based.
But his decision to honour one of Africa’s most controversial leaders has raised questions about his leadership just four months into his tenure.
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