Global COVID-19 response increasingly political

Chinese President Xi Jinping has defended his country’s response as open and transparent during an annual health conference by the World Health Organization.

The response to COVID-19 crisis is becoming increasingly political, with calls for an inquiry into how it has been handled worldwide.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has defended his country’s response as open and transparent during an annual health conference run by the World Health Organization.

But Beijing has been facing growing criticism.

Al Jazeera’s James Bays has more.

Coronavirus: Trump takes disputed medicine as preventative measure against COVID-19

Donald Trump says he is taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure against coronavirus, despite it being unproven as an effective treatment.

The US president revealed he has been taking the drug for the last week and a half in pill form and has had “zero symptoms”.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), earlier said there was no evidence the drug could prevent coronavirus.

Coronavirus: US vaccine trial shows promising early results, biotech firm says

A vaccine trial in the United States is showing promising early data, after the vaccine reportedly produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers.

Eight people took part in the safety trial by Moderna, which started in March, and the vaccine was shown to be safe while all participants produced antibodies, the biotech firm said.

Experts say the early results are encouraging, but only a small sample has been used so far and the vaccine will need further testing.

Disney's Mayer to become TikTok CEO

(Reuters) – Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) said on Monday its top streaming executive, Kevin Mayer, will leave to become the Chief Executive Officer of Bytedance’s popular video app TikTok.

Mike Pompeo Asked Donald Trump To Fire Inspector General

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked President Donald Trump to fire State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, The Washington Post reported Monday. 

Pompeo told the Post he had made the request because Linick’s work was “undermining” the department’s mission. He also claimed he did not know beforehand that Linick was investigating him.

The president fired Linick last week. The IG was reportedly investigating why Pompeo fast-tracked more than $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia and its allies, as well as whether Pompeo made a staffer run personal errands for him.

Trump confirmed in remarks to reporters at a restaurant industry roundtable on Monday that Pompeo asked him to fire the inspector general, adding: “I don’t know him at all. I never even heard of him.” Trump then said Pompeo should have fired Linick a long time ago, since “he’s an Obama appointment, and he had some difficulty.”

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have criticized Trump for firing Linick, a career State Department official who has served as the department’s inspector general since 2013. On Saturday, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) launched an investigation into the firing. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that Trump’s firing of Linick “could be unlawful” if it was intended to retaliate against one of his investigations. 

Trump has fired multiple inspectors general in recent months, including intelligence community watchdog Michael Atkinson. 

Baidu.com Posts Q1 Profit

Baidu.com Inc. (BIDU) Monday reported first-quarter net income of RMB41 million or RMB0.02 per share, compared with net loss of RMB327 million or RMB0.98 per share in last year’s first quarter.

Excluding items, Baidu.com reported adjusted earnings of RMB3.08 billion or RMB8.84 per share for the period, compared with RMB967 million or RMB2.77 per share.

The company’s revenue for the quarter dropped 7% to RMB222.55 billion from RMB24.12 billion last year.

“Despite shelter-in-place in the first quarter, Baidu’s total revenues declined just 7% year-over-year, resulting from our diversified revenue streams, including marketing services for wide-ranging industries, new AI businesses and iQIYI. With the pandemic coming under control in China, offline activities are rebounding and Baidu stands to benefit from a restart of the Chinese economy.” said Robin Li, Co-founder and CEO of Baidu.

“In March, a month after the peak of COVID-19 new cases, Baidu’s traffic remained robust with Baidu App DAUs reaching 222 million, up 28% year over year, in-app search queries up 45% and feed time spent up 51%. Our strategy to strengthen Baidu’s mobile ecosystem and promote in-app search has resulted in users increasingly come to Baidu for critical and reliable information.”

Looking forward to the second quarter, Baidu expects revenues to be between RMB25.0 billion and RMB27.3 billion, representing a growth rate of -5% to 4% year over year.

Noah Holdings Limited Q1 adjusted earnings of RMB4.13 per share

Noah Holdings Limited (NOAH) revealed a profit for first quarter that decreased from the same period last year.

The company’s bottom line totaled RMB243.03 million, or RMB3.92 per share. This compares with RMB284.58 million, or RMB4.57 per share, in last year’s first quarter.

Excluding items, Noah Holdings Limited reported adjusted earnings of RMB255.87 million or RMB4.13 per share for the period.

The company’s revenue for the quarter fell 11.8% to RMB436.87 million from RMB495.59 million last year.

Noah Holdings Limited earnings at a glance:

-Earnings (Q1): RMB255.87 Mln. vs. RMB304.62 Mln. last year.
-EPS (Q1): RMB4.13 vs. RMB4.90 last year.
-Revenue (Q1): RMB436.87 Mln vs. RMB495.59 Mln last year.