North Korea suggested Friday its COVID-19 outbreak began in people who had contact with balloons flown from South Korea — a highly questionable claim that appeared to be an attempt to hold its rival responsible amid increasing tensions.
As the World Health Organization meets on Thursday to evaluate whether monkeypox constitutes an international emergency, its highest form of alert, here is what that could mean and what other health emergencies have been called in the past.
An Associated Press examination of the death toll sheds light on how the numbers have been clouded by the way Chinese health authorities tally COVID-19 statistics, applying a much narrower, less transparent, and at times inconsistent standard than the rest of the world.