What We're Watching: China charges Aussie journo, Palestinian election talks, WHO debunks COVID myths

Australian and Chinese national flags

Australian journalist charged in China: Australian journalist Cheng Lei was detained last August in China for allegedly passing state secrets to foreign actors. Now, the reporter — who worked for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN when she was arrested — has been formally charged with a national security crime, though Beijing has unsurprisingly remained mum on the details. Her family (including two young children in Melbourne) say that Lei is innocent, while the Australian government has pleaded with Beijing to ensure due process. But Canberra's ability to lobby for Lei's release is surely hampered by its increasingly fraught relations with Beijing: Australia has criticized Beijing's meddling in Australia's internal government affairs, its spying activities, and called for a probe into China's alleged COVID coverup — prompting China to hit back with a series of devastating tariffs on Australian goods. The Chinese government has also targeted Australian journalists, and the last two Aussie reporters in mainland China recently fled at Canberra's urging. For now, Lei remains behind bars. Is the Australian government powerless to respond?

Palestinian election summit: Palestinian leaders kicked off a two-day summit in Cairo to discuss upcoming legislative (May 22) and presidential (July 31) elections, the first time Palestinians will head to the polls in 15 years. The Egyptian-brokered talks between longtime Palestinian foes — Fatah, which governs the occupied West Bank, and Hamas, the militant group that holds power in the Gaza Strip — aim to iron out procedural arrangements for the upcoming votes, including whose security forces will guard polling stations and which judicial body will resolve disputes. Palestinians have not held elections since 2006, when Hamas — designated a terror group by the US and the EU — won by a significant margin, leading to a shaky unity government and bloody power battle that saw Hamas seize control of the Strip. Fatah was eventually relegated to the West Bank, where President Mahmoud Abbas has since led a 15-year "emergency government." We're watching to see whether the polls will even take place at all, since previous elections have been scheduled only to be later rejected by those at the top.

WHO ends COVID probe in China: Wrapping up a hard-fought visit to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, a team of World Health Organization experts announced Tuesday that it's "extremely unlikely" that COVID leaked from a lab. That initial conclusion poured cold water on the conspiracy theory — promoted at the onset of the pandemic by former US President Donald Trump — that the virus was either engineered by or accidentally released from a Chinese lab, a claim most scientists have long dismissed. The WHO team said it is "most likely" the virus was transmitted to humans from an animal at a wet market, but possible it came from a different source, like from imported frozen food products, for instance. WHO says their probe is ongoing, but the inconclusive findings so far are surely a relief for Beijing, which has often pushed unscientific alternative theories that the coronavirus did not originate in China. We'll be keeping an eye on whether the full investigation comes out with any definitive findings, and if other countries will even trust the probe given perceptions of the WHO being too cozy with China.

More from GZERO Media

Housing shortages in the US and Canada have become a significant problem – and a contentious political issue – in recent years. New data on housing construction this week suggest neither country is making enough progress to solve the shortfalls. Here’s a snapshot of the situation on both sides of the border.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a meeting of northeastern U.S. Governors and Canadian Premiers, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., June 16, 2025.
REUTERS/Sophie Park

While the national level drama played out between Donald Trump and Mark Carney at the G7 in Kananaskis, a lot of important US-Canada work was going on with far less fanfare in Boston, where five Canadian premiers met with governors and delegations from seven US states.

- YouTube

What’s next for Iran’s regime? Ian Bremmer says, “It’s much more likely that the supreme leader ends up out, but the military… continues to run the country.”

Enbridge’s 2024 Sustainability Report is now available, outlining our approach to meeting today’s energy needs while advancing solutions for tomorrow. Now in its 24th year, the report reflects our ongoing commitment to being a safe operator of essential energy infrastructure and a responsible environmental steward, principles at the heart of our mission to be North America’s first-choice energy delivery company. Highlights include a 40% reduction in emissions intensity, surpassing our 2030 target, and a 22% drop in absolute emissions since setting our goals in 2020. Explore the 2024 Sustainability Report today.

Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Annie Gugliotta

Donald Trump may be about to cross a line he drew less than a week ago. Barring an Iranian capitulation on nuclear enrichment that no one anticipates, the president is likely to order US bombers to strike Iran’s most hardened underground facility at Fordow any moment now, thus joining Israel’s war against the Islamic Republic.

A satellite image shows the Natanz nuclear facility after an airstrike in Iran, on June 14, 2025.
Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

Ever since the Israel-Iran feud turned violent last week, the focus has been on how the United States will respond. Other major power players, though, will also have a view on the conflict.