G7 calls for new study into origins of Covid and voices concern on China

World leaders attending the Group of Seven summit on Sunday issued a call for a new study into the origins of Covid-19, including in China, after an initial report was deemed lacking because Beijing had refused to cooperate.

They agreed to speak out against human rights abuses in China, a matter that had been hotly debated behind closed doors over the course of the three-day summit.

"I think we're in a contest with China ... in a contest with autocratic governments around the world, as whether or not democracies can compete with them in a rapidly changing 21st century," US President Joe Biden said at a news conference following the summit. "And I think how we act and whether we pull together as democracies is going to determine whether our grandkids look back 15 years from now and say, 'Did they step up? Are democracies as relevant, as powerful, as they have been?'"