Hong Kong’s booksellers and publishers, long known as champions of freedom of expression in the Chinese territory, are now under greater threat following the new National Security Law enacted in July.Now, booksellers could run afoul of laws that carry strict punishments for vague offenses such as “separating the country” and “subverting state power.”Hillway Press, an independent publishing house in Hong Kong, has been mainly publishing online novels and textbooks. After last year’s anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill movement, it began publishing books on social issues. The publisher said authorities are looking for an excuse to publicly punish someone as an example to others.”The printing house has received the information that politicians are looking for publishers of political books to kill the chickens to scare the monkeys,” said a Hillway Press executive who requested anonymity and is referred to as Mr. C.He said the chilling effect had appeared long before the adoption of the national security law. The company’s latest publication, “To Freedom,” which included articles about the anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill movement, was rejected by six printing houses.Bookseller Lam Wing-kee waves to supporters outside his Causeway Bay Books bookstore before taking part in a protest march in Hong Kong, June 18, 2016.The book’s planning and drafting began in April. When the draft was finished at the end of May, China’s Communist Party put the Hong Kong version of the national security law on the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s agenda. A long-term printing house partner of the publishing house suddenly changed its mind and declined to print the book because of the sensitive content. Hillway Press had to have the book printed and bound at different companies so it could be published.”To Freedom” contains many words that criticize the Communist Party of China. To protect interviewees and business partners, the publishing house deleted the sensitive content. “Liberate” has been changed to “free” and “reconstruct.” “Anti-CCP” has been taken out. Paragraphs discussing “Hong Kong independence” have been deleted, and illustrations with the words “Liberate Hong Kong” on the cover have been reduced in transparency.”I am deeply saddened by this self-castration,” said Mr. C. “Under the new legal framework, the publishing industry’s biggest concern is where the red line is.”The blurry legal definition leads to white terror, which leads to fewer social issues that can be explored and, as a result, fewer books that can be published. Mr. C expects Hong Kong’s publishing industry to shrink.”The most frightening thing about the national security law is that there have been no official and clear instructions as to which words and subject matters can be published and which cannot be mentioned. Under such circumstances, we are actually very worried that we will break the law by accident,” he said.On the fourth day of the legislation becoming law, the Hong Kong Public Library immediately took at least nine political books off its shelves, including the works of Chen Yun, a scholar, Joshua Wong, an activist, and Tanya Chan, a Legislative Council member.”All along, what best reflected freedom of speech in Hong Kong is our freedom of the press,” said Mr. C. “For a long time, Hong Kong was a place where a hundred flowers bloomed, a hundred schools of thought contended. The books that are banned in Taiwan and mainland China could be bought in Hong Kong. With the national security law, some subjects can no longer be discussed, and some words will not be able to get published.”A column of books on the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy movement, with a tag which reads “Don’t forget June 4th”, are displayed inside a bookstore in Hong Kong which sells books that banned in mainland China, Nov. 6, 2012.Hong Kong Reader Bookstore is an independent bookstore that sells books on humanities and social sciences, with political books accounting for about 30% of the bookstore’s sales. Daniel Lee, the store’s director, also said the terrible thing about the national security law was the blurring of the redlines.”The usual practice in Hong Kong is that as long as the government does not specify what is illegal, we can do it. However, it has always been the practice in the mainland that you do not know that you have broken the law until the moment you are arrested.”Lee pointed out that there was no clear list of which titles would be officially banned from sale, causing problems for bookstores.”Maybe until one day when the national security police suddenly show up at the bookstore, we won’t know that a book is forbidden. But we will have already broken the law by accident.”Lee said that when he opened the bookstore, he only wanted to promote Hong Kong’s reading culture and never thought that selling books would become a political mission.”We didn’t choose to be on the front line of freedom of speech,” he said. “But in the end, freedom of expression in Hong Kong is endangered, and as bookstores, we have become the reluctant center of this matter.”Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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Month: August 2020
US House to Subpoena Postmaster General Over Mail Delays
The House Oversight Committee intends to subpoena Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for documents about disruptions in mail delivery operations that are now central to questions over the ability to handle an onslaught of mail-in ballots expected for the November election. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the committee chair, sent a memo Monday saying DeJoy blew past last week’s deadline to fully respond to the committee’s request for more information. He has not provided any new materials, she said. “It is clear that a subpoena has become necessary to further the Committee’s investigation and help inform potential legislative actions,” she said. Democrats are aggressively pursuing oversight of postal operations after President Donald Trump railed against mail-in ballots. Trump suggested he wanted to starve the Postal Service of funds to make it more difficult to handle the surge expected in November.DeJoy, who was tapped to lead the agency in June, started quickly initiating changes at a time when the agency was already straining under the COVID-19 crisis. Reports of delays soon piled up. FILE – Postmaster General Louis DeJoy removes his face mask as he arrives to testify before a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the Postal Service on Capitol Hill, August 24, 2020, in Washington.Communities across the nation complained about widespread disruptions in postal operations this summer as blue mailboxes and sorting equipment were removed and employees said changes in trucking operations and overtime hours left mail on the loading docks, undelivered. The committee produced internal postal service data showing widespread summer service disruptions. DeJoy, who testified before the panel earlier this month, reiterated in a letter last Friday that the changes he was initiating are now being suspended “until after the election is concluded.” The committee is seeking documents about the changes, including the removal of sorting equipment and changes to overtime rules, which could be impeding mail delivery. The panel also wants information about how DeJoy, who had no previous postal experience, was selected for the job, as well as any previously “undisclosed communication between Mr. DeJoy and the Trump campaign.” DeJoy in his Friday letter to the panel said the postal leadership team has expanded an Election Mail task force to work with local election officials in support of the November election to ensure ballots are delivered “securely and on time.” DeJoy also said his staff was working with the committee to provide the materials being requested. FILE – Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 5, 2020.Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., chairman of the panel’s Government Operations Subcommittee, said, “Mr. DeJoy’s testimony before our committee has left us with more questions than answers. “Congress must assert itself,” Connolly said. “The public demands it. Today’s action is a necessary step in our efforts to hold the Trump administration accountable for its deliberate sabotage of the Postal Service, and to restore confidence in this revered American institution.” But the top Republican on the Oversight panel, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, called the decision to subpoena DeJoy part of a pattern by Democrats “to promote a baseless conspiracy theory about the Postal Service.” Comer called the subpoena “overly broad” and said Democrats should work with the Postal Service and Republicans “to address their concerns.”
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US EPA Rolls Back Limits on Wastewater from Coal Plants
The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday rolled back Obama administration rules limiting levels of toxic materials in wastewater released from coal plants, its latest effort to slash environmental regulations for the coal industry as the Trump administration’s first term winds down. The EPA finalized “effluent limitations” for two types of waste from coal plants, a savings of $140 million annually for industry. “Newer, more affordable pollution control technologies and flexibility on the regulation’s phase-in will reduce pollution and save jobs at the same time,” agency administrator Andrew Wheeler said. A senior EPA official said the final rule would reduce pollution by nearly a million pounds per year over the 2015 rule, though environmental groups said the rollback lets industry use cheaper, less effective treatment methods on polluted wastewater that puts waterways at risk. The changes apply to flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater and bottom ash transport waste. The rollback eases requirements for how they are treated before being released, offers a “flexible, phase-in approach” for implementation and pushes back compliance dates. “The Trump administration’s rollback will be responsible for hundreds of thousands of pounds of pollutants contaminating sources of drinking water, lakes, rivers and streams every year,” said Thomas Cmar, deputy managing attorney of Earthjustice, who said the group will sue the EPA over the rollback. The EPA proposed the rollback in November after initially delaying implementation of the 2015 Obama proposal, which sought to force coal-fired power plants to shut down unlined coal ash pits in 2019 and recycle 100% of their system’s water. The 2019 proposal gave coal plants more time to either retrofit or shut down unlined ash pits or ponds where plants store coal ash waste, which contain carcinogens like arsenic and neurotoxins that can seep from these into nearby waterways. The National Mining Association welcomed the final rule. “The coal industry wants to be able to compete while also safeguarding important environmental protections – this rule shows that balance is possible,” said its president, Rich Nolan.
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Новые ракетные катера для Украины и стелс B-21 для прорыва про путляндии
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Ракетные катера для Украины от Англии и B-21 для ВВС США, ракетные стрельбы ВМС Турции, новое оружие США от Байдена для ВСУ, конфликт Греции и Турции, а также ситуация в Сирии и Ливии с С-300
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По данным польского издания, в районе города Барнаул, на Алтае, псы-феесбешники провели операцию захвата «шпиона», работавшего на иностранную разведку. Задержанным оказался некто Сергей Сидорчук, военнослужащий в звании старшего лейтенанта, который проходил службу в 35-й дивизии ракетных войск стратегического назначения
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Интервентов кацапов будем жечь! – беларусы устроят “теплый” прием путиноидам
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Своей четкой, не оставляющей сомнения позицией вы можете спасти и независимость своей страны, и множество жизней
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Розстріляне Відродження. Як таке могло статись? Хвильовий, Бойчук, Курбас
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Families of Malaysia Airlines MH17 Victims Want Damages, Lawyers Say
The families of the nearly 300 victims of a downed Malaysia Airlines passenger plane want reparations, their lawyers said Monday, more than six years after the plane was shot down over Ukraine.All 298 passengers and crew on board MH17 were killed on July 17, 2014, when the plane was allegedly shot down by a Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine, then claimed by pro-Russia rebels. About two-thirds of the victims were Dutch. The Boeing 777 was flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, were named as suspects in 2019 after a multiyear Dutch-led international investigation. The four men are being tried for murder, though only Pulatov has legal representation in the trial.Peter Langstraat, who represents 450 relatives of the victims, said that 76 relatives wanted to make victim impact statements, and 316 said they planned to seek damages, reported Reuters.The reparations are unspecified, and the claims have not yet been filed. Lawyers representing the families asked the court to decide whether Dutch or Ukrainian law will be applied in seeking damages.”This is about individuals who were confronted six years ago with a terrible loss that continues to have an influence on their lives today,” said Arlette Schijns, who also represents 450 relatives, according to The Associated Press.”The criminal trial is important for them because it will establish the facts of what happened on July 17, 2014. Who is responsible for it? What sentence they deserve,” Schijns said. “In other words, it’s about justice, fairness, crime and punishment.”The international investigation, conducted by representatives from Australia, Belgium, Ukraine, Malaysia and the Netherlands, found that the missile used to shoot down MH17 came from Russia’s Kursk-based 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade.Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement. Prosecutors said “obstruction and disinformation” by Russian authorities adds to the pain for the victims’ relatives.”We’re talking here about people of flesh and blood. In addition to the grief they face because of the loss of their dearest, they are additionally injured by Russia’s attitude,” Schijns told judges.The trial, which began in March, resumed in absentia of the suspects, who remain at large. Russia does not extradite its citizens. Three judges from The Hague District Court are presiding over the trial, which is being conducted at the Schiphol Judicial Complex near Amsterdam.The trial is set to continue Sept. 28.
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NYPD to Adopt Guidelines for Disciplining Officer Misconduct
When the New York Police Department fired an officer last year for putting Eric Garner in a deadly chokehold, the officer’s union argued that there was little, if any, precedent within the department’s internal disciplinary system for such a penalty. Now, the nation’s largest police department is spelling out potential ramifications for officer misconduct, unveiling on Monday a draft of a discipline matrix that will guide punishment decisions similarly to how sentencing guidelines are used in criminal cases. It will be adopted after a 30-day public comment period. “We wanted to make it very, very clear that if you do certain things there are certain consequences,” said Assistant Chief Matthew Pontillo, who helped develop the disciplinary policies with the help from department officials and outside agencies. Mayor Bill de Blasio called it a “big step forward for transparency and accountability.” Fred Davie, chair of the city’s police watchdog agency, said he was “encouraged by some of the clear standards laid out in this new set of rules.” Police reform advocates weren’t as enthused, arguing the NYPD still has too much power policing its own and that it rarely enforces top penalties, with just 12 officers fired for misconduct since the mid-1980s. Union disagrees with proposalThe head of the city’s largest police union blasted the guidelines for different reasons, painting them as a way for elected officials “to manipulate NYPD discipline to further their radical political goals.” “Apparently mandatory minimums and sentencing guidelines are unfair to criminals but perfectly fine for cops,” said Pat Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, suggesting the guidelines would be subject to change “based on headlines and poll numbers, rather than any objective sense of justice or fairness.” The NYPD is shifting to formal disciplinary guidelines at a time when law enforcement agencies around the world are being pressed to be more transparent about discipline in the wake of protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd in May. Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, who will still have the final say on discipline, said it was important to have a “road map” so the public and officers know what to expect. Development of the matrix was well under way when city council passed a law in June mandating its use. The law also requires that the public be informed how often Shea deviates from it. Around the same time, state lawmakers sought to shed more light by repealing a decades-old law that had kept police disciplinary files secret. Police unions suing to block their release are appealing after a judge ruled last week that they should be made public. A 48-page draft report lists presumptive penalties for dozens of forms of misconduct, including termination for using deadly physical force without justification, engaging in hate speech and making a false statement. Among the other items covered in the matrix: If an officer forgets to turn on his or her body camera while responding to an incident, he or she can be suspended or docked three days, but if it’s done intentionally, it’s a 20-day punishment. Accessing confidential information can be punished with a 10-day suspension or loss of vacation days, while leaking confidential information to the news media can be punished with a 20-day suspension or loss of vacation days. Chokeholds resulting in death and the intentional use of a chokehold are also grounds for firing. The NYPD has long banned chokeholds, and lawmakers recently passed laws explicitly outlawing the tactic. One was named for Garner, who died in 2014 after then-Officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold. Plan two years in the makingIn developing a discipline matrix, the NYPD is fulfilling one of the last remaining recommendations from a panel of criminal justice experts that examined the disciplinary process on its behalf two years ago. While the experts found that the disciplinary process generally worked well, they said a set of guidelines would help eliminate perceptions of favoritism or bias in officer punishment. They also called for stiffer penalties for officers making false statements and committing domestic violence. The department revised its domestic violence punishment guidelines last year, Pontillo said. An officer can be fired for an incident that results in serious physical injuries, violates a restraining order or is part of a pattern of abuse. Pontillo’s group spend more than a year shaping the new guidelines. They looked at five years of case outcomes to get a sense of penalties that had been applied and studied how other police departments — including Los Angeles, Denver and New Orleans — built their guidelines. Misconduct complaints are investigated by the watchdog Civilian Complaint Review Board and the NYPD’s internal affairs bureau. If departmental charges are filed, an officer can either agree to a penalty or take the case to trial before an administrative judge. The judge sends any punishment recommendations to First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker, who passes his recommendation to Shea.
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Behind Russia’s Take on Mass Protests in Belarus
With mass protests in Belarus showing no signs of letup following contested presidential elections August 9, the country’s longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko is turning to Russia for his political survival. But behind the Kremlin’s response lies a mix of geopolitical and domestic concerns, as Charles Maynes reports from Moscow.
Camera: Ricardo Marquina, Agencies Produced by: Ricardo Marquina
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Trump, Biden Spar over US Protest Violence
Nine weeks from the national U.S. election, President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, sparred Monday over blame for street violence linked to racial injustice and police treatment of minorities that erupted in recent days. Trump tweeted Monday that he plans Tuesday to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, where protests turned violent last week in the aftermath of a police shooting of a Black man as they attempted to arrest him. A white teenage vigilante claiming to protect businesses in Kenosha was accused of fatally shooting two people and wounding a third during a street demonstration. Referring to Biden, Trump said the Wisconsin violence, and unrest in Portland, Oregon, in the U.S. northwest, forced “Slow Joe” out of his basement at his home in Delaware, where he has campaigned for the November 3 election to avoid crowds during the unabated coronavirus pandemic. Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at campaign event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 31, 2020.In a speech Monday in Pittsburgh, Biden blamed Trump for the violence that has erupted across the country as the United States deals with widespread and sometimes violent protests and counter-protests over police treatment of minorities and inequality in U.S. society. “This president long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country,” Biden said. “He can’t stop the violence, because for years, he has fomented it.” “Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is re-elected?” Biden asked. Oregon Governor Urges End to ‘Cycle of Violence’ in PortlandPresident, Portland Mayor trade criticisms after clashes between Trump supporters and protestersWisconsin Governor Tony Evers urged Trump to skip his visit to the Midwestern city along the shores of Lake Michigan. “I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together,” Evers said. Evers first ordered National Guard troops into Kenosha to quell the street violence after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back, leaving him partially paralyzed. Evers accepted more federal law enforcement assistance. But Trump took credit on Twitter. “If I didn’t INSIST on having the National Guard activate and go into Kenosha, Wisconsin, there would be no Kenosha right now. Also, there would have been great death and injury. I want to thank Law Enforcement and the National Guard. I will see you on Tuesday!” If I didn’t INSIST on having the National Guard activate and go into Kenosha, Wisconsin, there would be no Kenosha right now. Also, there would have been great death and injury. I want to thank Law Enforcement and the National Guard. I will see you on Tuesday!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) FILE – Mayor Ted Wheeler speaks to people gathered in downtown Portland, Oregon, July 22, 2020.Trump attacked Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democratic critic of the president, for the three months of sporadic violence in the city. “Portland is a mess, and it has been for many years,” Trump tweeted. “If this joke of a mayor doesn’t clean it up, we will go in and do it for them!” Portland is a mess, and it has been for many years. If this joke of a mayor doesn’t clean it up, we will go in and do it for them!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 31, 2020Trump also claimed, “The Radical Left Mayors & Governors of Cities where this crazy violence is taking place have lost control of their ‘Movement.’ It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but the Anarchists & Agitators got carried away and don’t listen anymore – even forced Slow Joe out of basement!” The Radical Left Mayors & Governors of Cities where this crazy violence is taking place have lost control of their “Movement”. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but the Anarchists & Agitators got carried away and don’t listen anymore – even forced Slow Joe out of basement!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) FILE – Oregon Governor Kate Brown speaks at a news conference in Portland, Oregon, March 16, 2020.Oregon Governor Kate Brown said in a statement late Sunday that everyone, including elected officials, law enforcement and community leaders, needs to come together to stop the cycle of violence in Portland, and that “real change will come from the hard work to achieve racial justice.” Brown announced the Oregon State Police will be sending officers to Portland to free up local investigators to “arrest and charge those engaging in violent acts,” and will hold a public forum with Wheeler, the Portland mayor, protest organizers and community leaders. She also criticized the actions of “armed right-wing vigilantes” who have confronted protesters in various U.S. cities. “The right-wing group Patriot Prayer and self-proclaimed militia members drove into downtown Portland (Saturday) night, armed and looking for a fight,” Brown said. “Every Oregonian has the right to freely express their views without fear of deadly violence. I will not allow Patriot Prayer and armed white supremacists to bring more bloodshed to our streets.”
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Thousands of Passengers Stranded Overnight on Trains in France
Rail officials say thousands of passengers were trapped overnight on high-speed TGV trains that were halted by electrical problems in southwestern France. SNCF, the national rail authority, apologized Monday for what it called “a series of electrical supply incidents” that started Sunday afternoon and disrupted service to Paris. SNCF officials said a train from Hendaye, a popular tourist destination on the border with Spain, was carrying about 1,000 vacationers back to Paris when electrical issues halted it in the remote Landes region. Officials say those passengers were transferred to another train bound for Bordeaux in the middle of the night. Four high-speed trains connecting Bordeaux with other cities in the region were also stuck on tracks into the night, resulting in delays on other routes. Frustrated travelers posted images on social media of children sleeping on floors, and described the challenges of wearing face masks for as long as 20 straight hours. French media reported that several people were evacuated for medical reasons. SNCF Strategic Crisis Director Jérôme Attou told reporters in Bordeaux that authorities were still inspecting the tracks and the catenaries — power lines that deliver electricity to the trains — and getting the network back in working order. Attou said he expected trains to be running normally by Tuesday. France’s junior minister for transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, said all passengers will be reimbursed three times the cost of their tickets.
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Ghana Activists Call for Doubling Efforts to Eliminate Child Labor
The International Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor was universally ratified in August and experts say it will give children critical legal protection against the worst forms of child labor. In Ghana, children are still used in hazardous labor, especially in the fisheries and cocoa industries. One Ghanaian charity is making a difference by rescuing children working in fisheries and getting them back into school. Stacey Knott reports Accra.
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Rwandan Hotelier Arrested for ‘Terrorism’
A Rwandan man who has been internationally celebrated for his efforts to save ethnic Tutsis in the 1994 genocide has been arrested on charges of terrorism.Paul Rusesabagina, an ethnic Hutu, has received multiple human rights awards, including the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 for sheltering hundreds of Tutsis at his hotel in 1994.Rusesabagina, who was depicted in the film “Hotel Rwanda,” is accused of terrorism, arson, kidnapping and murder, perpetrated against unarmed, innocent Rwandan civilians on Rwandan territory,” according to a statement from the Rwanda Investigation Bureau.RIB STATEMENT ON THE ARREST OF PAUL RUSESABAGINA1. RIB informs the general public that, through international cooperation, Paul Rusesabagina was arrested and is in the custody of RIB.— Rwanda Investigation Bureau (@RIB_Rw) August 31, 2020He was paraded past media in the Rwandan capital of Kigali Monday. Rusesabagina has been living in exile after forming an armed opposition party in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The Rwandan government did not provide details on how they arrested him.
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Scientists See Downsides to Top COVID-19 Vaccines from Russia, China
High-profile COVID-19 vaccines developed in Russia and China share a potential shortcoming: They are based on a common cold virus that many people have been exposed to, potentially limiting their effectiveness, some experts say. CanSino Biologics’ vaccine, approved for military use in China, is a modified form of adenovirus type 5, or Ad5. The company is in talks to get emergency approval in several countries before completing large-scale trials, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. A vaccine developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, approved in Russia earlier this month despite limited testing, is based on Ad5 and a second less common adenovirus. A scientist works inside a laboratory of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology during the testing of a coronavirus vaccine, in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 6, 2020. (Russian Direct Investment Fund/Handout via Reuters)”The Ad5 concerns me just because a lot of people have immunity,” said Anna Durbin, a vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins University. “I’m not sure what their strategy is … maybe it won’t have 70% efficacy. It might have 40% efficacy, and that’s better than nothing, until something else comes along.” Vaccines are seen as essential to ending the pandemic that has claimed over 845,000 lives worldwide. Gamaleya has said its two-virus approach will address Ad5 immunity issues. Both developers have years of experience and approved Ebola vaccines based on Ad5. Neither CanSino nor Gamaleya responded to requests for comment. Researchers have experimented with Ad5-based vaccines against a variety of infections for decades, but none are widely used. They employ harmless viruses as “vectors” to ferry genes from the target virus — in this case the novel coronavirus — into human cells, prompting an immune response to fight the actual virus. But many people already have antibodies against Ad5, which could cause the immune system to attack the vector instead of responding to the coronavirus, making these vaccines less effective. FILE – Screen grab taken from video issued by Britain’s Oxford University, showing a person being injected as part of the first human trials in the UK to test a potential coronavirus vaccine, untaken by Oxford University in England, Apr. 23, 2020.Several researchers have chosen alternative adenoviruses or delivery mechanisms. Oxford University and AstraZeneca based their COVID-19 vaccine on a chimpanzee adenovirus, avoiding the Ad5 issue. Johnson & Johnson’s candidate uses Ad26, a comparatively rare strain. Dr. Zhou Xing, from Canada’s McMaster University, worked with CanSino on its first Ad5-based vaccine, for tuberculosis, in 2011. His team is developing an inhaled Ad5 COVID-19 vaccine, theorizing it could circumvent pre-existing immunity issues. “The Oxford vaccine candidate has quite an advantage” over the injected CanSino vaccine, he said. Xing also worries that high doses of the Ad5 vector in the CanSino vaccine could induce fever, fueling vaccine skepticism. “I think they will get good immunity in people that don’t have antibodies to the vaccine, but a lot of people do,” said Dr. Hildegund Ertl, director of the Wistar Institute Vaccine Center in Philadelphia. In China and the United States, about 40% of people have high levels of antibodies from prior Ad5 exposure. In Africa, it could be has high as 80%, experts said. HIV risk Some scientists also worry an Ad5-based vaccine could increase chances of contracting HIV. In a 2004 trial of a Merck & Co Ad5-based HIV vaccine, people with pre-existing immunity became more, not less, susceptible to the virus that causes AIDS. FILE – Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 30, 2020.Researchers, including top U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a 2015 paper, said the side effect was likely unique to HIV vaccines. But they cautioned that HIV incidence should be monitored during and after trials of all Ad5-based vaccines in at-risk populations.
“I would be worried about the use of those vaccines in any country or any population that was at risk of HIV, and I put our country as one of them,” said Dr. Larry Corey, co-leader of the U.S. Coronavirus Vaccine Prevention Network, who was a lead researcher on the Merck trial. Gamaleya’s vaccine will be administered in two doses: The first based on Ad26, similar to J&J’s candidate, and the second on Ad5. Alexander Gintsburg, Gamaleya’s director, has said the two-vector approach addresses the immunity issue. Ertl said it might work well enough in individuals who have been exposed to one of the two adenoviruses. Many experts expressed skepticism about the Russian vaccine after the government declared its intention to give it to high-risk groups in October without data from large pivotal trials. “Demonstrating safety and efficacy of a vaccine is very important,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, a Harvard vaccine researcher who helped design J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine. Often, he noted, large-scale trials “do not give the result that is expected or required.”
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Poll Shows 40 Percent of Americans Back Trump Executive Order on TikTok
Forty percent of Americans back President Donald Trump’s threat to ban videosharing app TikTok if it is not sold to a U.S. buyer, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national poll, suggesting that many support the effort to separate the social media upstart from its Chinese parent.The poll published Monday, which surveyed 1,349 adult respondents across the United States, found that 40% backed Trump’s recent executive order forcing China’s ByteDance to sell its TikTok operations in the United States by Sept. 15. Thirty percent of the respondents said they opposed the move, while another 30% said they didn’t know either way.The responses were largely split along party lines, and many of those who agreed with Trump’s order said they do not know much about TikTok. Among Republicans, for example, 69% said they supported the president’s order while only 32% said they were familiar with the app. Twenty-one percent of Democrats also supported Trump’s order and 46% said they were familiar with TikTok.The figures suggest most Americans had only “a fleeting knowledge of the brand,” said Dipanjan Chatterjee, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. Chatterjee said the negative attitudes were likely the result of the public rhetoric around TikTok – and increasing tensions with Beijing.”Clearly there’s been a politicization of TikTok,” he said.TikTok users have captured the teenage zeitgeist with catchy song-and-dance videos in the United States and elsewhere, but its parent company’s ties to Beijing have been the subject of bipartisan concern as relations with China deteriorate.Those worries culminated earlier this month in a do-or-die order from Trump to ByteDance, with the Trump administration saying that TikTok is a potential national security risk due to the vast amount of private data the app is compiling on U.S. consumers. TikTok claims about 100 million monthly active users in the U.S.The Chinese company must now divest TikTok in the United States. Microsoft Corp and Oracle Corp are among U.S. companies fighting to snap up its assets.The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 38% of respondents said they were either very or somewhat familiar with the app and 25% said they had watched a video on the platform. Thirty-five percent agreed with the statement that they had “heard of it, but that’s about it.”Americans also appeared to be more critical of the Chinese company than they were of American-based technology companies: 47% of respondents said they either held very unfavorable, somewhat unfavorable, or “lean towards unfavorable” attitudes toward TikTok. By contrast, just 11% said they had similarly unfavorable impressions of Seattle-based Amazon – the world’s largest online retailer which is facing allegations of monopolistic behavior from both sides of the U.S. political aisle.
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Right Wing Group Patriot Prayer No Stranger to Protests in Northwest
The man who was fatally shot in Portland, Oregon, as supporters of President Donald Trump skirmished with Black Lives Matter protesters was a supporter of a right-wing group called Patriot Prayer, which doesn’t have a big national footprint but is well known in the Pacific Northwest. Patriot Prayer’s founder, Joey Gibson, has held pro-Trump rallies repeatedly in Portland and other cities since 2016. The events have drawn counterprotesters from around the region and had heightened tensions in Portland long before Black Lives Matter demonstrators began nearly 100 days of nightly protests over the police killing of George Floyd. The shooting victim was identified by Gibson as Aaron “Jay” Danielson of Portland. Photos taken of the body show he was wearing a Patriot Prayer hat. Police have released few details and pleaded with the public on Sunday to come forward with any information about the shooting. Danielson also went by the name Jay Bishop, according to a statement on Patriot Prayer’s Facebook page. Gibson, a one-time Senate candidate, founded Patriot Prayer in 2016. In past interviews with The Associated Press, Gibson has said he and his group are not a hate group and simply want to exercise their freedom of speech without interference from left-wing groups or protesters. FILE – Joey Gibson, left, founder of the Patriot Prayer group, argues with a bystander at right as Gibson’s group marched following a rally supporting gun rights, Aug. 18, 2018, at City Hall in Seattle.The group became a prominent presence in Portland in the summer of 2017, when Gibson organized a large rally in the city less than a week after a white supremacist fatally stabbed two men who had come to the defense of two Black teenagers — including one wearing a Muslim head-covering — on a light-rail train. The defendant Jeremy Christian, who was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences earlier this year, had attended a Patriot Prayer rally several months before, but was kicked out by organizers for flashing Nazi hand signs. FILE – Protesters gather before a rally by the right-wing Patriot Prayer group in Portland, Ore., Aug. 4, 2018.Patriot Prayer held several other marches and rallies in Portland in 2017 and 2018 and Gibson was arrested for felony rioting last summer on a charge related to a brawl that broke out between the group’s supporters and left-wing activists at a pub after a May Day march in the city. He has pleaded not guilty; a judge this week denied his motion for a change of venue at trial, according to court records. In a video that was live-streamed on Facebook last summer after he was released on bail, Gibson urged his supporters to “show up one hundred-fold” at a rally scheduled for the following day in Portland that was organized by the Proud Boys — a group that’s been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — and other right-wing groups such as the Three Percenters and the American Guard. Supporters of President Donald Trump attend a rally and car parade, Aug. 29, 2020, in Clackamas, Ore., on the way to Portland.Gibson told the AP he was again present late Saturday in Portland when a caravan of about 600 Trump supporters drove through the city, sparking clashes in the streets with Black Lives Matter demonstrators. Gibson did not appear to have a part in organizing the caravan, however. In a video on Twitter, organizer Alex Kyzik said before the rally that those who attended should not openly carry their weapons. The same person organized a similar rally in Boise on Aug. 22. There were no public records available for a man named Alex Kyzik in Boise, Idaho, and it was unclear if that was his real name. Videos taken before the shooting show people squaring off for fist fights and Trump supporters firing bear spray and paintballs at counterprotesters, who in return throw objects at the trucks and attempt to block their progress by standing in intersections. Mayor Ted Wheeler said when Trump supporters want to come to Portland to rally, there is nothing the city can do to prevent them. “It’s no secret to anybody that I personally am not a Trump supporter, but I will defend to the death the right of a Trump supporter to stand outside my apartment and non-violently demonstrate in support of their candidate. That’s core to American democracy,” Wheeler said. “So when people say they want to come into the city in a caravan supporting their presidential candidate, we cannot tell them no. They have constitutional rights to be here — rights, which I embrace and support. The violence, however, is the problem.”
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At Least 3 Migrants Die After Boat Fire Off Italian Coast
Italian Police say at least three migrants were killed, six were injured and one is missing after their boat caught fire in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Italy Sunday. Coast Guard video shows the boat in flames and sailors frantically yelling instructions as they try to rescue the migrants in the water. Police say the ship’s engine reportedly caught fire and exploded, as it was being navigated into port. It is unclear exactly how many migrants were originally on the boat. Media reports about 21 migrants were on board the boat when it arrived but 13 of them had already been escorted on shore by the Italian police before the fire. ANSA news agency reported that the police were escorting the boat with the remaining migrants to the port of Crotone in Calabria when the fire occurred. Several migrants suffered serious burns and were taken to the hospital in Crotone. Meanwhile, the recent increase in migrant arrivals in Italy has sparked protests on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, which bears the brunt of the landings. Mayor Toto Martello called for a “general strike” demanding more assistance from the Italian government on Sunday after a rusty fishing boat landed during the night allowing 450 migrants to disembark on the island. Italian officials have responded by sending three more COVID-19 quarantine ferries to the island, with one due to arrive on Monday and two more on Wednesday.
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China Launches New Probe Into Australian Wine Imports
China is opening another chapter in its bitter trade and diplomatic dispute with Australia with the launch of a second probe into Australia’s wine imports. China’s commerce ministry announced Monday that it will investigate over three-dozen government subsidy programs for the Australian wine industry. The probe will last one full year. FILE – Bottles of Penfolds Grange wine and other varieties, made by wine maker Penfolds and owned by Australia’s Treasury Wine Estates, at a winery located in the Hunter Valley, Australia, Feb. 14, 2018.Australian Federal Trade Minister Simon Birmingham issued a statement pushing back against Beijing’s claims, saying the government’s research and development programs equate to subsidizing the country’s wine exports. “The government will work with our internationally renowned wine industry to mount the strongest possible case against these claims,” Birmingham said. The new probe comes nearly two weeks after the ministry said it was launching an anti-dumping investigation into Australian wine imports, alleging that winemakers have sharply cut the price of the products they were selling in China, subsequently damaging China’s domestic wine industry. China is the leading market for Australian wine exports with over $790 million in sales last year for a 37% market share, with France a distant second at 27%. The anti-dumping probe is the latest move in China’s apparent retaliation over Australia’s push for an independent probe into the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. A worker weighs beef products on sale at a food court in Beijing, Aug. 28, 2020. China blocked imports from an Australian beef producer on Friday after reporting a banned drug was found in its meat.Beijing has imposed heavy tariffs on Australian barley and suspended Australian beef imports, and has also advised its citizens and students to reconsider Australia as a destination for travel and education, citing racial discrimination. China is also Australia’s largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth $170 billion last year, according to Reuters.
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Лохотрону B2B Jewelry кінець! Хто заплатив за острів крадуна гонти?
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Нарешті СБУ накрило фінансову піраміду B2B Jewelry – після 2-х років її існування. За ці 2 роки 600 000 українців віднесли дегенерату гонті і компанії 250 мільйонів доларів. А він і компанія вклались в круті авто, нерухомість і… власний острів на Дніпрі. Як гадаєте, куди підуть ображені вкладники? І чому СБУ не прикрило цю піраміду ще взимку?
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Жертви перемир’я: зелений карлик нагло бреше – на Донбасі знову втрати
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Позор российской вундервафли: ракету С-400 уронили во время международных соревнований
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Шутка ли, на международном военном мероприятии рухнула ракета новейшего комплекса ПВО и такое событие безусловно отрицательно отразится на репутации производителя ракеты и приведет к массе вопросов у тех, кто уже купил этот комплекс и кто планирует его покупать. А креме того, минобороны было обязано опровергнуть эту информацию потому, что само назвало С-400 своим основным воздушным щитом
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