BTS: K-pop group reacts with 'tears' after making Billboard history

The group's first ever English single has made history as a Billboard Hot 100 chart topper.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3jvhuS4
via Dear Immigrant

JEE: India holds crucial college exam amid Covid-19 fears

A hugely competitive college exam in India kicks off after weeks of heavy protest from students.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3jD5MoF
via Dear Immigrant

Bella Thorne, OnlyFans and the battle over monetising content

Content creators say OnlyFans has slashed incomes by placing caps on prices charged on the platform.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3lxexCt
via Dear Immigrant

ByteDance quietly racks up users for its music streaming app in global push as TikTok sale looms

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, has been racking up users for its music streaming service Resso, as it continues to expand its international presence despite ongoing U.S. pressure.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/353BrLZ
via Dear Immigrant

US steps up support for Taiwan to counter rising China pressure

Washington declassifies six Reagan-era security assurances given to Taiwan, vows new economic dialogue with Taipei.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3gN4Dce
via Dear Immigrant

Australian business anchor for China's CGTN detained in Beijing

Australia says Cheng Lei has been held since mid-August and China has not explained why.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2QDcwX4
via Dear Immigrant

A private survey shows China's manufacturing sector expanded in August at the fastest pace in nearly a decade

Results of a private survey on Tuesday showed China's manufacturing activity expanded in August, with the Caixin/Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index coming in at 53.1.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/32DCrn0
via Dear Immigrant

U.S. increases support for Taiwan, says it's to counter rising China pressure

The United States said on Monday it was establishing a new bilateral economic dialogue with Taiwan, an initiative it said was aimed at strengthening ties with Taipei and supporting it in the face of increasing pressure from Beijing.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2YPHKP4
via Dear Immigrant

QAnon follower asserts Trump is 'an angel'

Thousands of people protested against Germany's coronavirus lockdown measures in Berlin and, among them, were QAnon supporters with outspoken praise for President Trump. CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/2Ggo9RR
via Dear Immigrant

Saudi king sacks defence officials

Six men, including two princes, are arrested as part of the country's latest anti-corruption drive.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/34RIkzx
via Dear Immigrant

Hong Kong starts mass testing for coronavirus: Live news

Half a million people have signed up for the programme, despite calls for a boycott from activists, democracy groups.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3lLoQ5Y
via Dear Immigrant

How China is preparing its economy for a future where the U.S. isn't the center of global demand

Some economists in China lay out their view on what high-level political talk of "dual circulation" means for China's role in international trade going forward.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/34Oozcb
via Dear Immigrant

Stock futures flat in overnight trading after S&P 500 and Dow notch best August since 1980s

The S&P 500 and the Dow just wrapped up their best August in more than 30 years.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/32KBDfY
via Dear Immigrant

Facebook threatens to block news in Australia if regulations are enacted

The social media giant argues that new rules altering the financial arrangement between publishers and online platforms could make it impossible to share news content.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2GfkpQy
via Dear Immigrant

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro Pardons Political Opponents

President Nicolás Maduro cast his decree as a bid for unity, but many members of the political opposition quickly scorned it.

from NYT > World > Americas https://ift.tt/3gOGfH0
via Dear Immigrant

Russian jet violated NATO airspace while attempting to intercept US B-52 bomber

A Russian military jet violated NATO airspace on Friday while it was attempting to intercept a US Air Force B-52 bomber flying near the Danish island of Bornholm, the alliance said in a statement Monday, calling the incident a "significant violation of international law."

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/3bcrCfw
via Dear Immigrant

Trump defends supporters accused in deadly clashes

The US president suggests right-wing activists in Wisconsin and Oregon acted in self-defence.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2EOY2AE
via Dear Immigrant

Hundreds of migrants still dying in Med five years since 2015

Five years on from the migrant crisis of 2015 hundreds are still dying in the Mediterranean.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2QEZRme
via Dear Immigrant

Still ill with coronavirus six months later: 'I have no idea how to get better'

For some people Covid just will not go away – one woman’s Instagram diary of her long-haul illness.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/34QT9Sw
via Dear Immigrant

Rival powers jockey for the lead in hypersonic aircraft

The US, China and Russia are pouring money into aircraft that can fly at five times the speed of sound.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3lzayFi
via Dear Immigrant

Prashant Bhushan: India finds an unlikely hero in lawyer-activist

Prashant Bhushan refused to apologise to the Supreme Court and got a symbolic one-rupee fine.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3lBalla
via Dear Immigrant

Immigrant Workers are Essential to the United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service (USPS) will play an outsized role in the 2020 presidential election, as more states focus on mail-in voting to help curb the spread of the coronavirus at polling places. Central to USPS’ work are the staff members who sort, process, and deliver our mail—through “snow, rain, heat, and gloom of […]

The post Immigrant Workers are Essential to the United States Postal Service appeared first on Immigration Impact.

from Immigration Impact https://ift.tt/3lEZXJc
via Dear ImmigrantDear Immigrant

Polls show Japan's ex-defence minister most popular as next PM

While the public backs Shigeru Ishiba to take over from departing Shinzo Abe, he lacks support within the ruling party.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3b9n0GW
via Dear Immigrant

New Zealand’s Largest City Exits Lockdown After Bringing Mystery COVID-19 Surge Under Control

New Zealand’s largest city has exited lockdown after the government said a Covid-19 outbreak there has been brought under control and it remains on track to again eliminate the virus from the community.

Auckland schools and customer-facing businesses re-opened on Monday and a ban on traveling out of the city was lifted, almost three weeks after the outbreak prompted the reintroduction of restrictions. Social distancing requirements remain in place for the whole country under level 2 restrictions and everyone from the age of 12 is now required to wear a mask on public transport.

“Our testing shows that it is highly unlikely there is Covid anywhere else in the country and we want to keep it that way,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said yesterday. “The last thing we want from re-opening Auckland is to spread the virus around the country, and that is one of the reasons we continue to have level 2 settings across New Zealand,” she said. The government expects to further review all alert settings by Sept. 6.

New Zealand became the envy of the world earlier this year when it succeeded in eliminating community transmission of the coronavirus by imposing a strict nationwide lockdown. Ardern said the government continues to pursue an elimination strategy and is confident it can stamp out the outbreak in Auckland, home to about a third of New Zealand’s five million people.

The Auckland cluster has grown to 141 cases in total, and the government expects new infections among close contacts to continue for some time. The source of the outbreak is still being investigated. New Zealand has 131 active cases, 24 of which are returnees from overseas who were quarantined on arrival.

Restrictions in Auckland remain slightly stricter than in the rest of the country, with gatherings limited to 10 and people encouraged to wear masks in public spaces. Ardern called Auckland’s settings “level 2.5” and wouldn’t rule out imposing broader mask-wearing requirements if people don’t abide by the current rules.

“Our system is good, it is designed to keep us on track with our elimination strategy at level 2, in the scenario we now have, but it will only work if people follow the guidance,” she said.

from World – TIME https://ift.tt/3gNmIXn
via Dear Immigrant

China launches second probe into Australian wine imports

China is the top market for Australian wine exports and is also Australia's largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth A$235 billion ($170 billion) last year.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3gKOzrn
via Dear Immigrant

'Heavy price': China threatens Czech official over Taiwan visit

The arrival of the Czech delegation marks the second high-profile foreign visit to the democratic island in a fortnight.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3gKNsrH
via Dear Immigrant

Bill Gates offered a hilarious gift to Warren Buffett on his 90th birthday

Bill Gates offered a sweet and funny video tribute to his billionaire pal Warren Buffett Sunday in honor of his 90th birthday.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/3jtIZeC
via Dear Immigrant

These retailers filed for bankruptcy in August. Here's who might be next

The breakneck pace of retail bankruptcies slowed in August, with at least three well-known companies filing for Chapter 11.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/2YIwq7y
via Dear Immigrant

Why Disney is releasing 'Mulan' on Disney+ for $30

When Disney announced that it would be releasing "Mulan" on Disney+, one number stuck out: $30. That's how much Disney is charging viewers to watch the blockbuster when it debuts next week on its new streaming service.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/31FTRzY
via Dear Immigrant

The killer feature that could make the iPhone 12 feel much, much faster

The new iPhone 12 is probably going to have the expected upgrades: a faster processor, the latest iOS software, 5G wireless connectivity and a host of other updates that should make the iPhone 12 the fastest smartphone Apple ever produced.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/3gH0Pct
via Dear Immigrant

ByteDance says it will abide by tightened China export laws as TikTok sale looms

China amended its list of technologies subject to export restrictions to include data personalization services, a move which could complicate ByteDance's sale of TiKTok.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2EOe9hQ
via Dear Immigrant

China says manufacturing activity expanded in August, slightly missing expectations

China's official manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) for the month of August came in at 51.0 as compared to 51.1 in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2QENyq8
via Dear Immigrant

Number of US coronavirus cases nears six million: Live news

Several US states report record daily infections; New Zealand eases restrictions and makes masks compulsory.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/31Ee9tQ
via Dear Immigrant

Leaders resign after 'Golfgate' scandal highlights hypocrisy

EU Commissioner Phil Hogan, who resigned from his post for breaking Ireland's coronavirus restrictions by attending a political golf society event with 80 other people, was just the latest member of the political elites to be caught flouting the rules. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/34NR6yG
via Dear Immigrant

Norway bunker partygoers poisoned with carbon monoxide

More than 20 people were hospitalised after attending the party in the Norwegian capital Oslo.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3lyzLje
via Dear Immigrant

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buys stakes in Japan's five leading trading companies

News of the purchases came on the same day the "Oracle of Omaha" turned 90.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2QEGNEM
via Dear Immigrant

Asia Pacific stocks rise; China's August manufacturing activity data ahead

China's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for August is set to be released at around 9:00 a.m. HK/SIN on Monday.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3gN4Iwh
via Dear Immigrant

Renaissance Capital expects fewer Chinese companies to list in the U.S. once new regulations kick in

The U.S. is preparing rules that could prevent foreign companies from listing on American exchanges and force existing ones to delist if they fail to follow standards for U.S. audits and regulations.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/32y9BnS
via Dear Immigrant

India records world's biggest single-day jump in coronavirus cases

The country recorded more than 78,000 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the biggest single-day spike in the world since the pandemic began.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2YLQ5TO
via Dear Immigrant

These millennials are building businesses for a post-pandemic world

The coronavirus pandemic has uprooted most aspects of daily life — and much of the economy built around it. But for some young entrepreneurs in Singapore, it has paved the way for their fast-growing start-ups to shape a new future.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3lAKTfl
via Dear Immigrant

Hong Kong health workers and activists call for boycott of mass coronavirus testing plan

A Hong Kong pro-democracy union of health-care workers and several activists called for a boycott of the government's universal coronavirus testing plan.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3b90rCe
via Dear Immigrant

Mauritius oil spill: 'We want to protect our island'

Young locals are helping to prevent environmental damage after an oil leak from a ship that ran aground.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2QEtapm
via Dear Immigrant

Europe's migrant crisis: The year that changed a continent

More than a million people arrived in Europe in 2015. Five years on, we reflect on what's changed.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2ET2wpK
via Dear Immigrant

The search engine boss who wants to help us all plant trees

Christian Kroll is the boss of Ecosia, which donates 80% of its profits to tree-planting projects.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2YPoIZg
via Dear Immigrant

Letter from Africa: Why Kenyans are no longer cheering their constitution

It is a time of reflection 10 years after the country was promised a rebirth, writes Waihiga Mwaura.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3baM8wW
via Dear Immigrant

Why Kenya's Rift Valley lakes are going through a crisis

Thousands of people have been displaced and farms submerged due to heavy rains, climate change and deforestation.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3gEoSsj
via Dear Immigrant

Israeli tanks hit Hamas after balloon attacks from Gaza

Head of Hamas political bureau said it will not back down from wanting to end the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3hI4hF2
via Dear Immigrant

Portland clashes: Fatal shooting as rival groups protest

A pro-Trump procession was met by counter-protesters in another tense night in the Oregon city.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2YHv64L
via Dear Immigrant

Rooftop majlis: Beirut commemorates Ashoura amid coronavirus

Residents in some of Beirut's predominantly Shia Muslim neighbourhoods hold Muharram mourning ceremonies on rooftops.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/32wFc9u
via Dear Immigrant

Libya civil war: 10,000 people missing, rights group says

Sunday marks the International Day of the Disappeared, drawing attention to people who have inexplicably gone missing.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/31FJkF1
via Dear Immigrant

The Indigenous artists designing coronavirus masks

From celebrating culture to highlighting a suicide epidemic, Indigenous artists are creating masks with meaning.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2YNAjb5
via Dear Immigrant

‘A Hail Mary’: Psychedelic Therapy Draws Veterans to Jungle Retreats

Ayahuasca, a vomit-inducing hallucinogenic brew, draws thousands of people each year — including former soldiers — to jungle retreats that have become an unlicensed and unregulated mental health marketplace.

from NYT > World > Americas https://ift.tt/3lzas0j
via Dear Immigrant

French uproar over magazine's portrayal of Black politician as slave

A French right-wing magazine has sparked outrage over an illustration published in its most recent issue depicting the Black politician Danièle Obono as an 18th century slave.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/3jE381Z
via Dear Immigrant

Elites are flouting coronavirus restrictions -- and that could hurt us all

When countries impose restrictions to combat coronavirus, there's an implicit pact between the government and people: we're all in this together.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/2YM6Oq2
via Dear Immigrant

Canada statue of John A MacDonald toppled by activists in Montreal

John A MacDonald was accused of letting famine and disease decimate indigenous Canadian communities.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3hH6uQR
via Dear Immigrant

US election 2020: Intelligence chief ends face-to-face security meetings

Democrats cry foul over the move, saying the public had a right to know about foreign interference.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/31E157G
via Dear Immigrant

Xi says China to step up efforts to fight 'splittism' in Tibet

Chinese leader tells senior Communist Party officials that Beijing must plant 'seeds of loving China' among Tibetans.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/31GZRsm
via Dear Immigrant

Italian Coast Guard responds after Banksy-funded rescue boat requests 'immediate assistance'

A rescue boat funded by the British street artist Banksy has said it urgently needs assistance after taking 219 migrants onboard in the Mediterranean.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/2EIbJBw
via Dear Immigrant

Berlin police halt march against German government's coronavirus response

• Coronavirus outbreaks identified at 4 sororities at Kansas State University • Live updates: The US has recorded more than 182,000 coronavirus-related deaths

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/3jtr8oq
via Dear Immigrant

Jacob Blake: Donald Trump to visit Kenosha amid unrest

The president is due to visit the city of Kenosha on Tuesday to meet local police.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/31FQFoj
via Dear Immigrant

Tens of thousands of anti-Netanyahu protesters hit Israel streets

Organisers say that as many as 37,000 people joined in the 11th consecutive weekend protest against prime minister.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3gGySl1
via Dear Immigrant

Trump intel chief ends election security briefings to Congress

John Ratcliffe made the decision because the administration 'got tired' of intelligence leaks, Trump says.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/32AT1DX
via Dear Immigrant

Brazil coronavirus deaths surpass 120,000: Live updates

Brazil's Ministry of Health reports slowdown in the number of new fatalities; Italy conducts record number of tests.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2G7lUA5
via Dear Immigrant

Searching for the lost dogs of the Beirut blast

Many pets ran away after a massive explosion in Beirut, leaving Leila Molana-Allen pining for a missing puppy.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2Dc3oFN
via Dear Immigrant

'They wanted to drown me at birth - now I'm a poet'

Kuli Kohli has always used writing as a means of escape from the prejudice she has experienced as an Asian woman with cerebral palsy.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3gFymDK
via Dear Immigrant

Begum Rokeya: The forgotten 19th Century feminist

Begum Rokeya was a writer, educationalist and reformer who tirelessly fought for women's rights.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2QCwJwg
via Dear Immigrant

Algeria's lessons from The Plague in the age of coronavirus

Finding parallels between the famous novel and how Algeria is coping with coronavirus amid political upheaval.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3hJHdWg
via Dear Immigrant

ICYMI: Aquarium art and crop portraits

Plus a newborn puma and pioneering women statues in our round-up of stories you may have missed this week.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3gCMLkh
via Dear Immigrant

Postpartum depression survivors on pandemic parenting

For survivors of postpartum depression, some aspects of parenting through the coronavirus feel all too familiar.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3b90u1a
via Dear Immigrant

Niger flooding: At least 45 killed, 226,000 displaced

Dozens of mud homes collapsed along the river in Kirkissoye district and rice fields are submerged.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3gC8KYj
via Dear Immigrant

In New Hampshire, Trump urges voters to save 'democracy from mob'

Trump narrowly lost New Hampshire to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, and is trailing Biden there this year.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3lujuvO
via Dear Immigrant

The Cyprus Papers: These individuals paid $2.5m for EU passports

See the faces behind the stories and explore data proving Cyprus sold passports to criminals and high-ranking officials.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3aPfd10
via Dear Immigrant

EU prepares sanctions against Turkey over gas exploration dispute with Greece

The measures, meant to limit Turkey's ability to explore for natural gas in contested waters, could affect individuals, ships or the use of European ports, the EU's top diplomat said.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3befgDF
via Dear Immigrant

March on Washington 2020: 'Change is slow in America'

The BBC spoke to attendees at the March on Washington 2020 to see how far the country has come.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/32Een3t
via Dear Immigrant

Bhutan lifts tobacco ban amid coronavirus measures

The government decision allows smokers to buy tobacco products from state-owned duty-free outlets.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/34HUP0L
via Dear Immigrant

Two students, teacher killed in DR Congo school attack

Several teachers also kidnapped by unknown gunmen following the attack on a school in North Kivu.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3b5jwFo
via Dear Immigrant

First case of coronavirus reinfection identified in US: Live news

Nevada researchers say man who fell ill from COVID-19 in April tested positive for a different virus strain in June.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2EsdlQ7
via Dear Immigrant

'Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman dies of cancer at 43

Chadwick Boseman died at age 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer, his family says.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/32ydiKo
via Dear Immigrant

Libya interior minister suspended after gunmen fire on protesters

Tripoli-based government says Fathi Bashagha's handling of a crackdown on protests will be investigated within 72 hours.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3lpvVJj
via Dear Immigrant

'Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman dies at 43 after four-year battle with colon cancer

Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, died Friday of cancer, his representative said. He was 43.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3lr5gM1
via Dear Immigrant

Chadwick Boseman: Black Panther star dies of cancer aged 43

The US actor, 43, dies of cancer at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by his family.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2DcZ2ya
via Dear Immigrant

Virus 'veterans' provide relief to sufferers

In one of Israel's top hospitals, former coronavirus patients are working as volunteers on Covid-19 wards to help provide support to sufferers who can't see their families or friends due to isolation restrictions. Journalist Elliott Gotkine reports.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/2QwBXt9
via Dear Immigrant

Coronavirus: Children's role in spread puzzles scientists

A study from South Korea gives among the clearest pictures yet of children as carriers of the virus.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3b5onXc
via Dear Immigrant

US executes fifth federal prisoner this year after 17-year hiatus

Keith Nelson put to death for rape and murder of 10-year-old girl in 1999 as victim's mother, sister witness execution.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/34JwWWs
via Dear Immigrant

Hurricane Laura death toll climbs to 14 in the US

Fourteen people are now confirmed dead in the US after Hurricane Laura battered two states.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2D9vAsJ
via Dear Immigrant

Amazon fires: Are they worse this year than before?

Blazes are continuing to rage in the Amazon rainforest, despite the Brazilian president's fire ban.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/31FfZuC
via Dear Immigrant

Cloud gaming: Are game streaming services bad for the planet?

Remote streaming services may be the future but could cause a sharp rise in emissions, a study shows.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2EN8etf
via Dear Immigrant

Week in pictures: 22-28 August 2020

A selection of remarkable images taken around the world this week.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2EC3ZB5
via Dear Immigrant

Bihar: Destroyed lives and submerged homes in flood-hit India

Homes and livelihoods have been swept away by monsoon rains in India's Bihar state.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2YJnfDw
via Dear Immigrant

Elon Musk demonstrates brain-computer tech Neuralink in live pigs

Musk describes the Neuralink device as "like a Fitbit in your skull."

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2FYr2X9
via Dear Immigrant

Fact-checking President Donald Trump's false campaign claims

As Trump seeks re-election, his speeches are full of half-true grievances, made-up problems and exaggerated claims.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3hlNnfb
via Dear Immigrant

Tough times to continue for Chinese firms in the US

It doesn't matter if Trump or Biden wins, the anti-Chinese sentiment will remain on the White House agenda.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2YGdV3s
via Dear Immigrant

A 'double dip' in the U.S. economy is 'still possible,' says former Fed official

Dennis Lockhart, Atlanta Fed president from 2007 to 2017, said the U.S. economy needs more fiscal stimulus to "ward off a worst-case scenario."

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2QszX5k
via Dear Immigrant

Facebook’s Ties to India’s Ruling Party Complicate Its Fight Against Hate Speech

In July 2019, Alaphia Zoyab was on a video call with Facebook employees in India, discussing some 180 posts by users in the country that Avaaz, the watchdog group where she worked, said violated Facebook’s hate speech rules. But half way through the hour-long meeting, Shivnath Thukral, the most senior Facebook official on the call, got up and walked out of the room, Zoyab says, saying he had other important things to do.

Among the posts was one by Shiladitya Dev, a lawmaker in the state of Assam for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He had shared a news report about a girl being allegedly drugged and raped by a Muslim man, and added his own comment: “This is how Bangladeshi Muslims target our [native people] in 2019.” But rather than removing it, Facebook allowed the post to remain online for more than a year after the meeting, until TIME contacted Facebook to ask about it on Aug. 21. “We looked into this when Avaaz first flagged it to us, and our records show that we assessed it as a hate speech violation,” Facebook said in a statement to TIME. “We failed to remove upon initial review, which was a mistake on our part.”

Thukral was Facebook’s public policy director for India and South Asia at the time. Part of his job was lobbying the Indian government, but he was also involved in discussions about how to act when posts by politicians were flagged as hate speech by moderators, former employees tell TIME. Facebook acknowledges that Thukral left the meeting, but says he never intended to stay for its entirety, and joined only to introduce Zoyab, whom he knew from a past job, to his team. “Shivnath did not leave because the issues were not important,” Facebook said in the statement, noting that the company took action on 70 of the 180 posts presented during the meeting.

Eric Miller—World Economic ForumShivnath Thukral at the Moving to Better Ground session during the India Economic Summit in Mumbai, November, 2011.

The social media giant is under increasing scrutiny for how it enforces its hate speech policies when the accused are members of Modi’s ruling party. Activists say some Facebook policy officials are too close to the BJP, and accuse the company of putting its relationship with the government ahead of its stated mission of removing hate speech from its platform—especially when ruling-party politicians are involved. Thukral, for instance, worked with party leadership to assist in the BJP’s 2014 election campaign, according to documents TIME has seen.

Facebook’s managing director for India, Ajit Mohan, denied suggestions that the company had displayed bias toward the BJP in an Aug. 21 blog post titled, “We are open, transparent and non-partisan.” He wrote: “Despite hailing from diverse political affiliations and backgrounds, [our employees] perform their respective duties and interpret our policies in a fair and non-partisan way. The decisions around content escalations are not made unilaterally by just one person; rather, they are inclusive of views from different teams and disciplines within the company.”

Facebook published the blog post after the Wall Street Journal, citing current and former Facebook employees, reported on Aug.14 that the company’s top policy official in India, Ankhi Das, pushed back against other Facebook employees who wanted to label a BJP politician a “dangerous individual” and ban him from the platform after he called for Muslim immigrants to be shot. Das argued that punishing the state lawmaker, T. Raja Singh, would hurt Facebook’s business prospects in India, the Journal reported. (Facebook said Das’s intervention was not the sole reason Singh was not banned, and that it was still deciding if a ban was necessary.)

Read more: Can the World’s Largest Democracy Endure Another Five Years of a Modi Government?

Those business prospects are sizeable. India is Facebook’s largest market, with 328 million using the social media platform. Some 400 million Indians also use Facebook’s messaging service WhatsApp — a substantial chunk of the country’s estimated 503 million internet users. The platforms have become increasingly important in Indian politics; after the 2014 elections, Das published an op-ed arguing that Modi had won because of the way he leveraged Facebook in his campaign.

But Facebook and WhatsApp have also been used to spread hate speech and misinformation that have been blamed for helping to incite deadly attacks on minority groups amid rising communal tensions across India—despite the company’s efforts to crack down. In February, a video of a speech by BJP politician Kapil Mishra was uploaded to Facebook, in which he told police that unless they removed mostly-Muslim protesters occupying a road in Delhi, his supporters would do it themselves. Violent riots erupted within hours. (In that case, Facebook determined the video violated its rules on incitement to violence and removed it.)

WhatsApp, too, has been used with deadly intent in India — for example by cow vigilantes, Hindu mobs that have attacked Muslims and Dalits accused of killing cows, an animal sacred in Hinduism. At least 44 people, most of them Muslims, were killed by cow vigilantes between May 2015 and December 2018, according to Human Rights Watch. Many cow vigilante murders happen after rumors spread on WhatsApp, and videos of lynchings and beatings are often shared via the app too.

Read more: How the Pandemic is Reshaping India

TIME has learned that Facebook, in an effort to evaluate its role in spreading hate speech and incitements to violence, has commissioned an independent report on its impact on human rights in India. Work on the India audit, previously unreported, began before the Journal published its story. It is being conducted by the U.S. law firm Foley Hoag and will include interviews with senior Facebook staff and members of civil society in India, according to three people with knowledge of the matter and an email seen by TIME. (A similar report on Myanmar, released in 2018, detailed Facebook’s failings on hate speech that contributed to the Rohingya genocide there the previous year.) Facebook declined to confirm the report.

But activists, who have spent years monitoring and reporting hate speech by Hindu nationalists, tell TIME that they believe Facebook has been reluctant to police posts by members and supporters of the BJP because it doesn’t want to pick fights with the government that controls its largest market. The way the company is structured exacerbates the problem, analysts and former employees say, because the same people responsible for managing the relationship with the government also contribute to decisions on whether politicians should be punished for hate speech.

“A core problem at Facebook is that one policy org is responsible for both the rules of the platform and keeping governments happy,” Alex Stamos, Facebook’s former chief security officer, tweeted in May. “Local policy heads are generally pulled from the ruling political party and are rarely drawn from disadvantaged ethnic groups, religious creeds or castes. This naturally bends decision-making towards the powerful.”

Some activists have grown so frustrated with the Facebook India policy team that they’ve begun to bypass it entirely in reporting hate speech. Following the call when Thukral walked out, Avaaz decided to begin reporting hate speech directly to Facebook’s company headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. “We found Facebook India’s attitude utterly flippant, callous, uninterested,” says Zoyab, who has since left Avaaz. Another group that regularly reports hate speech against minorities on Facebook in India, which asked not to be named out of fear for the safety of its staffers, said it has been doing the same since 2018. In a statement, Facebook acknowledged some groups that regularly flag hate speech in India are in contact with Facebook headquarters, but said that did not change the criteria by which posts were judged to be against its rules.

Read more: Facebook Says It’s Removing More Hate Speech Than Ever Before. But There’s a Catch

The revelations in the Journal set off a political scandal in India, with opposition politicians calling for Facebook to be officially investigated for alleged favoritism toward Modi’s party. And the news caused strife within the company too: In an internal open letter, Facebook employees called on executives to denounce “anti-Muslim bigotry” and do more to ensure hate speech rules are applied consistently across the platform, Reuters reported. The letter alleges that there are no Muslim employees on the India policy team; in response to questions from TIME, Facebook said it was legally prohibited from collecting such data.

Facebook friends in high places

While it is common for companies to hire lobbyists with connections to political parties, activists say the history of staff on Facebook’s India policy team, as well as their incentive to keep the government happy, creates a conflict of interest when it comes to policing hate speech by politicians. Before joining Facebook, Thukral had worked in the past on behalf of the BJP. Despite this, he was involved in making decisions about how to deal with politicians’ posts that moderators flagged as violations of hate speech rules during the 2019 elections, the former employees tell TIME. His Facebook likes include a page called “I Support Narendra Modi.”

Former Facebook employees tell TIME they believe a key reason Thukral was hired in 2017 was because he was seen as close to the ruling party. In 2013, during the BJP’s eventually successful campaign to win national power at the 2014 elections, Thukral worked with senior party officials to help run a pro-BJP website and Facebook page. The site, called Mera Bharosa (“My Trust” in Hindi) also hosted events, including a project aimed at getting students to sign up to vote, according to interviews with people involved and documents seen by TIME. A student who volunteered for a Mera Bharosa project told TIME he had no idea it was an operation run in coordination with the BJP, and that he believed he was working for a non-partisan voter registration campaign. According to the documents, this was a calculated strategy to hide the true intent of the organization. By early 2014, the site changed its name to “Modi Bharosa” (meaning “Modi Trust”) and began sharing more overtly pro-BJP content. It is not clear whether Thukral was still working with the site at that time.

In a statement to TIME, Facebook acknowledged Thukral had worked on behalf of Mera Bharosa, but denied his past work presented a conflict of interest because multiple people are involved in significant decisions about removing content. “We are aware that some of our employees have supported various campaigns in the past both in India and elsewhere in the world,” Facebook said as part of a statement issued to TIME in response to a detailed series of questions. “Our understanding is that Shivnath’s volunteering at the time focused on the themes of governance within India and are not related to the content questions you have raised.”

Now, Thukral has an even bigger job. In March 2020, he was promoted from his job at Facebook to become WhatsApp’s India public policy director. In the role, New Delhi tech policy experts tell TIME, one of Thukral’s key responsibilities is managing the company’s relationship with the Modi government. It’s a crucial job, because Facebook is trying to turn the messaging app into a digital payments processor — a lucrative idea potentially worth billions of dollars.

In April, Facebook announced it would pay $5.7 billion for a 10% stake in Reliance Jio, India’s biggest telecoms company, which is owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani. On a call with investors in May, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke enthusiastically about the business opportunity. “With so many people in India engaging through WhatsApp, we just think this is going to be a huge opportunity for us to provide a better commerce experience for people, to help small businesses and the economy there, and to build a really big business ourselves over time,” he said, talking about plans to link WhatsApp Pay with Jio’s vast network of small businesses across India. “That’s why I think it really makes sense for us to invest deeply in India.”

Read more: How Whatsapp Is Fueling Fake News Ahead of India’s Elections

But WhatsApp’s future as a payments application in India depends on final approval from the national payments regulator, which is still pending. Facebook’s hopes for expansion in India have been quashed by a national regulator before, in 2016, when the country’s telecoms watchdog said Free Basics, Facebook’s plan to provide free Internet access for only some sites, including its own, violated net neutrality rules. One of Thukral’s priorities in his new role is ensuring that a similar problem doesn’t strike down Facebook’s big ambitions for WhatsApp Pay.

‘No foreign company in India wants to be in the government’s bad books’

While the regulator is technically independent, analysts say that Facebook’s new relationship with the wealthiest man in India will likely make it much easier to gain approval for WhatsApp Pay. “It would be easier now for Facebook to get that approval, with Ambani on its side,” says Neil Shah, vice president of Counterpoint Research, an industry analysis firm. And goodwill from the government itself is important too, analysts say. “No foreign company in India wants to be in the government’s bad books,” says James Crabtree, author of The Billionaire Raj. “Facebook would very much like to have good relations with the government of India and is likely to think twice about doing things that will antagonize them.”

The Indian government has shown before it is not afraid to squash the dreams of foreign tech firms. In July, after a geopolitical spat with China, it banned dozens of Chinese apps including TikTok and WeChat. “There has been a creeping move toward a kind of digital protectionism in India,” Crabtree says. “So in the back of Facebook’s mind is the fact that the government could easily turn against foreign tech companies in general, and Facebook in particular, especially if they’re seen to be singling out major politicians.”

With hundreds of millions of users already in India, and hundreds of millions more who don’t have smartphones yet but might in the near future, Facebook has an incentive to avoid that possibility. “Facebook has said in the past that it has no business interest in allowing hate speech on its platform,” says Chinmayi Arun, a resident fellow at Yale Law School, who studies the regulation of tech platforms. “It’s evident from what’s going on in India that this is not entirely true.”

Facebook says it is working hard to combat hate speech. “We want to make it clear that we denounce hate in any form,” said Mohan, Facebook’s managing director in India, in his Aug. 21 blog post. “We have removed and will continue to remove content posted by public figures in India when it violates our Community Standards.”

But scrubbing hate speech remains a daunting challenge for Facebook. At an employee meeting in June, Zuckerberg highlighted Mishra’s February speech ahead of the Delhi riots, without naming him, as a clear example of a post that should be removed. The original video of Mishra’s speech was taken down shortly after it was uploaded. But another version of the video, with more than 5,600 views and a long list of supportive comments underneath, remained online for six months until TIME flagged it to Facebook in August.

from World – TIME https://ift.tt/3b0vAI8
via Dear Immigrant

Singapore battles record dengue outbreak with more mosquitoes

A new strain of the disease, combined with unseasonably wet weather and coronavirus lockdowns that left construction sites and other mosquito breeding grounds undisturbed, are all seen as factors behind the outbreak.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2YJ5Tqx
via Dear Immigrant

Japan's Abe to meet media as hospital visits fuel health concerns

Japanese prime minister, who suffers from chronic illness, says he wants to do utmost in job and look after his health.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2EDOxV0
via Dear Immigrant

US says China's South China Sea missile launches threat to peace

Pentagon says use of missiles, military exercises in disputed sea are destabilising and violate 2002 Code of Conduct.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3b5CgVb
via Dear Immigrant

New Zealand's stock exchange down for fourth day in a row after cyber attacks

NZX said it experienced DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks from overseas through its network service provider on Tuesday and Wednesday.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2YI75dH
via Dear Immigrant

U.S. seeks to seize 280 cryptocurrency accounts tied to North Korean hacks

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil forfeiture complaint after having in March charged two Chinese nationals with laundering more than $100 million in cryptocurrency on behalf of North Korea.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2EDwYV5
via Dear Immigrant

Severe or fatal COVID-19 rare in children, UK study finds - Live

Study of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals between January and July found that less than 1 percent were children.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/34GaNs0
via Dear Immigrant

Thousands to commemorate MLK's dream in DC civil rights march

The rally comes amid fresh outrage after police shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, multiple times in the back.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/34Fe4rO
via Dear Immigrant

Watch live: Trump to accept nomination at Republican National Convention

President Donald Trump is slated to formally accept his party's nomination in a live speech on the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/31xr54y
via Dear Immigrant

Amazon unveils Halo to battle Apple Watch and Fitbit — tracks activity, body fat, emotions

Amazon will track everything from physical activity to sleep. It is also bringing some new features to the market, including technology to measure users' body fat percentages and emotional states.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3jgUZQE
via Dear Immigrant

Donald Trump to target Biden on final day of RNC: Live updates

Donald Trump expected to attack Democratic rival Joe Biden as he formally accepts his party's presidential nomination.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2D5QARf
via Dear Immigrant

Kamala Harris delivers rebuke of Trump's COVID-19 response

Harris launches her first major attack on the president hours before his address to the virtual Republican convention.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2QvBCHh
via Dear Immigrant

What we know about the victims of the Kenosha shooting

The victims and survivor of the Kenosha attack, allegedly carried out by a teenager, are survived by friends and family.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2YFOpeG
via Dear Immigrant

Kyle Rittenhouse charged over Wisconsin protest deaths

Kyle Rittenhouse is charged with killing two people and injuring another amid protests in Kenosha.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2EBnlGh
via Dear Immigrant

Delhi 2020 religious riots: Amnesty International accuses police of rights abuses

Amnesty International finds police beat protesters and rioted with Hindu mobs against Muslims.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/34ENDlZ
via Dear Immigrant

Black Lives Matter pushes Japan to confront racism

To many Japanese, discrimination against black people has been a foreign problem, but things are changing.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2G82prn
via Dear Immigrant

Seaweed: The food and fuel of the future?

The farming of seaweed is accelerating as firms exploit its fast growth and green credentials.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3hOeuQt
via Dear Immigrant

Colombia ex-leader Uribe's detention splits generations

Loyal supporters defend Álvaro Uribe to the hilt but younger Colombians want a fresh start.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/34L4MdX
via Dear Immigrant

Sushant Singh Rajput: Rhea Chakraborty on 'media trial' after Bollywood star's death

Rhea Chakraborty is facing a hate campaign after the death of Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3jdOC0y
via Dear Immigrant

MLK, Malcolm X and Kwame Nkrumah’s daughters discuss racial justice

The daughters of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Kwame Nkrumah discuss Black Lives Matter.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3hO8dnT
via Dear Immigrant

ICE Makes It Almost Impossible for People to Make Phone Calls from Detention Centers, Even in a Pandemic

Communication with the outside world is crucial for people in jail. This includes individuals facing deportation while detained in immigration detention centers, who do not have the right to court-appointed counsel. Having the ability to make a phone call in a detention center is essential for a variety of reasons. Individuals need to secure legal […]

The post ICE Makes It Almost Impossible for People to Make Phone Calls from Detention Centers, Even in a Pandemic appeared first on Immigration Impact.

from Immigration Impact https://ift.tt/2FV5URB
via Dear ImmigrantDear Immigrant

New Zealand's stock exchange halts trading for third day in a row

New Zealand's Exchange said it experienced a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack from overseas through its network service provider on Tuesday and reportedly on Wednesday.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3jgBvM2
via Dear Immigrant

Here are the highlights from Night 3 of the Republican National Convention

The third night of the Republican National Convention featured a keynote address by Vice President Mike Pence that highlighted the Trump administration's successes and attacked Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3hEaq5e
via Dear Immigrant

New Zealand mosque shooter sentenced to life without parole

Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 Muslims as they prayed, is first in New Zealand to be sentenced to life without parole.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2QrIRQD
via Dear Immigrant

Inside the company at the forefront of China's push to develop a coronavirus vaccine

Inside the white, sterile walls of a new building on the southern outskirts of Beijing, two employees donning masks and rubber gloves are busy pipetting a clear, colorless liquid into rows of small vials.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/3aXcqmu
via Dear Immigrant

New Zealand mosque terrorist sentenced to life in prison with no parole

A far-right terrorist who killed 51 Muslim worshipers in New Zealand's worst mass shooting in modern history will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole, the first time such a sentence has been handed down in the country's courts.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/3hyElvw
via Dear Immigrant

How sexual assault survivors face jail in Australia

Sexual assault victims who publicly discuss their experiences using their real names could face up to four months in prison, under a new law passed in the Australian state of Victoria, sparking outrage among campaigners.

from CNN.com - RSS Channel - World https://ift.tt/31uvu8h
via Dear Immigrant

NBA, MLB and MLS postpone games after Milwaukee Bucks' walkout over Jacob Blake shooting

After Milwaukee Bucks cancelled a fixture over the shooting of Jacob Blake, other basketball, football, tennis and soccer players follow suit.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2EG5VYV
via Dear Immigrant

The New Zealand Mosque Shooter Has Been Sentenced to Life Without Parole

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — The white supremacist who slaughtered 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The judge imposed the maximum available sentence on 29-year-old Australian gunman Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the first time the sentence has been imposed in New Zealand.

Judge Cameron Mander said Tarrant’s crimes were so wicked that a life time in jail could not begin to atone for them. He said they had caused enormous loss and hurt and stemmed from a warped and malignant ideology.

“Your actions were inhuman,” Mander said. “You deliberately killed a 3-year-old infant as he clung to the leg of his father.”

The March 2019 attacks targeting people praying at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques shocked New Zealand and prompted new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons. They also prompted global changes to social media protocols after the gunman livestreamed his attack on Facebook.

During the four-day sentencing hearing, 90 survivors and family members recounted the horror of the attacks and the trauma they continue to feel.

Some chose to yell at the gunman and give him the finger. Others called him a monster, a coward, a rat. Some sung verses from the Quran or addressed him in Arabic. A few spoke softly to Tarrant, saying they forgave him.

Tarrant had earlier fired his lawyers and told the judge that he didn’t wish to speak at the hearing. A standby lawyer appointed by the court told the judge that Tarrant did not oppose a sentence of life without parole.

Mander noted that Tarrant had recently told assessors that he now rejects his extremist philosophy and considers his attacks “abhorrent and irrational.”

But Mander said the sincerity of that change of heart was questionable and Tarrant had still shown no empathy toward his victims or sorrow for what he had done.

Tarrant in March had pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism, reversing his earlier not guilty pleas.

Prosecutors said Tarrant had flown a drone over the Al Noor mosque and researched the layout as he meticulously planned his attacks. He arrived with six guns including two AR-15s.

Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh said he’d aimed to kill as many people as possible.

“The offender’s actions are a painful and harrowing mark in New Zealand’s history,” he said.

Tarrant was noticeably thinner in his sentencing hearing than when he was first arrested. He didn’t show the brazenness he did at his first court appearance the day after the attacks, when he made a hand gesture sometimes adopted by white supremacists.

Dressed in a gray prison tracksuit, Tarrant showed little emotion during his sentencing. He watched the speakers, occasionally giving a small nod or covering his mouth as he laughed at jokes, often made at his expense.

Sara Qasem spoke Thursday during the four-day hearing about her beloved father Abdelfattah, who was killed in the attacks.

“All a daughter ever wants is her dad. I want to go on more road trips with him. I want to smell his garden-sourced cooking. His cologne,” she said. “I want to hear him tell me more about the olive trees in Palestine. I want to hear his voice. My dad’s voice. My baba’s voice.”

from World – TIME https://ift.tt/34ylAol
via Dear Immigrant

New Zealand mosque shooter sentenced to life without parole

The judge imposed the maximum available sentence on Australian white supremacist Brenton Harrison Tarrant, who slaughtered 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques. This is the first time the sentence has been imposed in New Zealand.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3aZdPc8
via Dear Immigrant

Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng increases U.S. IPO size to $1.5 billion, sources say

The company will price its shares at $15 each, sources said, after initially indicating they would be sold for $11 to $13 when the deal was launched on Friday.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3aXqCfh
via Dear Immigrant

South Korea coronavirus cases highest since March: Live news

Korean surge suggests tighter curbs likely; US testing u-turn raises alarm; Victoria cases fall to two month low.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3hwg5tO
via Dear Immigrant

Christchurch shooting: Gunman given life without parole

Brenton Tarrant, 29, shot dead 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch in March last year.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/31xQg78
via Dear Immigrant

Trump challenges Biden to drug test before debate

The president claims Mr Biden went from incoherent to articulate in a previous debate.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/34CEE4A
via Dear Immigrant

Alibaba puts India investment plan on hold amid China tensions

China's Alibaba Group will not put in fresh funds to expand its investments in India for at least six months, amid souring business relations and rising political tensions between the two nations after a clash on their Himalayan border.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2G1FU7j
via Dear Immigrant

Facebook warns Apple's iOS 14 could shave more than 50% from Audience Network revenue

Facebook had previously warned that iOS 14 could impact its advertising business, but the company's blog post on Wednesday outlined just how specific that impact could be. The Facebook Audience Network allows mobile software developers to provide in-app advertisements targeted to users based on Facebook's data.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/32raU8m
via Dear Immigrant

Japanese doctor who lived to 105—his spartan diet, views on retirement, and other rare longevity tips

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara had an extraordinary life for many reasons. For starters, the Japanese physician and longevity expert lived until the age of 105. Here's what he preached about how to live a longer life.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2QpsjIH
via Dear Immigrant

Day three of Republican National Convention: Live news

Vice President Mike Pence is expected to offer a positive message about the US economy in speech from Fort McHenry.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2YFm87U
via Dear Immigrant

Jacob Blake: Police officer in Kenosha shooting named

Wisconsin's attorney general names the officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/31u8YN4
via Dear Immigrant

Caged Congolese man: Why a zoo took 114 years to apologise

Ota Benga was kidnapped from what is now DR Congo in 1904 and taken to the US to be exhibited.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3jh4GP1
via Dear Immigrant

India NEET, JEE exams: 'Conducting these exams will be a giant mistake'

Indian students are demanding that competitive college exams be postponed due to the pandemic.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2YD7U7y
via Dear Immigrant

Why Navalny’s team sees Kremlin's hands in attack

Activists do not doubt the Russian opposition figure was targeted for his political work.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3hDFQIY
via Dear Immigrant

Blueberry farmers warn of 'disaster' crop

Wild blueberry farmers in the US state of Maine are now facing numerous challenges.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3hsJogS
via Dear Immigrant

Eusebio Leal: The man who saved Old Havana from decay

Historian Eusebio Leal died last month but his legacy is far-reaching in the city he loved.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3b6FLuH
via Dear Immigrant

Ant IPO: China's mighty financial group heads for a mega market debut

Little known in the West, China's dominant mobile payment firm is tipped for the world's biggest IPO.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2EAGGHL
via Dear Immigrant

Topless sunbathing defended by French interior minister

Gérald Darmanin tweets his support after police asked women relaxing on a beach to cover up.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3jgdTXT
via Dear Immigrant

Hong Kong police arrest 2 opposition lawmakers over protests last year

Hong Kong police arrested 16 people Wednesday on charges related to anti-government protests last year, including two opposition lawmakers.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2YyTs0t
via Dear Immigrant

New Zealand stock exchange NZX hit by probable second cyber attack

Trading on New Zealand's stock exchange was halted on Wednesday after a likely second cyber attack, bourse operator NZX said.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2G1ANEh
via Dear Immigrant

Here are the highlights from Night 2 of the Republican National Convention

The speakers focused on a wide range of issues, including the economy, foreign policy and a slew of social issues in their push for President Donald Trump's reelection.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2Qp2MQ3
via Dear Immigrant

An economic decoupling of the U.S. and China is 'a long way away,' says former IMF China head

However, "the desire to get away from the grasp of the U.S.-based or dollar-denominated U.S. financial system is certainly something at the forefront of China's mind," said Eswar Prasad, a former head of the International Monetary Fund's China division.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/2CXGWzW
via Dear Immigrant

China protests U.S. spy plane watching drills

China has lodged "stern representations" with the United States, accusing it of sending a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane into a no-fly zone over Chinese live-fire military drills on Tuesday, racheting up bilateral tensions further.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/32rddbl
via Dear Immigrant

Canadian foreign minister presses China over detainees, Hong Kong

Francois-Philippe Champagne and China's Wang Yi held 90 minutes of talks in Rome as ties between the two countries sour.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2YzrWzL
via Dear Immigrant

The Kremlin Has Brushed Off Allegations Over Alexei Navalny’s Poisoning

MOSCOW — The Kremlin brushed off allegations Tuesday that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was the victim of an intentional poisoning orchestrated by authorities and said there were no grounds for a criminal investigation so far since it hasn’t been fully established what caused the politician to fall into a coma.

The Russian government’s insistence that Navalny wasn’t necessarily the victim of a deliberate poisoning – comments amplified by Russian doctors and pro-Kremlin media — came a day after doctors at a German hospital where the 44-year-old is being treated said tests indicated he was poisoned.

Moscow’s dismissals elicited outrage from Navalny’s allies, who claim the Kremlin was behind the illness of its most prominent critic.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the accusations against the government “absolutely cannot be true and are rather an empty noise.”

“We do not intend to take it seriously,” Peskov said.

Peskov said he saw no grounds for launching a criminal investigation at this stage, saying that Navalny’s condition could have been triggered by a variety of causes and determining what it was should come first.

“If a substance (that caused the condition) is found, and if it is determined that it is poisoning, then there will be a reason for an investigation,” Peskov said.

Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator who is one of Putin’s fiercest critics, fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from Siberia on Thursday and was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk after the plane made an emergency landing.

Over the weekend, he was transferred to the Charité hospital in Berlin, where doctors on Monday said they have found indications of “cholinesterase inhibitors” in his system.

These act by blocking the breakdown of a key chemical in the body, acetycholine, that transmits signals between nerve cells. Navalny is being treated with the antidote atropine.

Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has been visiting her husband daily and made no comment to reporters as she arrived Tuesday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel personally offered Germany’s help in treating Navalny and has called for a full Russian investigation — a sentiment echoed Tuesday by officials from the United States, France and Norway.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that if reports about Navalny’s poisoning “prove accurate, the United States supports the (European Union’s) call for a comprehensive investigation and stands ready to assist in that effort.”

On Tuesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other diplomats. He expressed deep concern about Navalny’s condition, “the impact on Russian civil society of reports of his poisoning, and the importance of transparency and freedom of speech in any democratic society,” the U.S. Embassy spokesperson, Rebecca Ross, said on Twitter.

After the meeting, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Biegun warned Russian diplomats that if Navalny’s poisoning is confirmed, the U.S. could take steps that will exceed Washington’s response to evidence of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The ministry said Russian diplomats warned Biegun against making unfounded accusations and noted that Russian authorities stand for a “thorough and maximally objective investigation of what happened.”

It pointed at a “suspicious haste” with which Washington and Brussels talked about Navalny’s deliberate poisoning, saying it raised a question of “who profits from it.” “The Russian leadership definitely doesn’t,” the ministry said.

In response to Western statements, the speaker of Russia’s lower parliament house charged Tuesday that Navalny’s condition could have resulted from a Western plot.

State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin in tasked lawmakers to look into what happened to Navalny to make sure it wasn’t “an attempt by foreign states to inflict harm on the health of a Russian citizen and create tension in Russia” in order to ”come up with more accusations” against the country.

Charité said Monday that Navalny had undergone extensive examination by a team of physicians and that “clinical findings indicate poisoning with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors.”

That covers a broad range of substances that are found in several drugs, but also in pesticides and nerve agents. Charité said the specific substance to which Navalny was exposed isn’t yet known but that a further series of comprehensive tests had been started.

The suggestion that Navalny was poisoned has been vehemently rejected in Russia, where a number of Kremlin critics fell victims to suspected poisonings in recent years, since last week. Government officials, medical specialists and state-controlled media offered a variety of possible explanations for Navalny’s condition.

Doctors in Omsk, where Navalny was first hospitalized, ruled out poisoning as a diagnosis 24 hours after the politician was admitted and said “a metabolic disorder” was a likely diagnosis.

The editor-in-chief of the RT state-funded TV channel, Margarita Simonyan, speculated that the politician must have suffered from a sharp drop in blood sugar. Some pro-Kremlin news outlets alleged that Navalny mixed moonshine with sleeping pills.

The Charité statement on Monday prompted another array of denials.

The chief intensivist with Russia’s Heath Ministry, Igor Molchanov, questioned whether detecting “substances affecting cholinesterase” five days after Navalny fell ill was at all possible.

Doctors in Omsk said they tested the politician for cholinesterase inhibitors and didn’t find any.

Peskov said Tuesday that specialists in Omsk noted “lowered levels of cholinesterase” — an obstruction of cholinesterase enzymes can be detected by blood tests, experts say — in his body in a matter of “hours” after he was brought in, but that it could have been triggered by a number of causes, including by “taking various medications.”

Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, on Tuesday said the government’s reluctance to launch an investigation was expected.

“It was obvious that the crime would not be properly investigated and a culprit found. However, we all know perfectly well who that is,” Yarmysh tweeted.

Western experts have cautioned that it is far too early to draw any conclusions about how the agent may have entered Navalny’s system, but note that Novichok, the Soviet-era nerve agent used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain, was a cholinesterase inhibitor.

“Cholinesterase inhibitor poisons can be given in many ways, they can be transported in many forms, and are very potent,” said Dr. Richard Parsons, a senior lecturer in biochemical toxicology at King’s College London. “This is why they are a favored method of poisoning people.”

Dr. Thomas Hartung, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland, said such substances are easy to detect, even days and weeks after the poisoning, and that “we will know soon which substance was used.”

“The Novichok nerve agents, used in the 2018 poisoning of the Russian double agent Skripal in England, also belong to this category of substance,” he said. “I said at the time that the Russians could have have just left a business card at the crime scene, because the substances can be so clearly traced.”

___

David Rising reported from Berlin. Angela Charlton in Paris and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

from World – TIME https://ift.tt/2EqFqal
via Dear Immigrant

RNC speaker pulled from schedule hours after she tweeted anti-Semitic conspiracy thread referring to QAnon

One of President Donald Trump's supporters set to speak at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday was cut from the lineup after she promoted anti-Semitic and QAnon conspiracy theories on Twitter.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/34y5ifa
via Dear Immigrant

Cambridge to start coronavirus vaccine trial in autumn: Live news

British university secures gov't funding for potential vaccine based on genetic sequencing of all known coronaviruses.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3huZLJN
via Dear Immigrant

USCIS Relaxes Employment Verification For H4 EAD Job Seekers – Here’s The NEW Document List

Non-immigrant workers who have an approved Employment Authorization Document (EAD), can use their approval notice issued between Dec. 1, 2019 and Aug 20, 2020 in lieu of the printed EAD card. The EAD card (Form I-765) is required as proof of employment eligibility before joining work with an employer in the US.

USCIS made this adjustment to the rule of needing a list C document for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification compliance until Dec. 1, 2020. This is until USCIS can catch up with the delays in printing of approved EAD cards that got delayed due to Coronavirus pandemic.

Read: Delay In Printing Green Cards & EADs 

For the past few months, several non-immigrant workers, including spouses of H-1B workers on H4 visas were unable to seek employment or continue in existing ones due to delays in getting printed work permits, even after getting approval. Going forward, and until December 1, 2020 USCIS announced that they can use the approval notice (Form I-797) for the Employment Authorization Document (Form I-765) as proof of employment eligibility.

What You Should Know About The Form I-9 Employment Verification

• The Form I-797 Notice of Action as proof of employment authorization under List C is also applicable to current employees who require re-verification.
• All H4 EAD employees who presented the Form I-797 Notice of Action as a List C document, will have to submit new evidence of employment authorization from either List A or List C.
• By Dec. 1, 2020, employers must re-verify these employees and seek a copy of the EAD card once the employee receives it.
• USCIS has now released a new, updated Form I-765 dated 8/25/2020.
• For EAD applications postmarked after Aug 25, 2020, USCIS will only accept the new addition of Aug 25,2020. This includes I-767 WS. 
• USCIS continues to accept the previous version of 12/26/19 if submitted before Aug 25, 2020 

USCIS Steps Up During The Pandemic

Offers leniency for the submission and response of some notices

USCIS Accepts Delayed Responses

Updated Document List For H4 EAD Employment Verification

While the Department of Homeland Security will now accept the EAD approval notice as evidence of employment authorization for Form I-9 compliance, the following list of documents also have to be submitted when an H4 EAD visa holder is seeking employment:

List A: Document establishing both Evidence of Identity &Employment Authorization

• US Passport
• Permanent resident card
• EAD Card
• Form I-797, Approval Notice for EAD
• Foreign passport with Form I-94 or Form I-94A with Arrival-Departure Record

 List B: Document establishing identity for Form I-9 employment verification

• Federal or state issued ID card
• Valid driver’s license
• For minors, & those without the above – School and/or doctor’s documentation

 List C: Documents establishing employment authorization (also attach a document from List B)

• Valid SSN card
• Birth Certificate
• US Citizen or Resident ID card

Others:

• Approved Form I-140 Immigration Petition for Alien Worker
• Marriage certificate or another secondary evidence of marriage to the primary beneficiary
• Copy of Form I-94 reflecting non-immigrant status
• Updated Form I-765, Application for EAD
• Secondary List of Support Documents

Applied For EAD?

Here’s how you can follow and expedite the processing times

Expedite H4 EAD

from Path2USA – Travel Guide for USA https://ift.tt/2CXvcgP
via Dear ImmigrantDear Immigrant

The pandemic could leave Indonesia's 69 million students further behind their global peers

Some Indonesian students may never catch up with their learning as a result of school closures to contain the coronavirus, according to a report by Singaporean think tank ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/34zPecS
via Dear Immigrant

RNC 2020: Melania Trump to take centre stage on second night

The party conference's second night will also hear from presidential children Eric and Tiffany Trump.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3jg6esI
via Dear Immigrant

Navalny and Russia’s arsenal of exotic poisons

Nerve agent was apparently used on Putin critic Alexei Navalny – and Russia has a history of poisonings.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/34F18Su
via Dear Immigrant

Fears of a serial killer in South African farm community

A farming community in South Africa is reeling after the bodies of five women were recently discovered.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3gvBmCL
via Dear Immigrant

Carnival and coronavouchers: Brazil’s economic struggles

The disruption caused by coronavirus means that Brazil's samba schools now face an uncertain future.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3je8fp5
via Dear Immigrant

Mike Pence at RNC 2020: The rare times he made headlines

The vice-president has largely stayed out of the limelight. We take a look at the few times he didn't.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3jif6Ox
via Dear Immigrant

Explainer: The foreign policy legacy of Trump's first term

The president's unorthodox approach to international relations has changed how much of the world sees the US.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2FXalvo
via Dear Immigrant

US agency warns of long waits for immigrant visas, work permits

Facing severe budget pressures, US Citizenship and Immigration Services cuts operations to avoid furloughs of workers.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/3lj55m4
via Dear Immigrant

US Postal Service: Three states sue Trump government

Hawaii, New Jersey and New York are suing the Trump administration over alleged "partisan meddling".

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2CZy8d1
via Dear Immigrant

Beirut residents fear they may lose their homes to gentrification after blast

Mrs Beaini has lived in the same Beirut house for more than 60 years, but she can't afford repairs.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/34wGrs7
via Dear Immigrant

WindowSwap: ‘I think we all are explorers in our own ways’

People from around the world are sharing videos of what’s outside their windows.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3ljqxHu
via Dear Immigrant

5G iPhones and work-from-home trends can drive Apple shares higher, analyst says

The iPhone-maker recently became the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach a $2 trillion market cap, about two years after reaching a $1 trillion milestone.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3lg04KP
via Dear Immigrant

Here are the highlights from Night 1 of the Republican National Convention

The evening was filled with zealous, fiery endorsements of Trump that at times painted a near-apocalyptic portrait of what America would become under a Biden presidency.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3l9hzfM
via Dear Immigrant

Fastest man alive Usain Bolt tests positive for coronavirus

World-record sprinter and eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has tested positive for the coronavirus and is self-isolating at his home in Jamaica after last week celebrating his 34th birthday with a big bash mask-free.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/3lfXBQz
via Dear Immigrant

Australian employment falls further, intensifying labor market stress

Australian employment fell by 1% over the month to August 8, data showed on Tuesday, with job prospects particularly hard hit in the southeastern state of Victoria as it grapples with a fresh wave of coronavirus infections.

from International: Top News And Analysis https://ift.tt/32kji9u
via Dear Immigrant

Coronavirus catches up with Usain Bolt, world's fastest man

Olympic medallist in isolation at home in Jamaica days after celebrating his 34th birthday with a big, mask-free party.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/31opHBe
via Dear Immigrant

Coronavirus: Dr Anthony Fauci warns against rushing out vaccine

US President Donald Trump reportedly is considering skipping regulatory steps to get out a vaccine.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2YzvHWa
via Dear Immigrant

UAE nixes meeting with US, Israel over F-35 arms deal row: report

Emiratis reportedly angered by Netanyahu's public denial of the deal and his vow to lobby US Congress to oppose it.

from Al Jazeera English https://ift.tt/2YvzzHo
via Dear Immigrant

Exclusive: The Chinese Scientist Who Sequenced the First COVID-19 Genome Speaks Out About the Controversies Surrounding His Work

Over the past few years, Professor Zhang Yongzhen has made it his business to sequence thousands of previously unknown viruses. But he knew straight away that this one was particularly nasty. It was about 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 3 that a metal box arrived at the drab, beige buildings that house the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. Inside was a test tube packed in dry ice that contained swabs from a patient suffering from a peculiar pneumonia sweeping China’s central city of Wuhan. But little did Zhang know that that box would also unleash a vicious squall of blame and geopolitical acrimony worthy of Pandora herself. Now, he is seeking to set the record straight.

Zhang and his team set to work, analyzing the samples using the latest high-throughput sequencing technology for RNA, the viral genetic building blocks, which function similar to how DNA works in humans. By 2 a.m. on Jan. 5, after toiling through two nights straight, they had mapped the first complete genome of the virus that has now sickened 23 million and killed 810,000 across the globe: SARS-CoV-2. “It took us less than 40 hours, so very, very fast,” Zhang tells TIME in an exclusive interview. “Then I realized that this virus is closely related to SARS, probably 80%. So certainly, it was very dangerous.”

The events that followed Zhang’s discovery have since become swathed in controversy. Crises beget scapegoats and the coronavirus is no different. The floundering U.S. response to the pandemic has prompted a wave of racially tinged soundbites, such as “China virus” and “Kung Flu,” as President Donald Trump’s Administration seeks to divert blame onto the nation where the pathogen was first identified. “The outbreak of COVID angered many people in the Administration and presented an election issue for President Trump,” Ambassador Jeffrey Bader, formerly President Obama’s chief adviser on Asia, said at a recent meeting of the Foreign Correspondents Club of China.

Read more: Inside the Global Quest to Trace the Origins of COVID-19—and Predict Where It Will Go Next

Upon first obtaining the genome, Zhang says he immediately called Dr. Zhao Su, head of respiratory medicine at Wuhan Central Hospital, to request the clinical data of the relevant patient. “I couldn’t say it was more dangerous than SARS, but I told him it was certainly more dangerous than influenza or Avian flu H5N1,” says Zhang. He then contacted China’s Ministry of Health and traveled to Wuhan, where he spoke to top public health officials over dinner Jan. 8. “I had two judgements: first that it was a SARS-like virus; second, that the virus transmits by the respiratory tract. And so, I had two suggestions: that we should take some emergency public measures to protect against this disease; also, clinics should develop antiviral treatments.”

Afterward, Zhang returned to Shanghai and prepared to travel to Beijing for more meetings. On the morning of Jan. 11, he was on the runway at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport when he received a phone call from a colleague, Professor Edward Holmes at the University of Sydney. A few minutes later, Zhang was strapped in for takeoff and still on the phone—then Holmes asked permission to release the genome publicly. “I asked Eddie to give me one minute to think,’” Zhang recalls. “Then I said ok.” For the next two hours, Zhang was cocooned from the world at 35,000 feet, but Holmes’ post on the website Virological.org sent shockwaves through the global scientific community.

By the time Zhang touched down in Beijing, his discovery was headline news. Officials swooped on his laboratory to demand an explanation. “Maybe they couldn’t understand how we obtained the genome sequence so fast,” says Zhang. “Maybe they didn’t fully believe our genome. So, I think it’s normal for the authorities to check our lab, our protocols.”

Read more: China Says It’s Beating Coronavirus. But Can We Believe Its Numbers?

Critics of China’s response have latched onto the Jan. 11 date of publication as evidence of a cover-up: why, they ask, didn’t Zhang publish it on Jan. 5, when he first finished the sequencing? Also, Zhang’s lab was probed by Chinese authorities for “rectification,” an obscure term to imply some malfeasance. To many observers, it seemed that furious officials scrambling to snuff out evidence of the outbreak were punishing Zhang simply for sharing the SARS-CoV-2 genome—and in the meanwhile, slowing down the release of this key information.

Yet Zhang denies reports in Western media that his laboratory suffered any prolonged closure, and instead says it was working furiously during the early days of the outbreak. “From late January to April, we screened more than 30,000 viral samples,” says Fan Wu, a researcher who assisted Zhang with the first SARS-CoV-2 sequencing.

And, in fact, Zhang insists he first uploaded the genome to the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) on Jan. 5—an assertion corroborated by the submission date listed on the U.S government institution’s Genbank. “When we posted the genome on Jan. 5, the United States certainly knew about this virus,” he says. But it can take days or even weeks for the NCBI to look at a submission, and given the gravity of the situation and buoyed by the urging of colleagues, Zhang chose to expedite its release to the public, by publishing it online. (Approached by TIME, Holmes deferred to Zhang’s version of events.) It’s a decision that facilitated the swift development of testing kits, as well as the early discussion of antivirals and possible vaccines.

Read more: ‘We Will Share Our Vaccine with the World.’ Inside the Chinese Biotech Firm Leading the Fight Against COVID-19

Zhang, 55, is keen to downplay the bravery of his actions. But the stakes of doing what is right over what one is told are rendered far higher in authoritarian systems like China’s. Several whistleblower doctors were detained early in the pandemic. According to a Jan. 3 order seen by respected Beijing-based finance magazine Caixin, China’s National Health Commission, the nation’s top health authority, forbade the publishing of any information regarding the Wuhan disease, while labs were told to destroy or transfer all viral samples to designated testing institutions. Caixin also reports that other labs had processed genome sequences before Zhang obtained his sample. None were published.

It’s difficult to know what conclusions to draw. Dr. Dale Fisher, head of infectious diseases at Singapore’s National University Hospital, says he doesn’t think that any delay by the Chinese authorities was malicious. “It was more like appropriate verification,” he says. Fisher traveled to China as part of a World Health Organization (WHO) delegation in early February and says outbreak settings are always confusing and chaotic with people unsure what to believe. “To actually have the whole genome sequence by early January was outstanding compared to outbreaks of the past.”

Of course, Zhang’s fears based on the viral genome were just one evidence strut to inform China’s decision-making process, alongside public health data and clinical reports about specific cases. Despite mounting evidence of human-to-human transmission, including doctors falling ill, it was only on Jan. 20 that China officially confirmed community transmission. Two days later, Wuhan’s 11 million residents were placed on a bruising lockdown that would last for 76 days. Even while the WHO publicly praised China for transparency, internal documents seen by the Associated Press suggest health officials were privately frustrated by the slow release of information. One joint study by scientists in China, the U.K. and U.S. suggests there would have been 95% fewer cases in China had lockdown measures been introduced three weeks earlier. Two weeks earlier, 86% fewer; one week, 66% fewer.

Read more: ‘I Told Myself to Stay Calm.’ As Wuhan’s Lockdown Ends, A Doctor Recalls Fighting Coronavirus on the Front Line

Yet there was some historical basis for skepticism about the severity of the emerging viral disease. After all, the last global pandemic—the swine flu outbreak of 2009—was far less deadly than initially feared, mainly because many older people had some immunity to the virus, leading to criticism that the WHO was overly hasty and even overly dramatic in declaring a pandemic when the virology didn’t warrant it. “In China, even though we had a very bad experience with SARS and other diseases, in the beginning nobody—not even experts from China’s CDC and the Ministry of Health—predicted the disease could be quite so bad,” says Zhang.

Donald Trump disagrees. He has repeatedly claimed that swifter action by China could have stopped the pandemic in its tracks. “The virus came from China,” Trump said Aug. 10. “It’s China’s fault.” Beijing concedes that mistakes were made at the outset, though insists that blame lies solely with bungling local officials (who have since been punished for those failures), while the central government’s response was exemplary. This is, of course, its own politically motivated oversimplification. On both sides, wild accusations have eclipsed reason as Sino-U.S. relations spiral to an unprecedented nadir. While U.S. officials have suggested that COVD-19 originated in a Wuhan laboratory, their Chinese counterparts have propagated conspiracy theories that the U.S. military is responsible. “It’s not a good thing for China and the U.S. to be involved in this struggle,” says Zhang. “If we can’t work together, we can’t solve anything.”

Read more: The Coronavirus Outbreak Could Derail Xi Jinping’s Dreams of a Chinese Century

Some facts are undeniable. The first U.S. case was confirmed on Jan. 21—a man in his 30s who had just returned from Wuhan to his hometown in Washington State. Japan confirmed its first coronavirus case one day later, and reported the world’s highest infection number early in the outbreak, before getting a handle on the situation. Today, the U.S. has 16,407 cases per million population compared with 462 in Japan. Across the world, authoritarian and democratic nations have both handled the crisis well and poorly.

For its part, the global scientific community has risen to the challenge, working across national boundaries to advance understanding of the disease, including priceless collaborations between Chinese and Western virologists. Previously, the best described epidemic in terms of viral genetics was the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak. Then, about 1,600 genomes were mapped over three years, providing insights into how viruses move between locations and accumulate genetic differences as they do. But for SARS-CoV-2, following Zhang’s initial genome, scientists mapped about 20,000 within three months. Genomic surveillance enables scientists to trace the speed and character of genetic changes, with ramifications for infection rates and the production of vaccines and antivirals. “Very large-scale genomic screening can evaluate whether any resistance mutations have occurred and, if they do, how those spread through time,” says Oliver Prybus, professor of evolution and infectious disease at Oxford University.

For Zhang, focus must now be on understanding how pathogens and the environment interact. Over the past century, an inordinate number of new viral diseases have emerged in China, including the 1956 Asian Flu, 2002 SARS and 2013 H7N9. Zhang attributes this to China’s diverse ecology and enormous population. Moreover, as China’s economy boomed its people have begun traveling far and wide in search of work, education and opportunities. According to the World Bank, almost 200 million people moved to urban areas in East Asia during the first decade of the 21st century. In China, 61% of the population lived in urban areas in 2020 compared with just 18% in 1978. This brings unknown pathogens and people without natural defenses into close proximity. “People and pathogens must be in contact [for outbreaks],” says Zhang. “If no contact, no disease.”

As urbanization intensifies, outbreaks of pathogenic diseases will only become more common. Mitigation, says Zhang, comes from deeper understanding of viruses, so that we can accurately map and predict which are likely to spill over into human populations. Just as satellites have made forecasting weather patterns unerringly reliable, Zhang believes science holds the key to predicting viral outbreaks with similar accuracy as with which we now anticipate typhoons and tornadoes. “If we don’t learn lessons from this disease,” says Zhang, “humankind will suffer another.”

from World – TIME https://ift.tt/34xUlKq
via Dear Immigrant