Thousands of Hungarians, some holding banners declaring “Treason,” protested Saturday against a Chinese university’s plans to open a campus in Budapest.Liberal opponents of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban accuse him of cozying up to China and fear the campus could undercut the quality of higher education and help Beijing increase its influence in Hungary and the European Union.”I do not agree with our country’s strengthening feudal relationship with China,” Patrik, 22, a student who declined to give his full name, said at the protest in the Hungarian capital.He said funds should be used “to improve our own universities instead of building a Chinese one.”The government signed an agreement with Shanghai-based Fudan University in April on building the campus at a site in Budapest where a dormitory village for Hungarian students had previously been planned.The government has said Fudan is a world-class institution, and the campus would “allow students to learn from the best.”‘Political hysteria’MTI news agency quoted Tamas Schanda, a deputy government minister, as saying Saturday’s protest was unnecessary and dismissing “political hysteria” based on unfounded gossip and media reports.Opposition politicians and economists have criticized what they say will be the high costs of the project and a lack of transparency. Budapest’s mayor opposes the plan.”Fidesz is selling out wholesale the housing of Hungarian students, and their future, just so it can bring the elite university of China’s dictatorship into the country,” the organizers of Saturday’s protest said on Facebook.Beijing said this week that “a few Hungarian politicians” were trying to grab attention and obstruct cooperation between China and Hungary.Orban has built cordial ties with China, Russia and other illiberal governments, while locking horns with Western allies by curbing the independence of scientific research, the judiciary and media.He faces a unified opposition for the first time since assuming power in 2010 before a parliamentary election due in 2022.
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Month: June 2021
Millions of Nigerian Twitter Users Blocked as Ban Takes Hold
Millions of Nigerians struggled Saturday to access Twitter, a day after authorities suspended the service in response to the company’s deletion of a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari for violating its terms of service.The Twitter ban took effect Saturday morning. Millions of users in Lagos and Abuja said they were unable to access their accounts.Authorities said Friday that they had banned Twitter because it was persistently being used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”Twitter responded to the ban, saying it was “deeply concerning.”‘Reverse the unlawful suspension’Many citizens and rights groups objected to the ban. Amnesty International said it was a threat to free speech and must be reversed without delay. “Amnesty International condemns the Nigerian government’s suspension of Twitter in Nigeria,” said Seun Bakare, a spokesperson for the organization. Bakare said Amnesty had called on Nigerian authorities “to immediately reverse the unlawful suspension and other plans to gag the media, to repress the civic space and to undermine human rights of the people. The Nigerian government has an obligation to protect and promote International human rights laws and standards.”FILE – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari attends a press briefing in Pretoria, South Africa, Oct. 3, 2019.The ban mostly affected the country’s largest network providers, MTN and Airtel.Some users Saturday were able to access Twitter using Wi-Fi connections. Others were avoiding the shutdown by using virtual private networks that make them appear to be using Twitter from another country.VPN providers have since Friday seen a surge in usage. Abuja resident Basil Akpakavir was among Twitter users getting around the government ban.”They are relentless in their intolerant attitude toward people that have contrary opinion to theirs,” Akpakavir said. “But the truth is that we’re equal to the task, as well. Whichever way they want it, we’re going to give it to them. We want a Nigeria that is prosperous, that is built on the tenets of true democracy.”Separatist group singled outBuhari had threatened earlier in the week to crack down on separatist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in a manner similar to the civil war waged in 1967 when 3 million Biafrans were estimated to have died in battle against the Nigerian government.The president’s tweet was criticized as a war threat to separatist groups, and Twitter deleted it.Amnesty’s Bakare said the government must be held accountable for comments capable of instigating division and violence.”It is important that government platforms, and in this particular instance the president, do not invite violence or division,” Bakare said. “The government must be alive to the increased tensions in the country, given the spate of insecurity.”The Nigerian government has often attempted to regulate the use of social media to reduce criticism.Late last year, the government proposed a social media regulation bill after the End SARS protests against police brutality, when social media were used by young Nigerians to mobilize and challenge what they said was bad governance.
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Biden Turns to Obama to Help Boost Health Care Enrollment
President Joe Biden turned to his old boss, former President Barack Obama, on Saturday to help him encourage Americans to sign up for “Obamacare” health care coverage during an expanded special enrollment period in the pandemic.Biden used his weekly address for a brief Zoom chat with Obama to draw attention to the six-month expanded enrollment period that closes August 15.Meanwhile, the government released a report that nearly 31 million Americans — a record — now have health coverage through the Affordable Care Act.”We did this together,” said Obama, whose administration established the health insurance marketplace. “We always talked about how, if we could get the principle of universal coverage established, we could then build on it.”The White House effort to spotlight the expanded enrollment and claim strong numbers for the health law came as the political world and the health care system await a Supreme Court ruling on the law’s constitutionality. The Zoom call was recorded Friday afternoon and released Saturday as Biden’s weekly address.The Health and Human Services Department said in a report that nearly 31 million had obtained coverage in 2021 as a result of the law. That’s considerably higher than the more than 20 million estimate that’s commonly cited.The Biden administration launched a special sign-up period during the pandemic, and Congress passed a big boost in subsidies for private health plans sold under the law. But that alone doesn’t explain the increased coverage.The numbersThe report says 11.3 million people are covered through the health law’s marketplaces, where subsidized private plans are offered. An additional 14.8 million are covered through expanded Medicaid, the report adds. All but a dozen states have accepted the law’s Medicaid expansion, which mainly serves low-income working adults. And 1 million are covered by so-called basic health plans, an option created by the law and offered in a limited number of states.That accounts for enrollment of about 27 million people. But the Biden administration is also claiming credit for 4 million people who would have been eligible for Medicaid without Obama’s law.Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said the law broke down barriers to enrollment among those who were already eligible by simplifying applications and increasing awareness. He also pointed to the establishment of community-based navigators tasked with helping newly eligible people find coverage and conducting outreach to those who were already eligible but didn’t necessarily know it.”It didn’t require a sweeping law like the ACA to get people who were already eligible for Medicaid enrolled, but the provisions of the ACA did help to get these millions of people covered,” Levitt said.States’ challengeThe Supreme Court is soon expected to rule on a challenge to the health law from Texas and other GOP-led states. They argue that because Congress has eliminated the law’s penalty for being uninsured, a now-toothless ACA requirement that almost all Americans must have health insurance is unconstitutional and therefore the law should fail.Those defending the law say that even if the Supreme Court strikes down the coverage requirement, there’s no reason to tamper with the rest of the law.The White House says 1.2 million people have signed up for health insurance through the government marketplace during the special enrollment period that began in February. That number includes people who would have qualified for a sign-up opportunity even without Biden’s special enrollment period.A life change such as losing workplace coverage or getting married is considered a “qualifying life event” that allows people to sign up any time during the year. Last year about 390,000 people signed up because of life changes from February 15 to April 30, the government said.Biden, in the conversation with Obama, spoke about the 2015 death of his son Beau Biden from cancer.”I literally remember sitting on the bed with him within a week or so him passing away,” Biden said, “and thinking, ‘What in God’s name would I do if I got a notice from the insurance company saying you’ve outrun your coverage?’ ”
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Everest Climbing Season Was Like No Other
Lakpa Sherpa has climbed Everest seven times. But he says this year’s season, which ended this week and was marked by the coronavirus, cyclones and misinformation, was the most challenging of his career.The pandemic forced a shutdown of Nepal’s mountaineering industry in 2020, dealing a harsh blow to the tiny Himalayan country’s tourism-dependent economy.This spring, the allure of the highest peak in the world brought climbers rushing back.As China’s side of the mountain remained closed, Nepal issued a record 408 permits to ascend Everest, worth about $4.2 million.Quarantine restrictions were eased to promote the climbing rebound, but there were also no clear plans to test for, isolate or control an outbreak.Summiting the mountain has always been deadly. This year, it became even more dangerous.Just weeks after the peak reopened, a Norwegian climber, Erlend Ness, confirmed that he fell sick at base camp and then tested positive in Kathmandu after he was evacuated. Other cases followed.Still, Sherpa decided he had to persevere with the expeditions his Pioneer Adventure had booked for 23 clients.”This season was very difficult. We were already working under pressure because of COVID, and then the weather also betrayed us,” he told AFP.The warmer window that usually ushers in safer conditions for scaling Everest and other Himalayan peaks coincided with a deadly second wave of virus infections in Nepal, with reports of more than 9,000 daily cases in May.This photo taken May 17, 2021, shows mountaineer’s tents lit up at night at Camp 2 of Mount Everest, in Nepal. (Lakpa Sherpa)”There used to be coughs, common colds and a risk of getting into avalanches and crevasses in the past. But this year, the danger was if we got infected from COVID we would not be able to climb up because it makes breathing difficult and causes fatigue,” said guide Mingma Dorji Sherpa.’Very sick’Despite precautions that teams tried to take, including masking, sanitizing and isolating, virus cases began to spread.Pilots in PPE suits arrived to evacuate dozens of suspected COVID-19 patients from the area, and at least two companies canceled expeditions after team members tested positive.Many climbers confirmed their diagnoses on social media and blogs, including some who had reached the summit.When Icelandic duo Sigurdur Sveinsson and Heimir Hallgrimsson began coughing as they reached around 7,000 meters, they suspected they had caught the virus. Still, they made it to the summit 8,849 meters above sea level.Their symptoms became stronger as they descended.”In camp 2, we were both very sick from coughing, headaches and other fatigue. We suspected that not everything was perfect, and we needed to get down as fast as possible,” they said in a recent statement.They said they both tested positive when they reached the base camp and isolated in their tents.Yet authorities in Nepal have not acknowledged a single case at the mountain.This photo taken May 12, 2021, shows mountaineers climbing during their ascent to summit Mount Everest, in Nepal. (Pemba Dorje Sherpa)The stakes were high after last year’s shutdown, which cost one of Asia’s poorest countries millions in lost revenue. Porters and guides for well-heeled foreign climbers were left without income.It was the third time in the last decade that Everest’s summit sat empty. Climbers abandoned the mountain after a 2015 earthquake triggered an avalanche, killing 18 people.In 2014, an avalanche killed 16 Nepali guides on the infamous Khumbu icefall, forcing organizers to cancel expeditions.Lukas Furtenbach, who was the first to call off his expedition because of COVID-19 outbreaks, said the government should extend the validity of the $11,000 license his clients purchased to climb Everest.”Nepal invited foreign expeditions to come and assured us of COVID safety. … And my clients did not feel safe at the base camp,” he said.Expedition organizers have also self-censored, leaving no way to estimate the actual number of cases among Everest climbers and guides.”There is no excuse for the blatant lies, denials and cover-ups committed by the [government] this season,” mountaineering blogger Alan Arnette wrote Friday. “Do they understand that their actions only undermine the very credibility they need to effectively manage their resources?”‘Coming back’Those willing to risk coronavirus infections faced a curtailed window to climb. The government put limits on the number of climbers who could scale at any given time to avoid a traffic jam on the peak, and two cyclones that hit India in May further restricted the three-month season.When the second of those cyclones hit eastern India last week, it caused a huge snowstorm on Everest, burying the tents of the last lot of climbers waiting to summit.Final numbers have yet to be announced, but the tourism department estimates that 400 climbers reached the summit this year, far fewer than the 644 in 2019 when fewer permits were issued.German climber Billi Bierling, who manages a database that records summits, said that the events of this year were unlikely to dim interest in Everest: “Maybe we will think about it and reflect on what happened in 2021, but once this is over, expedition operators and climbers will be coming back.”
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China Port City Imposes COVID-19 Restrictions
China’s Guangzhou city, a port city of more than 13 million people, on Saturday ordered more restrictions due to a rise in COVID-19 cases that began in late May.Of the 24 new cases of COVID-19 reported in China on Saturday, 11 were transmitted in Guangzhou province, where the city is located.Authorities had imposed restrictions earlier in the week but sought additional limits on business and social activities. Authorities closed about a dozen subway stops, and the city’s Nansha district ordered restaurants to stop dine-in services and public venues, such as gyms, to temporarily close.Officials in the districts of Nansha, Huadu and Conghua ordered all residents and any individuals who have traveled through their regions to be tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Reuters reported.Also, Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use for young people between the ages of 3 and 17, the company’s chairman, Yin Weidong, said on state television Friday. China’s current vaccination program is restricted to those 18 and older.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID-19 cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesman Ghulam Dastagir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines. “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.On Saturday, India’s health ministry reported 120,529 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours period, the lowest daily count of new infections in 58 days. More than 3,000 deaths were also recorded.Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Friday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.The decision follows similar approvals by U.S. and European Union regulators.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday more than 172 million global COVID infections. The U.S. has the most cases with 33.3 million, followed by India with 28.7 million and Brazil with nearly 17 million.
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Man Who Would be German Chancellor Faces Stiff Electoral Test
Armin Laschet, who hopes to succeed Angela Merkel as Germany’s chancellor, has been compared to a traditional child’s toy – a wooden figure on a round base that, when touched, wobbles but stays upright. Allies and foes alike are watching to see how close Laschet comes to the tipping over when voters turn out Sunday for a regional election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. The election is a significant test for the 60-year-old the ruling Christian Democratic Union has chosen as its candidate for chancellor in national elections scheduled for September. Saxony-Anhalt’s capital, Magdeburg, is the burial place of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, and there are already commentators suggesting it may come to be seen as the site where Laschet’s ambitions to become Germany’s next chancellor were first buried. National elections are not “won in the East; they can, however, be lost in the East,” a CDU regional leader, Mario Voigt, said recently.A poor showing for the CDU in Sunday’s election would add to the doubts of many party stalwarts who question whether Laschet, chief minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, was the right choice as their national candidate. Many, especially on the right of the party, thought the more charismatic Markus Söder, the 54-year-old leader of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, would have been a better electoral champion, offering a greater chance of a victory in September than Laschet, a cautious centrist politician, who is seen as a Merkel retread. The CDU recorded its biggest opinion poll slump after Laschet was picked in April as the party’s nominee for chancellor.FILE – Armin Laschet, chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union, CDU, addresses the media during a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2021.In sparsely populated and de-industrialized Saxony-Anhalt, Germany’s poorest state, the nationalist conservative Alternative für Deutschland party is chasing the CDU hard in opinion polls. The pandemic has not been kind to the AfD, which entered the German parliament for the first time in 2017, and its support has gotten stuck at around 11% of the vote nationally. However, the party has remained competitive in the poor states of the former communist East Germany, including Saxony-Anhalt, considered an AfD stronghold. One pollster, INSA, has put the AfD a percentage point OK? ahead of the CDU. In the runup to voting, Laschet has focused on keeping traditional conservative CDU voters in line and appealing to centrists. Some on the CDU’s right wing in the state want Laschet to permit them to form a power-sharing governing arrangement with the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt after Sunday’s election to avoid having to enter a coalition government with the Greens and the Social Democrats.However, Laschet has been reaffirming a sharp demarcation between the CDU and Germany’s far-right party.“One thing is clear to me, any rapprochement with the AfD cannot be made with the CDU. Anyone who does that can leave the CDU,” Laschet told reporters with the Funke media group and the French newspaper Ouest-France.The fear in the CDU is that a poor showing Sunday will add to the headwind Laschet is facing as he heads toward the federal poll in four months.“German politicians have learned OK? to be jumpy about winds of change, especially when they blow from the five Länder [states] that once made up communist East Germany,” said Constanze Stelzenmüller of the Brookings Institution, a U.S.-based think tank. “So the fact that the small state of Saxony-Anhalt holds a bellwether election on Sunday — the last state poll before the national vote on September 26 — is causing some headaches in Berlin,” she added.Since German reunification, Saxony-Anhalt has seen its population shrink by a quarter. As the population shrank the far right has become stronger in the state. A right-wing extremist attacked a synagogue city of Halle, last year, killing two. After the attack, Germany’s security agencies placed the AfD’s regional branch under surveillance for “anti-democratic” tendencies.If center-right voters defect to the AfD in large numbers — or just fail to turn out — it will amplify the voices of Laschet’s critics, who want the party to move further right to undercut the AfD nationally. For Laschet the challenge as September approaches is to find a solution to a big electoral dilemma — how to beat the Greens in the west of the country while also vanquishing the AfD in states like Saxony-Anhalt.“We cannot want a radical right-wing party to be the strongest party in a German state legislature, so what happens in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday is something that should concern all democrats,” Laschet told Deutschlandfunk radio midweek.Later during a campaign stop in Dessau, he said, “There’s a lot at stake in this election. Everybody should go vote. Otherwise, there will be a rude awakening on Monday.”Pollsters say the signs are that Germans are ready for major political change and the problem is Laschet is seen as a figure from the past.Many voters have reservations about Laschet, according to Manfred Güllner, the head of Geran polling company FORSA. “He still looks a bit old-fashioned, and the voters still don’t see a clear course,” he told local reporters.Laschet has experienced plenty of setbacks in his political career — defeats run through his rise to the top of German politics. After serving just four years in the Bundestag, he lost a reelection bid in 1998, and he was defeated in 2010 for the CDU chairmanship in North Rhine-Westphalia. Like the toy, though, he has gyrated, but always managed to stay upright.
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US Sends Pakistan Health Supplies to Combat COVID-19
The United States mobilized an airlift of critical health supplies that arrived in Pakistan Saturday to help the country combat the coronavirus outbreak.
The donation includes tens of thousands of “critically needed and requested” personal protective items for healthcare professionals, hundreds of oximeters and other supplies, the U.S. Embassy said.
“Today, the United States continues our proud partnership with the government of Pakistan in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said U.S. Embassy Chargé d’affaires Lesslie Viguerie.
“Pakistan is not alone in its fight against the coronavirus,” Viguerie said.
Washington has allocated more than $40 million to Islamabad for COVID-19 response assistance, including a donation of 200 ventilators, to care for those suffering from the disease.
The support, U.S. officials said, has benefited more than 2.5 million Pakistanis across the country, providing life-saving treatment, strengthening case-finding and surveillance, and mobilizing innovative financing to bolster emergency preparedness.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said his government “greatly appreciates” the U.S. assistance.
“This timely gesture is part of the continued assistance that the U.S. has provided to Pakistan to support our COVID relief and prevention efforts,” Chaudhri said.
Pakistan has reported more than 21,000 deaths among at least 930,000 cases of coronavirus infections since the pandemic hit the country of about 220 million early last year.
Islamabad recently received 1.2 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 100,000 Pfizer doses under the United Nations-backed COVAX program launched to support the purchase and delivery of COVID-19 vaccine to 92 low- and middle-income countries.
The United States has contributed $2 billion to the COVAX initiative, with another $2 billion commitment planned by 2022.
While initially close ally China provided massive COVID-19 medical supplies to Pakistan and donated a large quantity of vaccine, the Pakistani government says it has purchased or is in the process of procuring more than 90% of the vaccine to inoculate 70% of its eligible population by the end of 2021.
Beijing has also trained Pakistani staff and established a facility at Islamabad’s National Institute of Health, which is locally filling and finishing the Chinese CanSino vaccine from the concentrate China is providing. The facility has the capacity to roll out 3 million doses a month.
Pakistan has inoculated close to 9 million people as of Saturday, but officials say the pace will pick up in coming weeks to about 600,000 a day to achieve the stated target.
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Chinese Scientists Developing Inhalable COVID Vaccine
Chinese state media report that scientists are developing an inhalable, fine-mist COVID-19 vaccine. The Chinese Food and Drug Administration has approved the vaccine for expanded clinical trials and is applying for emergency use of the vaccine.Also in China, Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use for young people between the ages of 3 and 17, the company’s chairman, Yin Weidong, said on state television Friday. China’s current vaccination program is restricted to those 18 and older.As Afghanistan attempts to beat back a surge in COVID cases, it has received the news that the 3 million doses of vaccines it was expecting from the World Health Organization in April will not arrive until August, according to the Associated Press.Afghan health ministry spokesperson Ghulam Dastigir Nazari told AP that he has approached several embassies for help but has not received any vaccines. “We are in the middle of a crisis,” he said.On Saturday, India’s health ministry reported 120,529 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24-hours period, the lowest daily count of new infections in 58 days. More than 3,000 deaths were also recorded.Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Friday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.The decision follows similar approvals by U.S. and European Union regulators.British Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the news Friday and said he will wait for clinical advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization regarding how the vaccine should be administered. He said Britain should have enough supply of the vaccine to inoculate the nation’s adolescents.Meanwhile, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky on Friday urged parents of adolescents in the United States to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible, following the release of a CDC report showing a spike in hospitalizations among 12- to 17-year-olds between January and April.The study indicated one-third of those hospitalizations were intensive care patients and 5% of those patients had to be put on ventilators. Walensky said the figures saddened her and show that even young patients can get seriously ill from the virus that causes COVID-19.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday more than 172 million global COVID infections. The U.S. has the most cases with 33.3 million, followed by India with 28.7 million and Brazil with nearly 17 million.
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Nigeria Suspends Twitter Over President’s Deleted Tweet
Nigeria’s government said Friday it was suspending Twitter indefinitely in Africa’s most populous nation, a day after the company deleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement.It was not immediately clear when the suspension would go into effect as users could still access Twitter late Friday, and many said they would simply use VPNs to maintain access to the platform.Others mocked the government for using the platform to announce the action.”You’re using Twitter to suspend Twitter? Are you not mad?” one user tweeted in response.Information Minister Lai Mohammed said Friday that government officials took the step because the platform was being used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”Mohammed criticized Twitter for deleting the post. “The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious,” he said, adding that Twitter had in the past ignored “inciting” tweets against the Nigerian government.Twitter deleted Buhari’s post on Wednesday, calling it abusive, after the president threatened suspected separatist militants in the southeast.More than 1 million people died during the 1967-70 civil war that erupted when secessionists sought to create an independent Biafra for the ethnic Igbo people. Buhari, an ethnic Fulani, was on the opposing side in the war against the Igbos.In recent months, pro-Biafra separatists have been accused of attacking police and government buildings, and Buhari vowed to retaliate and “treat them in the language they understand.”
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US Politics Update: Biden Agenda
On this US politics edition of Encounter, John Fortier, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy at Third Way, discuss with host Carol Castiel the status of US President Joe Biden’s ambitious agenda and the challenge of passing at least part of it, like infrastructure legislation or police reform, with bipartisan support.
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FDA Approves Obesity Drug That Helped People Cut Weight 15%
Regulators on Friday said a new version of a popular diabetes medicine could be sold as a weight-loss drug in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy, a higher-dose version of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug semaglutide, for long-term weight management. In company-funded studies, participants taking Wegovy had average weight loss of 15%, about 34 pounds (15.3 kilograms). Participants lost weight steadily for 16 months before plateauing. In a comparison group getting dummy shots, the average weight loss was about 2.5%, or just under 6 pounds. “With existing drugs, you’re going to get maybe 5% to 10% weight reduction, sometimes not even that,” said Dr. Harold Bays, medical director of the Louisville Metabolic and Atherosclerosis Research Center. Bays, who is also the Obesity Medicine Association’s chief science officer, helped run studies of the drug. In the U.S., more than 100 million adults — about 1 in 3 — are obese. Dropping even 5% of one’s weight can bring health benefits, such as improved energy, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels, but that amount often doesn’t satisfy patients who are focused on weight loss, Bays said. Bays said Wegovy appears far safer than earlier obesity drugs that “have gone down in flames” over safety problems. Wegovy’s most common side effects were gastrointestinal problems, including nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Those usually subsided, but led about 5% of study participants to stop taking it. The drug carries a potential risk for a type of thyroid tumor, so it shouldn’t be taken by people with a personal or family history of certain thyroid and endocrine tumors. Wegovy also has a risk of depression and pancreas inflammation. Wegovy (pronounced wee-GOH’-vee) is a synthesized version of a gut hormone that curbs appetite. Patients inject it weekly under their skin. Like other weight-loss drugs, it’s to be used along with exercise, a healthy diet and other steps like keeping a food diary. The Danish company hasn’t disclosed Wegovy’s price but said it will be similar to the price of Saxenda, an 11-year-old weight loss drug injected daily that now typically costs more than $1,300 per month without insurance. Dr. Archana Sudhu, head of the diabetes program at Houston Methodist Hospital, said Wegovy’s usefulness “all depends on what the price will be.” She noted patients’ health insurance plans sometime don’t cover weight-loss treatments, putting expensive drugs out of reach. Sudhu, who has no connection to Novo Nordisk, plans to switch patients who are obese and have Type 2 diabetes to Wegovy. It makes patients feel full sooner and increases release of insulin from the pancreas to control blood sugar, she said. Patients would then be more likely to get motivated to exercise and eat healthier, she added. Wegovy builds on a trend in which makers of relatively new diabetes drugs test them to treat other conditions common in diabetics. For example, popular diabetes drugs Jardiance and Novo Nordisk’s Victoza now have approvals for reducing risk of heart attack, stroke and death in heart patients. Phylander Pannell, 49, of Largo, Maryland, joined a patient study after cycles of losing and then regaining weight. She said she received Wegovy, worked out several times a week and lost 65 pounds over 16 months. “It helped curb my appetite and it helped me feel full faster,” said Pannell. “It got me on the right path.” Shortly after she finished the study and stopped receiving Wegovy, she regained about half the weight. She’s since lost much of that, started exercise classes and bought home exercise equipment. She’s considering going back on Wegovy after it’s approved. Novo Nordisk also is developing a pill version.
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UN Launches Decade of Ecosystem Restoration
The United Nations is marking World Environment Day with the launch of a decade dedicated to restoring the Earth’s ecosystem, which is rapidly approaching “the point of no return,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday.“Science tells us these next 10 years are our final chance to avert a climate catastrophe, turn back the deadly tide of pollution and end species loss,” Guterres said in a video address, a day ahead of the international day intended to raise environmental awareness and protection.”So, let today be the start of a new decade – one in which we finally make peace with nature and secure a better future for all,” he said.Guterres said the world faces a “triple environmental emergency”: biodiversity loss, climate disruption and increasing pollution.“The degradation of the natural world is already undermining the well-being of 3.2 billion people – or 40% of humanity,” he warned.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 14 MB720p | 27 MB1080p | 59 MBOriginal | 57 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioEarth’s ecosystem is rapidly approaching “the point of no return,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says June 4, 2021, a day ahead of World Environment Day.The U.N. secretary-general blamed human behavior, including deforestation, the polluting of rivers and oceans, and unsustainable agriculture practices for contributing to the planet’s poor health.“Luckily, the Earth is resilient,” he said.To reverse the damage, he said, societies need to start replanting forests, cleaning up rivers and seas, and greening cities.“Accomplishing these things will not only safeguard the planet’s resources,” Guterres said. “It will create millions of new jobs by 2030, generate returns of over $7 trillion every year and help eliminate poverty and hunger.”He acknowledged that the job ahead would be “monumental” and called on governments, the private sector, civil society and ordinary citizens to do their share in this “global call to action.”Without action, he said, environmental degradation will undermine progress in development and threaten the health and safety of future generations.In a new report, the U.N. Environment Program says the global population is using about 1.6 times what nature can sustainably provide, which means conservation is not adequate to prevent ecosystem degradation.The report says if action is taken now, humans will benefit from cleaner air and water, as well as better health, and contribute to the slowing of climate change.
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Facebook Suspends Trump for at Least Two Years
Facebook said Friday it would suspend Donald Trump’s accounts for at least two years, retaining a ban on the former U.S. president that it imposed after determining he incited the deadly January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “At the end of this period, we will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded,” Facebook Vice President Nick Clegg wrote in a blog post Friday. The social media giant’s independent oversight board upheld its block on Trump, which was enacted after the riot because the company said his posts were inciting violence. On January 6, Trump implored thousands of supporters who had come to Washington for a “Save America March” to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat, just before the riot aimed at preventing the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory. Five people died, including a federal police officer. The ban expires on January 7, 2023, two years after Facebook first blocked the former president. The timing of Facebook’s decision will reduce Trump’s ability to influence midterm congressional elections in November 2022, but his account could be restored well before voters go to polls in 2024 should Trump decide to seek the presidency again that year. In response to Facebook’s decision, Trump said in a statement it is “an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election. They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing and ultimately, we will win.” FILE – The founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the 56th Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 15, 2020.In a separate statement he added, “Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It will be all business!” Zuckerberg is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Facebook. At the White House briefing Friday, press secretary Jen Psaki said the ban was the company’s decision. “Our view continues to be, though, that every platform, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, any other platform that is disseminating information to millions of Americans, has a responsibility to crack down on disinformation, to crack down on false information whether it’s about the election or even about the vaccine, as we are trying to keep the American public safe.”
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Latest NASA Supply Ship to Space Includes Newly-Hatched Squid
The U.S. space agency NASA said cargo on the latest supply ship headed for the International Space Station (ISS) includes newly hatched squid to be used in experiments examining the effects of space flight on microorganisms.NASA said the SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft that blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Thursday – along with the squid, is carrying more than 3,300 kilograms of science experiments, new solar arrays, and other cargo.The hatchlings are bobtail squid and they are part of a project called Understanding of Microgravity on Animal-Microbe Interactions (UMAMI), which examines the effects of spaceflight on the molecular and chemical interactions between beneficial microbes and their animal hosts. Gravity’s role in shaping those interactions is not well understood and microgravity provides the opportunity to improve that understanding. At a NASA news briefing earlier this week, University of Florida microbiologist Jamie Foster told reporters all people and animals have beneficial microbes that help our bodies perform basic functions, like in the digestive or immune systems, and are essential to human health. She said astronauts working in space frequently find their immune systems can become compromised or dysregulated – a potentially dangerous situation when you can’t go to a doctor immediately or you can’t get help. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 8 MB480p | 11 MB540p | 14 MB720p | 30 MB1080p | 55 MBOriginal | 415 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioSpace NewsFoster says squid have similar immune systems to humans, but they are simpler organisms and therefore, are easier to study. She said the study could provide valuable insight into how extended spaceflight impacts astronauts’ bodies, and how to address it.The Dragon supply ship is expected to rendezvous with the ISS early Saturday, eastern U.S. time.
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US Government Finds No Evidence Aerial Sightings Were Alien Spacecraft – NYT
U.S. intelligence officials found no evidence that unidentified aerial phenomena observed by Navy aviators in recent years were alien spacecraft, but the sightings remain unexplained in a highly anticipated government report, The New York Times said Thursday.
The report also found the vast majority of incidents documented over the past two decades did not originate from any American military or other advanced U.S. government technology, the Times said, citing senior administration officials briefed on the report headed to Congress this month.
Many of the 120-plus sightings reviewed in the classified intelligence study from a Pentagon task force were reported by U.S. Navy personnel, while some involved foreign militaries, according to the Times.
The newspaper said U.S. intelligence officials believe experimental technology of a rival power could account for at least some of the aerial phenomena in question.
One unnamed senior U.S. official briefed on the report told the Times there was concern among American intelligence and military officials that China or Russia could be experimenting with hypersonic technology.
An unclassified version of the report expected to be submitted to Congress by June 25 will present few other conclusions, the newspaper said.
Public fascination with unidentified flying objects has been stoked in recent weeks by the forthcoming report, with UFO enthusiasts anticipating revelations about unexplained sightings many believe the government has sought to discredit or cover up for decades.
But senior U.S. officials cited in the Times article said the report’s ambiguity meant the government was unable to definitively rule out theories that the unidentified phenomena might have been extraterrestrial in nature.
The government’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force was created following a spate of observations by military pilots of unknown aerial objects exhibiting exotic speeds and maneuverability that seemingly defied the limits of known technology and laws of physics.
Led by the Navy, the task force was established last year to “improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAP incursions into our training ranges and designated airspace,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough told Reuters.
She said such incidents are of concern because of safety and national security implications.
Responding to Reuters’ questions about the task force report, Gough said in an email earlier Thursday: “We do not publicly discuss the details of the UAP observations, the task force or examinations.”
The term “unidentified flying objects,” or UFOs, long associated with the idea of alien spacecraft, has been largely supplanted in official government parlance by UAP, short for unidentified aerial phenomena, since December 2017.
It was then that the Pentagon first went on record, in a New York Times article, acknowledging documented UAP encounters by its warplanes and ships and efforts to catalog them, marking a turnaround from decades of publicly treating the subject as taboo.
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WHO: Threat of Third COVID Wave in Africa ‘Real and Rising’
“The threat of a third wave” of COVID-19 in Africa is “real and rising,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization regional director for Africa, told a virtual news conference Thursday. “While many countries outside Africa have now vaccinated their high-priority groups and are able to even consider vaccinating their children, African countries are unable to even follow up with second doses for high-risk groups,” Moeti said. She urged “countries that have reached a significant vaccination coverage to release doses and keep the most vulnerable Africans out of critical care.”The New York Times reported that migrants in Italy are not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, even though the government has said that everyone has a right to the vaccine, regardless of their legal status. The Times account said a social security number is required to book an appointment for the shot, but only three of Italy’s 20 regions recognize the temporary numbers “given to hundreds of thousands of migrants.” Dr. Marco Mazzetti, the president of the Italian Society of Migration Medicine, told the newspaper that many of the migrants are domestic workers.“If we don’t control the virus circulation among these people who come inside our homes to help us, we don’t control the virus circulation in the country,” Mazzetti said. India’s health ministry says it has ordered 300 million doses of an unapproved vaccine at a cost of over $200 million to be produced by Hyderabad-based Biological-E. The vaccine is currently in Phase 3 of the clinical trials. India’s Supreme Court has criticized the country’s vaccine program, which has left much of the country’s massive population unvaccinated. On Friday, India’s health ministry said that it had recorded 132,364 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24-hour period and 2,713 deaths. India has reported 28.5 million COVID-19 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Only the U.S. has more infections, at more than 33 million.Authorities in Britain have approved the Pfizer vaccine for 12-15-year-olds. Regulators said the trial involving 2,000 children produced a good response.COVAX financial boostIn other pandemic news, the WHO program to secure and distribute billions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world’s poorest countries has received a major financial boost. The COVAX initiative received nearly $2.4 billion in pledges Wednesday during a virtual summit hosted by Japan, which made the largest pledge, $800 million. The program also received significant financial pledges from Canada, France, Spain and Sweden. COVAX has raised $9.6 billion since its creation. Several nations also pledged to donate millions of doses from their domestic stockpiles to COVAX, with Japan again leading the way with a promise to donate 30 million doses. COVAX is an alliance that includes the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries. The program has so far distributed 77 million vaccine doses to 127 countries, far below its initial pledge of up to 2 billion doses this year. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reminded the summit that the Biden administration has pledged a total of $4 billion to COVAX for 2021-2022, but she made no new pledges of additional financial or vaccine donations. President Joe Biden has pledged to donate 80 million doses from the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine stockpile.
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Japan Donates More Than 1 Million AstraZeneca Jabs to Taiwan
Japan delivered to Taiwan 1.24 million doses of AstraZeneca PLC’s coronavirus vaccine on Friday for free, in a gesture that will more than double the number of shots the island has received to date.Taiwan is battling a spike in domestic infections and has vaccinated only about 3% of its population. Japan has agreed to procure more than 300 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer Inc, Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca, more than enough to cover its entire population.”At the time of the great east Japan earthquake 10 years ago, people in Taiwan sent us a lot of donations promptly. I believe that is etched vividly in the minds of Japanese people,” Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said, announcing the vaccine donation.”Such an important partnership and friendship with Taiwan is reflected in this offer.”The vaccines landed at Taipei’s main international airport early afternoon. Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said he was “extremely thankful” the shots had arrived at a tense moment in the island’s fight against the pandemic, as he reported another 472 new infections.”I believe it will be very helpful in overall pandemic prevention,” he added.The donation is a triumph for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who has faced public anger about the slow arrival of vaccines and small protests by the main opposition party, the Kuomintang, outside her offices.The donation “reflects the results of close exchanges between the Tsai Ing-wen government and the Japanese government over the past five years,” Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party said.Though Taiwan’s share has not been announced, the island will also get shots under a White House plan for the United States to share 25 million surplus COVID-19 vaccine doses with the world.Taiwan has received only about 860,000 doses so far, mainly AstraZeneca shots, but also a smaller number from Moderna. It has ordered more than 20 million doses from AstraZeneca and Moderna and is also developing its own vaccines.In an emailed statement to Reuters, Johnson & Johnson said that it had been in “confidential discussions” with Taiwan about providing its COVID-19 vaccine to the island since last year but gave no details.The J&J vaccine requires a single dose, rather than the two-shot regimen of most other COVID-19 vaccines.Like many governments, Taiwan’s vaccine plans have been stymied by global shortages.China, which claims the island as its own territory, has offered vaccines, but Taiwan has repeatedly expressed concern about their safety, and accused China of trying to block Taiwan’s vaccine purchases internationally. Beijing denies this.Japan approved AstraZeneca’s vaccine last month and has contracted to buy 120 million doses. But there are no immediate plans to use the shots, amid lingering concerns raised internationally over blood clots.
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Pence: I’ll Likely Never See Eye to Eye with Trump on Jan. 6
Former Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that he wasn’t sure that he and former President Donald Trump would ever see “eye to eye” over what happened on Jan. 6 but that he would “always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people over the last four years.”Pence, speaking at a Republican dinner in the early-voting state of New Hampshire, gave his most extensive comments to date on the events of Jan. 6, when angry Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” after the vice president said he did not have the power to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.“As I said that day, Jan. 6 was a dark day in history of the United States Capitol. But thanks to the swift action of the Capitol Police and federal law enforcement, violence was quelled. The Capitol was secured,” Pence said.“And that same day, we reconvened the Congress and did our duty under the Constitution and the laws of the United States,” Pence continued. “You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day.”It was a rare departure for Pence, who spent four years standing loyally beside his boss amid controversy, investigation and impeachment. It comes as Pence considers his own potential 2024 White House run and as Republicans, some of whom were angry at Trump in the days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, have largely coalesced back around the former president.Pence praised Trump several times during his nearly 35-minute speech at the Hillsborough County Republican Committee’s annual Lincoln-Reagan Awards Dinner in Manchester. He tried to turn the events of Jan. 6 back around on Democrats, saying they wanted to keep the insurrection in the news to divert attention from Biden’s liberal agenda.“I will not allow Democrats or their allies in the media to use one tragic day to discredit the aspirations of millions of Americans. Or allow Democrats or their allies in the media to distract our attention from a new administration intent on dividing our country to advance their radical agenda,” Pence said. “My fellow Republicans, for our country, for our future, for our children and our grandchildren, we must move forward, united.”He accused Biden of campaigning as a moderate but becoming the most liberal president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. He said the administration forced through Congress “a COVID bill to fund massive expansion of the welfare state” and was pushing a “so-called infrastructure bill” that was really a “thinly disguised climate change bill” funded with cuts in the military and historic tax increases.FILE – President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence stand on stage during the first day of the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, NC, Aug. 24, 2020.“I just say enough is enough,” he said, adding that “we’re going to stand strong for freedom.”Pence also hit upon several favorite themes of conservative Republicans, emphasizing the need for states to shore up voter integrity around the country. He praised law enforcement as heroes, saying: “Black lives are not endangered by police. Black lives are saved by police every day.”He also pushed back against “critical race theory,” which seeks to reframe the narrative of American history.Its proponents argue that federal law has preserved the unequal treatment of people on the basis of race and that the country was founded on the theft of land and labor. But Republicans have said concepts suggesting that people are inherently racist or that America was founded on racial oppression are divisive and have no place in the classroom.“America is not a racist country,” he said, prompting one of several standing ovations and cheers during his speech.“It is past time for America to discard the left-wing myth of systemic racism,” Pence said. “I commend state legislators and governors across the country for banning critical race theory from our schools.”His choice of states, including an April appearance in South Carolina, is aimed at increasing his visibility as he considers whether to run for the White House in 2024.Trump is increasingly acting and talking like he plans to make a run as he sets out on a more public phase of his post-presidency, beginning with a speech on Saturday in North Carolina.Since leaving office in January, Pence has been doing work with the Heritage Foundation and Young America’s Foundation. His team said he plans more trips, including stops in Texas, California and Michigan.Along with his visits to South Carolina and New Hampshire, Pence has been hitting the fundraising circuit. He is set to speak next week at another fundraiser hosted by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, will travel to North Carolina for a Heritage Foundation donor event, and will then head to California, where he will take part in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s speakers’ series, a Republican National Committee donor retreat and a Young America’s Foundation event, according to aides.Among other prominent Republicans, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said in April that she would stand down if Trump decided to run in 2024. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has undertaken an aggressive schedule, visiting states that will play a pivotal role in the 2024 primaries and signing a contract with Fox News Channel.
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UN Report Warns of Impending Taliban Power Play
The Taliban appear poised to take by force what they do not get through negotiations once U.S. and coalition troops complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a new assessment based on intelligence from United Nations member states.
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Reports: Facebook to End Rule Exemptions for Politicians
Facebook plans to end a contentious policy championed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that exempted politicians from certain moderation rules on its site, according to several news reports.The company’s rationale for that policy held that the speech of political leaders is inherently newsworthy and in the public interest even if it is offensive, bullying or otherwise controversial. The social media giant is currently mulling over what to do with the account of former President Donald Trump, which it “indefinitely” suspended Jan. 6, leaving it in Facebook limbo with its owners unable to post.The change in policy was first reported by the tech site The Verge and later confirmed by The New York Times and The Washington Post.Facebook has had a general “newsworthiness exemption” since 2016. But it garnered attention in 2019 when Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs and communications, announced that speech from politicians will be treated as “newsworthy content that should, as a general rule, be seen and heard.”The newsworthiness exemption, he explained in a blog post at the time, meant that if “someone makes a statement or shares a post which breaks our community standards we will still allow it on our platform if we believe the public interest in seeing it outweighs the risk of harm.”This hasn’t given politicians unlimited license, however. When Facebook suspended Trump in January, it cited “the risk of further incitement of violence” following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as the reason. The company says it has never used the newsworthiness exemption for any of Trump’s posts.Facebook declined to comment.
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