Monday, August 17, 2020

Coronavirus News (210)

Donald Trump’s anti-China policy is doomed to fail, as his coronavirus strategy did Rather than a cohesive strategy, America is taking aim at China’s economy based on a mix of short-term thinking, parochial calculations, and fear of Chinese competition Most of its attacks are missing the mark, and some are likely to boomerang on US interests instead ...................  Like it or not, the Trump administration has launched a cold war against China. .........   although China hawks in Washington often liken China to the former Soviet Union, the comparison is very misleading. The Soviet Union was in a full-blown confrontation with the Western world, both militarily and ideologically, and the fierce arms race with the US severely strained the Soviet economy. ..........  it was the Soviet economy, moribund and rotten to the core, that collapsed and caused the entire system to implode. ...........  China is an authoritarian regime, but it is not interested in spreading Marxism around the world. Rather, China is far more interested in exporting capital, expanding its market share and securing resource supplies. ..............   For the last four decades, the Chinese economy has been vibrant and thriving, with the private sector leading the way in generating jobs and economic growth. The standard of living for the Chinese has been improving at an unprecedented speed, with GDP per capita rising from around US$200 in 1980 to US$10,000 today. ...........  The majority of the Chinese are genuinely happy. ...........  the Chinese government has never been this popular with its people – all thanks to the Trump administration’s hardline China policy. This policy has been read by ordinary Chinese as proof of the US’ denial of China’s right to be economically successful. Naturally, Trump’s policy has spurred public resentment against the US in China. ..............   The Chinese economy has already become large enough to withstand America’s economic sanctions. ..........  China’s retail sales have exceeded those of the US since 2015, and China is virtually the largest market for various consumer goods: from cars and TVs to cellphones and luxury goods. This is not to mention that China is the largest importer of industrial and agricultural commodities of all kinds. .............   Qualcomm, a major US chip maker, is reportedly lobbying the Trump administration to lift trade restrictions on Huawei for fear that the American company will lose potentially US$8 billion in Huawei orders to foreign competitors. The share price of Intel, a key supplier to Huawei, has fallen by about 20 per cent since late July. ..........  Beijing’s counterpunch to Trump’s isolationist economic policy is to make the Chinese economy even more open. ............    It is worth noting that all the Chinese companies on the White House’s hit list are privately-owned businesses, which are the backbone of a free market system and were encouraged and welcomed by all previous administrations in Washington. ................  the fear of Chinese competition is the true reason behind Trump’s economic war. ..............  Trump’s protectionist policies have not led to any revival in US manufacturing.     

Illustration: Craig Stephens


US-China relations: bankrupt, broken America has no room to talk If China is held captive by a bankrupt ideology, as Mike Pompeo claims, how do you explain its spectacular economic achievements and growing power? The US cannot win any new Cold War by demonising an ascendant China instead of addressing its own chronic problems and getting its house in order ............  If China is held captive by a bankrupt ideology, how do you explain its spectacular economic achievements? If the US represents the pinnacle of virtue, how do you explain its many social problems, laid bare by Covid-19? ..................    China has propelled its per capita GDP from US$156 in 1978 to more than US$10,000 last year. On a purchasing power parity basis, residents of Beijing and Shanghai enjoy per capita GDP similar to some European Union member states. ............  If China is so totalitarian, why do so many Chinese students studying abroad happily return from the “free world” to China every year after obtaining their foreign degrees? ..............     The Communist Party of today is quite different from the party of 1977. China learned from its earlier failed experiments that it could not leapfrog into communism. By its own admission, China is at an early stage of socialism, and its economic model is still evolving. ...............  China’s economic system is eclectic, not limited by ideology. The Communist Party retains its vitality through dynamic evolution. ..............   After decades, China is still struggling with its Revitalising Northeast and Go West campaigns. ...........  China owes its success to experimentation. Local cadres are allowed, even encouraged, to experiment and are rewarded for their achievements .............   China prunes its failures and propagates its successes nationwide. ...............    Where have market fundamentalism and financialisation left most Americans? For the average American, real wages have stagnated for decades. Uniquely expensive and inefficient among developed nations, US health care is a problem for many of its citizens. With the lapse of US$600 federal jobless aid payments, many Americans face destitution. ........................  Bogged down by partisan politics, it has not been able to address many of its chronic socioeconomic problems. ..........  The US has more than 5 million Covid-19 cases and over 160,000 deaths and has seen mass protests across the country as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. The rule of law in the US is compromised. Even the orderly transition of power after the November election is not assured. It is the US’ empty rhetoric that is truly bankrupt. 

“Woke-Washing” Your Company Won’t Cut It



at No comments:
Labels: ,

Friday, August 14, 2020

Coronavirus News (209)

Special Report: Last doctor standing - Pandemic pushes Indian hospital to brink  The relatives keep barging into the wards, even the ICU, to stroke and feed their loved ones, often without wearing even the flimsiest of masks as barriers against the novel coronavirus. ...........  The healthcare system in Bhagalpur, like many other parts of Bihar, is on the verge of collapse ..........  Although India’s major cities, such as New Delhi and Mumbai – the first to be hit by the virus – have registered a decline in cases, numbers in second-tier cities and rural areas continue to rise. .............   Bihar is India’s third-most-populous state; if it were a country, it would be the 14th-most-populous in the world. ............  Based on indicators including infant nutrition, Bihar’s level of development has more in common with sub-Saharan Africa than India’s prosperous southern states. Almost half of children under 5 in the state are stunted from malnutrition, with more than four in 10 underweight for their age ................  more than half the doctors’ posts in the state are unfilled. That’s because many doctors don’t want to serve in rural areas ............  On the approach road to the hospital, there is a huge pothole, and vehicles carrying patients often get stuck there. Outside the main doors, relatives sit with the bodies of their loved ones waiting for private ambulances to take them for burial or cremation. ...........  Sameer, a 22-year-old medical attendant sent to help with the transfer, hurriedly changes into his plastic overalls. Instead of protective goggles, he uses a pair of cheap sunglasses.   

In China, fears of financial Iron Curtain as U.S. tensions rise  A sharp escalation in tensions with the United States has stoked fears in China of a deepening financial war that could result in it being shut out of the global dollar system - a devastating prospect once considered far-fetched but now not impossible. ..........  Most of China’s cross-border transactions are settled in dollars via the SWIFT system, which some say leaves it vulnerable. ..........  a proposed digital yuan in cross-border transactions on the back of currency swaps between central banks, bypassing systems such as SWIFT .........  Beijing has no choice but to prepare for Washington’s “nuclear option” of kicking China out of the dollar system.

P.V. Gopalan in an undated photo

The progressive Indian grandfather who inspired Kamala Harris  Until his death in 1998, Gopalan remained from thousands of miles away a pen pal and guiding influence — accomplished, civic-minded, doting, playful — who helped kindle Harris’ interest in public service. .................  “It was a big deal,” said Harris’ uncle G. Balachandran, a 79-year-old academic in New Delhi. “At that time, the number of unmarried Indian women who had gone to the States for graduate studies — it was probably in the low double digits. But my father was quite open. He said, ‘If you get admission, you go.’” .............  “When you’re raised in a family, I guess later in life you realize how your family might be different,” she said. “But it all seemed very normal to me. … I obviously did realize as an adult, and as I got older, that they were extremely progressive.” ...........  “What is home science?” Balachandran remembered him needling her. “Are you learning how to invite guests?” Rajam, who was active in raising funds for social causes, was determined that the children pursue careers in medicine, engineering or the law. ...............   “I do think now of just how permissive they were in allowing their daughters to leave them, but also of how bold the daughters were to want to leave to begin with,” she said. “And given that Shyamala was the oldest, she really set the stage for the rest of the siblings to follow in her path.” .............   When Shyamala left to study nutrition and endocrinology at Berkeley, eventually earning a PhD, most Indian households didn’t have phone lines. The family stayed in touch through letters, handwritten on lightweight, pale-blue stationery known as aerograms that took about two weeks to travel between India and California. .............. She joined the black civil rights movement, where she met a brilliant Jamaican economics student named Donald Harris. When she and Harris married in 1963 — in what in India is still described as a “love marriage” — it marked an even greater challenge to convention, especially because she didn’t introduce him to her parents beforehand. ................   What she remembers is the soil of Lusaka, rich with copper, which glowed a fiery red. ............  As the eldest grandchild, Kamala sometimes tagged along on Gopalan’s walks with his retiree buddies, soaking up their debates about building democracy and fighting corruption in India. ..............  When Rajam left the house, Gopalan, a strict vegetarian who avoided even eggs, sometimes cast Harris and her sister a conspiratorial look and said: “OK, let’s have French toast.” ..............  If she misbehaved, Gopalan would take her into another room and pretend to slap her on the hand — urging her to shriek in mock pain — before reemerging to tell Shyamala, “I handled it.” ............   Shyamala bore the hidden scars of discrimination — Harris has said she was passed over for promotions and dismissed as unintelligent because of her accent — and dispensed lessons to her family and graduate students of color with the same sharp, sassy wit. ..........  Shyamala warned her that American men would call her exotic, a term she said was meant to diminish her .............  “The minute they call you exotic, you walk away from them and tell them to f--- off,” Balachandran Orihuela remembered her saying. If anyone asked where she was from, Shyamala admonished her to answer: “None of your business.” ..........  In her cousin Harris, 18 years her senior, Balachandran Orihuela sees glimmers of her aunt’s intensity and focus, as well as her warmth. When Harris arches an eyebrow during a presidential debate, the feisty skepticism reminds her of Shyamala. ..............  “There’s very little ambiguity, very little moral relativism to debate with Kamala,” she said, “and Shyamala was very similar.” ............  One of Harris’ fondest memories of Gopalan’s final years was in 1991, when the whole family gathered in Chennai to celebrate his 80th birthday. It had been at least 20 years since everyone was together, and Rajam — by then great-grandmother to Maya’s daughter, Meena — insisted that they all stay in their three-bedroom apartment, on a quiet, tree-lined street a few blocks from the beach. .............   Harris, who was about 27 at the time, remembered a house bristling with strong personalities, her aunts and uncle suddenly reverting to the role of children. Rajam quibbled with Shyamala, two forces of nature colliding in the ground-floor flat. “It was just a whole scene,” Harris said with a laugh, “and by the end of it we went to a hotel.”

Kamala Harris with her sister, Maya, and mother, Shyamala, in 1970.

राष्ट्रपति नेकपाको कि नेपालीको ? राष्ट्रपतिले दलको झगडा मिलाउने, साक्षी बस्ने, मध्यस्थ गर्ने काम गर्नु हुन्न । संसदीय व्यवस्थामा आफ्नो भूमिका र संविधानका ती व्यवस्थाहरू राष्ट्रपतिले बुझ्नुपर्छ ।  

How to (Actually) Change Someone’s Mind  How do you go about convincing someone who, for one reason or another, doesn’t see eye-to-eye with you? Someone who gives you a flat out “no”? .........  The leaders who were most successful in overcoming others’ skepticism were those who diagnosed the root of the fundamental disagreement before trying to persuade. They first asked themselves, “What’s driving my detractor’s resistance?” These leaders often pinpointed which aspects of their arguments elicited the most pushback and the most emotional reactions. ...............    The Cognitive Conversation ........  If they’ve clearly articulated a logical set of objections, and they don’t appear to be hiding ulterior motives, approach them with a cognitive conversation. ..........  A successful cognitive conversation requires two things: sound arguments and good presentation. .........  The Champion Conversion ...........  When the detractor isn’t easily persuaded through cognitive arguments, or when they harbor a grievance in your relationship with them, engaging in debates may be futile. ..............  Don’t jump in and try to convince the other person. Instead, invest time in personally learning about and building rapport with them. .............  allow the other person to see who you are so that they can more fully understand your point of view. ............  The Credible Colleague Approach .......  times when the detractor’s deeply-held personal beliefs make them fundamentally opposed to your proposal. .......  some combination of the person’s upbringing, personal history, and unspoken biases will, at times, make it seemingly impossible for them to accept a decision, no matter what logical or emotional argument you throw their way. ..............  Rather than trying to argue with someone who seems resistant, bring in a credible colleague.   

“Woke-Washing” Your Company Won’t Cut It  statement fatigue — a growing level of disinterest, ambivalence, and outright outrage towards companies calling out racial injustice without showing any signs of taking action ...........   the costs of “woke washing” — appropriating the language of social activism into marketing materials, for instance — can be high ............  Organizations such as Whole Foods, Pinterest, and Adidas have all seen public complaints from current and former employees that corporate statements of solidarity glossed over internal inequities. ............  the importance of moving beyond solidarity statements and toward power dynamics that effectively eradicate the underlying anti-Blackness that has been central to America’s origin story and thus, the American corporate story.   

at No comments:
Labels:

My 127 Words For AOC's Alloted New York Minute At The Virtual DNC

We can have all the resources in the world, but if we have failing leadership like we do now, America is a House of Cards, as we have seen for a few months in a row now. A strand of DNA has exposed Donald Trump for who and what he is: an utterly incompetent man who squandered his father’s inheritance and has now squandered the Obama-Biden economic recovery. A daughter of immigrants carries the torch of criminal justice reform. How befitting. I do not apologize for dreaming big. If this pandemic is a sneeze, the climate catastrophe is going to be a full-blown fever. And the time to start acting is now. Vote Biden Harris and give us the Senate so we can get the work done.

(127 words ....... compared to 272 for Lincoln's Gettysburg address)

AOC Accosted by Rep. Ted Yoho on the Steps of the Capitol

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address - YouTube

at No comments:
Labels:

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Coronavirus News (208)

America Could Control the Pandemic by October. Let’s Get to It. The solutions to combating the coronavirus are no mystery. It’s time to do this right. .........  Six to eight weeks. That’s how long some of the nation’s leading public health experts say it would take to finally get the United States’ coronavirus epidemic under control. If the country were to take the right steps, many thousands of people could be spared from the ravages of Covid-19. The economy could finally begin to repair itself, and Americans could start to enjoy something more like normal life. Six to eight weeks. For proof, look at Germany. Or Thailand. Or France. Or nearly any other country in the world. ..........  even clear victories over the virus, in places like New York and Massachusetts, feel imperiled........ As the national death toll climbs above 160,000, mask wearing is still not universal. ............  The Trump administration’s response has been disjointed and often contradictory, indifferent to science, suffused with politics and eager to hand off responsibility to state leaders. Among the states, the response has also been wildly uneven. .............  Unless something changes quickly, millions more people will be sickened by the virus, and well over a million may ultimately die from it. The economy will contract further as new surges of viral spread overwhelm hospitals and force further shutdowns and compound suffering, especially in low-income communities and communities of color. The path to avoiding those outcomes is as clear as the failures of the past several months. ...................  airborne transmission is a far greater risk than contaminated surfaces, that the virus spreads through singing and shouting as much as through coughing, and that while any infected person is a potential vector, superspreading events — as in nursing homes, meatpacking plants, churches and bars — are major drivers of the pandemic. ...............   Masks are essential and will be required in all public places. Social distancing is a civic responsibility. The virus is not going away anytime soon, but we can get it under control quickly if we work together. ..............  The United States has a glut of data and a dearth of information. ..........  Testing, Tracing, Isolation and Quarantine ............   Testing delays make contact tracing — not to mention isolation and quarantine — impossible to execute. ............  The causes of America’s great pandemic failure run deep, exacerbated by innumerable longstanding problems, from a weak public health infrastructure to institutional racism to systemic inequality in health care, housing and employment.    



Russia Approves Coronavirus Vaccine Before Completing Tests The country became the first in the world to approve a possible vaccine against the virus, despite warnings from the global authorities against cutting corners. .........   The major powers are locked in a global race for a vaccine that President Trump, Mr. Putin and China’s president, Xi Jinping, are treating as a proxy war for their personal leadership and competing national systems. .............  Russia is trying to snatch a victory by cutting corners. .............  Russia’s vaccine sped through early monkey and human trials with apparent success. ..........  their vaccine is based on a design developed years ago by Russian scientists to counter the Ebola virus. ........... Currently, eight vaccines have entered the final phase of mass human testing, including ones produced by Moderna in the United States, Oxford University and AstraZeneca in Britain and several Chinese companies. .............  The Russian scientific body that developed the vaccine, the Gamaleya Institute, has yet to conduct Phase 3 trials. ....... The Russian vaccine uses two strains of adenovirus that typically cause mild colds in humans. Scientists genetically modified them to cause infected cells to make proteins from the spike of the new coronavirus ................  The approach is similar to the one used in a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca that is now undergoing Phase III tests in Britain, Brazil and South Africa. .............  The Gamaleya Institute developed the Russian vaccine using a human cell line first cultured in 1973 — the same line used in the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. ........  Russia relied on a formidable legacy of research into viruses and vaccines in the Soviet Union, and had focused on established technologies, like the approach already used for the Ebola vaccine. ...........  Russia has already received orders for 1 billion doses from 20 countries and plans to manufacture the vaccine in Brazil, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Cuba .  


In this video screen grab made available by Moscow’s Sechenov Medical University, a volunteer receives the vaccine as part of clinical trials.

“It works effectively enough, forms a stable immunity and I repeat, it has gone through all necessary tests,” President Vladimir V. Putin said.


‘A Smoking Gun’: Infectious Coronavirus Retrieved From Hospital Air Airborne virus plays a significant role in community transmission, many experts believe. A new study fills in the missing piece: Floating virus can infect cells. ............  Aerosols are minute by definition, measuring only up to five micrometers across; evaporation can make them even smaller. .............  Scientists found airborne virus at a distance much farther than the recommended six feet.... ............   Indoor spaces without good ventilation — such as schools — might accumulate much more airborne virus  ...........  indoors, those distance rules don’t matter anymore .............  It takes about five minutes for small aerosols to traverse the room even in still air .......  The six-foot minimum is “misleading, because people think they are protected indoors and they’re really not” ............   The more distance people can maintain, the better .......  The findings should also push people to heed precautions for airborne transmission like improved ventilation   



at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Coronavirus News (207)

China’s banks urged to switch away from SWIFT as US sanctions over Hong Kong national security law loom US legislation could penalise banks for serving officials who implement the new national security for Hong Kong China launched the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) clearing and settlement services system in 2015 to help internationalise use of the yuan

How the China-Iran economic and security deal endangers India’s strategic interests in the Middle East The deal, which throws Iran a vital lifeline and gives China access to Iran’s hydrocarbon reserves, imperils India’s strategic stake in the Chabahar port project

Why China is not gunning for a roaring economic recovery China’s GDP rebound belies an uneven recovery and a widening gap between the real economy and capital markets. Instead of more stimulus, Beijing will want to rebalance the economy and carefully unwind policy easing GDP growth should hit 5-6 per cent for the second half, and 2.3 per cent for the whole year

Beijing tries to balance nationalism with pragmatism in US relations Despite an apparent tit-for-tat dispute, China has consistently pulled punches when retaliating against actions from Washington The recent Chengdu-Houston consulate dispute is emblematic of the current state of the relationship

China woos Asean neighbours in bid to avoid US-led coalition on its doorstep Beijing has been shoring up relations in Southeast Asia with an emphasis on Washington-friendly countries Phone calls, virtual meetings and pledges of support aim to sway the region’s delicate balancing act between two powers

The Danger of Blue Light Is Real. Protect Your Eyes With Blue Light Glasses.

NASA VENUS ROVER DESIGNED FOR “EXPLORING HELL”

THESE SCIENTISTS ARE TESTING AN EXPERIMENTAL COVID VACCINE ON THEMSELVES NOBODY KNOWS IF IT ACTUALLY WORKS OR NOT — BUT THEY'RE PASSING IT AROUND LIKE A PARTY DRUG.

Why We Need Mass Automation to Pandemic-Proof the Supply Chain this whole system, the global supply chain, works so well that it’s effectively invisible most of the time. Until now, that is. The pandemic has thrown a floodlight on the inner workings of this modern wonder—and it’s exposed massive vulnerabilities. ..............  Despite an abundance of 21st century technology, we’re stuck in the 20th century. .......  Today’s supply chain consists of fleets of ships, trucks, warehouses, and importantly, people scattered around the world. While there are some notable instances of advanced automation, the overwhelming majority of work is still manual, resembling a sort of human-powered bucket brigade, with people wandering around warehouses or standing alongside conveyor belts. Each package of diapers or bottle of detergent ordered by an online customer might be touched dozens of times by warehouse workers before finding its way into a box delivered to a home. ................  To make the global supply chain more resilient to shocks like Covid-19, we must look to technology. .......  Perfecting the Global Supply Chain: The Massive ‘Matter Router’

TLI & UC Berkeley Conference - 'Power and Accountability in Global ...


at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Coronavirus News (206)

 How companies win amid a crisis

The TikTok plot thickens

Tesla has a new rival

Governments must beware the lure of free money

Vaccine Race Is On: Oxford, China Products Show Good Early Results — But population-specific efficacy questions remain as both progress to phase III 

Hong Kong security law: how will US sanctions affect China’s plan to turn the yuan into a widely used global currency? The threat of US sanctions over Hong Kong has added urgency to Beijing’s efforts to cut its reliance on the US dollar But analysts say intensifying China-US decoupling is likely to make foreign investors wary of using the yuan in place of the US dollar

Capital of China’s Xinjiang region shuts down as coronavirus returns City of 3.5 million people given short notice of lockdown as flights cancelled and subway shuts down After 149 Covid-19 free days, the autonomous region reports six confirmed infections and 11 asymptomatic cases 

FAUCI: THE CORONAVIRUS WILL PROBABLY BE AROUND FOREVER "I DON’T REALLY SEE US ERADICATING IT."

Zhao Liying, queen of TV ratings in China, the star of Princess Agents and now a mum, seeks a new direction It took her nine years of hard graft, filming 300 days a year, for Zhao Liying to find fame. Now, after marriage and motherhood, she’s taken a well-earned break As she seeks a new direction, the star of Princess Agents, The Story of Minglan and The Journey of Flower relaxes by tidying her house

India and China set for more talks to reduce border tension Two sides will discuss plans to pull back soldiers after fatal clash in Galwan Valley last month US estimates that both countries have around 10,000 troops in the area after build-up continued away from front line

Why the risk of a US-China hot war is small despite heated talk Bilateral ties are closer than the US and Soviet relations were during the Cold War, the ideological confrontation less intense, and decoupling, while painful, buys a modicum of peace and security Also, both sides have many tools and options other than war to achieve their aims

Asian states face stark choice in threat of China-US military clash Tensions between Beijing and Washington put pressure on friends and neighbours of both countries to pick a side Analysts examine how allegiances may align if the shouting match between the two powers becomes a shooting one

As US-China tensions heat up, Taiwan’s firms pivot to India India’s giant market, inexpensive skilled workforce and generous tax breaks aren’t the only things drawing investment from Taiwanese firms Fears over the fallout from US-China tensions and a desire to diversify supply chains in the wake of Covid-19 are also fuelling the trend ............  “The main thing India offers is a captive consumer base and access to the domestic market as well as a cheap labour source and the ease of doing business” .........  The country has made itself more attractive to foreign investors by cutting the corporate income tax rate from 30 to 22 per cent in September and taxing start-ups at just 15 per cent. Investors operating in special economic zones can avoid tariffs as well as income taxes. Labour costs 15 per cent less in India than in China .........  “India has realised the growing technical capabilities of Taiwanese firms and how they can be utilised to support the Indian manufacturing sector, while Taiwan sees India as a means to reduce dependency on China.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: EPA




at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Coronavirus News (205)

U.S.-China relations are under 'unprecedented' strain, says Chinese ambassador to the U.S. He also accused the U.S. of fueling tensions in the South China Sea by sending ships to the region: "This is really raising the risk of a conflict."

conceptual illustration

The problems AI has today go back centuries Algorithmic discrimination and “ghost work” didn’t appear by accident. Understanding their long, troubling history is the first step toward fixing them. .......  “decolonise artificial intelligence”—to reorient the field’s work away from Western hubs like Silicon Valley and engage new voices, cultures, and ideas for guiding the technology’s development. .............  Though historical colonialism may be over, its effects still exist today. This is what scholars term “coloniality”: the idea that the modern-day power imbalances between races, countries, rich and poor, and other groups are extensions of the power imbalances between colonizer and colonized. ............   algorithms built to automate procedures and trained on data within a racially unjust society end up replicating those racist outcomes in their results ...........  Many former US and UK colonies—the Philippines, Kenya, and India—have become ghost-working hubs for US and UK companies. The countries’ cheap, English-speaking labor forces, which make them a natural fit for data work, exist because of their colonial histories. ..........  the British Empire’s historical treatment of its colonies as laboratories for new medicines and technologies. ...........  developed countries continue to disproportionately benefit from global norms shaped for their advantage, while developing countries continue to fall further behind. ............  “AI for good” or “AI for sustainable development” initiatives are often paternalistic. They force developing countries to depend on existing AI systems rather than participate in creating new ones designed for their own context. ...........   there’s really no such thing as “unintended consequences”—just consequences of the blind spots organizations and research institutions have when they lack diverse representation ..........  participatory machine learning, which seeks to involve the people most affected by machine-learning systems in their design    

Trump's threatened TikTok ban could motivate young users to vote, some say “If it hasn’t already, I think this will definitely be a gamechanger in young voters going out and voting for sure,” one user said. 

Coronavirus unemployment: Who is covered, how to apply and how much it pays With no end in sight to the COVID-19 crisis, here's everything you need to know

Chinese state media slams U.S. as a ‘rogue country’ for its planned ‘smash and grab’ of TikTok

Inside Baltimore's human trafficking industry Survivors of sex trafficking and those who investigate it in the city share their stories.......  The "white L", as it is known, enjoys access to public transportation, bike lanes, and quality grocery stores. The majority Black neighbourhoods, meanwhile, are plagued by urban blight; dotted with boarded-up abandoned houses. These neighbourhoods experience gun violence paired with police brutality, including the now infamous 2015 murder of a 25-year-old Black man named Freddie Gray. .........   At more than 20 percent, Baltimore city's poverty rate is around double the national average. Maryland itself, in contrast, consistently ranks as one of the wealthiest states in the country in regards to average income and economic opportunity. Some of the country's wealthiest people live in a state whose largest city is plagued by poverty. .............   Baltimore has one of the highest rates of human trafficking cases in the country. Washington, DC - just 64km (40 miles) away - is believed to have the highest rate. .............  Poverty, in general, is a vulnerability that we need to address if we're going to address trafficking. ..............  "They approach you like mother figures. They approach you in the nicest way. [But] ... you have to know that it's not for free." ...........  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a non-profit, estimates that one in six of all missing children is a victim of human trafficking. .........  Heroin, in particular, has devastated the city since as early as the 1960s, and Baltimore was once dubbed the heroin capital of the United States. ..................   Now, much of that heroin has been replaced by the cheaper and even more deadly fentanyl, but the high rates of addiction and overdoses continue. Baltimore, today, has one of the highest overdose fatality rates in the country. .............  sometimes traffickers pick victims up directly off the streets. ........... traffickers often use addiction to manipulate their victims. .......  Some cities are destinations for human traffickers, and some are sources of trafficking victims, but Baltimore is both. .........  labour trafficking can be harder to detect because the victims are often immigrants who are reluctant to report the abuse. .......... Law enforcement and others in the city are learning, however, that trafficked women and children are victims and survivors, not criminals. ..........  "I went from 'nail them and jail them' to seeing the girls in prostitution as victims."   

Russia to roll out coronavirus vaccine within two weeks: Live Greece records highest daily tally; New Zealand's biggest city back to lockdown; Germany skeptical over Russian vaccine.  ........  The WHO has not received enough information on the Russian COVID-19 vaccine to evaluate it  

Democrats report coronavirus relief progress as McConnell says he is prepared to support a deal




at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Coronavirus News (204)


Winter is coming: Why America’s window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 is closing  The good news: The United States has a window of opportunity to beat back Covid-19 before things get much, much worse. The bad news: That window is rapidly closing. And the country seems unwilling or unable to seize the moment. ................   Unless Americans use the dwindling weeks between now and the onset of “indoor weather” to tamp down transmission in the country, this winter could be Dickensianly bleak, public health experts warn. ............  November, December, January, February are going to be tough months ..........  “We seem to be choosing leisure activities now over children’s safety in a month’s time. And I cannot understand that tradeoff.” .................   an important chance to wrestle the virus under control is being lost, as Americans ignore the realities of the pandemic in favor of trying to resume pre-Covid life. .............. “The best time to squash a pandemic is when the environmental characteristics slow transmission. It’s your one opportunity in the year, really, to leverage that extra assistance and get transmission under control” ............  transmission among 20-somethings will eventually lead to infections among their parents and grandparents, where the risk of severe infections and fatal outcomes is higher. (Young people can also develop long-term health problems as a result of the virus.) .............  without an all-in effort “the cases are not going to come down,” he warned. “They’re not. They’re just not.” 

Covid Winter illo


I’m a Nurse in New York. Teachers Should Do Their Jobs, Just Like I Did. Schools are essential to the functioning of our society, and that makes teachers essential workers.

What Lockdown 2.0 Looks Like: Harsher Rules, Deeper Confusion Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, is becoming a case study in handling a second wave of infections. There are lots of unanswered questions. ............  The new lockdown is the product of early success; the country thought it had the virus beat in June. But there was a breakdown in the quarantine program for hotels. Returning travelers passed the virus to hotel security guards in Melbourne, who carried the contagion home. ..............   A confounding matrix of hefty fines for disobedience to the lockdown and minor exceptions for everything from romantic partners to home building has led to silenced streets and endless versions of the question: So, wait, can I ____? ................   “Our politicians are as scared as we are, but they have to pretend like they have a better idea than we do of what’s going to happen next.” ............  With success against the virus as fleeting as the breeze, the new waves of restrictions feel to many like a bombing raid that just won’t end. ...............   Schools in some cities are opening and closing like screen doors in summer. ............    Officials have been flummoxed at every turn by the persistent complacency of just enough people to let the virus thrive and multiply. .................    almost nine out of 10 people with Covid-19 had not been tested or isolated when they first felt sick, Mr. Andrews, the state’s top leader, said in late July. And 53 percent had not quarantined while waiting for their test results. ..................   the virus can be suppressed only if more than 70 percent of the population abides by social distancing guidelines and other public health rules. ................  A door-knocking campaign to check in on 3,000 people who had Covid-19 found that 800 of them were not at home. All 800 have been referred to the Victoria police for investigation. The fine for violators going forward, he said, will be 4,957 Australian dollars, $3,532. ....................   Walking to get groceries, Peter Barnes, 56, said he welcomed the stricter rules, though he admitted his city was starting to feel like George Orwell’s “1984,” with the heavy hand of the state around every corner. ..................   “You can’t hire a corpse. Very bad employment prospects for people who are dead.”   




at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Coronavirus News (203)

तराईमा अब लकडाउन गरे पनि नियन्त्रण हुँदैन, यही तालले काठमाडौंमा पनि ‘डिजास्टर’ हुन्छ : डा. अनुप बास्तोला

 New Evidence Suggests Young Children Spread Covid-19 More Efficiently Than Adults

A Second Coronavirus Death Surge Is Coming There was always a logical explanation for why cases rose through the end of June while deaths did not.

Tombstones of varying size in front of a green graph

A Vaccine Reality Check So much hope is riding on a breakthrough, but a vaccine is only the beginning of the end.  .......  Nearly five months into the pandemic, all hopes of extinguishing COVID-19 are riding on a still-hypothetical vaccine. And so a refrain has caught on: We might have to stay home—until we have a vaccine. Close schools—until we have a vaccine. Wear masks—but only until we have a vaccine. During these months of misery, this mantra has offered a small glimmer of hope. Normal life is on the other side, and we just have to wait—until we have a vaccine. ............  the media’s blow-by-blow coverage of vaccine trials. Each week brings news of “early success,” “promising initial results,” and stocks rising because of “vaccine optimism.” But a COVID-19 vaccine is unlikely to meet all of these high expectations. The vaccine probably won’t make the disease disappear. It certainly will not immediately return life to normal. ........................  Biologically, a vaccine against the COVID-19 virus is unlikely to offer complete protection. Logistically, manufacturers will have to make hundreds of millions of doses while relying, perhaps, on technology never before used in vaccines and competing for basic supplies such as glass vials. Then the federal government will have to allocate doses, perhaps through a patchwork of state and local health departments with no existing infrastructure for vaccinating adults at scale. ...........  20 percent of Americans already say they will refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine, and with another 31 percent unsure, reaching herd immunity could be that much more difficult. ............   Scientists have gone from discovery of the virus to more than 165 candidate vaccines in record time, with 27 vaccines already in human trials. Human trials consist of at least three phases: Phase 1 for safety, Phase 2 for efficacy and dosing, and Phase 3 for efficacy in a huge group of tens of thousands of people. At least six COVID-19 vaccines are in or about to enter Phase 3 trials, which will take several more months. ............  Without the measures that have beat back the virus in much of Europe and Asia, there will continue to be more outbreaks, more school closings, more loneliness, more deaths ahead. A vaccine, when it is available, will mark only the beginning of a long, slow ramp down. And how long that ramp down takes will depend on the efficacy of a vaccine, the success in delivering hundreds of millions of doses, and the willingness of people to get it at all. It is awful to contemplate the suffering still ahead. ............  “Nobody wants to hear it’s not just right around the corner.” ............  “The primary benefit of vaccination will be to prevent severe disease,” says Subbarao. A COVID-19 vaccine is unlikely to achieve what scientists call “sterilizing immunity,” which prevents disease altogether. ...............   An initial vaccine might limit COVID-19’s severity without entirely stopping its spread. Think flu shot, rather than polio vaccine. ............   Moderna, an American company, is conducting its Phase 3 trial in the U.S. A group based at the University of Oxford, which is collaborating with the U.K.-headquartered biotech company AstraZeneca, is running trials in Britain, Brazil, and South Africa—the latter two countries chosen specifically because of their high numbers of COVID-19 cases. ...................  The leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates rely on technology that’s never been used before in approved vaccines. Moderna’s vaccine, for example, is a piece of RNA that encodes a coronavirus protein. Oxford and AstraZeneca’s vaccine attaches a coronavirus protein to a chimpanzee adenovirus. Neither has been manufactured before on the necessary scale. ..........  Right now, Operation Warp Speed is also awarding contracts to make the millions of syringes and glass vials needed to package a COVID-19 vaccine. Without careful planning on these fronts, the U.S. could run into a demoralizing scenario where vaccines are available, but there is no way to physically get them to people. .............   When vaccines are approved, 300 million doses will not be available all at once, and a system is needed to distribute limited supplies to the public. This is exactly the sort of challenge that the U.S. government has proved unprepared for in this pandemic. ............  Some of the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates could also pose new logistical challenges, if they require storage at temperatures as low as –80 degrees Celsius or multiple doses to be effective. In fact, a COVID-19 vaccine is quite likely to require two doses; the first primes the immune system, allowing the second to induce a stronger immune response. Officials would have to balance giving one dose to as many people as possible with giving a second dose to those who already had one. “That was a complication we didn’t face in 2009, and we were so grateful” ................  the Department of Defense may also get involved in vaccine distribution. “We continue to ask CDC these many, many questions. And they don’t know” ..........   If the pandemic so far is any indication, a vaccination program is likely to take place against a backdrop of partisanship and misinformation. Already, conspiracy theories are spreading about a COVID-19 vaccine, some of them downright outlandish. ...............   even a vaccine might not get the country to herd immunity if too many people refuse it. ............  “I think the question that is easy to answer is, ‘Is this virus going to go away?’ And the answer to that is, ‘No,’” says Karron, the vaccine expert at Johns Hopkins. The virus is already too widespread. A vaccine could still mitigate severe cases; it could make COVID-19 easier to live with. The virus is likely here to stay, but eventually, the pandemic will end.

Illustration of praying hands, surrounded by syringes


at No comments:
Labels: , ,

A Triangular Ticket

 

If you did not hear what AOC had to say about that yahoo from Florida, you have been hiding under the rocks. If Donald Trump's mother can come over from Scotland, AOC's mother can come over from Puerto Rico, why not? And Puerto Rico is not even a foreign country. If you think it is, the Pacific is a lake near Chicago. AOC is slated to speak like Obama spoke in 2004, except the country already knows AOC. This political supernova has her signature on the bedrock of the Democratic platform. That was two years ago. The planet faces a not even 12-year deadline before a climate catastrophe fever hits. This pandemic is but a sneeze. All solutions have to be looked into including market solutions. If this pandemic is worth three trillion, the climate catastrophe is worth 30. AOC is the vital center, the animated center. The political spectrum is ablaze. She is a natural political talent fit for the giant task of climate and social justice. 


 Image

at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Coronavirus News (202)

Whose coronavirus strategy worked best? Scientists hunt most effective policies Researchers sift through data to compare nations’ vastly different containment measures.......  swift surveillance, quarantine and social-distancing measures, such as the use of face masks and school closures, helped to cut coronavirus transmission 

Pandemic Protection: line charts highlighting several countries severity of response to coronavirus since day of first death

‘We need to be alert’: Scientists fear second coronavirus wave as China’s lockdowns ease Other countries on lockdown will be watching for a resurgence of infections in Hubei province now that travel restrictions are lifting.

What China’s coronavirus response can teach the rest of the world Researchers are studying the effects of China’s lockdowns to glean insights about controlling the viral pandemic.

Why Japanese Businesses Are So Good at Surviving Crises

The Soft Butch That Couldn’t (Or: I Got COVID-19 in March and Never Got Better)

Governments must beware the lure of free money Budget constraints have gone missing. That presents both danger and opportunity ...... It is sometimes said that governments wasted the global financial crisis of 2007-09 by failing to rethink economic policy after the dust settled. Nobody will say the same about the covid-19 pandemic. It has led to a desperate scramble to enact policies that only a few months ago were either unimaginable or heretical. A profound shift is now taking place in economics as a result, of the sort that happens only once in a generation. Much as in the 1970s when clubby Keynesianism gave way to Milton Friedman’s austere monetarism, and in the 1990s when central banks were given their independence, so the pandemic marks the start of a new era. Its overriding preoccupation will be exploiting the opportunities and containing the enormous risks that stem from a supersized level of state intervention in the economy and financial markets. ...........  The imf predicts that rich countries will borrow 17% of their combined gdp this year to fund $4.2trn in spending and tax cuts designed to keep the economy going. They are not done. In America Congress is debating another spending package ........... central banks are tacitly financing the stimulus. The result is that long-term interest rates stay low even while public-debt issuance soars. ...... The state’s growing role as capital-allocator-in-chief is the third aspect of the new age. .........  Together the Fed and Treasury are now backstopping 11% of America’s entire stock of business debt. ..........  Low inflation is therefore the fundamental reason not to worry about public debt, which, thanks to accommodative monetary policy, now costs so little to service that it looks like free money. ........   deficits and money-printing may well become the standard tools of policymaking for decades. The central banks’ growing role in financial markets, meanwhile, reflects the stagnation of banks as intermediaries and the prominence of innovative and risk-hungry shadow banks and capital markets ..........  In the old days, when commercial banks ruled the roost, central banks acted as lenders of last resort to them. Now central banks increasingly have to get their hands dirty on Wall Street and elsewhere by acting as mammoth “marketmakers of last resort”. .............  If inflation jumps unexpectedly the entire edifice of debt will shake, as central banks have to raise their policy rates and in turn pay out vast sums of interest on the new reserves that they have created to buy bonds. And even if inflation stays low, the new machinery is vulnerable to capture by lobbyists, unions and cronies. .............   When money is free, why not rescue companies, protect obsolete jobs and save investors? However, though that would provide a brief stimulus, it is a recipe for distorted markets, moral hazard and low growth. .............  today interest rates, so close to zero, seem impotent and the monarchs who run the world’s central banks are becoming rather like servants working as the government’s debt-management arm.    


at No comments:
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)