1612: Global Donut

Because of power generation issues at the power companies, Amazon is now using diesel-powered generators to power the vehicle chargers. So we have replaced a regulated power generation system with an unregulated dirty power system. It's retarded.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a type of bacteria that is believed to have originated from a common ancestor with other mycoplasma species, possibly from a plant or animal source. However, the exact origin and evolutionary history of M. pneumoniae are still not fully understood and are the subject of ongoing research.

BOTG: I'm a paramedic for a small suburb outside of Columbus OH. Last night we had an EMS call for a dude in his 20's having palpitations. We get there and he's having an irregular rhythm that randomly fluctuated between 80 and 130 beats per minute. He said he's been having heart issues since April two years ago, starting a few days after he got his booster.

We also have a few members of our department that have cardiac issuss- fit guys in their 30's who within the last two years (all vaccinated, some boosted) now can't tolerate high doses of caffeine without going into an arrhythmia and also showing abnormal beats (PVC's, short for Premature Ventricular Contractions) during stress tests. Normally nothing serious, but some guys are throwing multiples at a time which is very abnormal. They probably have some lingering damage from the VAX.

Anyone that got the VAX, even if they don't have any symptoms, needs to get evaluated (ECG, stress test, pulmonary function, D Dimer, etc). Also consider looking into remedies from Mucculough and Dr. Makis from their My Wellness Company doctors.

I need you to write the lyrics to an 80's "hair band" pop metal song. I'll supply the topics/subjects and other important facts.

The song is about the No Agenda Show, hosted by Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak. It is a podcast that deconstructs the news and exposes the truth about what is really going on in the world. Listeners can donate to support the show. The No Agenda Show uses the value for value business model. If the show provides value, listeners can donate or help produce the show. The number 33 is very important and recurring in many episodes. Adam Curry is also known as "Crackpot" and has luxurious shoulder length hair. John C. Dvorak 's nickname is "Buzz Kill".

ITM!

Listener and time and treasurer since episode 102. You and I have chatted about Amazon healthcare and cyber security over the years but this is a different topic!

We recently got a nanny for our 3 month old human resource and future NA producer. She’s been a nanny for 10 years and gave us this obvious (to us) but nonetheless interesting tidbit to reinforce a longstanding NA thesis.

Kids born and/or toddler age during COVID are completely under socialized and are suffering long term consequences as a result. She said the kids she’s taken care of during COVID are YEARS behind in speech because of masks and completely scared of new people because of the lack of social interaction. Normally it takes an infant or toddler about a week to get to know her, but COVID kids come completely unwrapped for months as soon as the parents leave. The consequences of those two years are going to be seen for years to come. When will the DSM be updated with ACSS? Acute Covid societal syndrome.

“Our response to Christmas songs depends on the association,” says Dr. Rhonda Freeman, a clinical neuropsychologist. “Many of us associate this music with childhood and a happy time of presents and traditions and all the specialness that happens around that time of year. When the brain makes these associations with something very positive and pleasurable, the rewards system is being activated [which triggers] a number of chemicals including dopamine.”

There are two sides to the coin, though. Just as our brain can fire up joy in light of a positive association, it can also spark a flood of sadness and anxiety upon a bad one.

“Some people had abusive childhoods, or they experienced a loss of some kind or a person someone passed away,” says Freeman, adding that music in general impacts the amygdala, which unlocks our emotions and reactions to stressors. “The reward system can also be associated with pain. For that population, Christmas songs can be very painful to hear.”

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Dollarization has precedent in Latin America. Ecuador dollarizized in the year 2000.

In 1999 Ecuador began the process of dollarization after their economy went through a period of hyperinflation. In addition to hyperinflation, there were bank runs, which led to the freezing of assets — it was a real mess.

In 2000 the Ecuadorian government officially transitioned away from the “Sucre” to use the US Dollar as the official currency.

It’s not as simple as just saying, “Hey, the dollar is our currency now”. Since you’ve given up control of your central bank for the most part, you have to be able to acquire money that the citizens can use for circulation.

Of course, the Ecuadorian sucre was worthless, and the United States was not just going to print the money and give it to Ecuador for free. Instead, the Ecuadorian government had to buy dollars from the US Treasury through a mix of bonds, IMF loans, and hard assets such as gold.

By the time I was living there in the mid 2000s, paying in dollars was already just a normal, everyday way of life. Dollarization did stabilize the economy (after the obligatory period of chaos), so in that sense it was a real success.

One unintended consequence that I can see is that having the dollar as the official currency made Ecuador a much more attractive place for organized crime. It’s more complicated than that, but nobody was looking to run their drug empire with Ecuadorian sucres.

Should Argentina dollarize, I don’t think it would be unreasonable to predict there to be a rise in organized crime in the region sometime down the road.

And I’m sure the US would _love_ to have that kind of control over another Latin American country, especially one as regionally important as Argentina.

Non-essential tidbits:

I can’t say for certain, but I l suspect that the US only minted the gold Sacajawea dollars to put in the circulation in Ecuador. I remember at the time there was a huge push to use them in the United States, but the American public wasn’t putting up with it. I only used them as a gimmick in the United States, but I used them almost every day while living in Ecuador in the mid 2000s.

The hyperinflation was really bad. I heard apocryphal tales of people bringing wheelbarrows of “Sucres” to the bank and exchanging them for a small stack of US notes.

When I was there, I heard a story about the freezing of assets. Once a bank froze assets, they would send a you sheet of paper with your account balance. You still need to live at this point. So a lot of times people would exchange their account balance or something they needed done. For example, let’s say you had $1500 in the bank and you needed a car repair done that cost $1000. The mechanic could take your note saying that you had a $1500 account balance, and take that an exchange for the $1000 service provided. The people got hosed coming and going.

From the article...

Although authorities do not have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement, Chittenden County State Attorney Sarah George said they want to be “clear that there is no question this was a hateful act.”

Huh? If there's no evidence, isn't it irresponsible for the County State Attorney to declare there is "no question this was a hateful act".

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Archived Version

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:45

Health officials are scrambling to trace contacts of a person infected with a new form of swine flu, after the UK detected its first human case of H1N2.

Fifty human cases of the strain have been reported globally since 2005. The new case is the first to be detected in the UK and is unrelated genetically to the previous cases.

Influenza A(H1N2)v is similar to flu viruses circulating in pigs in the UK. The UK Health Security Agency has formally notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the discovery.

Based on early information, the infection detected in the UK is a distinct clade or form '' 1b.1.1 '' which is different from recent human cases of H1N2 elsewhere in the world.

The person infected, who has not been identified, had a mild illness and has recovered. They were not hospitalised and were not known to have worked with pigs, the Guardian understands. How they came to be infected remains under investigation.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is carrying out contact tracing of close contacts to prevent further spread of the virus. It is not known at this stage how transmissible the strain is or if there could be other cases in the UK.

Meera Chand, an incident director at UKHSA, said: ''It is thanks to routine flu surveillance and genome sequencing that we have been able to detect this virus. This is the first time we have detected this virus in humans in the UK, though it is very similar to viruses that have been detected in pigs.

''We are working rapidly to trace close contacts and reduce any potential spread. In accordance with established protocols, investigations are under way to learn how the individual acquired the infection and to assess whether there are any further associated cases.''

Any contacts will be offered testing as necessary and advised on any necessary further care if they have symptoms or test positive. The UKHSA is also taking steps to increase surveillance within existing programmes involving GP surgeries and hospitals in parts of North Yorkshire. To assist in the detection of cases, people who are contacted and asked to test are being encouraged to do so.

The chief veterinary officer, Christine Middlemiss, said: ''We know that some diseases of animals can be transferred to humans '' which is why high standards of animal health, welfare and biosecurity are so important.

''Through our animal and human surveillance systems we work together to protect everyone. In this case, we are providing specialist veterinary and scientific knowledge to support the UKHSA investigation. Pig keepers must also report any suspicion of swine flu in their herds to their local vet immediately.''

H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 are major subtypes of swine flu A viruses in pigs and occasionally infect humans. In 2009, there was a pandemic in humans caused by H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu. This now circulates in humans seasonally.

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Archived Version

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:34

Our tax systems have been taken over

1nurses' yearly salarieslost to tax havensEvery second, the world loses the equivalent of one nurse's yearly salary to a tax haven.

A year from now, our governments will have lost over $483 billion in tax to cross-border corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion. The Tax Justice Network is working to repair this injustice and the inequality it fuels.

Corporate giants and the superrich have made historic levels of inequality possible by taking over the tax systems of countries around the world, turning tax policy into a tool that prioritises the interests of the wealthiest instead of the needs of all members of society.

It's time we took back control.It's time we reprogramme our tax systems to work for all of us.

Reprogramming our tax systems TO PRIORITISE EQUALITY

Our tax systems are like computer programmes that are constantly being revised and updated.

Over the past few decades, the lines of code that determine how our tax systems run have been dictated to our governments by corporate giants chasing their own interests, while most of the public have been left out of the decision making process.

Reference: Saez, E. and Zucman, G., The Triumph of Injustice (W.W. Norton, 2019)

Under pressure from corporate giants and the superrich, our governments have cut taxes on the wealthiest corporations and individuals to record lows at a time of record wealth.

For the first time, in 2018, US billionaires paid less tax than their secretaries.

Our governments stalled efforts to clamp down on tax abuse and tax havens costing countries billions in lost public funding.

Data from: World Health Organisation, Pulse survey on continuity of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic: Interim Report, August 2020, p. 5.

Our governments squeezed the public services we all rely on to their breaking points, leaving our hospitals and nurses underequipped to handle the coronavirus pandemic.

Reference: Oxfam, Time to care: Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis, January 2020, p. 22.

As a result of programming our tax systems to ask the least from those with the very most, and to ask for more from the rest of the public for a lot less in return, inequality has skyrocketed and the opportunities that make a good life possible for everyone have rapidly dried up.

Reference: Oxfam, Time to care: Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis, January 2020, p. 14.

As a good life continues to move further out of the reach of more and more people, it moves even further for those who have systematically had less opportunities to begin with, including women, people of colour and disabled people.

We must reprogramme our tax systems to prioritise equality over the desires of the wealthiest.

That means taking back control from corporate giants and the superrich and reprogramming our tax systems to give equal weight to the needs of all members of society, instead of giving preferential treatment to those at the very top.

As we set out to build a new normal in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, we can and must rewrite the rules and policies on which our tax systems run to make sure corporations pay the right amount of tax for the profit they extract from people's work, to make sure the wealthiest come clean about their hidden fortunes and to put public money towards the services and society we all want.

How we're helping peopletake back control

Every day, we equip people and governments around the world with the information and tools they need to reprogramme their tax systems to run on equality.

The Tax Justice Network researches the malicious lines of code '' the laws, policies and loopholes '' that cause tax systems to prioritise the desires of corporate giants and the superrich at the expense of everybody else, assessing their impacts on people's lives and countries' economies so that governments can make informed decisions about cutting them out.

We develop alternative, equality-focused tax policies for our tax systems to run on, helping governments use tax policy as a tool for giving everyone access to the opportunities that make a good life possible.

We work with an international network of ally organisations and partners spanning across 5 continents and 60 countries to support people, campaigners and policymakers take back control at a local and global level.

We also help people cut through the confusion around how our tax systems work and encourage people to rethink the role that tax plays and can play in their lives. Our documentaries, podcasts and articles reach millions of viewers and readers across the globe, helping people to reimagine tax as a tool for justice.

Six ways to reprogramme our tax systems

Since the Tax Justice Network got started in the early 2000s, we have developed and helped usher in several ground-breaking, equality-focused tax policies that were once considered impossible to implement. It's become a lot harder today for corporate giants to abuse the law to pay less tax than they should, for corrupt individuals to launder dirty money and for the wealthiest to hide unchecked wealth in tax havens.

But we still have a long way to go to taking back control of our tax systems.

These are the six key solutions we're campaigning for that governments around the world can adopt domestically and internationally to reprogramme their tax systems to prioritise equality.

1 Automatic exchange of informationAutomatic exchange of information is a data sharing practice that prevents individuals from abusing bank accounts they hold abroad to pay less tax than they should at home.

Solution 1: Automatic exchange of information

Ana is a resident of Brazil '' she has a home in Rio de Janeiro where she lives for most of the year. Ana also has a bank account in Luxembourg where she transfers large sums of wealth she acquires from her financial dealings in Brazil. Without information about the foreign bank account, Brazil's tax authority has no way of knowing if Ana is using the bank account to hide the true value of her wealth and to pay less tax than she should in Brazil.

Brazil's tax authority can ask Ana to disclose information about the bank account but it won't know if Ana is telling the truth. Up until recently, Brazil would have had to request information about Ana's bank account from Luxembourg, a process that could sometimes be slow, costly and politically sensitive. Luxembourg could refuse to share information or by the time it shares the information, Ana could have moved her wealth to a new bank account in the Netherlands.

Under automatic exchange of information, Luxembourg automatically shares information with Brazil about Ana's bank account on a regular basis, helping Brazil know the true value of Ana's wealth and make sure Ana pays the right amount of tax.

2005

Tax Justice Network puts automatic exchange of information on the global agenda for the first time to much scepticism

2010

Amendment to Multilateral Tax Convention opens convention to exchange information ''upon request'' to non-OECD countries

2014

Countries commit to OECD's Common Reporting Standard, finally making automatic exchange of information a reality

2019

Nearly 100 countries are automatically exchanging information on over 85 million accounts worth $11 trillion

US must urgently end its refusal to cooperate, and join the Common Reporting Standard along with all remaining financial centres

Lower income countries should be fully included by being able to receive information, without immediately requiring reciprocity

Robustness of information improved to better tackle tax abuse

2 Beneficial ownership registrationA beneficial owner is the real person, made of flesh and blood, who ultimately owns, controls or receives profits from a company or legal vehicle, even when the company, on paper, legally belongs to another person, like an accountant or a shell company.

Companies, trusts, foundations and partnerships must typically register the identities of their legal owners, but not necessarily their beneficial owners. In most cases, a company's legal owner and beneficial owner are the same person but when they're not, it can be almost impossible to tell who is truly running and profiting from a company, and whether they're abiding by the law and paying the right amount of tax.

Solution 2: Beneficial ownership registration

Liam hires an accountant to incorporate a caf(C) company on his behalf in Canada.As part of the financial services the accountant provides, the accountant lists herself as the company's legal owner when filing the paperwork,taking on the formalities and reporting duties on Liam's behalf.Meanwhile, Liam continues to run the cafe and shifts its profits offshore to a bank account he indirectly owns in the Cayman Islands,all without being made known to Canada's tax authority and without paying the right amount of tax on the profit going offshore.

Next, Liam sets up another caf(C) company on the same street as his first cafe using a similar arrangement with the accountant that keeps his identity hidden.On the surface, the two separate companies look like competitors, but Liam directs both cafes to raise their prices.Without knowing who the real beneficial owners of the two companies are, Canada's tax authority has no idea that Liam is violating competition laws.

By requiring beneficial owners to be registered just like legal owners, beneficial ownership registration laws make sure individuals cannot hide behind convoluted corporate structures to avoid accountability and underpay tax.

Mossack Fonseca, the offshore service provider at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal on which the Netflix drama ''The Laundromat'' is based, did not know who the beneficial owners were of more than 70 per cent of the 28,500 active companies it provided services to, despite serving as the legal owner of some of those companies.

2005

Tax Justice Network calls for beneficial ownership registration in key report

2012

Financial Action Task Force updates anti-money laundering recommendations to expand on beneficial ownership

2015

4th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive requires EU countries to establish beneficial ownership registers

2016

UK establishes world's first beneficial ownership register

2018

5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive requires EU countries to give public access to beneficial ownership registers

2020

81 countries have established beneficial ownership registers

All countries must establish publicly available online beneficial ownership registers otherwise tax abusers will always have someplace to hide

Registers must be made more effective by expanding registers to cover all legal vehicles (including trusts) and improve criteria for registration

Verifications systems need to be improved to guarantee the accuracy of registered information

3 Country by country reportingPublic country by country reporting is an accounting practice designed to expose multinational corporations that are shifting profit into tax havens so that they can pay less tax than they should.

Solution 3: Country by country reporting

Cool Shoes is a multinational corporation with a shoe store in France and a holding company in Ireland. The holding company only exists on paper '' the only physical presence it has in Ireland is a mailbox that Cool Shoes rents. Cool Shoes makes the holding company the owner of its Cool Shoes brand.

The shoe store makes '‚¬100 in profit selling shoes in France. The holding company then charges the shoe store '‚¬100 in royalty fees for using the Cool Shoes logo and brand. As a result, the shoe store is now no longer making a profit while the holding company has a profit of '‚¬100.

In France, Cool Shoes only reports that its shoe store made no profit to the French tax authority, leaving out information about its holding company's profit. As a result, Cool Shoes does not pay corporate tax in France because it appears to have not made any profit. In Ireland, Cool Shoes only reports the holding company's profit to the Irish tax authority but pays no tax due to Ireland's corporate tax exemptions. Cool Shoes reports on its website that it made a total of '‚¬100 in profit globally and has paid the right amount of tax where it is due '' in this case zero tax.

Without information about the holding company's financial accounts, France's tax authority has no way of knowing that Cool Shoes is abusing its holding company in Ireland to shift profit out of France before reporting to the French tax authority.

Public country by country reporting requires multinational corporations to publish how much profit and cost they build up in each country they operate in, giving tax authorities and the public a full picture of multinational corporations' financial affairs, and making it easy to see when corporations are cooking the books to pay less tax than they should.

2003

Tax Justice Network proposes world's first standard for public country by country reporting

2015

After years of resistance, the OECD adopts a watered-down version of country by country reporting in its BEPS framework, making the process a global standard for the first time

2018

Vodafone becomes first global company to voluntarily publish country by country reporting data

2019

Global business standard setter GRI establishes its first standard for public country by country reporting with support from global investors, civil society and tax experts

2020

After much delay, the OECD publishes the first set of country by country reporting data collected by its members, revealing $1.3 trillion in profit is shifted into tax havens every year, resulting in $245 billion corporate tax lost every year

2021

EU agrees to require publication of country by country reporting data for each member state from 2023 '' but not yet for every country

2021

US Congress passes act requiring publication of country by country reporting data. Senate approval, or SEC action, is needed next

Countries must move beyond the OECD's watered-down standard and adopt public country by country reporting laws that meet the GRI's more robust standard

4 Unitary taxationUnitary taxation is a way of taxing multinational corporations based on where they do real work '' ie, employ staff, operate factories, sell goods and services - instead of where they formally declare their profits '' ie, tax havens.

Solution 4: Unitary taxation

Big Cigarette is a multinational corporation with a manufacturing company in Bangladesh, a sales company in Kenya and a head company in Jersey. The manufacturing company in Bangladesh employs 5 people and makes cigarettes which are sent to Kenya. The sales company in Kenya employs 4 people and sells the cigarettes to local shop vendors. The sales company in Kenya then shifts its profits to the head company in Jersey which employs 1 person. The companies in Bangladesh and Kenya both declare they have made no profits while the company in Jersey declares it has made $100 in profit.

Under current global tax rules, Big Cigarette does not pay tax on the profit it makes as a group of three companies. Instead each of Big Cigarette's companies pays tax separately. The Bangladeshi and Kenyan companies declared no profit, so they don't pay tax. The corporate tax rate in Jersey is zero so the head company pays no tax on the $100 profit it declared. Big Cigarette reports on its website that it made a total of $100 in profit globally and has paid the right amount of tax where it is due '' in this case zero tax.

Under unitary tax rules, Big Cigarette would be required to pay tax on the profit it makes as a group of companies. Each country Big Cigarette operates in would have the right to tax a share of the $100 in profit that Big Cigarette made as a group. The size of each country's share of the $100 would be based on how much genuine business activity Big Cigarette conducted in the country. In this simplified example, since half of Big Cigarette's workforce (5 employees) is based in Bangladesh, Bangladesh would have the right to tax half of Big Cigarette's profit ($50) at the local corporate tax rate of 25 per cent. Big Cigarette pays $12.50 in tax in Bangladesh. Forty per cent of Big Cigarette's workforce is based in Kenya, so forty percent of Big Cigarette's profit ($40) is taxed in Kenya at the local corporate tax of 30 per cent. Big Cigarette pays $12 in tax in Kenya. Big Cigarette employs just 1 person in Jersey, or 10 per cent of its workforce, so just 10 per cent of Big Cigarette's profit ($10) is taxed in Jersey at the local corporate tax rate of zero. Big Cigarette pays no tax in Jersey. Big Cigarette has now paid a total of $24.50 in tax on its $100 global profits.

By requiring multinational corporations to pay tax where they employ staff and do real work, instead of where they hide profits, unitary tax reprogrammes our tax systems to give recognition to every person involved in the process of creating wealth, not just those who syphon wealth at the top.

2000

Members of what would later become the Tax Justice Network first called for unitary tax in an Oxfam study published in 2000

2011

The EU proposes the Common Corporate Consolidated Tax Base which would switch the EU to unitary tax '' but the proposal is stalled by Ireland and the UK

2019

The OECD adopts a shift to unitary tax in its reform proposals, albeit in very weak form

2019

UK's Labour party becomes the first major political party in the global north to commit to unitary tax in a party manifesto

2021

European Commission brings forward 'BEFIT' as relaunched proposal for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, which would introduce unitary taxation across the bloc

2021

A unitary approach is agreed by the G20 to be implemented internationally for the first time, but in a very limited and unfair way

Countries must move beyond the OECD's Pillar 1 to implement unitary tax universally and fairly based on employment and sales

Global standards for unitary tax must be established under a UN tax convention

5 Equip tax collectors to do their jobsWe must equip our national tax authority workers with the resources they need to make sure the wealthiest and most powerful corporations and individuals pay the right amount of tax, like everybody else.

Solution 5: Equip tax collectors to do their jobs

National tax agencies are our last line of defence against corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion. But for decades governments have been cutting national tax authority staff's wages, stripping them of resources and downsizing their departments.

This hasn't just resulted in weaker national tax bodies. In some cases, highly talented and experienced tax experts cut from national tax authorities go on to work for multinational corporations, helping them circumvent the tax laws they worked to protect in the public interest for so long.

Governments must make sure national tax authority staff are sufficiently paid to retain the best talent, and are trained and supported to enforce the laws the make sure everybody pitches in their fair share.

2011

Tax Justice Network founder John Christen proposes establishing 'Tax Inspectors Without Borders', an initiative for strengthening national tax agencies in poorer countries

2015

Tax Inspectors Without Borders is launched as a UN Development Programme and OECD joint project, with the Tax Justice Network involved in piloting of first phase

2018

13 Tax Inspectors Without Borders programmes raise $400 million in tax revenue. Every $1 spent on the project raised $100 in revenue.

2020

Tax Justice Network supports tax office workers in the UK protesting against the closure of the Ealing tax office

2021

Funding cuts to national tax authorities are reversed; empowering tax authorities recognised by governments as vital for protecting the economy and people's wellbeing

2021

Tax Justice Network is collaborating with tax authorities and other agencies in a number of European and African countries to strengthen their capacity to challenge illicit financial flows

National tax authority staff are better paid and supported with resources needed to make sure wealthy and powerful multinational corporations are abiding by the law

National tax authority staff equipped with data analytical tools for utilising transparency data made available by automatic exchange of information, beneficial ownership registration and country by country reporting

6 UN tax conventionWe need a UN convention on tax to hold countries to legally binding, equitable standards on corporate taxation, financial transparency and tax justice.

Solution 6: UN tax convention

UN conventions, like the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention against Torture, are international treaties to which countries can sign up and ratify to become bound to the treaty's provisions by international law.

For most of the past 100 years, international tax rules have been primarily determined by the OECD, a small club of rich countries among which are some of the world's biggest tax havens. This has brought about a global tax system that causes countries around the world to lose over $483 billion in tax every year. Analysis shows that OECD countries are responsible for enabling nearly half of these tax losses. While the OECD has acknowledged that current international tax rules are not working, its recent efforts to deliver meaningful reform have failed under pressure from powerful member countries.

Establishing a UN tax convention would allow international tax rules to be determined through a genuinely representative process at the UN that reflects the needs of countries around the world, instead of the desires of a rich and powerful few.

2005

The Tax Justice Network proposes a set of international tax responsibilities to rest with the UN, which would be reflected in later proposals for a convention

2018

The UN Commission on the Status of Women officially recognises the link between tax policy and gender justice

2018

UNCTAD and the UN Economic Commission for Africa pilot new indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals that seek to tackle profit shifting by multinational corporations and illicit money transfers by individuals

2020

Following evidence submitted by Tax Justice Network and others, UN begins examining whether Ireland's tax policy violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child by enabling corporate tax abuse in other countries

2021

UN FACT panel calls for new UN role on international tax and endorses the tax justice policy platform

A UN tax convention must be established to deliver globally inclusive decision-making on tax, including through an intergovernmental UN body; comprehensive participation in the ABC of tax transparency; and a Centre for Monitoring Taxing Rights to raise national accountability for tax abuse suffered by others

You've reached the beginning1nurses' yearly salarieshave been lost

1 nurses' yearly salaries have been lost to tax havens since you started reading this page.

But it doesn't have to be this way '' the buck can stop here.

Here's what you can do next:Help us keep fighting with a donation

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Archived Version

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:05

Published November 26, 2023 Opinion News reports of outbreaks of a bacterial respiratory illness known as mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) in northern China began to emerge in October 2023. The outbreaks, primarily among children, have been attributed by public health professionals to ''declining immunity levels'' in people as a result of ''preventive measures'' taken in over the past three years against the spread of pathogens that cause respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, as well as the overuse of antibiotics, which has contributed to the emergence of new bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.1 2 3 4

Citing Dr. Li Tongzeng, an infectious disease physician at Beijing You'an Hospital, the Global Times reported:

[B]efore the COVID-19 pandemic, a relatively large outbreak of mycoplasma pneumoniae infections would occur every three to seven years. In the past three years, the incidence of respiratory diseases has decreased due to pandemic prevention and control measures. However, this situation may lead to insufficient immunity, especially for children.2

As Chinese government policies aimed at controlling the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus were relaxed and children who had been isolated for long periods of time returned to normal school attendance in September 2023, there was a marked increase in the number of children treated for mycoplasma pneumoniae infections. This increase continued through the first week of October.2

In mid-October, Dr. Li predicted that the number of mycoplasma pneumoniae infections in China this year may surpass those in the previous three years.2

WHO Seeks Clarification from China About MPPIt now appears that Dr. Li's prediction may well prove to be accurate. On Nov. 21, 2023, a global infectious disease surveillance system known as ProMED issued the following statement:

With the outbreak of pneumonia in China, children's hospitals in Beijing, Liaoning and other places were overwhelmed with sick children, and schools and classes were on the verge of suspension. Parents questioned whether the authorities were covering up the epidemic.5

ProMED reported that the children diagnosed with MPP are not displaying symptoms such as coughing, but that they do have high fevers and many of them develop abnormal growths (nodules) in their lungs. ProMED added that some school classes are being cancelled and that teachers are also being diagnosed with MPP.5

The reporting by ProMED came after a press conference held by representatives of China's National Health Commission on Nov. 13 confirming a surge in the incidence of respiratory diseases in the country, including MPP.6

On Nov. 22, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially requested from the Chinese government detailed epidemiologic and clinical information on the rise of respiratory illnesses and laboratory results involving the reported clusters of MPP in children in China.6

In a public statement, the WHO said that, while it awaits information from the Chinese government, it recommends to the people of China that they ''follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness.'' These measures include ''recommended vaccination; keeping distance from people who are ill; staying home when ill; getting tested and medical care as needed; wearing masks as appropriate; ensuring good ventilation and regular hand-washing.''6

Susceptibility to MPP and Other Diseases May Be Due to ''Immunity Debt''Ironically, it was precisely some of these recommendations during the COVID pandemic'--specifically those encouraging isolation and distancing'--that may have made the Chinese population (notably children) more susceptible to diseases such as MPP in the first place. While requiring isolation and social distancing may have helped lower exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it also lowered exposure to other less harmful pathogens encountered in normal life, thus eliminating a process that serves to exercise and strengthen individual immune systems to better defend against diseases such as MPP.

Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), has suggested that the so-called ''immunity debt theory'' could explain the spike in respiratory illnesses such as MPP in China. According to a recent article in Fortune, some experts say that immunity debt is'...

'... the price society must pay for adhering to pandemic precautions and, thus, receiving less exposure to other viruses. It results, they say, in a delayed surge in non-pandemic viruses after mitigation efforts are abandoned.7

Some Hint MPP Could Be COVID-like Health Crisis in the MakingThe WHO's request for more information about the MPP outbreaks in China has given international attention to this public health issue and sparked concern that the Chinese government may be minimizing the severity of the outbreaks and block public access to information about them, as it did in October-December 2019 with the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19 disease symptoms.8 9

Articles are now appearing regularly in newspapers and magazines around the world about the MPP outbreaks and there is some early speculation that MPP could be the next COVID. The media appears to be doing all it can to help fuel such conjecture by using of words like ''mysterious'' and ''mystery'' to describe the outbreaks and words like ''alarms'' and ''alarm bells'' to describe how the WHO feels about the situation.7 10 11 12 13 14

Stuart Ray, MD, vice chair of medicine for data integrity and analytics at Johns Hopkins University's Department of Medicine, called the MPP infections ''concerning.'' He said:

[I]t's not so out of the ordinary that we should presume this is due to a new pathogen. We can hope that authorities there will evaluate rapidly, take appropriate steps for mitigating spread, and be forthcoming about the nature and severity of the epidemic.7

Implying that the Chinese government may be engaged in a cover up with regard to the MPP outbreaks, United States' ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, said:

China's recent pneumonia outbreak raises serious questions, and the World Health Organization is asking them. It's time to abandon COVID deception and delays as transparent and timely information saves lives.15

A recent article in Newsweek featured the following headline: ''China's Raging Pneumonia Outbreak '' Is it COVID All Over Again?''16

It's starting to feel like the powers that be may be preparing the public to accept another international public health emergency declaration'--a pandemic, or at least a sizeable epidemic. Any good excuse to enable governments to gain more control over people's lives, media outlets to expand their readership by spreading fear, and drug companies to earn quick, easy and massive profits marketing ''medical countermeasure'' products to global populations.

If you would like to receive an e-mail notice of the most recent articles published in The Vaccine Reaction each week, click here.

Click here to view References:

1 Global Times. Hospitals' pediatrics departments operating at peaks, with emerging cross-infection of MPP and other respiratory diseases. Nov. 5, 2023.2 Keyue X. Pediatricians warn of mycoplasma pneumonia outbreak, with infections surging among children. Global Times Oct. 12, 2023.3 Qiongfang D. MPP infections peak across China, showing prevalence in young people. Global Times Oct. 16, 2023.4 Xiaoyu W. Calm urged as pneumonia cases in children increase. China Daily Oct. 24, 2023.5 ProMED. Undiagnosed pneumonia '' China: (BJ, LN) children, reported epidemic, RFI. Nov. 21, 2023.6 World Health Organization. WHO statement on reported clusters of respiratory illness in children in northern China. Nov. 22, 2023.7 Prater E. The World Health Organization is investigating mysterious cases of pneumonia among Chinese children. Here's what you need to know. Fortune Nov. 22, 2023.8 The Associated Press. How China blocked WHO and Chinese scientists early in coronavirus outbreak. NBC News June 2, 2020.9 Varanasi A. When Exactly Did The First Covid-19 Case Emerge In China? Forbes June 24, 2021.10 Agence France-Presse. Amid Reports Of Mysterious Pneumonia Outbreak In China, WHO Said This. NDTV World Nov. 23, 2023.11 Bhattacharya I. Mysterious Pneumonia Outbreak In China Sends Alarm Bells Ringing, WHO Advises Precautionary Steps. ZEE News Nov. 23, 2023.12 McCartney M. Mystery Pneumonia is Spreading in China. Newsweek Nov. 23, 2023.13 Newey S. Mystery child pneumonia outbreak reported in China hospitals. The Telegraph Nov. 22, 2023.14 Ralston N, Chrysanthos N. Mystery outbreak of respiratory illness in China alarms World Health Organisation. The Sydney Morning Herald Nov. 23, 2023.15 McCartney M. U.S. Envoy Tells China to Stop ''COVID deception'' Over Pneumonia Outbreak. Newsweek Nov. 24, 2023.16 Tostevin M. China's Raging Pneumonia Outbreak '' Is it COVID All Over Again? Newsweek Nov. 24, 2023.

7 Responses''Mysterious'' only proves that these medical clowns called doctors and researchers don't know much of anything. The term mysterious is used to incite fear and panic. Ignore anything coming from China.

Most providers in the US are still not aware of the importance of vitamin D3 in boosting the immune system. Levels should be checked and should be supplemented if not in the normal range of 55-100.

This is not just happening in China. It is occurring throughout the whole world because people were foolish enough to listen to the wrong sources of information. When the world was warned of what Bill Gates and his cronies were planning in 2017 and it panned out in 2020, why were there so few of us who took heed and knew immediately what was taking place? I can only shake my head at the stupid and ignorant mentality of the majority, of the world, that fell down this rabbit hole.

If these reports are even true, it would be super if someone could venture an educated hypothesis into what poison (toxin) these kids were exposed to that would cause nodules in the lungs. I doubt it was a pathogen, a.k.a. ''germ.''

Chinese schoolchildren have recently been given the same nasal spray ''vaccine'' as UK children. This spray is of course toxic, and meant to, causing flu like symptoms and resipratory issues. Lo and behold! Weren't we just warned that a new ''virus'' variant, a specially engineered one, is emerging, targeting (!) children (and not adults, smartie?), to isolate them from each other through online learning at home! Result: parents are again scared for a ''new virus'' and bowing to the repression repetition. Or are they finally going to comprehend that ''virus'' = TOXINS? Intended poisoning?

BS Propaganda !

BS Propaganda What Will the sheep do this time ? !

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Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:34

A BMJ investigation revealed Pfizer was studying preterm births as an "adverse event of special interest" in RSV trial, but didn't inform pregnant participants.

Pfizer failed to inform pregnant women participating in its clinical trial for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine that the clinical trial of a similar vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was halted after a safety signal revealed a potential risk of preterm births leading to neonatal deaths.

Even though Pfizer knew about the potential safety signal and was studying preterm births as an ''adverse event of special interest,'' it continued to enroll women in its clinical trial and did not fully inform participants of the risks the vaccine may pose to their babies'--and in some cases, provided misleading and contradictory statements, according to an

investigation by The BMJ.

''The BMJ article demonstrates Pfizer's continued disregard for the law and patient choice,'' attorney Thomas Renz told The Epoch Times in an email. ''The entire point of informed consent is to ensure a patient can make a decision based on all available information. Rather than embracing the Nuremberg Code and American laws and regulations, Pfizer seems to view informed consent as a barrier to sales'--something that causes vaccine hesitancy or drug hesitancy.''

''There should have never been a clinical trial in pregnant women studying any injections aimed at RSV in pregnant women,'' Sasha Latypova told The Epoch Times in an email. ''Pregnancy and potential to become pregnant is historically the most protected class of human subjects from clinical research because the risks and potential to cause inadvertent harm are too devastating to justify scientific interest in made-up subjects like RSV.''

Ms. Latypova is a retired pharmaceutical industry executive with 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development and co-founder of several organizations that work with pharmaceutical companies to design, execute, collect data, and submit clinical trial data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

According to Ms. Latypova, what was once considered a harmless cold has since been rebranded as RSV.

''The vast majority of parents have not heard of RSV if they have not been exposed to CDC fear-mongering and renaming of otherwise harmless common colds. The incidence or prevalence of RSV is not known precisely because it poses no danger to anyone,'' Ms. Latypova said. ''In the U.S., RSV is attributed as a cause of death to about 17 infants per year out of 4,000,000+ babies'--based on a

review of 12 years' worth of death certificates."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), RSV is a

common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Although most people recover in a week or two, it can be serious and is more commonly diagnosed in infants.

Both GSK and Pfizer were developing an RSV vaccine for pregnant women, but GSK halted its phase 3 vaccine trial in February 2022 over a possible increased risk of preterm births and neonatal deaths in vaccinated participants.

Immediately after becoming informed of the safety signal, GSK informed health authorities and updated its consent forms. There was no explanation for the increase in preterm births, but GSK told The BMJ it was still investigating the safety signal and was no longer developing its vaccine.

A dispute then emerged over whether Pfizer had the obligation to inform women participating in their RSV clinical trial about the potential risk and whether their consent forms should be updated accordingly.Pfizer Failed to Inform Pregnant Women of Preterm Birth RiskThe BMJ asked Pfizer whether pregnant women in its clinical trial were informed about the potential risk of preterm birth, but the pharmaceutical giant did not respond. As a result, The BMJ contacted governmental health authorities in all 18 countries where Pfizer had trial sites and reached out to more than 80 trial investigators.

According to the investigation, The BMJ did not receive any responses that indicated Pfizer informed pregnant participants of the risk, and some said Pfizer continued to enroll and vaccinate pregnant women for months after the potential risk of preterm birth from GSK's clinical trial was publicized.

Charles Weijer, a bioethicist and professor at Western University in London, Canada who specializes in research ethics, told The BMJ that pregnant women should have been informed of the safety signal revealed during GSK's clinical trial so they could consider whether they wanted to receive the vaccine or if they had already received the vaccine, whether they should seek medical advice or follow up.

''Any failure to provide new and potentially important safety information data to trial participants is ethically problematic,'' Mr. Weijer said.

Rose Bernabe, a professor of research ethics and research integrity at the University of Oslo, told The BMJ, ''The renewal of informed consent is a must,'' especially because Pfizer claimed to follow guidelines from the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences and the international Guideline for Good Clinical Practice, both of which contain similar passages stating that informed consent must be renewed ''if new information becomes available that could affect the willingness of participants to continue.''

An anonymous clinical trial investigator for Pfizer told The BMJ that in early 2022, they asked Pfizer about the potential risk of preterm birth because of the similarity between GSK and Pfizer's vaccines and asked whether Pfizer trial participants could be reassured.

''All I got from Pfizer was that their data hadn't shown any increase in risk, no answer to my question,'' the researcher said.

Ms. Latypova told The Epoch Times she was appalled that ''any trials of any products were IRB [Institutional Review Board] approved to proceed in this population.''

''Pfizer had an ethical obligation to inform the participants in their clinical trial that GSK terminated their experiment,'' Ms. Latypova said. At the same time, she's not sure why ethical behavior would be expected from Pfizer given their response to thousands of reported deaths and injuries, including miscarriages, in their COVID-19 vaccine trials.Pfizer's Phase 3 Data Suggest Possible Risk of Preterm BirthAccording to The BMJ, a year after GSK's clinical trial was halted, experts called for an investigation of Pfizer's phase 3 trial after a numerical imbalance in preterm births emerged from its data. Even then, Pfizer did not disclose in patient consent forms for its phase 3 trial that it was studying preterm birth as an ''adverse event of special interest,'' according to documents from the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Finland, and New Zealand obtained by The BMJ.

Some consent forms obtained by The BMJ contain inconsistent statements warning of possible ''life-threatening'' effects of the vaccine on the baby while also stating that only the expectant mother is at risk of experiencing adverse effects.

The consent forms state, ''The risks associated with the study vaccine (RSVpreF or placebo) may be experienced by you, but not your baby, since your baby will not receive the study vaccine or placebo directly.''

''Knowing what we know now, the statement in question is irresponsible and, given the benefit of hindsight, is actually factually incorrect,'' Ms. Bernabe told The BMJ. ''The statement gives the false sense of security that the fetus or neonate will not be exposed to any risk or inconvenience. Considering the gravity of the risk that this irresponsible statement veils, this misleading statement should be a ground for questioning the validity of the consent process.''

The Dutch national research ethics body also agreed the statement could ''potentially cause confusion'' for clinical trial participants after being informed of the issue by The BMJ. The Dutch authority subsequently contacted Pfizer about the confusing language and recommended it be adapted, but it had since emerged that no new participants would be enrolled in the study rendering the matter moot.

''The fact that Pfizer was investigating whether the drug was causing preterm birth but then chose not to disclose it appears to indicate intentionality. This intentionality would provide very serious civil causes of action and may even mean that this action could rise to the level of criminal activity,'' Mr. Renz told The Epoch Times.

''At this point, the American public really needs to start asking ourselves how many laws Pfizer can violate before their lobbyists can no longer afford to pay off our politicians to look the other way,'' he added.

Not everyone agreed that Pfizer had an obligation to inform pregnant women in their clinical trial of the potential risks.

Beate Kampmann, director of the Centre for Global Health at Charit(C) University Hospital Berlin and a lead author of Pfizer's phase 3 trial publication who oversaw a clinical trial site in the Gambia, told The BMJ that GSK's results weren't relevant to her trial participants ''as most participants were already in follow-up.''

Ms. Kampmann said the GSK vaccine was not the same as Pfizer's, and the trial's Data and Safety Monitoring Board, which reviews and evaluates study data to protect participants' safety and monitor the study's progress, ''did not raise any concerns.''

She said GSK's results were location-specific and involved a temporary finding that is still poorly understood. Ms. Kampmann told The BMJ that questions on informed consent and potential side effects in the trial amounted to ''getting hung up on issues which are not borne out by the analysis and are distorting the benefits this vaccine can bring.''

FDA Signs Off on Pfizer's RSV Vaccine, Despite Safety RiskThe FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) in May

discussed Pfizer's clinical trial data and an analysis published by the FDA. The analysis showed no increase in preterm births in high-income countries and a numerical increase in upper-middle-income countries driven by South Africa.

The FDA's VRBPAC committee cleared the shot even though four of the 14 committee members, including Dr. Paul Offit, said Pfizer's data was inadequate to support its safety. Dr. Offit, a pediatrician and recognized expert in virology and immunology, was concerned by GSK's results because its vaccine was ''almost identical'' to Pfizer's.

Dr. Offit said GSK presented its data during a two-day meeting on RSV in Lisbon, and what they found was that, like Pfizer, there was a temporal association in low- and middle-income countries, meaning ''there was sort of a several-month period where you had that increase in statistical association with premature births, but not at other times.''

He also questioned why there was ''clearly an increased risk'' of premature birth in the vaccinated participants and a decrease in the placebo group.

''If GSK has truly abandoned a program on a similar or almost identical vaccine, that is going to hang over this program,'' Dr. Offit said.

Dr. Offit further pointed out that although it was ''death'' during the GSK clinical trial that initially ''got everyone's attention,'' it was severe premature births that led to those deaths.

Dr. Hana El Sahly, VRBPAC chairwoman, said the signal showing an increased risk of preterm births associated with Pfizer's RSV vaccine was ''significant'' in phases two and three of its clinical trial and "in a very similar product that was given, you know, on another study."

"So, having said that, is it reason enough to pause? Probably so," Dr. Sahly said. "I mean, increasing the risk of or having pregnant women have 20% increased risk of premature delivery is not trivial, even if it is late preterm delivery. The fact that we're putting them into preterm delivery while we're sitting here debating the matter intellectually is not trivial."

When the FDA authorized the vaccine, it determined available data was ''insufficient to establish or exclude a causal relationship between preterm birth and Pfizer's ABRYSVO RSV vaccine but limited its use to women who are 32 to 36 weeks pregnant to mitigate the potential risk. The FDA is also requiring Pfizer to perform postmarketing studies to ''assess the signal of serious risk of preterm birth.''

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Archived Version

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:09

This Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that poses the most direct challenge yet to the legitimacy of the modern federal government. The right-wing legal movement's target is the ''administrative state'''--the agencies and institutions that set standards for safety in the workplace, limit environmental hazards and damage, and impose rules on financial markets to ensure their stability and basic fairness, among many other important things. The case, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, threatens all of that. Terrifyingly, this gambit might succeed.

The case involves garden-variety securities fraud. George R. Jarkesy Jr., a right-wing activist and conservative-radio talk-show host, ran a pair of investment funds with $24 million in assets. But he misrepresented how the funds were run, paid himself and his partner exorbitant fees, and inflated the assets' value. As punishment, the SEC fined him several hundred thousand dollars and prohibited him from working in some parts of the securities industry'--very standard stuff.

Jarkesy responded with what can be described only as chutzpah. He didn't just contest the SEC's ruling; he alleged that the SEC's entire process against him was unconstitutional. Among other things, he asserted that Congress never had the authority to empower the SEC and that the SEC adjudicator who punished him was too independent from presidential control.

In May of last year, Jarkesy's arguments were accepted by two judges on the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 2''1 decision, the court agreed with Jarkesy, all but ruling the SEC's entire existence unconstitutional. The opinion was so extreme that Judge W. Eugene Davis, twice appointed by Republican presidents'--and elevated to the appeals court by Ronald Reagan'--dissented vigorously.

Kimberly Wehle: The Supreme Court's extreme power grab

Jarkesy's most far-reaching constitutional argument is built on the ''nondelegation doctrine,'' which holds that there may be some limits on the kinds of powers that Congress can give to agencies. Jarkesy argues that, when Congress gave the SEC the power to decide whether to bring enforcement actions in court or in front of an independent agency adjudicator, it gave away a core legislative function. It thus violated the doctrine and engaged in an unconstitutional delegation.

This is wild stuff. Not long ago, a lawyer would have been laughed out of court for making such nondelegation claims. Today, they'd have a good chance of destroying the federal government's administrative capacity'--taking down its ability to protect Americans' health and safety while unleashing fraud in the financial markets.

Whether Congress's grant of authority to the SEC was constitutional should not be a close question. Congress has delegated expansive authority to government agencies since the dawn of the republic. Only twice in American history has the Supreme Court concluded that a delegation to an agency ran afoul of the Constitution'--and both of those times, nearly 90 years ago, involved unusual statutes nothing like this one.

The SEC was created as an independent agency in 1934, after the financial crash of 1929, to thwart the sort of market manipulation that preceded the Great Depression; Congress has granted it additional powers over the years to continue protecting financial markets. Responding to catastrophes and guarding against market manipulation is exactly the kind of work that Congress should empower the executive branch to do. Requiring Congress to legislate in response to every new fraud some crook might dream up would not be a good use of its time. And there's no reason to think that delegating authority to police markets runs afoul of the Constitution.

This was, of course, irrelevant to the conservative judges who heard Jarkesy's appeal. The Fifth Circuit majority concluded that Congress acted ''unconstitutionally'' without ''an intelligible principle'' by letting the SEC choose where to bring its enforcement actions. But of course, statutes routinely leave prosecutors and other enforcement agencies the discretion over how to proceed in their cases, without raising delegation concerns. And for more than 75 years, the Supreme Court has recognized that other agencies can decide how to proceed in their policy-making activities'--whether via case-by-case adjudications or general rule makings, for example'--without even hinting at any delegation problems.

Jarkesy's second claim'--that the internal adjudicator who first heard his case held too much independence'--is especially galling. These adjudicators should be independent; the alternative would be to put their regulatory powers at the political whim of whichever administration might be in charge. They have long enjoyed some protection from removal, in order to insulate them from threats of reprisal. The Supreme Court has always recognized the need to maintain the independence of internal agency adjudicators: Even the conservative Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who wrote an opinion nearly 100 years ago extolling the benefits of presidential control of all government officers, was careful to carve out exceptions for adjudicator independence. But, apparently, Taft is no longer conservative enough.

Underlying the Fifth Circuit's ruling is a deep misunderstanding of American history. Of the three judges who decided the case, the two in the majority seem to believe that government regulation of any kind is somehow un-American. Their opinion invokes the opening language of the Constitution, ''We the People,'' and then cherry-picks quotes from the Framers to support a stifling vision of federal power. For instance, they cite James Madison for the proposition that unless we keep the government's powers strictly separated among three different branches, we will inevitably fall into tyranny. But Madison goes on, in ''Federalist No. 51,'' to recognize that ''some deviations '... from the principle [of the separation of powers] must be admitted.'' And Alexander Hamilton, in ''Federalist No. 66,'' goes further still, championing ''partial intermixture.'' Besides, both Madison and Hamilton were interested first and foremost in establishing a powerful national government. That is, after all, why they had participated in what the legal historian Michael Klarman has called the ''Framers' coup'' to get rid of the Articles of Confederation.

The Fifth Circuit's claim that regulation and the separation of powers are incompatible is not simply bad history; like much of the rest of originalist jurisprudence, it is selective history served up to justify a preferred political outcome. In fact, as voluminous scholarship has decisively established, regulation was pervasive in the early republic. Congress has always depended on expansive delegations to govern the country. Separation of powers was not understood to be a bar to effective government. Indeed, for the drafters and ratifiers of the Constitution, such separation was a pragmatic principle to ensure free and efficacious government. That is why, far from impeding delegations, Congress made creative use of the separation of powers'--such as in the establishment of the Sinking Fund Commission, enacted by the very first Congress, which mixed representation from the three branches to ensure the stability of the federal debt.

The Fifth Circuit's misuse of history is symptomatic of much of the originalism practiced by judges affiliated with the conservative Federalist Society, who now hold immense power across the federal judiciary. Originalism's ideology was born in sin; recent scholarship has argued that originalism first emerged to defend segregation following the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. And, in any case, many conservative judges don't even bother to make substantial originalist arguments anymore. A lazy hand-waving suffices instead. They sprinkle in a few historical quotations, refuse to engage seriously with historians' findings, and then declare that their right-wing policy preferences are dictated by the authority of history.

Nicholas Bagley: The rise of the know-nothing judge

Thus, Jarkesy's challenge might succeed. Arguments like his have been rejected by federal courts many times already. But the federal judiciary has drastically changed in recent years, and the Supreme Court with it'--opening the possibility of a new, friendly reception to these absurd legal claims. (The Court could also set aside these substantive questions and decide the case on other, more technical grounds.)

Were Jarkesy to win, he would help achieve what the conservative legal movement's members have long dreamed of: the destruction of the New Deal. The SEC, Jarkesy's target, is not just the most important regulator of the financial markets, it is also one of the crown jewels of the New Deal agencies. Republicans have had it in their crosshairs for nearly a century.

The consequences of Jarkesy's success would be disastrous, especially for the American economy. The SEC enforces the basic rules that make stock markets work. Without it, stock issuers and dealers would lie'--with disastrous results. One needs only to examine the rampant fraud, contagion, and meltdown in crypto markets last year to see what an unregulated securities market looks like.

More generally, if Congress cannot delegate to agencies, it cannot govern. Congress could never and has never written rules specific enough to anticipate all eventualities. This is why Congress delegated power to the SEC in the first place.

Finally, and most dangerous, ending independence for internal agency adjudicators would undermine the rule of law. Without independence, adjudicators would be beholden to the politicians who oversee agencies. Unscrupulous presidents would use agencies to punish their opponents and reward their allies. This would do more than turn regulators into political handmaidens; it would destabilize markets, stifle growth, and inevitably lead to financial crises.

Of course, if Republicans want to pursue this terrifying course, they can try. The country is still a democracy. The right way to abolish the SEC and undo the New Deal is to win a majority and pass a statute. But Americans like having functional financial markets and bringing fraudulent hedge-fund managers to justice'--just as they like eating unspoiled food and using effective and safe medication. The ''administrative state'''--that is, government regulation to protect the public'--is rightly popular, as Republican presidential candidates, to their chagrin, keep discovering.

But Jarkesy, a fringe figure using fringe arguments, is trying to do an end run around the democratic process and win in the Court what right-wing activists have failed to achieve at the ballot box. The Supreme Court should reject this antidemocratic ploy rather than accept the Fifth Circuit's fake history.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 12:52

There was nothing in Drew Ortiz's author biography at Sports Illustrated to suggest that he was anything other than human.

"Drew has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling to the perils of nature," it read. "Nowadays, there is rarely a weekend that goes by where Drew isn't out camping, hiking, or just back on his parents' farm."

The only problem? Outside of Sports Illustrated, Drew Ortiz doesn't seem to exist. He has no social media presence and no publishing history. And even more strangely, his profile photo on Sports Illustrated is for sale on a website that sells AI-generated headshots, where he's described as "neutral white young-adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes."

Ortiz isn't the only AI-generated author published by Sports Illustrated, according to a person involved with the creation of the content who asked to be kept anonymous to protect them from professional repercussions.

"There's a lot," they told us of the fake authors. "I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist."

"At the bottom [of the page] there would be a photo of a person and some fake description of them like, 'oh, John lives in Houston, Texas. He loves yard games and hanging out with his dog, Sam.' Stuff like that," they continued. "It's just crazy."

The AI authors' writing often sounds like it was written by an alien; one Ortiz article, for instance, warns that volleyball "can be a little tricky to get into, especially without an actual ball to practice with."

According to a second person involved in the creation of the Sports Illustrated content who also asked to be kept anonymous, that's because it's not just the authors' headshots that are AI-generated. At least some of the articles themselves, they said, were churned out using AI as well.

"The content is absolutely AI-generated," the second source said, "no matter how much they say that it's not."

After we reached out with questions to the magazine's publisher, The Arena Group, all the AI-generated authors disappeared from Sports Illustrated's site without explanation.

Initially, our questions received no response. But after we published this story, an Arena Group spokesperson provided the following statement that blamed a contractor for the content:

Today, an article was published alleging that Sports Illustrated published AI-generated articles. According to our initial investigation, this is not accurate. The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce. A number of AdVon's e-commerce articles ran on certain Arena websites. We continually monitor our partners and were in the midst of a review when these allegations were raised. AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans. According to AdVon, their writers, editors, and researchers create and curate content and follow a policy that involves using both counter-plagiarism and counter-AI software on all content. However, we have learned that AdVon had writers use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy '-- actions we don't condone '-- and we are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership.

It sounds like The Arena Group's investigation pretty much just involved asking AdVon whether the content was AI-generated, and taking them at their word when they said it wasn't. Our sources familiar with the creation of the content disagree.

The statement also never addresses the core allegation of our story: that Sports Illustrated published content from nonexistent writers with AI-generated headshots. The implication seems to be that AdVon invented fake writers, assigned them fake biographies and AI-generated headshots, and then stopped right there, only publishing content written by old-fashioned humans. Maybe that's true, but we doubt it.

Regardless, the AI content marks a staggering fall from grace for Sports Illustrated, which in past decades won numerous National Magazine Awards for its sports journalism and published work by literary giants ranging from William Faulkner to John Updike.

But now that it's under the management of The Arena Group, parts of the magazine seem to have devolved into a Potemkin Village in which phony writers are cooked up out of thin air, outfitted with equally bogus biographies and expertise to win readers' trust, and used to pump out AI-generated buying guides that are monetized by affiliate links to products that provide a financial kickback when readers click them.

Do you know anything about The Arena Group's use of AI-generated content? Shoot us an email at tips@futurism.com. We can keep you anonymous.

Making the whole thing even more dubious, these AI-generated personas are periodically scrubbed from existence in favor of new ones.

Sometime this summer, for example, Ortiz disappeared from Sports Illustrated's site entirely, his profile page instead redirecting to that of a "Sora Tanaka." Again, there's no online record of a writer by that name '-- but Tanaka's profile picture is for sale on the same AI headshot marketplace as Ortiz, where she's listed as "joyful asian young-adult female with long brown hair and brown eyes."

"Sora has always been a fitness guru, and loves to try different foods and drinks," read Tanaka's bio. "Ms. Tanaka is thrilled to bring her fitness and nutritional expertise to the Product Reviews Team, and promises to bring you nothing but the best of the best."

But Tanaka didn't last, either. Eventually she also disappeared, replaced by yet another profile that carried no headshot at all, which Sports Illustrated deleted along with the other AI-generated content after we reached out.

It wasn't just author profiles that the magazine repeatedly replaced. Each time an author was switched out, the posts they supposedly penned would be reattributed to the new persona, with no editor's note explaining the change in byline.

None of the articles credited to Ortiz or the other names contained any disclosure about the use of AI or that the writer wasn't real, though they did eventually gain a disclaimer explaining that the content was "created by a 3rd party," and that the "Sports Illustrated editorial staff are not involved in the creation of this content."

Do you know anything about that "3rd party," or how the content was created? Email us at tips@futurism.com. We can keep you anonymous.

Though Sports Illustrated's AI-generated authors and their articles disappeared after we asked about them, similar operations appear to be alive and well elsewhere in The Arena Group's portfolio.

Take TheStreet, a financial publication cofounded by Jim Cramer in 1996 that The Arena Group bought for $16.5 million in 2019. Like at Sports Illustrated, we found authors at TheStreet with highly specific biographies detailing seemingly flesh-and-blood humans with specific areas of expertise '-- but with profile photos traceable to that same AI face website. And like at Sports Illustrated, these fake writers are periodically wiped from existence and their articles reattributed to new names, with no disclosure about the use of AI.

Sometimes TheStreet's efforts to remove the fake writers can be sloppy. On its review section's title page, for instance, the site still proudly flaunts the expertise of AI-generated contributors who have since been deleted, linking to writer profiles it describes as ranging "from stay-at-home dads to computer and information analysts." This team, the site continues, "is comprised of a well-rounded group of people who bring varying backgrounds and experiences to the table."

People? We're not so sure.

The "stay-at-home dad" linked in that sentence above, for instance, is a so-called "Domino Abrams " '-- "a pro at home cleaning and maintenance," at least until he was expunged from the site '-- whose profile picture can again be found on that same site that sells AI-generated headshots.

Or look at "Denise McNamara," the "information analyst" that TheStreet boasted about '-- "her extensive personal experience with electronics allows her to share her findings with others online" '-- whose profile picture is once again listed on the same AI headshot marketplace. Or "Nicole Merrifield," an alleged "first grade teacher" who "loves helping people," but whose profile is again from that AI headshot site. (At some point this year, Abrams, McNamara, and Merrifield were replaced by bylines whose profile pictures aren't for sale on the AI headshot site.)

Basic scrutiny shows that the quality of the AI authors' posts is often poor, with bizarre-sounding language and glaring formatting discrepancies.

This article about personal finance by the AI-generated Merrifield, for example, starts off with the sweeping libertarian claim that "your financial status translates to your value in society."

After that bold premise, the article explains that "people with strong financial status are revered and given special advantages everywhere around the world," and launches into a numbered list of how you can "improve your finance status" for yourself. Each number on what should be a five-point list, though, is just number one. Mistakes happen, but we can't imagine that anyone who can't count to five would give stellar financial advice.

Abysmal-quality AI content, though, shouldn't be surprising at The Arena Group.

Back in February, when the company first started publishing AI-generated health advice at its magazine Men's Journal, we found that its first story was riddled with errors, prompting it to issue a massive correction.

Before that, when The Arena Group first announced its foray into AI, its CEO Ross Levinsohn promised in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that its quality would be outstanding.

"It's not about 'crank out AI content and do as much as you can,'" he told the newspaper early this year. "Google will penalize you for that and more isn't better; better is better."

Needless to say, neither fake authors who are suddenly replaced with different names nor deplorable-quality AI-generated content with no disclosure amount to anything resembling good journalism, and to see it published by a once-iconic magazine like Sports Illustrated is disheartening. Bylines exist for a reason: they give credit where it's due, and just as importantly, they let readers hold writers accountable.

The undisclosed AI content is a direct affront to the fabric of media ethics, in other words, not to mention a perfect recipe for eroding reader trust. And at the end of the day, it's just remarkably irresponsible behavior that we shouldn't see anywhere '-- let alone normalized by a high-visibility publisher.

The Arena Group is also hardly alone, either. As powerful generative AI tools have debuted over the past few years, many publishers have quickly attempted to use the tech to churn out monetizable content.

In almost every case, though, these efforts to cut out human journalists have backfired embarrassingly.

We caught CNET and Bankrate, both owned by Red Ventures, publishing barely-disclosed AI content that was filled with factual mistakes and even plagiarism; in the ensuing storm of criticism, CNET issued corrections to more than half its AI-generated articles. G/O Media also published AI-generated material on its portfolio of sites, resulting in embarrassing bungles at Gizmodo and The A.V. Club. We caught BuzzFeed publishing slapdash AI-generated travel guides. And USA Today and other Gannett newspapers were busted publishing hilariously garbled AI-generated sports roundups that one of the company's own sports journalists described as "embarrassing," saying they "shouldn't ever" have been published.

If any media organization finds a way to engage with generative AI in a way that isn't either woefully ill-advised or actively unethical, we're all ears. In the meantime, forgive us if we don't hold our breath.

Disclosure: Futurism's parent company, Recurrent Ventures, previously worked with AdVon in 2022 via its partnership to distribute select content on third-party e-commerce platforms. This content was written by Recurrent's contributors. Presently, Recurrent maintains a business relationship with them to test Commerce content internationally for select brands (of which Futurism is not one). AdVon content has never been published on Futurism or any of Recurrent's websites.

More on AI-generated journalism: USA Today Updates Every AI-Generated Sports Article to Correct "Errors"

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 23:42

Marianna Budanova, the wife of Ukraine's Military Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov, was poisoned, a representative of the military intelligence agency (HUR), not allowed to go public at this time, told the Kyiv Independent on Nov. 28.

Military intelligence spokesperson Andrii Yusov officially confirmed that Budanova was poisoned by heavy metals and is undergoing treatment in a comment for Radio Free Europe/Europe Liberty later that day.

The Ukrainian media outlet Babel reported earlier on Nov. 28, citing undisclosed military intelligence sources, that Budanova had been hospitalized due to heavy metal poisoning after a prolonged deterioration of her health.

The military intelligence representative confirmed Babel's report in a comment for the Kyiv Independent.

"The course of treatment is now being completed, and then there will be a check-up by the doctors," Babel's source said.

"These substances are not used in any way in everyday life and military affairs. Their presence may indicate a purposeful attempt to poison a specific person."

Ukrainska Pravda later reported, citing security service sources, that Budanova "is doing better now as she has undergone the first stage of treatment."

Southern counteroffensive runs out of steam as West scrambles to deliver aid

As fall weather arrives, observers are looking at the status of Ukraine's three-pronged counteroffensive, which continues to move very slowly. Ukrainian forces have yet to fully break through Russia's defensive lines and fight to their target cities '-- Tokmak, Berdiansk, and Vasylivka. Their tempo i'...

The media refer to Marianna Budanova as a psychologist, volunteer, and public figure.

She unsuccessfully ran for the Kyiv City Council as a candidate of Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko's UDAR party in 2020. She has then worked as Klitschko's advisor on combating corruption in youth politics and sports.

Budanov said in an August interview for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that his wife Marianna lives with him in his office and that the couple are constantly together for security reasons.

The current military intelligence chief served in the Donbas war in 2014, reportedly suffering several injuries during the hostilities.

He briefly became the deputy director of Ukraine's foreign intelligence agency in 2020 before he was appointed to lead the military intelligence the same year by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Budanov was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general in September.

Yusov previously said that Russia had made more than 10 attempts on Kyrylo Budanov's life.

The military intelligence agency is directly subordinate to the country's defense ministry. The agency describes its chief tasks as gathering intelligence, identifying external threats to Ukraine, and combatting terrorism and foreign intelligence activities.

While much of its activities remain classified, the military intelligence confirmed responsibility for several attacks against the Russian rear during the full-scale war.

Budanov: Russia has economic strength to fight until 2025

Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said that Russia likely has the economic and technical capacity to continue its war against Ukraine until 2025 or 2026 in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda released on Oct. 12.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 23:41

Billionaire Charlie Munger, the investing sage who made a fortune even before he became Warren Buffett's right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway, has died at age 99.

Munger died Tuesday, according to a press release from Berkshire Hathaway. The conglomerate said it was advised by members of Munger's family that he peacefully died this morning at a California hospital. He would have turned 100 on New Year's Day.

"Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie's inspiration, wisdom and participation," Buffett said in a statement.

In addition to being Berkshire vice chairman, Munger was a real estate attorney, chairman and publisher of the Daily Journal Corp., a member of the Costco board, a philanthropist and an architect.

In early 2023, his fortune was estimated at $2.3 billion '-- a jaw-dropping amount for many people but vastly smaller than Buffett's unfathomable fortune, which is estimated at more than $100 billion.

During Berkshire's 2021 annual shareholder meeting, the then-97-year-old Munger apparently inadvertently revealed a well-guarded secret: that Vice Chairman Greg Abel "will keep the culture" after the Buffett era.

Munger, who wore thick glasses, had lost his left eye after complications from cataract surgery in 1980.

Munger was chairman and CEO of Wesco Financial from 1984 to 2011, when Buffett's Berkshire purchased the remaining shares of the Pasadena, California-based insurance and investment company it did not own.

Buffett credited Munger with broadening his investment strategy from favoring troubled companies at low prices in hopes of getting a profit to focusing on higher-quality but underpriced companies.

An early example of the shift was illustrated in 1972 by Munger's ability to persuade Buffett to sign off on Berkshire's purchase of See's Candies for $25 million even though the California candy maker had annual pretax earnings of only about $4 million. It has since produced more than $2 billion in sales for Berkshire.

"He weaned me away from the idea of buying very so-so companies at very cheap prices, knowing that there was some small profit in it, and looking for some really wonderful businesses that we could buy in fair prices," Buffett told CNBC in May 2016.

Or as Munger put it at the 1998 Berkshire shareholder meeting: "It's not that much fun to buy a business where you really hope this sucker liquidates before it goes broke."

Munger was often the straight man to Buffett's jovial commentaries. "I have nothing to add," he would say after one of Buffett's loquacious responses to questions at Berkshire annual meetings in Omaha, Nebraska. But like his friend and colleague, Munger was a font of wisdom in investing, and in life. And like one of his heroes, Benjamin Franklin, Munger's insight didn't lack humor.

"I have a friend who says the first rule of fishing is to fish where the fish are. The second rule of fishing is to never forget the first rule. We've gotten good at fishing where the fish are," the then-93-year-old Munger told the thousands of people at Berkshire's 2017 meeting.

He believed in what he called the "lollapalooza effect," in which a confluence of factors merged to drive investment psychology.

A son of the heartlandCharles Thomas Munger was born in Omaha on Jan. 1, 1924. His father, Alfred, was a lawyer, and his mother, Florence "Toody," was from an affluent family. Like Warren, Munger worked at Buffett's grandfather's grocery store as a youth, but the two future joined-at-the-hip partners didn't meet until years later.

At 17, Munger left Omaha for the University of Michigan. Two years later, in 1943, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, according to Janet Lowe's 2003 biography "Damn Right!"

The military sent him to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena to study meteorology. In California, he fell in love with his sister's roommate at Scripps College, Nancy Huggins, and married her in 1945. Although he never completed his undergraduate degree, Munger graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1948, and the couple moved back to California, where he practiced real estate law. He founded the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson in 1962 and focused on managing investments at the hedge fund Wheeler, Munger & Co., which he also founded that year.

"I'm proud of being an Omaha boy," Munger said in a 2017 interview with Dean Scott Derue of the Michigan Ross Business School. "I sometimes use the old saying, 'They got the boy out of Omaha but they never got Omaha out of the boy.' All those old-fashioned values '-- family comes first; be in a position so that you can help others when troubles come; prudent, sensible; moral duty to be reasonable [is] more important than anything else '-- more important than being rich, more important than being important '-- an absolute moral duty."

In California, he partnered with Franklin Otis Booth, a member of the founding family of the Los Angeles Times, in real estate. One of their early developments turned out to be a lucrative condo project on Booth's grandfather's property in Pasadena. (Booth, who died in 2008, had been introduced to Buffett by Munger in 1963 and became one of Berkshire's largest investors.)

"I had five real estate projects," Munger told Derue. "I did both side by side for a few years, and in a very few years, I had $3 million '-- $4 million."

Munger closed the hedge fund in 1975. Three years later, he became vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

'We think so much alike that it's spooky'In 1959, at age 35, Munger returned to Omaha to close his late father's legal practice. That's when he was introduced to the then-29-year-old Buffett by one of Buffett's investor clients. The two hit it off and stayed in contact despite living half a continent away from each other.

"We think so much alike that it's spooky," Buffett recalled in an interview with the Omaha World-Herald in 1977. "He's as smart and as high-grade a guy as I've ever run into."

"We never had an argument in the entire time we've known each other, which is almost 60 years now," Buffett told CNBC's Becky Quick in 2018. "Charlie has given me the ultimate gift that a person can give to somebody else. He's made me a better person than I would have otherwise been. ... He's given me a lot of good advice over time. ... I've lived a better life because of Charlie."

The melding of the minds focused on value investing, in which stocks are picked because their price appears to be undervalued based on the company's long-term fundamentals.

"All intelligent investing is value investing '-- acquiring more than you are paying for," Munger once said. "You must value the business in order to value the stock."

Warren Buffett (L), CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and vice chairman Charlie Munger attend the 2019 annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, May 3, 2019.

Johannes Eisele | AFP | Getty Images

But during the coronavirus outbreak in early 2020, when Berkshire suffered a massive $50 billion loss in the first quarter, Munger and Buffett were more conservative than they were during the Great Recession, when they invested in U.S. airlines and financials like Bank of America and Goldman Sachs hit hard by that downturn.

"Well, I would say basically we're like the captain of a ship when the worst typhoon that's ever happened comes," Munger told The Wall Street Journal in April 2020. "We just want to get through the typhoon, and we'd rather come out of it with a whole lot of liquidity. We're not playing, 'Oh goody, goody, everything's going to hell, let's plunge 100% of the reserves' [into buying businesses]."

The philanthropist/architectMunger donated hundreds of millions of dollars to educational institutions, including the University of Michigan, Stanford University and Harvard Law School, often with the stipulation that the school accept his building designs, even though he was not formally trained as an architect.

At Los Angeles' Harvard-Westlake prep school, where Munger had been a board member for decades, he ensured that the girls bathrooms were larger than the boys room during the construction of the science center in the 1990s.

"Any time you go to a football game or a function there's a huge line outside the women's bathroom. Who doesn't know that they pee in a different way than the men?" Munger told The Wall Street Journal in 2019. "What kind of idiot would make the men's bathroom and the women's bathroom the same size? The answer is, a normal architect!"

Munger and his wife had three children, daughters Wendy and Molly, and son Teddy, who died of leukemia at age 9. The Mungers divorced in 1953.

Two years later, he married Nancy Barry, whom he met on a blind date at a chicken dinner restaurant. The couple had four children, Charles Jr., Emilie, Barry and Philip. He also was the stepfather to her two other sons, William Harold Borthwick and David Borthwick. The Mungers, who were married 54 years until her death in 2010, contributed $43.5 million to Stanford University to help build the Munger Graduate Residence, which houses 600 law and graduate students.

Asked by CNBC's Quick in a February 2019 "Squawk Box" interview about the secret to a long and happy life, Munger said the answer "is easy, because it's so simple."

"You don't have a lot of envy, you don't have a lot of resentment, you don't overspend your income, you stay cheerful in spite of your troubles. You deal with reliable people and you do what you're supposed to do. And all these simple rules work so well to make your life better. And they're so trite," he said.

"And staying cheerful ... because it's a wise thing to do. Is that so hard? And can you be cheerful when you're absolutely mired in deep hatred and resentment? Of course you can't. So why would you take it on?"

'-- CNBC's Yun Li contributed reporting.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 23:39

There's a major obstacle to the Pentagon's new effort to manufacture thousands of small drones: China dominates the market for consumer-drone parts, which is awkward since the point is to deter China. One potential solution could be rapid manufacturing in the field, according to one of the military's top young tech minds.

The two-month-old Replicator effort seeks to apply a Ukrainian success'--modifying lots and lots of consumer drones for military purposes'--to the U.S. campaign to keep the peace in the Pacific. But the Pentagon can't simply clone the Ukrainian program for the INDOPACOM mission set.

''The fact of the matter is: we don't have an industrial base to do this,'' Michael MacKay, national security advisor to Sen. Jodi Ernst, R-Iowa, said last week at a Pallas Advisors event. ''If China shut off the hose tomorrow, we don't have the carbon fibers; we don't have the micro-electronics; we don't have the chips; we don't have the motors to be able at this point to provide thousands [of small drones] at scale.

''We ran into this in the beginning of Ukraine,'' MacKay said, referring to Russia's expanded invasion in 2022. ''We've had a lot of laws and we have a lot of presidential executive orders that say you can't buy Chinese, down to some of the component level...America needs to get back into manufacturing on some of these components.''

The Pentagon hasn't said much about where the program is going or how it will achieve its objectives. But major defense contractors are cautioning that Replicator drones could cost far more than Pentagon officials imagine. They pointed to microelectronics and other supply-chain issues'--but also argued that the Pentagon might well want the higher performance of more expensive parts.

Last month at the ComDef conference in Virginia, defense industry representatives made a pitch for more expensive and more capable drones, the sort of thing that they already know how to supply.

''Trying to build something at that scale, at that cost, is going to be very challenging,'' said Adam Broecker, vice president of LM Evolve at Lockheed Martin. ''Higher up the cost and capability curve, I think there's going to be a lot more opportunity.''

Neither the United States nor its allies can easily mimic Chinese manufacturer DJI's Mavic drone, which is a hot item on both sides of the Ukraine war.

''I think an allied-built version of a Mavic drone is going to be much more expensive. But I think there's gonna be a lot of trade-off in terms of capability,'' Broecker said.

John Suding, the executive director of East Asia defense and government services at Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said the drones that traditional defense contractors can supply may be a bit more expensive and specific than what many are currently envisioning.

''The complexity of the systems is going to matter, right? Can you use dual-use technology in the system?'' Suding said. ''That gives you access to a different type of supply base than you might have if it's a very bespoke solution. Once we understand that, once we understand how many of these things do you [the Pentagon] want to build, how long do you want to build them for? Then you can start sizing supply chains to the, you know, to the point on driving scale.''

Once those questions are answered, he said, building thousands of cheap military drones quickly may become as easy as building missiles and bombs like Boeing's Joint Direct Attack Munition.

''JDAM is a great example. We can deliver tens of thousands of those in a year,'' Suding said.

But, he said, if you want the machine to have better eyes, brains, and steerability than a missile, you might have to deal with a more specialized and thus expensive solution.

Speaking at a Defense Writer's Group event last week, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said "what we are thinking of is more like things in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit than in the millions of dollars per unit."

A new approach

Schuyler Moore, CENTCOM's chief technology officer, speaking at the Pallas event, said that the key to achieving the Replicator vision is to hand combatant commands a bigger role earlier on'--and even let operators build their own drones.

''There was definitely going to be a supply-chain element of this that needs to be talked through, not only of manufacturing, but also getting things into theater,'' Moore said. ''But we also believe that there are mitigating actions that you can take.''

She pointed to Task Force 99, an innovation unit within Air Force Central Command.

''They were frustrated with waiting for a number of systems that they were trying to get out into the theater. They happened to have a couple of 3D printers on base. And in their free time'--quite literally, this is how they described it to me afterwards'--in their free time, they found a company who had a blueprint online, and by blueprint, I mean that they had a picture of the UAV that they were 3D printing online. And they talked to this company and the company said, 'It's going to be ready in two years.'''

That was too long for Task Force 99, Moore said.

''They wanted to see if they could print out the picture that they saw on the company's website, and they did it in 48 hours. And they are currently in the process. of writing out the [standard operating procedures] for how you print UAS in theater,'' she said.

To pull off such feats, Moore said, combatant commands need professional innovators who are solely focused on rapid prototyping and scaling.

Not surprisingly, she sounded an optimistic note about DOD's goals for Replicator:

''We believe it is absolutely possible and we believe that our task forces are very well positioned to serve as the battlefield replicator,'' she said.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 23:39

The problem with today's Pentagon is hardly money, talent, or determination, in Schmidt's opinion. He describes the US military as ''great human beings inside a bad system'''--one that evolved to serve a previous era dominated by large, slow, expensive projects like aircraft carriers and a bureaucratic system that prevents people from moving too quickly. Independent studies and congressional hearings have found that it can take years for the DOD to select and buy software, which may be outdated by the time it is installed. Schmidt says this is a huge problem for the US, because computerization, software, and networking are poised to revolutionize warfare.

Ukraine's response to Russia's invasion, Schmidt believes, offers pointers for how the Pentagon might improve. The Ukrainian military has managed to resist a much larger power in part by moving quickly and adapting technology from the private sector'--hacking commercial drones into weapons, repurposing defunct battlefield connectivity systems, 3D printing spare parts, and developing useful new software for tasks like military payroll management in months, not years.

Schmidt offers another thought experiment to illustrate the bind he's trying to get the US military out of. ''Imagine you and I decide to solve the Ukrainian problem, and the DOD gives us $100 million, and we have a six-month contest,'' he says. ''And after six months somebody actually comes up with some new device or new tool or new method that lets the Ukrainians win.'' Problem solved? Not so fast. ''Everything I just said is illegal,'' Schmidt says, because of procurement rules that forbid the Pentagon from handing out money without going through careful but overly lengthy review processes.

A New Weapon

The Pentagon's tech problem is most pressing, Schmidt says, when it comes to AI. ''Every once in a while, a new weapon, a new technology comes along that changes things,'' he says. ''Einstein wrote a letter to Roosevelt in the 1930s saying that there is this new technology'--nuclear weapons'--that could change war, which it clearly did. I would argue that [AI-powered] autonomy and decentralized, distributed systems are that powerful.''With Schmidt's help, a similar view has taken root inside the DOD over the past decade, where leaders believe AI will revolutionize military hardware, intelligence gathering, and backend software. In the early 2010s the Pentagon began assessing technology that could help it maintain an edge over an ascendant Chinese military. The Defense Science Board, the agency's top technical advisory body, concluded that AI-powered autonomy would shape the future of military competition and conflict.

But AI technology is mostly being invented in the private sector. The best tools that could prove critical to the military, such as algorithms capable of identifying enemy hardware or specific individuals in video, or that can learn superhuman strategies, are built at companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple or inside startups.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 23:17

PANAMA CITY (AP) '-- Panama's Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a 20-year concession for a Canadian copper mine that has been the focus of widespread environmental protests was unconstitutional and the president said later a process to close the mine would begin.

Opponents of the Cobre Panama mine argued it would damage a forested coastal area and threaten water supplies. The announcement of the nine-member court's decision after four days of deliberations set off cheers among a crowd of people waiting outside and waving Panamanian flags.

''This is what we had been waiting for,'' demonstrator Raisa Banfield said after what she called an agonizing wait. ''The president has to suspend (mine) operations today.''

Minera Panama, the local subsidiary of Canada's First Quantum Minerals , which operates the mine in central Panama, said in a statement that ''Cobre Panama acknowledges the court's decision.''

''We want to affirm our unwavering commitment to regulatory compliance in all aspects of our operations within the country,'' the company wrote. ''We will comment further as additional details on the ruling are made public.''

Panama President Laurentino Cortizo told the nation Tuesday that as soon as his administration formally receives the court's decision it would be published in the official gazette and a process will begin ''for an orderly and safe closure of the mine.''

The mine employs thousands and accounts for 3% of Panama's gross domestic product.

In March, Panama's legislature reached an agreement with First Quantum allowing Minera Panama to continue operating the huge copper mine for at least 20 more years. The open-pit mine was temporarily closed last year when talks between the government and First Quantum broke down over payments the government wanted.

The contract , given final approval Oct. 20, allowed the subsidiary to continue operating the mine in a biodiverse jungle on the Atlantic coast west of the capital for the next 20 years, with the possibility of extending for a further 20 years if the site remained productive.

The dispute over the mine led to some of Panama's most widespread protests in recent years, including a blockade of the mine's power plant. Protesters also blocked parts of the Pan American highway, including a stretch near the border with Costa Rica.

Just before the ruling was announced, they opened the roadway so freight trucks could get through.

Minera Panama said in a statement earlier this month that small boats had blocked its port in Colon province, preventing supplies from reaching the mine. Naval police reported that a ship carrying coal decided to turn back due to ''hostility from a group of protesters who from their boats threw rocks and blunt homemade objects'' before being dispersed.

The protesters, a broad coalition of Panamanians, feared the mine's impact on nature and especially on the water supply.

After the protests began, the government nearly passed legislation that would have revoked the contract, but it backtracked in a debate in the National Assembly on Nov. 2.

A court decision that declared the contract unconstitutional was the last opportunity for opponents to get it thrown out.

The Canadian government said it respected Tuesday's ruling and was following the contract negotiation closely. In an email, Jean-Pierre J. Godbout, a spokesperson for the government's Global Affairs Department, said the government ''consistently hopes for an agreed solution that is beneficial to all parties.''

___Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

___Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 21:05

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis has cancelled his planned trip to the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai because of the effects of influenza and lung inflammation, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The pope, who is 86, was due to begin a three-day visit to Dubai on Friday and the Vatican had said earlier on Tuesday that he was going ahead with the trip.

"Although the Holy Father's general clinical condition has improved with regard to the flu and inflammation of the respiratory tract, doctors have asked the pope not to make the trip planned for the coming days to Dubai," the Vatican said.

The pope had agreed not to travel "with great regret," it added.

Francis, as a young man in his native Argentina, had part of a lung removed.

The Vatican announced on Monday the pope would limit his activities this week in order to conserve his strength.

A CT scan done at a Rome hospital on Saturday excluded pneumonia but detected inflammation in the pope's lungs that caused breathing difficulties. He was receiving antibiotics intravenously, the Vatican said on Monday.

The pope met with Spanish bishops visiting the Vatican on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella and Alvise Armellini; additional reporting by Gavin Jones and Keith Weir; Editing by Alison Williams, Bernadette Baum and Chris Reese)

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 20:32

3.28% rise in year-on-year emissions disclosed by 20 of the largest listed meat and dairy producers '' including suppliers to household names such as McDonald's and Walmart.

Investors praise improving levels of disclosure however, with 40% of the 20 largest meat and dairy firms now disclosing 'Scope 3' emissions.

Full findings from the Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index are available here.

''The failure of leading meat and dairy companies to reduce emissions underlines the urgent need for more policy focus on the food and agriculture sector'', says Jeremy Coller, Chair and Founder of the $70 trillion-backed FAIRR network.

As global leaders prepare to gather for COP28 in Dubai, new analysis of emissions data from 20 of the largest listed meat and dairy firms shows that disclosed emissions are still rising year-on-year. Livestock is estimated to be responsible for around 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The analysis from the $70 trillion-backed FAIRR investor network shows absolute emissions disclosed by 20 of the world's largest (by value) meat and dairy producers rose 3.28% between 2022 and 2023. This group includes firms like Hormel Foods (US) and New Hope Liuhe (China), suppliers to household names such as Walmart and McDonald's respectively.

Some of the 20 firms saw disclosed emissions fall this year, including Tyson Foods (US) and Danone (FR), but progress was negated by rises from other meat and dairy giants. A full data table is available in 'Notes to editor' below.

The analysis of the 20 firms shows varying levels of climate commitments and disclosure. In total 4 of the 20 firms have set net zero targets approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

On disclosure, 40% of the 20 companies (8 firms) now publicly report Scope 3 emissions, (i.e. emissions from the supply chain such as those from animal feed production), with US-operating Tyson Foods and WH Group (owners of Smithfield Foods) disclosing all scopes for the first time this year. [Note that Scope 3 emissions are only included in year-on-year comparison figures where they have been disclosed since 2022].

The data comes from the release of the sixth annual Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index (the Index) which assesses a total of 60 publicly-listed animal protein producers worth a combined $364 billion (as of March 1st 2023) against ten environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related factors. It is a tool used extensively by FAIRR investor members who manage over $70 trillion of assets.

Jeremy Coller, Chair and Founder of the $70 trillion-backed FAIRR network, said:

''The failure of leading meat and dairy companies to reduce emissions underlines the urgent need for more policy focus on the food and agriculture sector. Food system emissions deserve a place at the top of the table, alongside energy and transport, as they represent an estimated third of greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of methane. Investors hope the first-ever publication of a food and agriculture roadmap at COP28 this month will catalyse the transition to 1.5 degrees and a more sustainable food system.''

''What you can measure, you can manage, so investors will welcome the increased disclosure of Scope 3 emissions by the meat and dairy sector. The FAIRR Protein Producer Index highlights the ESG risks and opportunities in the global food system, enabling investors to engage their portfolio companies in more meaningful conversations, underpinned by data.''

Oshni Arachchi, Head of Active Ownership, Head of Responsible Investment (Sweden), Danske Bank, said:

''The agriculture sector is not only essential for food production, it uses around half of the world's habitable land and, if not carefully managed, can drive deforestation, biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions. A significant portion of those emissions and the majority of deforestation globally comes from the meat and dairy sector and FAIRR's research underlines the urgency with which the livestock producers should act to transition to more sustainable production. We welcome increasing transparency in the sector, but with time running out to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement we also need to see sector-wide action.''

Thalia Vounaki, Senior Manager Research & Engagements, FAIRR Initiative, said:

''It's encouraging to see more firms disclosing carbon footprints that encompass their entire supply chain - as these critical 'scope 3' emissions account for the large majority of the sector's emissions. There is a long way to go however, with 60% of the 20 largest meat and dairy firms still not disclosing scope 3 and three producers offering no emissions disclosure at all. Investors must continue to engage with the sector with a clear message that to manage climate risk they need comprehensive disclosures which include supply chain emissions and full inventories that split which emissions come from feed and which come from animals.''

The Index also highlights examples of good practice in the sector. For example, Danone is among the first companies to set FLAG (Forest, Land and Agriculture) targets aligned with SBTi, and has committed to a 30% reduction in its methane emissions from fresh milk by 2030. This aligns its efforts with the Global Methane Pledge. The company has also developed several cutting-edge initiatives, including projects in herd management, feed fundamentals and manure management.

The full findings of the annual index are published in detail in a separate report available here.

Notes to editorMedia contact

For more information, including interviews and comment, please contact:

Mike Marshall, ESG Communications

t: + 44 (0)7728 816 426 | e: [email protected]

* Full table of emissions disclosure from Top 20 meat and dairy firms can be downloaded using this link.

Emissions data based on latest disclosure available when assessment was carried out between April to August 2023, hence while most companies latest data compare emissions between FY 2022 to 2021, in some cases the comparison is 2021 to 2020. Cut-off dates vary by company.

About FAIRRThe FAIRR Initiative is a collaborative investor network, founded by Jeremy Coller, with a membership of $70 trillion in collective assets of support. FAIRR works with institutional investors to define the material ESG issues linked to intensive livestock and fish farming systems and provide them with the tools necessary to integrate this information into their asset stewardship and investment decisions. This includes the Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index, the world's first comprehensive assessment of the largest global animal protein companies on environmental, social and governance issues. Visit www.fairr.org and follow @FAIRRInitiative.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 20:25

Kiril Evtimov is a seasoned technology and business leader with global experience across start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. Throughout his career, Kiril has been successful in delivering cutting-edge cloud, analytical, and decision support products, as well as massively scalable data platforms. His contributions have spanned a range of industries, including healthcare, financial services, and technology, leading to clients' success and significant business impact.

Kiril is a technology advisor for G42 Cloud. He is also a co-founder, board member and CEO of FairSignals Inc. In the past, he has held leadership roles in Teradata, MicroStrategy, and eBay.

As CEO of FairSignals, Kiril has a broad range of responsibilities, including - vision setting, financial management, product development, people management, and leading all externally facing interactions for the financial technology startup.

Previously, as Teradata's Vice President and General Manager of Unified Data Architecture Platform Technologies, he was responsible for establishing the strategic direction and leading the execution efforts of the analytical ecosystem research and development organization. In this capacity, he oversaw a vast portfolio of over 30 software products, ranging from well-established and widely used to emerging and cloud-based products.

As Vice President of Program Management at MicroStrategy, Kiril focused on ideation, viability analysis, research and design of next generation on-premises and cloud analytical capabilities.

Prior to that, Kiril spent over 13 years in Silicon Valley, California. At eBay, Kiril held various technical management roles supporting eBay, PayPal, StubHub, Skype and Classified businesses. As Director of Analytics Platform Engineering and Architecture, he was responsible for implementing corporate-wide analytical self-service capabilities, business intelligence, and collaborative platforms. He also pioneered in the field of cyber fraud prevention, as well as led the efforts to establish customer support, and trust and safety data management practice.

In the past, Kiril consulted several notable companies, including Intuitive Surgical, Extreme Networks, and was a member of Tableau Software's Customer Advocacy Board on their quests for technology innovation, establishing data and digital transformation strategies, optimizing sales and distribution models.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 20:18

When the secretive national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, visited the White House in June, his American counterpart, Jake Sullivan, raised a delicate issue: G42, an artificial intelligence firm controlled by the sheikh that American officials believe is hiding the extent of its work with China.

In public, the company has announced its staggering growth with a steady cadence of news releases. They have included agreements with European pharmaceutical giants like AstraZeneca and a $100 million deal with a Silicon Valley firm to build what the companies boast will be the ''world's largest supercomputer.'' Last month, G42 announced a partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.

But in classified American intelligence channels, there have been more concerning reports about the company. The C.I.A. and other American spy agencies have issued warnings about G42's work with large Chinese companies that U.S. officials consider security threats, including Huawei, the telecommunications giant that is under U.S. sanctions.

U.S. officials fear G42 could be a conduit by which advanced American technology is siphoned to Chinese companies or the government. The intelligence reports have also warned that G42's dealings with Chinese firms could be a pipeline to get the genetic data of millions of Americans and others into the hands of the Chinese government, according to two officials familiar with the reports.

The C.I.A. even produced a classified profile of Peng Xiao, the chief executive of G42 who was educated in the United States and renounced his American citizenship for an Emirati one, U.S. officials say. The conclusions of the C.I.A. document about Mr. Xiao are unclear.

During the White House meeting in June with Sheikh Tahnoon and in other discussions of the past year, the Biden administration raised concerns about the company's leadership and pushed for G42 to sever ties with Chinese companies and any agencies, according to a dozen people familiar with the discussions. The Americans have even pointed to the prospect of sanctions against the Emirati firm. The Biden administration's concerns about G42 and its pressure campaign with the Emirates are being reported here for the first time.

On sensitive emerging technologies, the Emirates must choose between the United States and China, American officials have told their Emirati counterparts.

For years, the United States has been trying to limit China's influence in the Middle East, and American officials believe Chinese efforts to build military bases and sell weapons in the region are urgent national security concerns. Today, however, there is a new frontier in this effort: blunting China's ambitions to gain supremacy in the world's cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence, big data, quantum computing, cloud computing, surveillance infrastructure and genomic research.

G42 is at the center of this fight.

U.S. officials are watching for signs of progress but decline to discuss details of the talks, which have involved the White House and various agencies. They have taken place over months in Washington and in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital where both William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo have discussed the matter with the Emiratis during different trips this year. Tarun Chhabra, the National Security Council's senior director for technology, has also raised concerns with officials in Abu Dhabi.

Image Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo raised concerns about G42's ties to China during a trip to Abu Dhabi in October. Credit... Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images This article is based on interviews with American government officials, tech analysts and American and foreign business executives, some of whom agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive diplomacy over G42.

The company is a crown jewel for the U.A.E., which is building an artificial intelligence industry as an alternative to oil income. The small but powerful Middle Eastern country, led by its president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, is also cultivating closer ties to China and Russia, in part to lessen its dependence on the United States, the main military partner and arms supplier of the Emirates.

As of now, it is unclear whether U.S. officials have shared their concerns over G42 with American companies that have partnerships with it.

The American efforts to scrutinize and restrict the activities of G42 are emblematic of the murky world in which U.S. spy agencies operate in their broader espionage shadow war with China. As the superpower rivalry intensifies, U.S. policymakers are relying on intelligence collection and analysis to help head off China's efforts to make technological advances that would erode America's military edge.

Companies in almost every sector around the globe have ties to China, the world's second-largest economy. And the U.S. efforts to put G42 under a microscope show how difficult it is for intelligence agencies to discern whether a foreign company with commercial ties to China has links to that country's military or its security and intelligence agencies.

In some cases, a partnership between a foreign company and a Chinese firm that is considered a favorite of the government or Communist Party '-- Huawei, for instance '-- is enough to set off alarms in Washington. Those relations are often opaque when they involve companies working in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence that have both civilian and military uses.

In the case of G42, the C.I.A. and other government departments have investigated the ties between G42 and Chinese companies and officials. They have flagged some specific areas of concern '-- pointing out, for instance, that G42's ''stack,'' or its underlying technology infrastructure, has been built with the help of Chinese companies, including Huawei. Intelligence agencies have scrutinized a subsidiary of G42 called Presight AI, U.S. officials said. The company sells surveillance technology to police forces worldwide, including software nearly identical to products popular with Chinese police.

Image Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, center, the chairman of G42, is one of the Emirates' most powerful men. Credit... Abdulla Al Neyadi/U.A.E. Presidential Court, via Reuters Kathleen Waters, a deputy spokeswoman for the National Security Council, declined to address specific issues with G42. She called the Emirates an ''important partner'' but said White House officials have made clear to the Emiratis and others the administration's ''strong concerns about the P.R.C. seeking military and intelligence advantages through the acquisition of sensitive U.S. technologies and data, which the Biden administration is determined to protect.'' (The P.R.C. is the People's Republic of China.)

''This will continue to be a focus of intensive engagement with the U.A.E. and many other countries, and we welcome progress to date,'' Ms. Waters added.

Yousef Al Otaiba, the Emirati ambassador in Washington, declined to comment.

G42 declined a request for an interview with Mr. Xiao, its chief executive, and did not answer questions about its partnerships with specific Chinese companies or about U.S. government concerns over those. In a statement to The New York Times, Talal Al Kaissi, a senior executive at the company, said the firm had worked ''with various international technology players from around the world.'' He noted that it began discussions with Microsoft late last year to try to replace its technology stack or infrastructure. This year, he said, it decided to look to U.S. companies, including Cerebras and Nvidia, to upgrade a supercomputer and shift from its ''legacy technology supplier, which included Chinese hardware.''

The company ensures operations and licensed technologies ''remain in full compliance'' with U.S. government regulations and talks to U.S. agencies about staying aligned with those, he said. It is ''partnering with leading companies and institutions with shared values and developing responsible A.I. solutions,'' he added.

'The Ultimate Question of Life'G42's name is drawn from ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,'' the science-fiction series by Douglas Adams, in which the number 42 represents the answer to ''the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.'' (The G stands for group.)

''Forty-two is really our mission,'' Mr. Xiao said in a promotional video for the company last year. ''In that amazing book, 42 was the answer to the meaning of life.''

Within that wide remit, G42 encompasses a $10 billion technology investment fund, an Arabic language A.I. model, a tech talent platform, a health care company, a genome-sequencing program and more. G42's investments overseas include a $100 million purchase early this year of shares in ByteDance, the Chinese company that is the parent of TikTok, the popular social media app, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Image The United Arab Emirates, a small but powerful Middle Eastern country, is cultivating closer ties to China and Russia, in part to lessen its dependence on the United States. Credit... Kamran Jebreili/Associated Press In a promotional video, Mr. Xiao said he believed that the impact of artificial intelligence on human civilization would be ''much more profound than fire, electricity or even internet.''

In addition to collaborations with Chinese companies, G42 has also signed agreements with American companies including Microsoft and Dell Technologies.

Mr. Xiao has impressed some of his American partners.

''He's a visionary,'' said Andrew Feldman, the chief executive of Cerebras, the Silicon Valley A.I. firm that is partnering with G42 on the supercomputer project. ''He's knowledgeable and thoughtful. I found somebody with a shared vision.''

Besides its work with G42, Cerebras has several U.S. government contracts, including with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Department of Energy, according to public records and Mr. Feldman.

Mr. Feldman said he was surprised to hear about the Biden administration's concerns about G42 and said that no American officials have raised those concerns with him or other officers at Cerebras.

OpenAI and Microsoft declined to comment, and Dell said, ''We comply with global regulations and have nothing additional to add.''

Social Media and Genetic DataSheikh Tahnoon, the company's sunglasses-obsessed chairman, is one of the Emirates' most powerful men. Even in a state where senior officials often hold multiple posts, Sheikh Tahnoon, a brother of the Emirati president, stands out. In addition to overseeing a secretive conglomerate called the ''International Holding Company'' '-- the country's most valuable listed firm '-- Sheikh Tahnoon is also the deputy ruler of the emirate of Abu Dhabi and head of an $853 billion sovereign wealth fund. (Another family-run sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, has a stake in G42.)

Mr. Xiao has been a part of Sheikh Tahnoon's ventures for some time, and several of the past partnerships have set off alarms within American spy agencies.

There is very little about Mr. Xiao's background online, which is rare for a chief executive of a prominent company. His LinkedIn page and corporate profiles say he earned bachelor's degrees at Hawaii Pacific University and a master's degree at George Washington University in the 1990s, but there is no information on his years before college.

His LinkedIn account says he worked from 1999 to 2014 as a chief technology officer for MicroStrategy, a technology company in Virginia. He has rarely given individual interviews to journalists but has done some public talks. An online post by China's embassy in the Emirates that mentions him uses the Chinese name 肖鹏.

Four years ago, a firm led by Mr. Xiao had a hand in the operation of a social media app, ToTok, that American intelligence agencies identified as a spy tool that the Emirati government was using to track the movements and conversations of its users. Chinese engineers helped create the app.

The data harvested from the app, according to a 2019 American intelligence assessment, was stored by an Emirati firm called Pax AI, which Mr. Xiao ran.

Image Peng Xiao, the chief executive of G42, meeting with Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, to start a partnership between the two companies. Credit... G42, via PRNewswire Bill Marczak of Citizen Lab, a digital watchdog group at the University of Toronto, has researched the constellation of companies controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon, and called them ''master classes in blending state power and business.''

''Because ToTok worked so well, its popularity took off among Emiratis and their contacts abroad,'' Mr. Marczak said. ''And since the app's encryption didn't prevent Group 42 from accessing ToTok users' conversations, the app could have fed a huge volume of juicy data back to U.A.E. intelligence.''

Mr. Marczak said that G42 ''seems to have absorbed assets and personnel from Chinese chat app YeeCall in order to create ToTok.'' After a New York Times investigation into ToTok in 2019, company representatives denied that it had been built to be a spy tool.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, G42 partnered with a Chinese biotech firm, BGI Genomics, to distribute its Covid-19 tests, and the Emirati government donated tens of thousands of the tests to the State of Nevada. American officials warned Nevada officials not to distribute the tests out of concern that the operation could be a secret ploy by the Chinese government to gather genetic information about Americans from the tests, The Associated Press reported.

In March, the Biden administration put subsidiaries of BGI on a Commerce Department blacklist and said that collection and analysis of genetic data done by the companies ''poses a significant risk of contributing to monitoring and surveillance by the government of China.''

In June 2020, Mr. Xiao and Emirati leaders announced that G42 was partnering with Sinopharm, the Chinese drug giant, to do Phase 3 of clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine. That trial expanded to other nations in the region, including Bahrain, whose crown prince spoke by video with Mr. Xiao and the chairman of Sinopharm, according to an online post by China's embassy in Bahrain.

Image A Covid testing lab provided by the Chinese biotech company BGI Genomics in Beijing in June 2020. The Biden administration put subsidiaries of the company on a Commerce Department blacklist. Credit... Chen Zhonghao/Xinhua, via Associated Press In March 2021, Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, announced on a visit to the Emirates that G42 and Sinopharm would produce the vaccine in Abu Dhabi.

One of Mr. Xiao's previous ventures, Pegasus, signed an agreement in 2017 with Huawei to develop surveillance technologies for police forces. That company was owned by DarkMatter, a cyber-intelligence and hacking firm that employs former spies. It had no relation to the notorious spyware also called Pegasus that was developed by NSO Group, an Israeli firm.

Charging Into the Middle EastThe Chinese government has made no secret of its intentions to expand the country's economic and military footprint in the Middle East. The deepening ties between China and the U.A.E. have been a cause for particular alarm for American officials.

The Emirates regularly purchases billions of dollars worth of American military equipment, but the country has also shown eagerness to buy Chinese military hardware.

Image Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the Emirati leader, meeting with President Xi Jinping of China in Beijing in 2019. Credit... Andy Wong/Associated Press The Trump administration cultivated close ties to Emirati leaders, but national security officials were wary of the U.A.E.'s growing ties to China. Several officials disliked the fact that Huawei was providing main elements of the country's technology infrastructure. That issue became more contentious after the United States agreed in 2020 to sell advanced F-35 fighter jets to the Emirates as an incentive to get the country to normalize ties with Israel.

American officials try to ensure technology around those jets does not fall into the hands of adversaries. Around this time, U.S. agencies began looking more closely at Mr. Xiao and G42 because of its prominent role in technology in the Emirates. G42 opened an office in Israel after normalization. (The F-35 deal ultimately did not go through.)

Early in the Biden administration, American officials confronted Emirati officials with satellite images that they argued showed China was building a military base in the country. Since then, U.S. officials say, the Emirates has suspended the project. Emirati officials insist it was commercial port construction.

Still, C.I.A. officials have made regular trips to Abu Dhabi to present classified information to the Emirates that buttresses the Americans' concerns about security and technology ties between China and the U.A.E.

In June, just days after White House officials privately raised concerns about G42 to the Emirati national security chief, Mr. Xiao took the stage for a companywide town hall for G42's fifth anniversary.

At the event, which the company called ''Supercharged,'' Mr. Xiao said the company was just getting started.

Vivian Nereim contributed reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Paul Mozur from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Taipei, Taiwan, and Amy Chang Chien from Taipei.

Mark Mazzetti is an investigative reporter based in Washington, D.C., focusing on national security, intelligence, and foreign affairs. He has written a book about the C.I.A. More about Mark Mazzetti

Edward Wong is a diplomatic correspondent who has reported for The Times for more than 24 years from New York, Baghdad, Beijing and Washington. He was on a team of Pulitzer Prize finalists for Iraq War coverage. More about Edward Wong

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 20:11

Pfizer logo is seen in this illustration taken, May 1, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

Nov 20 (Reuters) - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Pfizer (PFE.N) and its supplier Tris Pharma of providing children's ADHD medicine that it knew might be ineffective to the state's Medicaid insurance program for low-income people, in a lawsuit unsealed on Monday.

The lawsuit, filed in Harrison County, Texas District Court, alleges that Pfizer and Tris manipulated quality-control testing for the drug Quillivant XR in order to obtain passing results from tests it was required to perform under federal law between 2012 and 2018. Properly done tests frequently showed that the drug failed to dissolve as it was supposed to, a sign that it would not be released in the body as expected, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also alleged that Pfizer, despite knowing of the quality-control issues, persuaded Texas' Medicaid program to add Quillivant to its list of preferred drugs.

Paxton alleged that many Texas families complained that Quillivant failed to work.

"I am horrified by the dishonesty we uncovered in this investigation," Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement. The lawsuit accuses the companies of defrauding the state's Medicaid program, and seeks unspecified money damages from the companies.

Pfizer said in a statement that it had examined the allegations in the complaint on "multiple occasions" and "did not find any impact on the safety of the product." It said it believed the case had no merit and would move to dismiss it.

A spokesperson for Tris said in an email: "We categorically deny and intend to rigorously defend these allegations in the court of law."

Tris manufactured Quillivant for Pfizer until 2018, when it acquired the product from Pfizer.

The lawsuit stems from a whistleblower complaint by Tarik Ahmed, who worked as Tris' head of technology from 2013 to 2017.

Quillivant was developed by Nextwave Pharmaceuticals, a company acquired by Pfizer in 2012.

Like other drugs for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, it has been plagued by shortages, and never achieved a large national market share. Tris acquired the product in 2018.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2017 warned Tris of manufacturing lapses.

In its 2022 annual report, Pfizer said it had received a subpoena from federal prosecutors in the Manhattan-based Southern District of New York related to its relationship with Tris and the production of Quillivant in 2018, but had not heard anything further after responding.

Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Matthew Lewis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Brendan Pierson reports on product liability litigation and on all areas of health care law. He can be reached at brendan.pierson@thomsonreuters.com.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 18:00

Norsk versjon.

After training with Finland's F/A-18 Hornet fighter, two of Norway's F-35A fighters landed for the first time on a Finnish highway on Thursday. This is reported by the Norwegian Armed Forces.

More specifically, this took place in Tervo, North Savo '' which is located in central Finland.

''The Air Forces in the Nordic countries have shown great initiative for increased Nordic cooperation and have come a long way. This landing is a very good example of this '' and it shows that the Nordic countries soon can operate together as one coordinated force,'' says the Norwegian Defence Chief, general Eirik Kristoffersen.

Landing on a highway has also never been carried out before with the F-35A fighter, but the US has done it with some of its F-35Bs.

Concept of dispersal ''This is a milestone, not only for the Norwegian Air Force, but also for the Nordic countries and for NATO. This demonstrates our ability to execute a concept of dispersal. Fighter jets are vulnerable on the ground, so by being able to use small airfields '' and now also highways '' increases our survivability in war,'' Major General Rolf Folland, Chief of the Norwegian Air Force, says.

He points out that Finland's straight and wide highways provide the basis for strengthening the concept of dispersal.

''In addition, this is also a demonstration of the exciting development we have initiated within the military-air cooperation in the Nordic region,'' he continues.

Illustrative of this development is also the initiative for a Nordic air operations center. ''The idea has been very well received '' and we are now looking toward such a center in an Arctic format'', Folland recently told High North News.

Regular Nordic training and practice is also central. Last month, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish fighters operated together during the Arctic Fighter Meet exercise, which took place from rland Air Station in Mid-Norway. And this spring, the large-scale fighter jet exercise Arctic Challenge Exercise was organized across Norway, Finland and Sweden.

Both of the aforementioned exercises were carried out within the framework of the Nordic Defense Cooperation (NORDEFCO).

Combined air force capability Norway's Minister of Defense Bj¸rn Arild Gram (Center) also comments on the enhanced interaction between the Nordic air forces.

''The Nordics' future air defense will consist of more than 200 combat aircraft, and it is very good that we are in the process of developing Nordic cooperation on military air operations'', says Gram and continues:

''With Finland's entry into NATO and Sweden's imminent membership, the Nordic countries have a particular responsibility for developing and coordinating NATO's deterrence in the northern regions.''

This was also pointed out by the Minister of Defense at the NATO Military Committee Conference in Norway last weekend (Norwegian only). "Nato in the north" was a central theme in his speech to the 31 allied defense chiefs, as well as the head of the Swedish Armed Forces.

After the successful landing, the Chief of the Norwegian Air Force Rolf Folland thanks his Finnish colleague Juha-Pekka Ker¤nen and his team '' as well as the team at rland Air Station, Mid-Norway.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:56

correction

A previous version of this article incorrectly said Jason Eaton faces second-degree murder charges in the shooting of three men. He faces attempted second-degree murder charges. The article also identified Burlington as the capital of Vermont. It is Montpelier. The article has been corrected.

A Vermont man was charged Monday with three counts of attempted second-degree murder in the shootings of three college students of Palestinian descent '-- an attack that followed a quiet Thanksgiving for the trio and drew condemnation across the United States.

Jason Eaton pleaded not guilty during a short, televised appearance in Chittenden County Superior Court. The 48-year-old Burlington resident, who wore a red jail jumpsuit and spoke only briefly during his arraignment, is being held without bail ahead of a hearing that is expected in the coming days. It was not clear Monday evening whether Eaton had retained an attorney.

The victims '-- Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, all 20 years old '-- remain in intensive care, Awartani's uncle, Rich Price, said during a Monday news conference. Awartani was shot in the spine, Ahmad in the chest and Abdalhamid in the backside while the three longtime friends visited Burlington for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to court documents. All are expected to recover, though Price noted that Awartani, in particular, ''faces a long recovery.''

A vigil for the men was held at Brown University on Monday afternoon, Reuters reported.

Investigators said they are still working to determine a motive for the violence against the men, two of whom are U.S. citizens and the third of whom is a legal U.S. resident. Although authorities do not have evidence to support a hate crime enhancement, Chittenden County State Attorney Sarah George said they want to be ''clear that there is no question this was a hateful act.''

Federal officials from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also probing the incident, including whether it was a hate crime, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a meeting with New York-based law enforcement Monday morning.

He noted a ''sharp increase in the volume and frequency of threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities across our country'' since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials. Israel retaliated with a bombardment of the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 13,300 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Students and teachers at Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank on Nov. 28 showed solidarity with the three victims of a shooting in Burlington, Vt. (Video: Reuters)

President Biden, who called Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger to discuss the investigation, said in a statement that he was ''horrified'' to learn of the shooting. He added that the victims ''were simply spending Thanksgiving gathered with family and loved ones.''

''While we are waiting for more facts, we know this: There is absolutely no place for violence or hate in America,'' he said. ''Period.''

According to court documents, Awartani, Abdalhamid and Ahmad (who in some news releases has been referred to as Ahmed) were in Burlington visiting Awartani's grandmother for Thanksgiving. Awartani is a student at Brown University in Rhode Island, Abdalhamid at Haverford College in Pennsylvania and Ahmad at Trinity College in Connecticut. They previously attended Ramallah Friends School, a Quaker-run private school in Ramallah, West Bank, school officials said.

The three were taking a walk Saturday when violence cut short a weekend of family events that included bowling and a trip to the movies. They told police that they were speaking a mixture of Arabic and English and that two of them wore kaffiyeh '-- headdresses traditionally worn across the Arab world, the black and white version of which has come to be associated with Palestinians and is often donned as a scarf.

As they strolled, a man stepped off a porch with a gun, Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said during Monday's news conference. The victims told authorities the man did not speak before opening fire on them.

ATF agents were canvassing door-to-door when they found the suspected shooter Sunday afternoon, Murad said. Agents knocked on Eaton's door and he came out with his arms raised.

''The ATF agents were greeted by a man who stepped out of the hall, out of the door toward them with his palms up at waist height and stated something to the effect of, 'I've been waiting for you,' '' Murad said. He added that the man then said he would like a lawyer.

Eaton was detained and taken to police headquarters, and later a warrant was issued to search his apartment. Court documents say ATF and Burlington police seized a .380-caliber pistol. They seized other firearms, including two shotguns and a rifle, as well as technology including five cellphones and a backpack filled with hard drives, the documents say.

Relatives of the three victims expressed shock at the shooting. Price described them as ''incredible young men'' who are ''committed to building incredible lives.'' He noted that they had just returned from attending the birthday party of 8-year-old twins when they went out for the walk during which they were attacked.

''If you're in college, who wants to go a 8-year-old birthday party? But these three guys did, and they came, they played with my boys,'' he said, adding that he was impressed by the resilience they have displayed since the shooting.

The men's families said they were ''relieved'' after hearing about the charges, but they urged authorities to file hate-crime counts.

Monday's charges are ''an important and welcomed first step towards justice and accountability for our sons,'' said their statement sent via the Institute for Middle East Understanding on Monday afternoon.

Uncles of two of the Palestinian American college students shot in Vermont questioned on Nov. 27 the decision to send their nephews to study in the U.S. (Video: Reuters)

Price said at the news conference that the families of the victims fear the shooting was motivated by hate and that the three men may have been ''targeted because they were Arabs, that they were wearing kaffiyehs.''Abdalhamid's uncle, Radi Tamimi, who had flown in from California, said his family had believed his nephew would be safer in the U.S. than in the West Bank, where he grew up.

''Kinnan grew up in the West Bank and we always thought that that could be more of a risk in terms of his safety and sending him here would be the right decision,'' he said. ''We feel betrayed by that decision.''

Hannah Allam, Devlin Barrett, Ben Brasch, Abigail Hauslohner and Razzan Nakhlawi contributed to this report.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:55

Apple with iOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 introduced a new NameDrop feature that is designed to allow users to place Apple devices near one another to quickly exchange contact information. Sharing contact information is done with explicit user permission, but some news organizations and police departments have been spreading misinformation about how functions.

As noted by The Washington Post, there have been warnings about NameDrop popping up on FaceTime. Police departments in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio, and other states have been suggesting that contact information can be shared "just by bringing your phones close together." From the City of Chester Police Department in Ohio:

IMPORTANT PRIVACY UPDATE: If you have an iPhone and have done the recent iOS 17 update, they have set a new feature called NameDrop defaulted to ON. This feature allows the sharing of your contact info just by bringing your phones close together. To shut this off go to Settings, General, AirDrop, Bringing Devices Together. Change to OFF.

While it's true that NameDrop is turned on by default, the way that it functions is more nuanced than simply putting two iPhones near each other.

NameDrop works when two iPhones running iOS 17.1 or an iPhone with iOS 17.1 and an Apple Watch running watchOS 10.1 are placed right next to each other, as in almost touching. When the two devices come in close contact and both are unlocked, there is a pop up prompting users to share contact information or an image.

Contact information is not shared automatically, and it is a user-initiated process that requires both people exchanging information to accept the transfer. While an accidental exchange could occur, it would require a user to unlock their device and accept the sharing prompt for that to occur.

Multiple police departments posted the warning above, which was widely shared on Facebook and other social networks. The message from the Noble County Sheriff's Office in Ohio, for example, got upwards of 70,000 shares, while the Dewey Police Department in Pennsylvania's warning was shared 11,000 times. After criticism from some commenters, Noble County edited its message to clarify that there's a popup to transfer content, and Dewey County said that it was attempting to "get parents engaged with their children," but many people who saw the original post may not see the updates.

The intent of the post was to get parents engaged with their children and what they are doing on their devices, not the fear mongering as suggested. We suggest everyone do research on new technology and updates to learn more about what is out there, especially for kids

Several local news stories have also shared similar questionable NameDrop information. KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, for example, interviewed several people and included quotes suggesting NameDrop happens automatically.

"That's why I turned it off because I don't have a use for it. I don't even have my phone at work so I don't really have a use for it. But I guess a default on could be a bit controversial just because I think giving out your contact should be a conscious decision and not something that could accidentally happen," Jerry said.

"That is a little bit concerning, I think it should be an optional feature instead of automatically happening," said Liz Jones.

If anything, NameDrop has the potential to be more irritating than dangerous, simply because it's likely to activate when your phone is next to someone else's and unlocked, in a situation like a dinner or meeting. Given the negative feedback, Apple may in a future update turn NameDrop off by default, but those who want to disable it now can do so by opening up the Settings app, going to AirDrop, and turning off "Bringing Devices Together."

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:52

READ MORE: The Project's New Zealand bosses propose cancellation by the end of the yearBy Mary Mrad For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 18:15 EST, 27 November 2023 | Updated: 18:50 EST, 27 November 2023

The Project panel have called out Steve Price for being critical of a generous Aussie who paid off all Christmas lay-by items at a Kmart store.

The Secret Santa anonymously covered the cost of items on lay-by for customers at a Victoria Gardens Kmart in inner-city Melbourne.

The hosts were discussing the incredible gesture on Monday when Price questioned the shopper's intentions.

'Why would someone do that?' he said.

A stunned Sam Taunton said: 'What do you mean why would someone do that? It's Christmas, it's to help people out.'

The Project panel slammed Steve Price over his jab at a generous Aussie who paid off all Christmas lay-by items at a Kmart store

Price continued: 'Why would you do that? It puzzles me. Do you think Kmart did it themselves?'

'Who puts stuff on layby anymore?'

'Not everyone has got a private jet, mate!' Waleed Aly responded.

The generous Aussie, who preferred to remain anonymous, covered the entire cost of items on lay-by for all customers at the Kmart store.

The shopper expressed a simple desire to contribute something positive to the community during the festive season.

They told retail staff they 'just wanted to do something nice for the community', the Herald Sun reported.

'Why would you do that? It puzzles me. Do you think Kmart did it themselves? And who puts stuff on layby anymore?' Steve questioned

'Not everyone has got a private jet, mate!' Waleed Aly responded

While the exact amount of the donation remains undisclosed by Kmart, the store said most of the items were Christmas gifts.

The unexpected act of kindness left some customers in tears.

A Kmart spokeswoman said: 'We are overwhelmed by our customer's generosity at this time of year, and want to thank them for their act of kindness towards other members of our community.

'We are proud to call them one of our customers.'

The Secret Santa anonymously covered the cost of items on lay-by for customers at a Victoria Gardens Kmart in inner-city Melbourne (pictured, a Kmart in Canberra)

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:29

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 17:03

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Economic model for sustainable development (created 2012)

The classic image of the Doughnut; the extent to which boundaries are transgressed and social foundations are met are not visible on this diagramThe Doughnut, or Doughnut economics, is a visual framework for sustainable development '' shaped like a doughnut or lifebelt '' combining the concept of planetary boundaries with the complementary concept of social boundaries.[1] The name derives from the shape of the diagram, i.e. a disc with a hole in the middle. The centre hole of the model depicts the proportion of people that lack access to life's essentials (healthcare, education, equity and so on) while the crust represents the ecological ceilings (planetary boundaries) that life depends on and must not be overshot.[2] The diagram was developed by University of Oxford economist Kate Raworth in her 2012 Oxfam paper A Safe and Just Space for Humanity and elaborated upon in her 2017 book Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist and paper.[3]

The framework was proposed to regard the performance of an economy by the extent to which the needs of people are met without overshooting Earth's ecological ceiling.[4] The main goal of the new model is to re-frame economic problems and set new goals. In this context, the model is also referred to as a "wake-up call to transform our capitalist worldview".[5] In this model, an economy is considered prosperous when all twelve social foundations are met without overshooting any of the nine ecological ceilings. This situation is represented by the area between the two rings, considered by its creator as a safe and just space for humanity.[6]

Kate Raworth noted the planetary boundaries concept does not take human wellbeing into account[7] (although, if Earth's ecosystem dies then all wellbeing is moot). She suggested social boundaries should be combined with the planetary boundaries structure. Adding measures such as jobs, education, food, access to water, health services and energy helps to accommodate an environmentally safe space compatible with poverty eradication and "rights for all". Within planetary limits and an equitable social foundation lies a doughnut-shaped area which is the area where there is a "safe and just space for humanity to thrive in".[8]

Indicators [ edit ] [ edit ] The social foundations are inspired by the social aims of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.[9] These are:

Food securityHealthEducationIncome and work (the latter is not limited to compensated employment but also includes things such as housekeeping)Peace and justicePolitical voiceSocial equityGender equalityHousingNetworksEnergyWaterEcological ceilings [ edit ] The nine ecological ceilings are from the planetary boundaries put forward by a group of Earth-system scientists led by Johan Rockstr¶m and Will Steffen.[9] These are:

Climate change '-- the human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane trap heat in the atmosphere, changing the Earth's climate.Ocean acidification '-- when human-emitted carbon dioxide is absorbed into the oceans, it makes the water more acidic. For example, this lowers the ability of marine life to grow skeletons and shells.Chemical pollution '-- releasing toxic materials into nature decreases biodiversity and lowers the fertility of animals (including humans).Nitrogen and phosphorus loading '-- inefficient or excessive use of fertiliser leads to the fertilizer running off to water bodies, where they cause algae blooms which kills underwater life.Freshwater withdrawals '-- using too much freshwater dries up the source which may damage the ecosystem and be unusable after.Land conversion '-- converting land for economic activity (such as creating roads and farmland) damages or removes the habitat for wildlife, removes carbon sinks and disrupts natural cycles.Biodiversity loss '-- economic activity may cause a reduction in the number and variety of species. This makes ecosystems more vulnerable and may lower their capacity of sustaining life and providing ecosystem services.Air pollution '-- the emission of aerosols (small particles) has a negative impact on the health of species. It can also affect precipitation and cloud formation.Ozone layer depletion '-- some economic activity emits gases that damage the Earth's ozone layer. Because the ozone layer shields Earth from harmful radiation, its depletion results for example in skin cancer in animals.Critique to mainstream economic theory [ edit ] The doughnut model is still a collection of goals that may be pursued through different actions by different actors and does not include specific models related to markets or human behavior. The book Doughnut Economics consists of critiques and perspectives of what should be sought after by society as a whole.[9] The critiques found in the book are targeted at certain economic models and their common base.

The mainstream economic models of the 20th century, defined here as those taught the most in Economics introductory courses around the world, are neoclassical. The Circular Flow published by Paul Samuelson in 1944 and the supply and demand curves published by William S. Jevons in 1862 are canonical examples of neoclassical economic models. Focused on the observable money flows in a given administrative unit and describing preferences mathematically, these models ignore the environments in which these objects are embedded: human minds, society, culture, and the natural environment. This omission was viable while the human population did not collectively overwhelm the Earth's systems, which is no longer the case. Furthermore, these models were created before statistical testing and research were possible. They were based, then, on assumptions about human behavior converted into "stylized facts". The origins of these assumptions are philosophical and pragmatic, simplifying and distorting the reflections of thinkers such as Adam Smith into Newtonian-resembling curves on a graph so that they could be of presumed practical use in predicting, for example, consumer choice.

The body of neoclassical economic theory grew and became more sophisticated over time, and competed with other theories for the post-mainstream economic paradigm of the North Atlantic. In the 1930s, Keynesian theory was it, and after the 1960s, monetarism gained prominence. One element remained as the policy prescriptions shifted: the "rational economic man" persona on which theories were based. Raworth, the creator of Doughnut Economics, denounces this literary invention as a perverse one, for its effects on its learners' assumptions about human behavior and, consequently, their own real behavior. Examples of this phenomenon in action have been documented,[10][11][12] as have the effects of the erosion of trust and community on human well-being.[13]

Real-world economies in the Doughnut perspective [ edit ] The Doughnut template used for Planet Earth as a whole, indicating errors in red.Kate Raworth explains the doughnut economy is based on the premise that "Humanity's 21st century challenge is to meet the needs of all within the means of the planet. In other words, to ensure that no one falls short on life's essentials (from food and housing to healthcare and political voice), while ensuring that collectively we do not overshoot our pressure on Earth's life-supporting systems, on which we fundamentally depend '' such as a stable climate, fertile soils, and a protective ozone layer. The Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries is a new framing of that challenge, and it acts as a compass for human progress this century."[14]

Raworth states that "significant GDP growth is very much needed" for low- and middle-income countries to be able to meet the goals of the social foundation for their citizens.[15]

Leaning on Earth studies and economics, Raworth maps out the current shortfalls[16] and overshoots,[17][18][19] as illustrated in Figure 2.

The Doughnut framework has been used to map localized socio-environmental performance in Erhai lake-catchment (China),[20] Scotland,[21] Wales,[22] the UK,[23] South Africa,[24] Netherlands,[25] India,[26] globally[27] and many more.[28]

In April 2020, Kate Raworth was invited to join the City of Amsterdam's post-pandemic economic planning efforts.[29]

An empirical application of the doughnut model showed in 2018 that so far across 150 countries not a single country satisfies its citizens' basic needs while maintaining a globally sustainable level of resource use.[30]

Criticism [ edit ] Branko Milanovic, at CUNY's Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, said that for the donut theory to become popular, people would have to "magically" become "indifferent to how well we do compared to others, and not really care about wealth and income."[15]

See also [ edit ] Ecological economicsCritique of political economyProsperity Without GrowthThe Closing CircleReferences [ edit ] ^ Raworth, Kate (2012). A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: Can We Live within the Doughnut? (PDF) . Oxfam Discussion Papers. ^ Monbiot, George (12 April 2017). "Finally, A Breakthrough Alternative to Browth Economics '' The Doughnut". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 January 2019 . ^ Raworth, Kate (1 May 2017). "A Doughnut for the Anthropocene: Humanity's Compass in the 21st Century". The Lancet Planetary Health. 1 (2): e48''e49. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30028-1 . ISSN 2542-5196. PMID 29851576. S2CID 46919938. ^ Raworth, Kate (28 April 2017). "Meet the Doughnut: The New Economic Model That Could Help End Inequality". World Economic Forum . Retrieved 4 January 2019 . ^ Ross, Florian (2019). "Kate Raworth - Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist". Regional and Business Studies. 11 (2): 81''86. doi:10.33568/rbs.2409 . ISSN 2732-2726. ^ O'Neill, Daniel W.; Fanning, Andrew L.; Lamb, William F.; Steinberger, Julia K. (2018). "A good life for all within planetary boundaries". Nature Sustainability. 1 (2): 88''95. doi:10.1038/s41893-018-0021-4. ^ Raworth, Kate (2012). A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: Can We Live within the Doughnut? (PDF) . Oxfam Discussion Papers. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 May 2021 . Retrieved 22 April 2021 . ^ "Climate Change: Understanding Rio+20". 3 April 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. ^ a b c Raworth, Kate (2017). Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist. Vermont: White River Junction. p. 254. ISBN 9781603586740. OCLC 961205457. ^ Molinsky, Andrew L.; Grant, Adam M.; Margolis, Joshua D. (September 2012). "The Bedside Manner of Homo Economicus: How and Why Priming an Economic Schema Reduces Compassion". Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 119 (1): 27''37. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.05.001. ISSN 0749-5978. ^ Frank, Robert H. (2014). "Does studying economics inhibit cooperation?". What Price the Moral High Ground?. Princeton University Press. pp. 155''178. doi:10.1515/9781400833917.155. ISBN 978-1-4008-3391-7. ^ Frank, Bj¶rn; Schulze, G¼nther G (September 2000). "Does Economics Make Citizens Corrupt?". Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 43 (1): 101''113. doi:10.1016/s0167-2681(00)00111-6. ISSN 0167-2681. ^ Bauer, Monika A.; Wilkie, James E. B.; Kim, Jung K.; Bodenhausen, Galen V. (16 March 2012). "Cuing Consumerism". Psychological Science. 23 (5): 517''523. doi:10.1177/0956797611429579. ISSN 0956-7976. PMID 22427388. S2CID 35363392. ^ Raworth, Kate (28 April 2013). "What on Earth is the Doughnut?'...". Kate Raworth. ^ a b Nugent, Ciara (22 January 2021). "Amsterdam Is Embracing a Radical New Economic Theory to Help Save the Environment. Could It Also Replace Capitalism?". Time. In fact, the doughnut model doesn't proscribe all economic growth or development. In her book, Raworth acknowledges that for low- and middle-income countries to climb above the doughnut's social foundation, 'significant GDP growth is very much needed.' But that economic growth needs to be viewed as a means to reach social goals within ecological limits, she says, and not as an indicator of success in itself, or a goal for rich countries. ... Still, some economists are skeptical of the idealism. In his 2018 review of Raworth's book, Branko Milanovic, a scholar at CUNY's Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, says for the doughnut to take off, humans would need to 'magically' become 'indifferent to how well we do compared to others, and not really care about wealth and income.' ^ Stiglitz, Joseph E. (c. 2009). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. OCLC 837677596. ^ Living Planet Report. WWF-World Wildlife Fund for Nature. OCLC 271397636. ^ Berger, A. (23 August 2002). "Climate: An Exceptionally Long Interglacial Ahead?". Science. 297 (5585): 1287''1288. doi:10.1126/science.1076120. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 12193773. S2CID 128923481. ^ Young, Oran R.; Steffen, Will (2009), "The Earth System: Sustaining Planetary Life-Support Systems", Principles of Ecosystem Stewardship, Springer New York, pp. 295''315, doi:10.1007/978-0-387-73033-2_14, hdl:1885/35678 , ISBN 978-0-387-73032-5 ^ Cooper, Gregory S.; Dearing, John A. (February 2019). "Modelling future safe and just operating spaces in regional social-ecological systems". Science of the Total Environment. 651 (Pt 2): 2105''2117. Bibcode:2019ScTEn.651.2105C. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.118 . ISSN 0048-9697. PMID 30321732. ^ Sayers, M.; Trebeck, K. (2014), The Scottish Doughnut: A Safe and Just Operating Space for Scotland, Oxford: Oxfam GB ^ Sayers, M.; Trebeck, K. (2015), The Welsh Doughnut: A Framework for Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice, Oxford: Oxfam GB ^ Sayers, M.; Trebeck, K. (2015), The UK Doughnut: A Framework for Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice, Oxford: Oxfam GB ^ Cole, M. (2015), Is South Africa Operating in a Safe and Just Space? Using the Doughnut Model to Explore Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice, Oxford: Oxfam GB ^ "The Amsterdam City Donut: a tool for transformative action" (PDF) . kateraworth.com. 2020. ^ Cooper, Gregory S.; Dearing, John A. (15 February 2019). "Modelling Future Safe and Just Operating Spaces in Regional social-ecological systems". Science of the Total Environment. 651 (Pt 2): 2105''2117. Bibcode:2019ScTEn.651.2105C. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.118 . ISSN 0048-9697. PMID 30321732. S2CID 53018813. ^ Roy, Ajishnu; Basu, Aman; Dong, Xuhui (January 2021). "Achieving Socioeconomic Development Fuelled by Globalization: An Analysis of 146 Countries". Sustainability. 13 (9): 4913. doi:10.3390/su13094913 . ISSN 2071-1050. ^ Fang, Xuening; Wu, Jianguo; He, Chunyang (1 February 2021). "Assessing Human-environment System Sustainability Based on Regional Safe and Just Operating Space: The case of the Inner Mongolia Grassland". Environmental Science & Policy. 116: 276''286. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.12.007. ISSN 1462-9011. S2CID 234039657. ^ Raworth, Kate (8 April 2020). "Introducing the Amsterdam City Doughnut". Kate Raworth. ^ O'Neill, Daniel W.; Fanning, Andrew L.; Lamb, William F.; Steinberger, Julia (2018). "A Good Life for All Within Planetary Boundaries" (PDF) . Nature Sustainability. 1 (2): 88''95. doi:10.1038/s41893-018-0021-4. ISSN 2398-9629. S2CID 169679920. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 April 2019 . Retrieved 13 September 2020 .

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:57

* The Amsterdam City Doughnut (English) ** ì•--스테르담 ì‹'티 ëë› (í•'국어) *

OverviewIn April 2020, during the depths of the COVID-19 lockdown, the City of Amsterdam provided a much-needed surge of hope worldwide by publicly embracing the Doughnut as a tool to guide their social and economic recovery from the pandemic.

This announcement came as a milestone in the ongoing engagement with the Doughnut by Dutch officials and changemakers, especially following the translation of Doughnut Economics: 7 ways to think like a 21st century economist in early 2018. Momentum picked up in Amsterdam during a series of workshops run in collaboration with DEAL's locally based partners Circle Economy in 2019, where city officials came together to design one of the city's most ambitious initiatives: Amsterdam's strategy to be 100% circular by 2050.

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Based on the success of the Amsterdam Circular Strategy, the City joined the Thriving Cities Initiative '' a collaboration between Biomimicry 3.8, C40 Cities, Circle Economy, and DEAL '' to create the Amsterdam City Doughnut portrait.

The Amsterdam City Doughnut was the first public presentation of the 'City Portrait' approach to downscaling the global Doughnut to the city scale. The aim of this approach is to provide a holistic snapshot of the city's many complex interconnections with the world in which it is embedded, by considering its local aspirations '' to be thriving people in a thriving place '' and global responsibilities, both social and ecological.

By introducing Doughnut-thinking into policymaking, coupled with the self-organising and dynamic uptake of the Doughnut by the city's civil society through the Amsterdam Doughnut Coalition, Amsterdam has provided an inspirational and pioneering starting point for turning Doughnut Economics into 21st century transformative action.

Downloads* The Amsterdam City Doughnut (English) ** ì•--스테르담 ì‹'티 ëë› (í•'국어) *

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:19

What does it mean for a health system to achieve carbon neutrality?Among the various GHGs that play a role in climate change, carbon dioxide plays the biggest, and the amount of carbon emissions are expected to only increase in the near future. Focusing on them is therefore a natural starting point.

While it's impossible for a health system to generate zero carbon emissions, health systems could seek to achieve carbon neutrality. They can start by reducing carbon emissions as much as possible, by, for example, using renewable energy, greener models of care delivery, and low- and zero-emission transportation.

Why is it important that U.S. health care reduce its carbon footprint?In a nutshell, it's important because:

Climate change causes numerous negative health impacts. Over the long term, everyone's health will benefit from efforts to lower carbon emissions.The negative health effects of climate change and climate-induced crises disproportionately impact groups that are already at risk, including people of color, people with low income, people with preexisting health conditions, older adults, and children.Climate change disrupts the health system's ability to deliver safe, effective care.Caring for the victims of climate change and repairing health facilities following climate events are expensive, and health systems bear much of these costs.Where are we now, and what do we need to do?A necessary first step is increasing awareness of the health system's impact on climate change. At the federal level, the newly established Office of Climate Change and Health Equity is charged with protecting Americans' health in the face of climate change. While the office has a lot of potential, it has yet to receive the funding it needs.

To some extent, health systems must learn to adapt to a changing climate and shore up their resilience. But they also can make an effort to mitigate the levels of GHG emissions they release. A handful of U.S. health systems are making progress, but most others will need to step up and make a stronger commitment. The government could take these further actions:

Develop standardized metrics of health system performance at the facility, state, and federal levels.Enact policies that remove barriers and create incentives for health systems to reduce their GHG emissions.Create roadmaps for health systems that show them what to do and how to do it.Climate change is already devastating the planet. The time to act is now, and health systems must do their part.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:18

Zonnepanelen op het dak van een rijtjeshuis uit 1930 in de Utrechtse wijk Oudwijk. De vraag naar de panelen is ingestort. Foto: ANP / Gerard Til Photo In het kort De vraag naar zonnepanelen is sinds de zomer ingestort door onzekerheid over de terugverdientijd. Installateurs zien hun omzet inklappen, waardoor het aantal faillissementen oploopt. Een jaar eerder was de markt juist booming, wat veel nieuwe bedrijven trok. Installateurs zuchten onder de ingeklapte vraag naar zonnepanelen. Zeker 25 bedrijven in de zonnepanelenbranche zijn dit jaar al failliet gegaan, waarvan het merendeel de afgelopen maanden, blijkt uit onderzoek van het FD en Company.info. Het is een abrupte kentering in een markt die de afgelopen jaren juist was gexplodeerd.

Omzetten die plotsklaps met 90% teruglopen, zzp'ers die bedelen om werk bij hun grote branchegenoten en voorraden met panelen die niet meer te slijten zijn: uit een rondgang doemt een somber beeld op. Door de problemen loopt het aantal bedrijven dat omvalt sinds de zomer rap op. Ook het aantal achterstallige of uitblijvende betalingen neemt snel toe, ziet kredietverzekeraar Atradius.

Een kijkje in de insolventieregisters levert voor dit jaar een lijst met 25 omgevallen zonne-energiebedrijven op '' veel meer dan in voorgaande jaren. Omdat het lastig is om een compleet beeld naar boven te krijgen uit het register, kunnen het er meer zijn. Bovendien zijn er veel zzp'ers actief die makkelijk elders aan de bak kunnen. Zij stoppen als zonne-installateur, maar vragen geen faillissement aan.

Vraag ingestort Jan de Jong van het Friese Free Sun Solar zag de markt deze zomer ineens instorten. 'Klanten die in januari aanklopten, konden we pas 10 maanden later helpen, zo druk was het begin dit jaar. Nu hebben we nog zo'n twee weken werk en dat is het dan ook.'

De sector wijt de scherpe vraaguitval vooral aan negatieve berichten in de media en onduidelijkheid over voortzetting van de salderingsregeling, waarbij huizenbezitters met zonnepanelen een vergoeding krijgen voor de stroom die ze niet zelf gebruiken. Daarnaast was uitgebreid in het nieuws dat nieuwe klanten van energieleverancier Vandebron sinds augustus moeten betalen voor het terugleveren van stroom. Bovendien kan de teruglevering stopgezet worden op momenten dat het stroomnet overbelast raakt.

'Als huishoudens dat bij elkaar optellen, gaan ze zich achter de oren krabben', zegt Arthur Weeber, hoogleraar zonne-energie aan de TU Delft: 'Ik zie ook dat klanten voor zonnepanelen zijn afgehaakt en nog steeds afhaken, omdat ze in de drukke periode geen reactie kregen van bedrijven of omdat ze heel lang moesten wachten.'

Inmiddels zijn die wachtlijsten weggesmolten en met de terugverdientijd van zonnepanelen zit het ook nog steeds goed, benadrukken installateurs. Energieprijzen zijn nog steeds relatief hoog, terwijl de prijzen van panelen de afgelopen maanden juist kelderden. En zelfs als de salderingsregeling wordt afgeschaft, wat onwaarschijnlijk is met de nieuwe samenstelling van de Tweede Kamer, is de terugverdientijd maximaal zeven jaar. Toch blijven consumenten terughoudend.

Topjaar Het is een scherp contrast met 2022, toen installateurs het drukker hadden dan ooit. 'Toen de oorlog in Oekra¯ne uitbraak was er paniek: iedereen wilde panelen plaatsen en de omzet van drie jaar deden we toen in (C)(C)n tot anderhalf jaar', zegt Jan Pelsen, eigenaar van Solar4all, een groothandel in zonne-energieartikelen. 'Nu staan de panelen te wachten op de kade van de Rotterdamse haven. Die worden niet afgenomen.'

De verkooppiek van vorig jaar trok een leger van nieuwe bedrijfjes en zzp'ers aan. Stonden er begin 2022 nog ruim 4757 installateurs van zonnepanelen ingeschreven bij de Kamer van Koophandel, nu zijn dat er 8705. In 2013 waren het er amper 670. 'The sky was the limit, maar nu krijg je een shake-out', zegt Weeber.

Het zijn vooral die nieuwelingen die nu ook als eerste weer omvallen, klinkt het in de branche. Die hebben weinig vet op de botten en meestal geen ervaring met verkopen en marketing, want de klanten kwamen toch wel. De Jong heeft zelf de marketing van zijn bedrijf direct opgeschroefd toen de markt instortte. 'Filmpjes op sociale media, de website opgefrist. Dat helpt. En we hebben natuurlijk een flinke buffer opgebouwd afgelopen jaar.'

Worstelende zzp'ers De Jong wordt nu overspoeld door zpp'ers die smeken om werk. Veel van hen werkten elders als onderaannemer en gaan er als eerste uit als de opdrachten afnemen.

Dat overkwam ook Elda Solar uit het Gelderse Wijchen, schetst curator Farah Aarts. Het bedrijf was geen nieuwkomer, maar werkt wel als onderaannemer voor grote partijen. Ineens droogden de opdrachten op. Twee grote klussen werden geannuleerd, terwijl de loonkosten doorliepen. Het bedrijf had ook onvoldoende reserves om een moeilijke periode te overbruggen, mede doordat er nog een NOW-schuld moest worden afgelost bij de Belastingdienst. Aarts: 'Omdat hij de markt ook niet heel snel zag aantrekken heeft hij daarom het faillissement aangevraagd.'

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:12

It's the most wonderful time of the year, or the worst depending, in part, on whether you're a fan of Christmas songs. I've been keeping my earbuds in when I go to the supermarket to avoid the wave of holiday cheer that is surely blaring from the omnipresent speakers. I'm hardly alone in my vulnerability to these thunderous tunes where snowmen talk and reindeer fly.

Psychologists have found that playing Christmas music too early in the year can wreak havoc on one's mental health (particularly if they're constantly exposed to it, as those in certain retail environments may be). And there's extensive neuropsychological reasoning as to why these carols have such a profound effect on us.

What Happens When We Hear Christmas Music''Our response to Christmas songs depends on the association,'' says Dr. Rhonda Freeman, a clinical neuropsychologist. ''Many of us associate this music with childhood and a happy time of presents and traditions and all the specialness that happens around that time of year. When the brain makes these associations with something very positive and pleasurable, the rewards system is being activated [which triggers] a number of chemicals including dopamine.''

There are two sides to the coin, though. Just as our brain can fire up joy in light of a positive association, it can also spark a flood of sadness and anxiety upon a bad one.

''Some people had abusive childhoods, or they experienced a loss of some kind or a person someone passed away,'' says Freeman, adding that music in general impacts the amygdala, which unlocks our emotions and reactions to stressors. ''The reward system can also be associated with pain. For that population, Christmas songs can be very painful to hear.''

Freeman's point about childhood is key. Certainly, we may become sad if we dealt with a difficult time while hearing Christmas music as an adult, but it's probably more intense for us if we experienced that hardship as kids hearing the music. Why? ''Because our prefrontal cortex is less developed when we are children, so we are more emotional beings when we are little. That becomes a part of our memory.''

Certainly this is the case for me. My twin brother died when we were nine years old, exactly one week before Christmas day. But Christmases up until then were always hysterically happy times. This is probably why I feel like I need to protect myself against Christmas music because it could go either way: my brain could take me to one of the buoyant Christmases, or to that very terrible one and the lonely ones that followed. This also explains why, as Freeman points out, it's important that the listener has control over how and when they hear Christmas music.

Retail Workers' Brains May Be Working Overtime''If you don't want to hear a song, or are hearing it on repeat for three hours [with no say in the matter], your prefrontal cortex is working hard to filter it out so you can focus,'' Freeman says, adding that though she's not familiar with the aforementioned research about Christmas music being harmful when it's played too early in the year, it makes total sense that anybody forced to hear a song they're not a fan of on repeat would start to suffer. ''Also, environment is everything. If you're in a store and you don't want to hear it, that's stressful because your brain has to work harder to focus.''

Phil Gentry, a musicologist based at the University of Delaware, notes that while there is a strong psychological component to how Christmas music (or perhaps any songs with which we're very familiar) affect us, it's important to understand that aside from subject matter and seasonality, this ever-growing batch of songs don't really have anything in common.

''There's no one secret chord that unlocks it,'' Gentry says of the genre. ''It's a very diverse set, with everything from Mariah Carey to Silent Night. What makes it so unusual, at least in the U.S, is that it's really the only set of songs we hear widely at the same time of year, every year. We don't really have that with anything else, which is partly why it can make us so nostalgic.''

The Last Remnant Of Oral TraditionChristmas songs are also formidable because they're among the last remnants of what used to be common practice among humans: the passing down of an oral tradition.

''You learn it as a child, and it's one of the few bodies of songs that people have deep inside their memories,'' says Gentry. ''When I ask my students what are songs you could teach without referencing any [document]? The answer is often a Christmas song.''

Keep in mind also that Western music, as Gentry points out, was ''designed to elicit emotional responses.'' There are some pretty corny Christmas songs (sorry, Jingle Bells), but even if you hate them, you must admit that songs like Silent Night and Carol of the Bells are ridiculously poignant. Perhaps that's another reason these tunes can be so maddening: How many times can we feel this intense emotional pressure before we beg for it to stop? Well, we've got the whole holiday season to find out.

Holiday Survival GuideHoliday hangover: How to bounce back from the food, booze and emotional stressHow to connect and find common ground in any situation3 holiday savings hacks that'll save you hundreds3 ways to go on a holiday social media detoxWant more tips like these? NBC News BETTER is obsessed with finding easier, healthier and smarter ways to live. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:10

Comedian Stephen Colbert, host of CBS's ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,'' announced that his show is canceled this week as he recovers from surgery for a ruptured appendix.

''Sorry to say that I have to cancel our shows this week. I'm sure you're thinking, ''Turkey overdose, Steve? Gravy boat capsize?'' Actually, I'm recovering from surgery for a ruptured appendix,'' Colbert said in a statement through the show's various social media accounts.

''I'm grateful to my doctors for their care and to Evie and the kids for putting up with me,'' the late night host said, jokingly adding: ''Going forward, all emails to my appendix will be handled by my pancreas.''

According to the Mayo Clinic, a ruptured appendix causes pain in the lower right abdomen. This results in symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal bloating, and a low-grade fever that may rise as the illness worsens.

Treatment for this condition usually involves antibiotics and surgery to remove the appendix.

The announcement comes a year after Colbert shared that he tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in production of his show to be postponed as he recovered from the illness.

The canceled week slate of ''The Late Show'' was set to feature actress Jennifer Garner, director Baz Luhrmann, Barbra Streisand, Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, and former show bandleader and musical director Jon Batiste, according to CBS News.

Colbert has been the host of the ''The Late Show'' since 2015, after a nine-year stint as the host of Comedy Central's ''The Colbert Report.''

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:03

Pro-Palestinian protesters vandalized New York City's flagship public library in Manhattan on Thanksgiving, and the clean-up process could cost up to $75,000.

The enormous building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, known for its iconic lion statues out front, was defaced with red handprints, stickers, and green spray paint during at least three separate protests over the last few weeks.

The most damage was done on Thursday when hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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''On Thanksgiving, individuals involved in a protest engaged in a shameful act of vandalism to the Library's flagship Stephen A. Schwarzman building, a space devoted to the open exchange of ideas and intellectual debate,'' New York Public Library spokeswoman Jennifer Fermino told The Washington Post.

The flagship library building is named for Stephen A. Schwarzman, a Jewish businessman and philanthropist who donated $100 million in 2008 for the library's expansion.

Some of the graffitied structures are delicate carved pieces that may have to be replaced if crews cannot remove the paint without damaging them, Garrett Bergen, director of facilities for the library, told Gothamist.

''It is too early to say the costs of fixing the damages but the repair costs for all could be between 60k and 75k,'' Fermino told the New York Post.

The NYPD ended up arresting 34 protesters, including some who spray-painted ''Free Palestine'' on the library's pillars. Library display boards outside the building were also vandalized with green and red paint '-- the colors of the Palestinian flag '-- and the words ''Free Gaza.''

Some protesters also briefly disrupted the parade by gluing their hands to the pavement on its route. Several wore white jumpsuits drenched in fake blood and bearing words like ''colonialism,'' ''consumerism,'' ''ethnic cleansing,'' and ''fascism.''

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Police said four people allegedly connected to the library vandalism were criminally charged with resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, trespassing, and disorderly conduct. The other 30 people arrested were issued summons for trespassing.

The library's vandalism comes in the wake of budget cuts due to New York City's illegal migrant crisis.

Earlier this month, Mayor Eric Adams (D) slashed the city's budget in several areas, including public libraries, policing, and sanitation.

''Migrant costs are going up, tax revenue growth is slowing, and COVID stimulus funding is drying up,'' Adams said in a statement.

The library spokeswoman noted that the library ''strongly supports the right to protest'' but said the ''steep budget cuts'' have already affected the library's service and the vandalism will be ''costly to repair.''

Libraries across the city have already shuttered on Sundays in response to the budget cuts.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 15:46

Elon Musk showed up in southern Israel on Monday at the personal invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where he was given a tour of an Israeli kibbutz left desolate by the Oct.7 Hamas terror raids.

Musk while on a tour of Kfar Aza heard details from Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops of the massacres in the kibbutz. Israeli media has described it as a scene of "horrors"'--one among more than 20 communities ravaged, where in some cases entire families were butchered. Musk later in the day said it was "it was jarring to see the scene of the massacre."

Image source: MAARIV/JPostMusk heard briefings and personal stories both of tragedy and heroism, including the story of kidnapped Israeli-American toddler Avigail Idan, who turned 4 in captivity but was released Sunday as part of the third round hostage swap between Hamas and Israel. Her parents were murdered directly before her eyes, with accounts saying her dad was holding her when he was shot.

After also being shown a short film of the Hamas attacks, Musk commented that it was "troubling" to see the "to see the joy experienced by people that were killing innocent civilians."

As part of Musk's visit, he and PM Netanyahu held a live talk via X Spaces (recently known as Twitter Spaces) wherein the prime minister repeated his call for Hamas to be destroyed. Musk responded, "There's no choice," and said after touring ravaged kibbutzes: "I'd like to help as well." The full section of that exchange is below:

Netanyahu laid out that his main priority is to neutralize Hamas, after which he will turn to rebuilding Gaza: "You first have to get rid of this poisonous regime."

Musk agreed and offered to be involved in the post-war recovery.

"I think that makes perfect sense that those who are intent on murder must be neutralized, then the propaganda must stop ... and then making Gaza prosperous," Musk said.

"Well, I hope you'll be involved," Netanyahu responded.

"I'd love to help," Musk said.

In statements which are likely to prove controversial, particularly to the pro-Palestinian side, Musk also voiced that civilian casualties are "unavoidable" and generally appeared to back Israel's position that it is trying hard to avoid them while seeking to target only terrorists.

Lately Israeli officials have tried to make controversial historical comparisons to WWII, which hasn't always gone well in Western media encounters at a moment the Palestinian death toll has reached the grim milestone of 15,000 killed. Musk said in the Spaces chat:

"You need to pair firmness and taking out the terrorists and those intent on murder, and at the same time help those that remain, which is what happened in Germany and Japan," he adds.

"Usually the victor punishes the loser," he continues, and points to the rehabilitation of Germany and Japan by the allies after World War II as examples of how reconstruction efforts after a major war and a clear-cut victory helped secure peace for a long period of time.

Musk's visit comes during the last day of a four-day agreed upon Israel-Hamas truce which is set to end, but there are reports that it could get extended by at least two more days, during which time more hostages would be released, and more Palestinians freed from Israeli prisons.

As for ways that Musk might help Gaza, particularly in a future post-war and reconstruction phase, he's said that already an agreement in principle has been reached for using SpaceX's Starlink communications in the Gaza Strip. He said last month that it could "support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza" after much of it went dark amid the Israeli bombing campaign.

There's as yet been no public confirmation of the deal from Musk or SpaceX. Additionally, on Monday Israeli communications minister Shlomo Karhi posted on X that Musk had "reach[ed] a principle understanding" with the ministry, and that Israel must give approval for Starlink to operate. "Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip," Karhi said.

Netanyahu and Musk Have BRAVE Conversation About Israel and Palestine 🇮🇱 🇵🇸According to Channel 14 in Israel, some highlights of their conversation include:

- Netanyahu labeling Hamas as a "death cult," asserting they would do more damage if they had the ability.

- Musk'... pic.twitter.com/VABUT17aDr

'-- James Porrazzo (@JamesPorrazzo) November 27, 2023Currently, US media reports have been alleging widespread antisemitism on X - and have sought to highlight Musk's own personal interaction with posts on the platform, resulting in some major advertisers to exit.

But Musk's invitation to Israel, where he's also slated to meet President Isaac Herzog later in the day, begs the question: if Musk is "antisemitic" - as his detractors and enemies claim - why would the Jewish state readily invite him for such a high-level visit where the prime minister takes him on a personal tour? As if admitting and underscoring the discrepancy and glaring contradiction, those same voices are now lashing out at the Israel government for hosting the official trip.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 14:36

The eyes of the world are once again locked on China as it suffers another mysterious respiratory outbreak that is 'overwhelming' some hospitals.

Chaotic scenes of mask-wearing crowds in hospitals in Beijing have eerie echoes of the early days of the Covid outbreak four years ago that also began with an 'undiagnosed pneumonia.'

Chinese authorities insist they are simply dealing with a rebound in severe flu and respiratory illnesses that were suppressed by lockdowns, rather than a novel virus like the one that caused the Covid-19 pandemic.

China had the world's longest and harshest lockdown measures and is only now experiencing its first winter in years without them. The curbs are believed to have suppressed the population's immunity and left them vulnerable to seasonal illnesses.

While Chinese officials said they have no evidence of 'unusual or novel' pathogens, Obama's ex-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has said Beijing's history of cover ups is a cause for skepticism.

BEIJING, 2023: An image shows a crowded children's hospital in Beijing on October 30 amid a surge in respiratory illnesses in some areas of China

WUHAN, 2019: The above shows the scene in Wuhan in January 2020 amid growing concern about the mysterious pneumonia in the city

China has not revealed how many people have been hospitalized or died in the outbreak, but it appears to be mainly affecting children.

Doctors on the ground say they are seeing children with high fever and lung inflammation, but without a cough or pulmonary nodules '-- lumps on the lungs that are usually the result of a past infection.

There have been reports of overwhelmed pediatric hospitals in several Chinese cities including Beijing and 500 miles away in the north-east province of Liaoning.

The alarm was first raised over the outbreak internationally on November 21, when the disease surveillance system ProMED issued a notification about reports of an 'undiagnosed pneumonia' in China.

The system '-- which was also the first to raise the alarm in December 2019 over the emergence of Covid '-- works to detect unusual health events related to emerging infections.

It relies on a global network of healthcare experts who are on the look out for health notices and tips, social media discussions, health department announcements and reports from local media.

The alert it issued last week cited a local media report from FTV News, a Taiwanese media outlet, which described sick children crowding into hospitals in two Chinese cities suffering from symptoms associated with pneumonia.

When the alert was issued last week, there were immediate comparisons to the 2019 Covid outbreak.

Like in 2019, it was left to independent health authorities rather than China itself to report the outbreak.

The alert six days ago prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to send an official request two days later to Chinese authorities asking for official data and information on the outbreak.

The WHO, responding quickly and putting the pressure on China, is still reeling from criticism that it protected Beijing and parroted the country's official line that Covid could not spread between people despite no evidence supporting the claim.

Chinese officials have insisted no new pathogen is to blame and instead have blamed a surge in common winter bugs as the country faces its first full winter without anti-Covid measures

Rahm Emanuel, who was previously President Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, said recently there were still 'serious questions' about the recent pneumonia outbreak in China

People were first made aware of the current viral outbreak on November 21, when the public disease surveillance system ProMED issued a notification about reports of 'undiagnosed pneumonia.'

ProMED, a world health surveillance system run by health experts, first raised the alarm over the emergence of another 'undiagnosed pneumonia' in Wuhan, which later turned into the Covid-19 pandemic

Chinese authorities arranged a teleconference with WHO on Thursday to provide the data requested.

The agency said the information provided indicated the clusters of cases were from known pathogens.

The data showed China has been experiencing an increased number of children sick with mycoplasma pneumoniae '' bacteria that causes mild infections of the respiratory system - since May.

Pediatric cases of RSV, adenovirus, influenza and COVID-19 have also been surging since the fall, according to the data seen by the WHO.

Chinese and world health officials say the surge is not completely unprecedented and China would not be the first country to suffer the ripple effects of pandemic-era lockdowns.

Increasingly, studies have shown that children's immunity was damaged during Covid due to the lack of exposure to common germs that strengthen the immune system against infections.

The UK experienced a rise in other illnesses following lockdowns and i n spring of 2022, rates of some respiratory illnesses in the country were 20 times greater than after 2020's first shutdown.

Data from April 2022 showed flu cases were up four times compared to July 2020, when social distancing restrictions were still in place in much of the world.

The US also faced a surge in pediatric illnesses last winter as respiratory viruses spread in the absence of restrictions.

Doctors said at the time the spike in hospitalizations among children was 'worse than any other' '-- as seasonal bugs returned with a vengeance and cases of flu and RSV hit their highest level in more than a decade.

China had a much harsher and longer lockdown than other nations, under its 'zero Covid' policies, which were only officially lifted in January, with pandemic-era measures ended this summer. The harsh restrictions prompted mass protests that saw people calling on Xi Jinping to step down.

Many experts expected China to face a major 'exit wave' after its harsh restrictions were lifted and there were reports shortly after restrictions were eased of hospitals in some areas being swamped.

DailyMail.com has analyzed the percentage of people testing positive for flu, rhinovirus, parainfluenza, RSV, hMPV and adenovirus in England during the pandemic. Rates for all of the viruses except rhinovirus were higher in April 2022 than the same time the previous year, when people were only allowed to meet in groups of six, working from home was in place and hugging was still discouraged

The delay in reporting and lack of information concerning the number of cases and deaths once again worried officials of China's history of a lack of transparency when it comes to public health events.

Local outlets said last week the outbreak seems to be affecting mostly children and has caused some schools to cancel classes due to the large number of absences caused by the illness.

But because of the delay in reporting, what the world is coming to learn could be skewed. While China says the virus mostly affects children, the ambiguity is eerily similar to initial claims that Covid-19 did spread among people.

A WHO official said on November 23 the spike in respiratory illnesses that China is currently going through is not as high as before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The official also reiterated that no new or unusual pathogens had been found in the recent cases, instead being linked to the flu, Covid and RSV. They said no new pathogens had been identified.

Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO's department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said this weekend the increase appeared to be driven by a rise in the number of children contracting pathogens that two years of Covid restrictions have kept them away from.

'We asked about comparisons prior to the pandemic. And the waves that they are seeing now, the peak is not as high as what they saw in 2018-2019,' Van Kerkhove told STAT.

She added: 'This is not an indication of a novel pathogen. This is expected. This is what most countries dealt with a year or two ago.'

China's National Health Commission spokesperson Mi Feng echoed these sentiments on Sunday and said the surge in acute respiratory illnesses was linked to the simultaneous circulation of several kinds of pathogens, most prominently influenza.

He said with the coming of winter and rise in cases, Chinese health agencies are continuing to monitor cases, encourage vaccinations, disperse medical resources and ensure people are receiving necessary treatment.

He also advised people to wear masks and called on local authorities and treatment areas to extend service hours and increase the supply of medicines.

Images coming out of China show overwhelmed hospital waiting rooms crammed with parents and children.

But this may be reassuring compared to early in the Covid pandemic, when pictures coming out of Wuhan showed bodies piling up and overcrowded funeral homes.

Medical staff have also not been photographed wearing the full hazmat suits that were being seen in Wuhan in January 2020 as Covid took hold.

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Mon, 27 Nov 2023 23:12

Release of new documents contradict official assertions that Army unit had only been monitoring foreign powersBy Glen Owen Political Editor

Published: 17:42 EST, 25 November 2023 | Updated: 11:18 EST, 26 November 2023

Ministers were accused of a cover-up last night after it was revealed that soldiers did secretly spy on British critics of the Government's response to Covid.

The release of new documents contradict official assertions that a shadowy Army unit had only been monitoring foreign powers.

The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this year that military operatives in the UK's 'information warfare' brigade were part of a sinister scheme to keep a close eye on politicians and high-profile journalists who raised doubts about the pandemic response.

They compiled dossiers on public figures '' such as ex-Minister David Davis, who questioned the modelling behind alarming death toll predictions, and The Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens '' and reported their dissenting views back to No 10.

Documents obtained by the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch revealed the Government cells included the MoD's 77th Brigade, which deploys 'non-lethal engagement and legitimate non-military levers as a means to adapt behaviours of adversaries'.

The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this year that military operatives in the UK's 'information warfare' brigade were part of a sinister scheme to keep a close eye on politicians and high-profile journalists who raised doubts about the pandemic response

They compiled dossiers on public figures '' such as ex-Minister David Davis, who questioned the modelling behind alarming death toll predictions, and The Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens '' and reported their dissenting views back to No 10

Documents obtained by the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch revealed the Government cells included the MoD's 77th Brigade, which deploys 'non-lethal engagement and legitimate non-military levers as a means to adapt behaviours of adversaries'

When the reports appeared, Ben Wallace, then the Defence Secretary, told the Commons the unit unearthed information on extremist alliances based outside the UK and that 'its role is not to monitor or counter opinion'.

But new information unearthed by Big Brother Watch showed the 77th Brigade did produce reports on those who 'questioned Government decision-making' and even compiled notes on BBC's Question Time.

Soldiers also filed newspaper articles and tweets made by politicians regarding No 10's rejection of an international ventilator scheme in March 2020 under the label 'disinformation which could have a negative effect on the UK's reputation'.

Obtained after a months-long Freedom of Information battle with the Cabinet Office, the documents appear to show personnel from the information warfare unit dedicated time to managing the Government's reputation rather than tackling foreign threats '' such as analysing the response to fines for breaching lockdown on social media.

Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, last night said: 'The MoD's claims that the information warfare unit's secretive work was focused solely on overseas threats are now, ironically, clearly disinformation acting as a cover-up for their political surveillance.

'Free Press and free speech are the foundations of any democracy, yet journalists and politicians appear to be treated like the enemy within.'

A Government spokesperson said: 'Online disinformation is a serious threat to the UK, which is why during the pandemic we brought together expertise from across government to monitor disinformation about Covid.

'These units used publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to assess UK disinformation trends and narratives.

'They did not target individuals or take any action that could impact anyone's ability to discuss and debate issues freely.'

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Mon, 27 Nov 2023 22:26

Aussies touched by incredible gesture at Melbourne KmartREAD MORE: Surprising items Aussies have given up due to rising cost of living By Olivia Day For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 14:50 EST, 27 November 2023 | Updated: 16:44 EST, 27 November 2023

Families grappling with the cost of living were unexpectedly uplifted by an incredible gesture from an anonymous shopper at their local Kmart.

This Secret Santa anonymously covered the entire cost of items on lay-by for all customers at a Victoria Gardens Kmart in inner-city Melbourne.

The generous Aussie, who preferred to remain anonymous, expressed a simple desire to contribute something positive to the community during the festive season.

The shopper told retail staff they 'just wanted to do something nice for the community', the Herald Sun reports.

Families grappling with the cost of living were unexpectedly uplifted by an incredible gesture from an anonymous shopper at their local Kmart (pictured, a Kmart in Canberra)

The generous Secret Santa anonymously covered the entire cost of items on lay-by for all customers at a Victoria Gardens Kmart in inner-city Melbourne (stock image)

While the exact amount of the donation remains undisclosed by Kmart, the store said most of the items were Christmas gifts.

The unexpected act of kindness left some customers in tears.

A Kmart spokeswoman said: 'We are overwhelmed by our customer's generosity at this time of year, and want to thank them for their act of kindness towards other members of our community.

'We are proud to call them one of our customers.'

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Mon, 27 Nov 2023 17:56

By Gregory R. Copley - Nov 21, 2023, 9:00 AM CST Despite a significant economic crisis in mainland China since 2015, Xi has taken minimal steps to address it.During his visit to San Francisco, Xi, seemingly desperate, requested a substantial $900-billion bailout for the Chinese economy from President Biden.The leak came from within the CCP, indicating a faction eager to bring down Xi. Communist Party of China (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping is now starkly aware that he is facing the end of his rule, and has turned to US Pres. Joe Biden to save him.

Specific reports are emerging as to the driving forces which made Xi act, in seeming desperation, to kowtow to US Pres. Joe Biden at the summit held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) in San Francisco between November 13 and 17,2023.

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Xi's Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) had, for at least two weeks before the summit, started a charm offensive aimed at the US. Until that time, Beijing had claimed to have been hesitant about whether the summit would take place, but the start of the charm offensive was a significant pointer to the depth of General Secretary Xi's desperation and his increasingly mercurial behavior.

Despite the fact that the mainland China economic crisis had become significant and intense from at least 2015, Xi had taken virtually no steps to contain or correct it. Then, almost simultaneously with the charm offensive toward the US, the Xi Administration began some timid steps toward reversing its anti-private sector policies and promised unspecified support for private business in mainland China. This followed a xenophobically maoist policy, over the past decade, of containing private enterprise and attempting to push the economy under the domination of the state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The sudden volte-face by Xi, typical of his behavior since the October 2022 Party Congress at which he disposed of almost all of his visible opponents, highlighted more than ever his instability and, now, his increasing desperation as it has become clear that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was patently unready and unprepared to execute Xi's proposed military takeover of the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan.

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Skip to content Published: Nov. 29, 2023 at 12:19 PM MST | Updated: 3 hours ago

Kraft revealed Wednesday its popular brand will switch out the normal powdered dairy cheese, with new plant-based flavors. Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar welcomed President Joe Biden to Pueblo Wednesday afternoon.

CO Governor Jared Polis welcomed President Joe Biden to Pueblo Wednesday afternoon.

Senator John Hickenlooper welcomed President Joe Biden to Pueblo Wednesday afternoon.

President Biden talks critics to initiatives, investments during remarks in Pueblo

President Biden touts job creation and economic investments in Colorado during visit to CS Wind in Pueblo.

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Hospitals in China are reportedly grappling with cases of respiratory illnesses, and the situation has some American medical professionals concerned.

In Washington, DC, hospitals, emergency rooms, urgent care facilities, and clinics are seeing a rise in patients seeking care, Fox 5 said Monday.

The outlet reported:

The World Health Organization is reportedly reviewing data from China after video apparently emerged showing droves of people being treated for what's being described as a mystery respiratory illness, disproportionately impacting children.

PM Pediatrics Senior Medical Advisor Dr. Christina Johns tells FOX 5 the medical community is watching what's happening in China closely but there's no panicking yet.

The Chinese state newspaper Global Times recently acknowledged the rising cases of respiratory illnesses in the country that have mostly affected children, Breitbart News reported Friday.

China has blamed the situation on the population's ''immunity gap'' that was due to its extremely strict coronavirus lockdowns.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) said there were no unusual or novel pathogens found in the clusters of child pneumonia cases affecting the communist country, Breitbart News reported, adding the organization was trying to allay fears that another global pandemic was on the horizon.

According to the Mayo Clinic, ''Pneumonia is an infection that inflames the air sacs in one or both lungs,'' and it can be mild or threaten a person's life.

''It is most serious for infants and young children, people older than age 65, and people with health problems or weakened immune systems,'' the site reads, adding some symptoms include chest pain when breathing or coughing, fatigue, fever, low body temperature, nausea, and shortness of breath.

Officials with the Virginia Department of Health said they are monitoring flu activity in the area, according to the Fox report.

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The Netherlands is experiencing a bizarre uptick in pneumonia cases among children, marking the second country to report an outbreak of this type this week.

The Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), a research institute in Utrecht, around 25 miles south of Amsterdam, reports that 80 of every 100,000 children between ages 5 and 14 came down with pneumonia last week.

This is the largest outbreak of pneumonia NIVEL has recorded in recent years. At the peak of the 2022 flu season, when pneumonia cases were most common, there were 60 recorded cases for every 100,000 children in the age group.

Around 80 out of every 100,000 children in the Netherlands are sick with pneumonia this year (blue line), far out pacing figures from around this time in previous yearsA news outlet in the Netherlands said neither NIVEL nor the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the Dutch equivalent of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), could give an explanation as to why pneumonia cases were increasing.

Mysterious pneumonia cases in China have also begun to raise alarms. First reports emerged last week that children's hospitals in Beijing and the province of Liaoning were overrun by children coming in with pneumonia.

Chinese officials told the World Health Organization that no new pathogens were detected in the outbreak, and instead the illnesses were caused by known seasonal viruses such as the flu and RSV, along with the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

Sick boy in bed Getty ImagesOfficials said that strict COVID measures, which were lifted at the end of 2022, left the population vulnerable to these annual viruses. Now, during the first flu season since the lifting of the nation's strict COVID lockdowns, the population is being ravaged by the annual bugs.

However, COVID-related measures have been gone in the Netherlands for some time, making it unclear what would cause such a spike this year.

Some fear that officials in China are covering up the early stages of an epidemic, however. The nation was largely criticized for its initial response to the discovery of COVID-19 almost exactly four years ago, and some have seen the current situation as an echo of the past.

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Police arrest suspect as victims remain hospitalizedA suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont.

Burlington police said Jason J. Eaton, 48, was detained this afternoon near the scene of the shooting. A search of his nearby apartment ''gave investigators and prosecutors probable cause to believe that Mr. Eaton perpetrated the shooting,'' police said in a statement. He was arrested late tonight and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, they added.

Police earlier said the shooter, who is white, said nothing before firing at the victims. Two of the victims were wearing keffiyehs, according to police, and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee said they were speaking Arabic. Police said two of the three victims, all 20 years old, are U.S. citizens and the third is a legal resident.

The victims' families identified them as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmed. Awartani is a student at Brown University in Rhode Island, Abdalhamid is a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Ahmed is a student at Trinity College in Connecticut.

Brown University President Christina H. Paxson said Awartani was expected to survive. Haverford College said Abdalhamid was recovering from a gunshot wound at a hospital. The president of Trinity College said Ahmed was in stable condition at a hospital.

FBI says it's probing the attackThe FBI late Sunday indicated that it has been investigating the shooting, following an earlier statement that information about "a potential federal violation" would be needed to trigger its participation.

"The FBI continues to actively investigate the shooting in Burlington alongside our partners at Burlington Police Department, ATF, and several other federal, state, and local agencies," the agency's Albany, New York, office said in its latest statement.

The FBI said it has already devoted resources to the probe, including personnel and gear for computer and cellphone analysis. It asked members of the public who might have information about the attack to step forward.

Earlier, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee called on federal law enforcement to investigate the attack as a hate crime.

Witnesses said they heard gunfire and saw people on the groundBURLINGTON, Vt. '-- Two witnesses said they heard gunfire last night in Burlington and were jolted by the violence.

Machara Renz, a graduate student at the University of Vermont, and Alexander Wehr, who works at a nearby middle school, had just gotten back from dinner when they heard gunfire.

"We heard four gunshots," Renz said today near the scene of the shooting. "We looked at each other and we confirmed" the sound was gunfire, she said.

She said she looked out a window and saw nothing. But when the sound of sirens got closer to the location, the pair looked outside again and saw two figures on the ground.

"We heard a man screaming in pain," Wehr said. "It was very scary."

Tensions have been high across the U.S. amid the war between Israel and Hamas. Renz noted that a recent event in Burlington organized to support Palestinians was peaceful but also attracted some people who were ''spewing a lot of hate.''

The two said they were shocked and angered by the violence they witnessed.

"I feel angry for those three young men that had to experience that," Renz said. "I feel sad for the person that thought that that was the right thing to do."

The history and meaning behind the Palestinian keffiyah While a keffiyah is a traditional scarf worn by Arabs across the Middle East, the Palestinian variation has a specific design that has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity across the region.

Two of the students shot in Burlington were wearing the scarf at the time of the attack, police said today.

The Palestinian keffiyah, sometimes spelled kufiya, has many modernized iterations, but the original is a black and white scarf that symbolizes the Palestinian economy: block lines for trade routes, an olive leaf pattern and a fishnet design throughout.

It was frequently worn by Palestinian politician Yasser Arafat, who was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and later president of the Palestinian National Authority.

According to Hirbawi, the last textile factory producing keffiyahs in the occupied Palestinian territory, the scarf initially became a symbol of Palestinian nationalism in the 1930s, when Arabs in the region revolted against British colonialism. On its website, Hirbawi writes that the scarf means two things to Palestinians: "Palestine will live on. Palestine will be free."

A woman wears the traditional Palestinian keffiyah at a demonstration in Nijmegen, Netherlands, on Nov. 5. Ana Fernandez / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesThe Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee is calling on law enforcement, including the FBI and Justice Department, to investigate the shooting of three Palestinian men as a hate crime.

The FBI said in a statement that if "information comes to light of a potential federal violation," it is prepared to investigate.

Two of the three men, all of whom are students a colleges in the U.S., were wearing keffiyahs when they were shot, Burlington police said.

Brown organizing campus vigil for MondayIn a statement to Brown University's community today, school President Christina H. Paxson said she has asked its chaplain's office to organize a vigil Monday at the campus in Providence, Rhode Island.

One of the three victims of the Saturday night attack, Hisham Awartani, is a junior at Brown, she said. The vigil is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on the campus' Main Green.

"I call on our community to come together to condemn anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian discrimination and acts of violence and hate, and express care and empathy for one another," Paxson said in the statement.

She said relatives of the victims asked that no donations be made to fundraisers unless they are specifically organized by close family members.

Brown says victim attended university, is expected to surviveIn a statement today, Brown University President Christina H. Paxson said victim Hisham Awartani, a junior at the institution, remains hospitalized and is expected to survive.

In the statement addressed to the university community, Paxson said relatives allowed her to share that Awartani is Palestinian Irish American.

"There are not enough words to express the deep anguish I feel for Hisham, his parents and family members, and his friends," Paxson said. "I know that this heinous and despicable act of violence '-- this latest evidence of anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian discrimination and hate spiraling across this country and around the world '-- will leave many in our community deeply shaken."

She indicated care and support were available on campus for those in need. She also urged community members to "express care and empathy for one another."

No indication of connection to school, University of Vermont saysThe University of Vermont said in a statement today that ''we have no indication'' that the shooting is connected to the school, cautioning that the investigation continues.

"We are saddened by reports of a shooting at approximately 6:30 pm last night on Prospect Street in Burlington near UVM, injuring three out-of-state visitors," President Suresh Garimella and Provost Patty Prelock said in the statement. "Currently, we have no indication of a connection to the university community, but the investigation is at an early stage."

The three victims were in town to visit and were not students at the university.

University police and campus safety teams are providing security in and around campus, "as is common in the wake of any significant safety incident," the university said.

"Our hearts go out to the victims and to all who are impacted by this incident. We encourage members of the UVM community to reach out for support as needed and we encourage you to support those around you," it said.

Trinity College says victim is stableTrinity College, which one of the victims attends, said in a statement today that the community was "heartbroken."

Tahseen Ahmed, who was wounded in last night's shooting, is set to graduate from the university in 2026.

"A member of the Trinity Student Life staff went to Vermont early this morning to provide support and reports that Tahseen wants the Trinity community to know that he is in stable condition at an area hospital," President Joanne Berger-Sweeney and Joseph DiChristina, the vice president for student success and enrollment management, said in the statement.

"At this moment, please keep Tahseen and his friends in your heart."

Police presence near scene of shootingWPTZPolice tape and vehicles seen near the scene of the shooting in Burlington last night that wounded three Palestinian college students.

Gov. Phil Scott: Coming together is 'only way to put a stop to the violence we're seeing'Vermont Gov. Phil Scott called the shooting of three Palestinian students in Burlington last night "a tragedy."

''My thoughts are with them and their families," Scott said in a statement. "I have offered the State's full support to the Mayor and Burlington Police Chief as this senseless crime is investigated, and in support of the Palestinian and broader Burlington community."

Scott urged residents to "unite to help the community heal, and not let this incident incite more hate or divisiveness."

"We must come together in these difficult times '-- it is the only way to put a stop to the violence we're seeing," he said.

Biden briefed on shooting of three Palestinian studentsPresident Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting of three Palestinian students in Burlington.

Biden will be updated as law enforcement gathers more information, the White House said.

CAIR offers $10,000 reward for info on the Burlington shootingThe Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $10,000 reward for information about the shooting in Burlington that wounded three Palestinian men.

The organization also called on state and federal law enforcement agencies in Vermont to investigate a possible bias motive for the shooting.

''Due to the unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate and violence we have witnessed in recent weeks, local, state and national law enforcement authorities must investigate a possible bias motive for the shooting of these three young men,'' National Executive Director Nihad Awad said. ''We hope our reward will result in information leading to an arrest in this case.''

Families of Burlington victims call for thorough investigationIn a joint statement they issued through the Institute for Middle East Understanding, the families said they "are devastated by the horrific news that our children were targeted and shot in Burlington, VT."

The families identified the victims as Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmed. Awartani is a student at Brown University, Abdalhamid is a student at Haverford College, and Ahmed is a student at Trinity College.

"At this time, our primary concern is their full recovery and that they receive the critical medical support they need to survive," the statement read. "We are extremely concerned about the safety and well-being of our children."

The families said the victims are "dedicated students who deserve to be able to focus on their studies and building their futures."

"We call on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation, including treating this as a hate crime. We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice. We need to ensure that our children are protected, and this heinous crime is not repeated," the statement read.

Victims were confronted by a white man with a handgun who shot 'without speaking,' Burlington police sayThe Palestinian shooting victims "were confronted by a white male with a handgun" who shot at least four rounds "without speaking," Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said in a news release.

"Preliminary investigation has determined that all three were visiting the home of one victim's relatives in Burlington for the Thanksgiving holiday. The three were walking on Prospect Street when they were confronted by a white male with a handgun," Murad said. "The suspect was on foot in the area. Without speaking, he discharged at least four rounds from the pistol and is believed to have fled on foot."

All three victims, whom police did not name out of respect for their own wishes, were struck '-- two in the torso and one in the "lower extremities" '-- police said.

Police confirmed that all three victims are Palestinian and that two of them are U.S. citizens, while the other is a legal resident.

"Two were wearing keffiyehs at the time of the assault. At this time, there is no additional information to suggest the suspect's motive, such as statements or remarks by the suspect," police said.

Detectives recovered ballistic evidence that will be submitted to a federal database, and they are canvassing neighborhoods and interviewing witnesses.

Murad expressed his condolences to the victims and their families.

''In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime," Murad said in a statement. "And I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it's proven."

Murad said that now that the victims are safe and getting medical care, the priority is finding the shooter.

"The fact is that we don't yet know as much as we want to right now. But I urge the public to avoid making conclusions based on statements from uninvolved parties who know even less," he said.

Bernie Sanders says shooting of three Palestinian men in Vermont is 'shocking and deeply upsetting'Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called the shooting of three Palestinian men in Burlington "shocking and deeply upsetting."

"It is shocking and deeply upsetting that three young Palestinians were shot here in Burlington, VT," Sanders wrote on X. "Hate has no place here, or anywhere. I look forward to a full investigation. My thoughts are with them and their families."

Haverford College says Burlington shooting victims are Palestinian studentsHaverford College, which one of the Burlington shooting victims attends, identified all three as Palestinian.

In a note shared with the college community, President Wendy Raymond and Dean John McKnight said they learned "early this morning that a member of our community, Haverford junior Kinnan Abdalhamid, is recovering from a gunshot wound in a hospital in Burlington, VT, after he and two of his lifelong friends were shot near the University of Vermont campus by an unknown assailant(s) Saturday evening."

The college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, is in touch with Abdalhamid's family, who live overseas, and McKnight will be traveling to Burlington today.

"Kinnan and his friends are all Palestinian students studying at U.S. colleges and universities," the statement read. "Police are investigating the shootings, and we await word on whether it will be pursued as a hate crime. In the meantime, know that Haverford College condemns all acts of hatred."

FBI is aware of shooting incident in BurlingtonThe FBI said it is aware of the incident in Burlington where three Palestinian men were shot.

''We are aware of the incident in Burlington and are working with our state and local partners in Vermont,'' said a spokesperson for the FBI's field office in Albany, New York. ''If, in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate.''

Burlington shooting victims were wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic when shot, advocacy organization saysThe three shooting victims were wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic when a man harassed and shot them, according to the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee.

A keffiyeh is a traditional scarf worn by people in parts of the Middle East. it has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity.

The ADC identified the victims as students, all 20 years old. They all survived, but two of them were in the intensive care unit and one "has sustained very critical and serious injuries," according to the ADC.

"After reviewing the initial information provided we have reason to believe this shooting occurred because the victims are Arab," the ADC said in a statement.

The students were spending Thanksgiving break together, wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic, when a man approached them, according to the ADC.

"A man shouted and harassed the victims, then proceeded to shoot them," it said. "ADC calls on law enforcement in Vermont to investigate this shooting as a hate crime. In addition, ADC has reached out to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to also call on an immediate hate crimes investigation."

ADC National Executive Director Abed Ayoub said: ''We are praying for a full recovery of the victims, and will stand by to support the families in any way that is needed. Given the information collected and provided, it is clear that the hate was a motivating factor in this shooting, and we call on law enforcement to investigate it as such. The surge in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment we are experiencing is unprecedented, and this is another example of that hate turning violent."

West Bank school says Burlington shooting victims are graduates The Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank identified the Burlington shooting victims as graduates of the school.

"Ramallah Friends School board, administration, staff and community are deeply distressed by the recent incident involving three of our graduates," the school wrote on Facebook.

According to the school, one was shot in the back and another was shot in the chest. NBC News has not independently confirmed that information.

"We stand united in hope and support for their well-being during this challenging time. Please hold our graduates and their families in the light," the school wrote.

Three Palestinian men shot in Vermont on their way to a family dinner, official saysThree Palestinian men were shot in Burlington, Vermont, last night while on their way to a family dinner, according to Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian Mission to the U.K.

"Their crime? Wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh," Zomlot wrote on X. "They are critically injured."

Zomlot referred to the murder of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, who was fatally stabbed by his landlord about six weeks ago in Illinois.

"The hate crimes against Palestinians must stop. Palestinians everywhere need protection," he wrote.

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