Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Samples from early Wuhan covid patients have genetically modified virus from Canada, Harris opens CDC office in Vietnam

 Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

News (1)

Samples from early Wuhan covid patients have genetically modified henipah, one of two types of  viruses sent from Canadian lab

Reporter : Omid Ghoreishi, The Epoch Times PREMIUM / Image : John Woods/The Canadian Press


Samples from early Wuhan 
COVID-19 patients show the presence of genetically modified Henipah virus, an American scientist has found.

Henipah was one of the two types of viruses sent to China by Chinese-born scientists from a Canadian laboratory at the centre of a controversy over the firing of the scientists and collaboration with Chinese military researchers. It is not clear whether the virus found in the Chinese samples is related to the samples sent by the Canadian lab, which were shipped in late March 2019.

The finding was confirmed for The Epoch Times by another qualified scientist.

The evidence was first found by Dr. Steven Quay, a Seattle-based physician-scientist and former faculty member at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who looked at early COVID-19 samples uploaded by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) shortly after China informed the World Health Organization about the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.

The samples from the patients, who reportedly were found to have the “unknown pneumonia” in December 2019, were uploaded to the genetic sequence database, GenBank, on the website of the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH).

Quay says that while other scientists around the world were mostly interested in examining the genome of SARS-CoV-2 in the samples uploaded by the WIV scientists, he wanted to see what else was in the samples collected from the patients.

So he collaborated with a few other scientists to analyze sequences from the samples.

“We started fishing inside for weird things,” Quay told The Epoch Times.

What they found, he says, are the results of what could likely be contamination from different experiments in the lab making their way into the samples, as well as evidence of Henipah virus.

“We found genetic manipulation of the Nipah virus, which is more lethal than Ebola.” Nipah is a type of Henipah virus.

The Epoch Times asked Joe Wang, PhD, who formerly spearheaded a vaccine development program for SARS in Canada with one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, to verify the finding. Wang is currently the president of NTD Television Canada, the sister company of The Epoch Times in Canada.

After examining the evidence, Wang said he was able to replicate Quay’s findings on the Henipah virus. He explains that the genetic manipulation of the virus was likely for the purposes of vaccine development.

Winnipeg Lab

The firing of Chinese-born scientist Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, from the National Microbiology laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg has been the subject of much controversy in Canada, with opposition parties pressing the government for more details on the case, and the government refusing to release information citing national security and privacy concerns.

Qiu and Cheng along with several Chinese students were escorted out of NML, Canada’s only Level 4 lab, in July 2019, amid a police investigation. The two scientists were formally fired in January 2021.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), which is in charge of NML, said the termination was the result of an “administrative matter” and “possible breaches of security protocols,” but has declined to provide further details, citing security and privacy concerns.

During her time at NML, Qiu travelled several times in an official capacity to WIV, helping train personnel on Level 4 safety. The Globe and Mail later reported that scientists at NML have been collaborating with Chinese military researchers on deadly pathogens, and that one of the Chinese military researchers worked at the high-security Winnipeg lab for a period of time.

Documents and emails released by PHAC show that the shipment of Henipah and Ebola samples was done with the permission of NML authorities.

In one of the emails sent in September 2018, David Safronetz, chief of special pathogens at PHAC, informs then-head of NML Matthew Gilmour and other lab administrators about the request from WIV for the shipment of the samples, saying “I trust the lab.”

In response, Gilmour asks about the nature of the work that will be done at the Wuhan lab, and why the lab doesn’t get the material from “other, more local labs.” He also tells Safronetz that it’s “good to know that you trust this group,” asking how NML was connected with them.

In his reply, Safronetz doesn’t specifically say what the samples will be used for in China, but notes they will only be sent once all paperwork and certification is completed. He also says the WIV is requesting the material from NML “due to collaboration” with Qiu.

He adds, “Historically, it’s also been easier to obtain material from us as opposed to US labs. I don’t think other, closer labs have the ability to ship these materials.”

Gilmour resigned from his position at NML in May 2020 and joined a UK-based bioresearch company.

MPs have asked NML management why shipment of the samples was allowed and whether they knew if China performs any Gain of Function (GoF) research at WIV. GoF research involves increasing the lethal level (virulence) or transmissibility of pathogens.

NML’s acting scientific director general Guillaume Poliquin told MPs during a parliamentary committee meeting on 22 March 2021 that the laboratory only sent the samples to WIV after receiving assurance that no gain of function research would take place.

Conservative MP John Williamson pressed for more answers, saying the word of the state-run Chinese lab can’t be trusted as the Chinese regime “has a history of theft and lies.”

The issue of gain of function research at WIV has been a point of contention in the United States between lawmakers and Dr. Anthony Fauci, NIH’s head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose organization has funded research (through EcoHealth Alliance) on coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul says published work from WIV on coronaviruses shows the lab is conducting GoF research, a charge Fauci denies.

The Epoch Times sought comment from PHAC, including as to how the agency addressed issues of intellectual property and the development of any products such as vaccines with WIV, but didn’t hear back by time of publication.

Despite repeated requests by opposition parties for more details related to the firing of the two NML scientists, the Liberal government has refused to provide records, saying there are national security and privacy concerns.

After the House of Commons issued an order for the government to disclose the information, the government took the Speaker of the House to court to obtain confirmation from a judge that it can withhold the documents. The government later dropped its court case once Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called an election and Parliament was dissolved.

Translation of external news on U.S., Vietnam, CCP, Taiwan

News (2)

The U.S. intelligence community submitted a report on the origin of the virus to Biden

Reporter : Li Xin / Editor : Li Yuan / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/8/25/n13187772.htm

Image : US officials stated that the intelligence community has submitted an investigation report on the origin of the CCP virus to President Biden. The picture shows Biden speaking at a cyber security conference held in the East Wing of the White House on 2 5 August 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)


U.S. officials said on Wednesday (25 August 2021) that the domestic intelligence community has followed President Biden’s instructions and submitted a report on the origin of SARS-CoV-2 (virus; novel coronavirus, Wuhan virus, CCP virus, covi as synonym) / COVID-19 (disease; novel coronavirus pneumonia, Wuhan pneumonia, covid as synonym) within 90 days. 

According to a CNN report on 25 August, two government officials told the media that the US intelligence community had reported the findings to Biden on Tuesday (24 August).

A White House official also confirmed the above news to CBS on Wednesday.

"The President listened to the introduction of the confidential report," the official told CBS News (CBS News), "We look forward to a non-confidential summary of key judgments to share soon."

Although the findings of the investigation are highly anticipated, for weeks, intelligence officials have been downplaying the possibility that US intelligence agencies can draw clear conclusions. They pointed out that the CCP government lacked cooperation and obfuscated relevant data in the early stages.

At a press briefing on Monday, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said that a non-confidential version of the report will be released publicly in the next few days but she does not know what form it will take.

According to CNN estimates, the non-confidential summary of the report may be available this week, and Biden asked the intelligence community to declassify the report as much as possible.

In May 2021, when the issue of the source of covi once again caused great concern, Biden ordered the US intelligence community to "double" its efforts to investigate this issue, including the possibility that covi originated in a laboratory accident, and requested intelligence. The officials submit the report within 90 days.

People familiar with the matter told CNN that no agency in the US intelligence community has the confidence to give a definitive conclusion about whether covi was a natural occurrence or leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

From the early days of the outbreak, the Chinese Communist government has refused to share relevant information with the outside world and insisted that the virus emerged naturally. Due to the lack of transparency, all investigations, including previous investigations of the origin of the virus conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), have encountered huge obstacles.

The WHO COVID-19 origin investigation team concluded earlier this year that the virus was probably transmitted to humans from animals sold on the Wuhan market. This seems to deny the possibility that the CCP virus originated in the laboratory of Wuhan Institute of Virology.

This conclusion made by the WHO, which is deeply infiltrated by the CCP, has been refuted by many scientists, especially in the United States. In this context, Biden issued an order to the US intelligence community to investigate again.

According to CBS News, it is not yet clear whether the White House will order another investigation if the investigation results are completely inconclusive. Some members of Congress have called for the establishment of an investigation committee similar to the "9.11" incident to investigate the origin of the virus. Republicans in the House of Representatives have launched several investigations of their own.

The pandemic has claimed the lives of at least four million people worldwide. Public health officials in various countries said that it is important to understand how SARS-CoV-2 first infected humans, which is essential to prevent and contain future outbreaks.

See also: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/biden-given-inconclusive-intelligence-report-covid-19-origins-2134921

News (3)

No new community cases in Taiwan on 25 August 2021

In Taiwan, 108 days later on 25 August 2021, the number of confirmed covid diagnoses on a single day for the first time is zero. This is also the third day of public vaccination of MVC-COV1901 in Taiwan.

Chen Shizhong, commander of the Central Epidemic Command Centre, said, "It is also very difficult. The local cases we reported to you today are zero."

After 108 days, Taiwan once again ushered in zero confirmed cases. However, the command center reminded that "adding zero" does not mean "clearing", and Taiwan must continue to hold on.

Chen Shizhong added, "This week and these two weeks are a very important observation period for us. There is no way to say that it has been cleared."

News (4) 

1 out of 4 deaths after MVC-COV1901 vaccination clarified

As the world's first protein subunit vaccine after passing the EUA, Taiwan’s self-produced MVC-COV1901 launches public vaccination on 23 August. A total of 4 deaths one to two days after vaccination have occurred. 

While the man surnamed Peng is declared to die from overdose of heroin on 25 August 2021, the other causes of death remain to be clarified.

It is expected the exact cause of Lu Zhijun's death will be disclosed on 26 August 2021.

Ref: https://staygate.blogspot.com/2021/08/two-taiwanese-died-one-day-after.html

News (5)

3 million doses of BNT vaccine were originally going to Turkey, Taiwan managed to grab nearly 2 million doses

Reporter : Wu Liangyi   

Image : A senior government official revealed that Taiwan has successfully secured nearly 2 million doses of BNT vaccine and has the fastest chance to arrive in Taiwan from the end of this month to the beginning of next month. (AFP)

The Central Epidemic Command Centre issued a press release  at night of 25 August stating that a batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine/Comirnaty will arrive in Taiwan earlier than originally scheduled; Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shizhong confirmed that this batch of vaccines has a total of about 3 million doses that were originally to be sent to Turkey, but the Republic of China (ROC) has won the priority of transferring most of the vaccines to Taiwan. According to a high-level government official, Taiwan has successfully secured nearly 2 million doses of vaccine and has the fastest chance to arrive in Taiwan from the end of August to the beginning of September.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) has not allowed Comirnaty to pass the country’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Therefore, the batch of 3 million doses of vaccine was originally to be transferred to Turkey. It is a bit embarrassing but the Central Epidemic Command Center believes that the public's rights and interests should be given priority to vaccines, "it will be gone when it is too late," so it actively negotiated for this batch of vaccines.

The high-level government pointed out that Taiwan has successfully secured nearly 2 million doses of Comirnaty and will enter Taiwan in batches. The time is likely to fall between the end of this month and the beginning of next month, but "the actual arrival time in Taiwan must be approved by the European Union."

Chen Shizhong emphasized to reporters that the batch of vaccines that came to Taiwan early was definitely made in Germany. Recently, the outside world has continuously discredited that the government has to re-make vaccines because of the Chinese characters "Fubitai" on the bottles, which has delayed the delay for several months. Taiwan said, "This is absolutely, absolutely not a fact. Printing labels does not take time at all. It is the most trivial matter in vaccine production."

News (6)

Will the first batch of BNT arrive? Huang Weihan exploded "a total of 1.95 million doses" arrived in Taiwan on 1 September 2021

Editor : Zhou Jiaru

TSMC, Hon Hai Yongling, and Tzu Chi recently purchased a total of 15 million doses of BNT vaccine, and it is reported that 1.5 million to 2 million doses will arrive first by the end of August. For this, the command center commander Chen Shizhong said that the exact delivery time is not yet known, but the media person Huang Weihan broke the news on 26 August that he learned that the first batch of delivered doses was 1.95 million doses, which are expected to take off on 31 August and arrive in Taiwan on 1 September 2021.

Ref: news.tvbs.com.tw/life/1572756

News (7) to (12) / Editor : Ding Yanling

News (7)

More than 600 people died after being vaccinated! AstraZeneca has the most. Experts reveal "5 reasons" 



On the third day of the MVC-COV1901 vaccination, it was reported that 4 people died after vaccination. The age of the dead range from 39 to 55 years old. According to the latest statistics on the 69th day, since the first imported vaccine start public vaccination in Taiwan, from the command centre, 603 cases of vaccination have been fatal, including 506 cases of AstraZeneca (AZ vaccine), 96 cases of Moderna, and 1 case of MVC-COV1901. Does this mean that the AZ vaccine is the most dangerous? 

The doctor reminds that the target age group is different, the individual's comorbidity and physical condition are different, so the comparison cannot be made only by numbers.

In addition to the death of columnist Lu Zhijun and Peng from New Taipei City, two more death cases involve a Keelung woman and a 44-year-old man from Taoyuan after being vaccinated today. According to the command center’s announcement on 25 August that the number of deaths due to vaccine adverse reactions was 603, the analysis of 506 deaths was AZ vaccine and 96 was Moderna. There was only one death case related to MVC-COV1901, excluding today and yesterday. 3 cases in the afternoon.

News (8)

The AZ vaccine is terrible? The elderly have a high rate of administering treatment, and it cannot be compared like this

Looking at this statistical report, many people said, "Look, the AZ vaccine is really terrible!" Is this really the case? Zhou Baiqian, director of the Career Development Department of the Taipei Medical University Hospital and attending physician in the Department of Thoracic Medicine, said that this cannot be compared. 

Taiwan began to administer a large number of vaccines. Except for priority of 1 to 3 targeted groups, the first full-scale vaccinations started with the elderly over 85 years old, followed by 75 to 84 years old, 65 to 74 years old...etc. in order. 

At that time, according to the command center’s 109-year demographic data analysis, without the covi vaccine, an average of more than 200 elders over the age of 75 died every day. After vaccinating the elders, no number of deaths per day was found. Compared with the average number in 109, it is believed that the death of the elderly after the vaccine is not directly related to the vaccine. The AZ vaccine administration abroad shows also a similar trend.

News (9)

Expert: Finding the population at risk of death is the key point

Zhou Baiqian believes that the elderly who die after receiving the AZ vaccine cannot attribute the cause of death to the vaccine but he believes that the command centre should make a complete statistical analysis: including the age of the deceased and who.

Only the first few doses of death, death a few days after the vaccine, the presence of chronic diseases, and the presence or absence of conscious symptoms before death, etc., can truly analyze the high-risk groups of different vaccines, mark the high-risk groups when the vaccine is administered, and then change  to other vaccines. 

If the vaccinator died on the day or the next day after the vaccine is administered, it is likely that the design of the specific vaccine and immune production may have caused the risk of changes in blood vessels, heart rhythm, or other systems. 

If the vaccinator died 3 to 7 days after the vaccine is administered, it may be caused by a blood clot, or the victim may have blood clotting function, arrhythmia, or other electrolyte abnormalities. 

In this part of the analysis, it is necessary to confirm whether the victim has any uncomfortable symptoms in order to infer the possible cause of sudden death after vaccination.

News (10)

Myocardial infarction during anatomy, the cause of death has nothing to do with the vaccine?

Zhou Baiqian said that when he saw the command center analyzing the autopsy reports of vaccine-dead patients, he would often say that "the autopsy showed that the patient had myocardial infarction", and he classified the death as "the patient is at risk of cardiovascular disease." 

It has not been carefully evaluated whether the effect of the vaccine directly or indirectly caused thrombosis in patients due to endothelial cell damage, or arrhythmia that caused myocardial infarction at the time of body anatomy. If they were all brought with this conclusion, they would not be able to catch the vaccine-risk groups for the people in Taiwan, let alone provide a reference for the safety of the whole people when deciding vaccine choices.

News (11)

The public should pay attention to young people who died after receiving the protein subunit vaccine and take precautions

Like the MVC-COV1901, before the vaccine administration, the government guaranteed that the protein subunit vaccine was safe, and there were no obvious adverse reactions in the Phase II trial. Zhou Baiqian said that although the protein subunit vaccine is relatively safe in the second phase of clinical trials, do not forget to strengthen the antibodies produced by the protein subunit vaccine against the novel coronavirus. 

Currently, there are three types of protein subunit  vaccines, including MVC-COV1901, UB-612 and U.S. Novavax. Additional new adjuvants are added to enhance vaccine production of antibody immunity and cellular immunity. These adjuvants themselves may have the risk of causing vaccine adverse reactions and complications, and should also be considered.

Therefore, as the number of participants in Phase III clinical trials has increased, the types of patients have also been relatively expanded. It is natural to see many problems caused by vaccine administration. Moreover, people entering the second phase of clinical trials of MVC-COV1901 have actually undergone an assessment of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, liver and kidney diseases before the administration, eliminating the risk of vaccination caused by many diseases, and the vaccination is of course safe. 

However, after the full treatment, the subjects have not had electrocardiogram, blood and biochemical tests before the treatment, and the health tests cannot be carried out in advance. In the future, when more people join the treatment, risks that are not seen in many trials will become more and more obvious. He saw that the four people who died were all within one to two days of the injection. At the same time, they were all very young, and felt a little worried. This part must be discussed as soon as possible to let the people regain confidence.

News (12)

Vaccines will increase the risk of death

In the past, the command centre would emphasize that people who died from vaccines had chronic diseases, major injuries..., emphasized that vaccines are not a cause of death, and increased the confidence of the people in coming out to get vaccinated. 

Zhou Baiqian said that to fight covid, vaccination is very important but the medical profession must admit, "Vaccines are not 100% safe and may increase the risk of death in certain age groups. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the data presented after the large-scale vaccination in order to help select the appropriate vaccine for the person who was given a chance to get vaccinated, or even to make a pre-risk assessment.” 

These people die after the vaccine is administered, and it cannot be said that there is no relative relationship. Because the statistical data is in the hands of the command center, Zhou suggested that the command centre should analyze the information of death cases in detail, find out the risk differences of specific vaccines, and specific risk factors, so that the public can have a basis for careful selection of vaccines. 

The public should also pay attention to assessing whether the cardiopulmonary function is stable, whether there is liver and kidney function or poor blood sugar control, not being over-fatigued, not having more usual symptoms of discomfort, and paying attention to the body after the vaccine is administered. If necessary, seek medical attention as soon as possible to maintain the safety of the vaccine.


News (13) to (15) / Reporter : Chen Ting / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/8/25/n13186182.htm

News (13)

Harris: U.S. supports Vietnam to resist CCP aggression

Image : On 25 August 2021, US Vice President Harris and Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc took a group photo at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. (Manan Vatsyayana / Pool/AFP via Getty Images)


US Vice President Kamala Harris met with the top leader of Vietnam on Wednesday (25 August 2021). She stated that the United States will provide support in several key areas and strengthen maritime security to counter the increasingly aggressive actions of the CCP in the South China Sea.

This is the second time Harris has criticized Beijing in two days.

In Singapore on Tuesday, Harris accused the CCP of using coercion and intimidation to make an illegal claim for sovereignty in the disputed South China Sea.

The South China Sea has important waterways passing through it, as well as natural gas fields and abundant fishing grounds. China, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan all claim sovereignty over parts of the waters.

Prior to this, the CCP had established military outposts on artificial islands and reefs in the South China Sea.

Reuters pointed out that in the past few years, disputes over sovereignty in the South China Sea have brought tensions between China and Vietnam. Vietnam is also inclined to the US's Indo-Pacific strategy, hoping to take a tougher stance against the CCP in disputed waters. However, Vietnam seems to be trying to maintain a delicate balance between the United States and China.

In addition, during a meeting with Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, He Jinli stated that the US military plans to send an additional US Coast Guard speedboat to Vietnam to help maintain its safety and interests in the South China Sea. At the same time, she also severely criticized Beijing's incursions in controversial waters.

She said: "Frankly, we need to find ways to put pressure on and increase pressure on Beijing to comply with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and challenge its bullying and excessive maritime claims."

Harris also added that the United States will "maintain a strong presence in the South China Sea" to challenge the CCP.

Harris is the first American vice president to visit Vietnam after the Vietnam War. She told the Vietnamese president, "Our relationship has made great progress in a quarter of a century."

She also expressed that she will support the relationship with Vietnam from a comprehensive partnership to a strategic partnership. This shows that the relationship between the United States and Vietnam is constantly deepening.

News (14)

Harris: 1 million more doses of covi vaccine to Vietnam by 27 August 2021

According to the Associated Press, at a bilateral meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Harris announced that the United States will provide Vietnam with an additional 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, which will be delivered in batches within the next 24 hours. This will bring the total number of vaccines donated by the United States to Vietnam to 6 million doses.

News (15)

Harris: CDC will set up branch office in Southeast Asia

Harris has announced that a new Southeast Asia Regional Office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be launched. The new CDC office will be one of the four regional offices around the world, and its focus is to cooperate with Southeast Asian governments to conduct research and training to respond to and prevent global health crises.

In the afternoon, Harris will participate in a health and safety event with the health ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Papua New Guinea, where she will explain the work of the CDC office more clearly.


News (16)

US Vice President opens U.S. CDC's Southeast Asia office in Vietnam

Reporter : Hung Cuong/VOV.VN / Source / Image : US Embassy in Vietnam


U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris inaugurates the Southeast Asia Regional Office of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) located in Hanoi, Vietnam, in the afternoon of 25 August 2021.

In addition to Harris, the ceremony is attended by the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Director of the US CDC, and the Health Ministers of ten countries in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea.

The new regional office will strengthen CDC's ability to meet its mandate to protect the American people and Southeast Asians through more rapidly responding to health threats, and building better results. The regional office is an important link to address shared health priorities.

CDC plays a particularly relevant role to strengthen U.S. engagement and cooperation with Southeast Asian countries to enhance regional capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases and other threats. other emerging health threats.

The priorities for this new regional office include building the public health workforce of the future, expanding training for public health testing facilities in the region, developing innovative program to improve the health of migrant populations, ensuring coordinated response to public health emergencies through a network of Emergency Response Operations Centers and strengthen early warning systems to detect emerging and zoonotic infectious diseases.

The US CDC's Southeast Asia Regional Office is expected to play an important role in providing technical and regulatory support to the ASEAN Center for Public Health Emergencies and New Diseases. emerging (ASEAN CDC).

The office will also develop and strengthen existing relationships with key stakeholders across the region, including partners from the U.S. Government and U.S. delegations to countries in the region, international organizations and organizations,  United Nations organizations operating in the region, multilateral banks, bilateral partners (Japan, South Korea and the UK), along with other partners in Southeast Asia.

News (17)

CDC has established other regional offices in Georgia, Oman and Brazil

According to the CDC press release dated 25 August 2021, in addition to the Southeast Asia Regional Office in Hanoi, CDC has also recently established Regional Offices in Eastern Europe/Central Asia (Georgia), the Middle East/North Africa (Oman), and South America (Brazil).

John MacArthur is the new CDC Southeast Asia Office Director. Prior to this appointment, he served as the CDC Thailand country director for more than six years. He has spent nearly half of his 23-year CDC career focused on improving health security in Southeast Asia including managing over $100 million of infectious disease funds focusing on the control of malaria, tuberculosis, dengue, Zika, influenza, and COVID-19.  Dr. MacArthur also served as CDC’s Team Lead for the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, a $620 million per year program to control malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

Refs: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0825-new-cdc-office.htmlhttps://vov.vn/the-gioi/pho-tong-thong-my-se-khai-truong-van-phong-khu-vuc-dong-nam-a-cua-cdc-my-tai-viet-nam-885412.vov


News (18)

Execution of Harris' poisonous drug policy, New York Governor vows to launch New York's legal marijuana industry

Reporters : Carl Campanile etal, The New York Post


New York Governor Kathy Hochul vowed that getting New York’s budding marijuana sales program off the ground will be a high priority.


Scandal-scarred ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature approved the law back in March that legalized the sale of marijuana in New York. However,  Cuomo — locked in a dispute with the state Senate — did not nominate an executive director for the new Office of Cannabis Management or name appointees to the Cannabis Control Board, even though the Marijuana Taxation and Regulation Act was passed months ago.


The Senate must confirm the appointments.


The appointments are necessary to set up and approve new rules and licensing for firms and employees in the emerging marijuana industry — from cultivation to sales.


During negotiations over the cannabis appointments, Cuomo was embroiled in a separate spat with the legislature over leadership changes he wanted to make at the MTA. He was ticked off after lawmakers blocked legislation to split the top MTA leadership positions into two posts — and a spokesman even suggested the transit agency appointments and cannabis ones were linked.


Hochul on Wednesday promised to clear the logjam.

 

Vice President Kamala Harris gave the word to legalize cannabis in the U.S. after the illegal consumption of cannabis is the cause of e-vaping lung illness (evali), a scientific argument doubted by the CCP war wolf diplomat Zhao Lijian. He questioned whether evali was the cause of covid in the U.S. and dumped the pot of the virus origin to the U.S.


Refs: https://nypost.com/2021/08/25/kathy-hochul-vows-to-launch-new-yorks-legal-marijuana-industry/ https://staygate.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-causes-and-symptoms-of-evali-are.html.


News (19)


Harris: U.S. "committed to supporting the people" of Myanmar


Source : The Irrawaddy



U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is in Vietnam until 26 August 2021, said Washington is committed to supporting the Myanmar people in their attempts to restore democracy in the country, while calling on other nations in the region to join the US in the effort.

Referring to the Southeast Asian country’s ongoing bloody and deadly struggle to topple the military regime that seized power in February, Vice President Kamala Harris said in Singapore on Tuesday (24 August) that “the United States remains deeply alarmed by the military coup in Burma”, using the country’s former name.

“We condemn the campaign of violent repression.  And we are committed to supporting the people there as they work to return their nation to the path of democracy,” she said.

“We do hope that nations throughout the Indo-Pacific will join us in that effort,” she added.

Since the coup, the regime has killed 1,014 people and detained more than 5,800 across the country in its crackdowns against anyone who opposes its rule, according to monitoring groups.

More than six months on, the junta is struggling to rule the country, as it faces nationwide popular opposition ranging from flash-mob protests to deadly armed resistance, both in urban and rural areas, nearly every day.

The US, along with other democracies in the West, has condemned the coup in Myanmar since the beginning. It has also encouraged the regional bloc, ASEAN, to take initiatives to resolve Myanmar’s crisis, as the country is a member of the bloc.

Apart from its support for ASEAN’s effort, the US has also engaged with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which was formed by elected lawmakers of the ousted National League for Democracy government and their ethnic allies.

Early this month, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke with Daw Zin Mar Aung, the NUG’s foreign minister, making the first official contact between a senior US official and Myanmar’s parallel government.

The State Department said at the time that the two discussed ongoing efforts to return Myanmar to a path to democracy, including continued US support for the pro-democracy movement, as well as efforts to combat rising covid infections in Myanmar and to provide critical humanitarian assistance to the people.

Then, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that Washington would provide more than US$50 million in critical humanitarian assistance to the people of Myanmar including those forced to flee violence and persecution.

This month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his ASEAN counterparts to take joint action to urge the military to end the violence.

He welcomed the bloc’s appointment of Brunei’s second minister for foreign affairs, Erywan Yusof, as special envoy to Myanmar. However, ASEAN has been criticized for its failure to reach out to any relevant parties concerning the Myanmar issue.

On 24 August 2021, the NUG’s deputy foreign minister said ASEAN had yet to engage with the shadow government.

News (20)

There are still 1,500 Americans in Afghanistan. Blinken: No deadline for evacuation
   

Image : Video Screenshot

The United States is only a few days away from the final withdrawal deadline on 31 August. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on 25 August that there are still about 1,500 Americans in Afghanistan. He emphasized that there is no deadline for the withdrawal and withdrawal will continue after 31 August.

Blinken held a press conference at the State Department on the 25th and said that when the evacuation began, there were about 6,000 Americans who wanted to leave Afghanistan. So far, 4,500 Americans and their families have been evacuated. The United States is now actively using phone calls and emails to contact the rest of the people with the message.

He emphasized that there is no time limit for assisting Afghans who evacuate Americans or who have worked with the United States for many years. It will continue even after 31 August. The United States will use all diplomatic and economic resources to ensure that these people leave Afghanistan.

In the 10 days since Taliban captured the capital Kabul, the United States and its allies have carried out large-scale evacuation operations, evacuating more than 88,000 people, of which 19,000 have been evacuated in the past 24 hours. The US military stated that the plane takes off every 39 minutes.



News (21) to (29) / Host : Tang Jingyuan / Editor : Li Hong / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/08/26/a103199376.html

News (21)

The U.S. investigation report may not have a clear conclusion

The content of this report has been reported by many media. The first report was Reuters. They quoted three government officials and a person familiar with the investigation, saying that in recent months, there has been little evidence that the CCP virus has spread naturally in wild animals.

In addition, the report also stated that because the CCP hindered earlier efforts to collect key information locally, they did not expect the investigation to reach a clear conclusion.

This may sound disappointing, but it cannot be said to be meaningless. This is because some officials said that the report may point out the direction of other investigations to be carried out in the next step, including the requirements for the CCP, etc. These requirements are likely to further aggravate the already very tense relationship between the United States and China.

Another media called "National Review" reported that although the report submitted by the best agents, analysts and virus experts collectively cannot give a clear answer, the indirect evidence pointing to the laboratory leak in the report is now overwhelming. 

In general, this information is very vague. The only thing we are more clear about is that there will be no clear answer, which means that there are still two possible coexistences of natural sources and laboratory sources.

News (22)

Back to the origin: Possibility from nature and laboratory exists at the same time

Then some friends may ask, didn’t CNN previously reported an exclusive news that the intelligence agency had obtained the virus gene database of the Wuhan Institute of Virology through some undisclosed method?

Yes, this was reported by CNN on 5 August three weeks ago. At that time, the article also specifically mentioned that converting these data into useful information brought a series of challenges, especially the need for sufficiently skilled scientists to interpret complex Gene sequencing data, they also need to have appropriate security permissions, they also need to understand Chinese, because this information contains a lot of specialized Chinese vocabulary and so on.

This brings up a focal question: How much effect does the information decrypted by this database play?

Based on the information disclosed by all parties, a basically positive conclusion is that until Biden received the report at least yesterday, relevant excavations have not obtained direct evidence that can determine the origin of the virus, so it seems that it is still stuck. In situ 90 days ago: Possibility from nature and laboratory exists at the same time.

News (23)

The balance is obviously tilted to the direction of the laboratory leak

But doesn't it mean that these excavations are meaningless? Of course not. At least, the proportions of these two possibilities continue to change, and the balance is obviously tilted in the direction of the laboratory leak.

From a certain perspective, the current situation of the Biden administration is a bit like that of the prosecutors in the Simpson murder case: after several rounds of prosecution and defense, the whole world believes that Simpson is the murderer, but it happens to be the most important thing. The key evidence was disturbed and could not be dealt with.

Of course, this example is not so appropriate, after all, Simpson eventually escaped the accusation, and now it is only temporarily deadlocked. But at least for the current digging efforts, the United States can be said to be almost at the last mile position. The next most important thing is to see if the Biden administration has the courage to get the CCP to surrender key data. If the CCP insists on not paying, and continues to bite back, will the Biden administration have the courage to exert substantial pressure on the CCP?

This difficulty is not small. Because behind the forcing the CCP to accept investigations, there will almost certainly be games between sanctions and counter-sanctions and other aspects. The sharp deterioration of Sino-US relations in a short period of time is a high probability event. To what extent will this deterioration be? Will it lead to a complete collapse of Sino-US relations, and eventually local conflicts?

This possibility is not completely ruled out, so this brings up another question: Is the Biden administration prepared for this? Or do you have such courage? Personally, I am not very optimistic.

The Taliban draw a red line on the evacuation deadline. Why did the United States agree?
Why not be optimistic? This involves another important piece of news yesterday: the Taliban's red line on the time limit for withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Just yesterday, Biden officially confirmed that the United States will withdraw from Afghanistan before 31 August as planned. He also warned that the situation on the ground was fragile and that the Islamic State (ISIS) might launch an attack outside the Kabul airport.

At the same time, the Taliban began to show unusual toughness. The Taliban’s chief spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, publicly drew a red line to the US and allied forces at a press conference yesterday, claiming that they would not accept any extension after the August 31 deadline, and starting from Tuesday, they will go to Kabul Airport. The roads are only open to foreigners and closed to locals.

Suhail Shaheen, another Taliban spokesman, even threatened that if Western soldiers fail to withdraw, they will face serious consequences.

This is an extremely unusual scene. Because only two months ago, most of the Taliban were still huddled in the mountains, and the outside world could hardly hear any of their voices. Now Karma suddenly entered Kabul. Before they could stand firm, they dared to sway the world’s number one U.S. military. Draw a red line, this style of painting is really a bit overwhelming.

In fact, the Taliban are not intimidating. On Tuesday night, Taliban militants blocked the road leading to the Kabul airport, fired shots into the air to disperse the crowd, and publicly declared that only convoys arranged by foreign embassies were allowed to pass. Individuals of Afghanistan cannot pass even if they hold a valid travel document.

In this case, Biden agreed to the Taliban's "no postponement" request, which is very intriguing. Because we all know that he has been under pressure from leaders of other countries to extend the deadline. Britain, France, Germany and Spain have warned that they do not have enough time to evacuate everyone who needs to leave.

News (24)

The Taliban must ensure a safe passage for those who want to leave

This disagreement was not resolved until yesterday after Britain convened a video conference with the leaders of the Group of Seven. The G7 agreed not to postpone, but put forward some conditions to the Taliban. The first is that the Taliban must guarantee a safe passage for those who want to leave before and after 31 August.

Whether the Taliban agrees to this condition cannot be confirmed for the time being, but many friends may have noticed a piece of news. The day before yesterday (Monday) the US CIA Director William Burns secretly met with the Taliban’s top figure, Abdul Ghani, in Kabul. Baradar). This is the highest level of contact so far between the Taliban and the Biden-Harris administration since entering Kabul.

Because it was a closed meeting, no one knows what the details are, but White House spokesperson Psaki revealed a bit of news when answering the question of evacuating Afghans at the press conference. She said, “There will definitely be more. Eligible people will come to the United States after 31 August, and we will help them relocate."

In this way, we can boldly speculate that Biden and the Taliban are likely to have reached a non-disclosure agreement. The Allies do not forcefully request an extension. This is considered to give the Taliban face, in exchange for the Taliban to remain after August 31. Allow the evacuation to continue in a low-key manner.

News (25)

Biden's decision to contain the CCP and withdraw troops from Afghanistan

This allows us to see that there is a big problem with Biden. What is the problem?

Some time ago, we saw Biden’s moves to contain the CCP, ranging from technology wars to sanctions wars, from strengthening the besieging of European allies to reviving Indo-Pacific alliances, and even repeatedly stepping on the CCP’s red line to continuously improve the substantive strategy of the United States and Taiwan. The alliance relationship, a series of combinations of punches, made the Chinese Communist Party's official media exclaim that Biden was even crazier than Trump.

Especially on the issue of virus origin, Biden’s order of investigation obviously hit the CCP’s fate, so that the CCP opened its mouth like a mad dog, even if there was a national scandal like "Swiss expert Edwards". They also brazenly ignored them, and continued to use full firepower to shake the pot, and even today they are still threatening that if the United States concludes that the virus originated in Wuhan, it will definitely take retaliatory actions.

In the Afghan troop withdrawal incident, Biden’s performance was obviously different. He always made mistakes in his judgments and had nowhere to make arrangements. He walked passively all the way to the present, and even made the world's number one military power have to piece together with a group like the Taliban. The signing of a sub-city alliance by the terrorists in stunned the whole world.

From this sharp contrast, from the virus investigation and accountability and the two incidents in Afghanistan, we can see that Biden has shown a commonality, that is, when he engages in long-distance political, economic, and diplomatic games with his opponents, He still seems quite organized. Once the opponent entered the bayonet stage of close hand-to-hand combat, especially when faced with opponents like the CCP and the Taliban who do not speak any martial ethics, Biden showed obvious discomfort and even lost control.

Not dare to use power is the biggest problem for Biden at present. Even though the current strength of the U.S. military can completely take advantage of opponents like the CCP in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, we have also discussed that the U.S. military has actually made all preparations for war. . But if the heads of the three services are afraid to make moves, even the most powerful aircraft and missiles will eventually fall to the same level as the Taliban holding an AK submachine gun.

From this perspective, Biden suffered a big loss on the Afghanistan issue this time. It may not be a bad thing for him. At least it reminds him of the seemingly dominant situation. It is entirely possible that his opponent will be completely destroyed by an inadvertent move and overturned. 

Compared with the Taliban, the CCP’s cunning and insidiousness is more than a hundred times better, and the CCP’s strength is also more than a thousand times better. The previous prevailing situation does not explain much, it is just a stage. Next, how to make up for the flaws and solve the problem of accountability for the virus in a short-handed state is more important to deal with the CCP, which is more and more inclined to raise the table.

News (26)

The heavy inside story of the U.S. media exploding traceability investigation

Speaking of virus traceability, we will continue to discuss some of the heavy inside stories of traceability investigations that broke out in an exclusive report published by The Wall Street Journal only today.

The report said that on the issue of virus traceability investigation, the Biden-Harris administration is now in the same dilemma as the Trump administration at the time, namely how the Chinese Communist government can cooperate. The Trump administration has put pressure on the CCP for more information for nearly a year but related efforts have ended in bureaucratic infighting and failure.

News (27)

Yu Maochun downloads a copy of the website of Wuhan Institute of Virology

This report revealed some previously unknown inside information. As early as the beginning of 2020, in the first few weeks after the CCP acknowledged the outbreak, Yu Maochun, who worked in the Office of Policy Planning of the US State Department, downloaded a copy of the Wuhan Institute of Virology website.

At that time, the mainland epidemic had not spread to overseas. Yu Maochun said that he knew it was a high-standard biosafety laboratory and had been engaged in coronavirus research. At that time, he had a hunch that Chinese officials would delete some materials. He mentioned this sensitive research institute to Pompeo, and then Pompeo told him to give priority to this matter.

Obviously, Yu Maochun, who was born and raised in mainland China, has a deeper understanding of the Chinese Communist system than Westerners. Facts have proved that his intuition is very keen. In May of last year, Yu Maochun approached Thomas DiNanno, acting director of the U.S. State Department’s Arms Control Bureau, and expressed his willingness to investigate the source of the virus.

Please pay attention to this point in time. At that time, the epidemic in the United States was in a period of rapid increase of 20,000 to 30,000 confirmed cases every day.

News (28)

Assess whether the CCP’s previous virus research violates the Biological Weapons Convention

The main function of the Arms Control Bureau is to obtain authorization to monitor compliance with the arms control treaty. At that time, Dinano collected information from the US intelligence community to assess whether the CCP’s previous virus research violated the Biological Weapons Convention passed in 1972.

This task finally fell to an institution called the "National Institute for Strategic Studies". The institute hired former government official David Asher to lead the investigation. Escher was working on Syria’s chemical weapons and was considered an expert on weapons of mass destruction.

Escher’s team quickly achieved some results: They found a clue from a report hidden in the archives of intelligence agencies, which stated that several researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology had contracted the disease in the fall of 2019. The symptoms are consistent with the novel coronavirus infection or seasonal epidemics.

In addition, the team also discovered information about some secret research conducted by the Wuhan Institute of Virology for the Chinese military.

By December 2020, the U.S. State Department had drafted a statement involving the investigation of the Dinano department and planned to make this information public.

At that time, senior officials of the Arms Control Bureau also began to draft a formal diplomatic complaint, intending to publicly hold the CCP to blame by accusing the CCP of laboratory research on the coronavirus as a violation of the Biological Weapons Convention.

But Dinano’s complaint was strongly opposed by his immediate boss, Chris Ford, then Under Secretary of State. This Mr. Ford insisted that the CCP’s military might be carrying out defensive experiments permitted by the Convention. Dinanno’s allegations that the CCP may violate the Biological Weapons Convention are “basically unfounded” on scientific grounds.

News (29)

Opposed by then Under Secretary of State Chris Ford

Ford even produced an evaluation report and concluded that there is no evidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has conducted weapons research, and there is no evidence that they interpret the provisions of the Biological Weapons Convention.

In this way, the two sides were at odds with each other in a fierce dispute, and the result was that Dinano’s petition was ultimately not published before the Trump administration transferred power. After the Biden administration took office, the new official who took over the Arms Control Bureau quickly concluded that there was "no connection" between the Wuhan laboratory and the Biological Weapons Convention, and the whole incident was officially Game over.

From the information disclosed for the first time, we can see that the Trump administration paid attention to the possibility of the source of the laboratory almost from the very beginning, and started an investigation into the direction of biological weapons at least in May. However, he obviously did not receive the support of the intelligence system. Even the investigations conducted by Pompeo in his own State Department system, and the investigations with phased results, were strongly resisted by insiders.

This kind of resistance is obviously closely related to the entire leftist's violent criticism of the "source of the virus laboratory" as a conspiracy theory at the time, so that the new Arms Control Bureau official rejected the predecessor's conclusion as soon as he came up.

The result of this kind of internal dispute between left and right is that when the Biden-Harris administration suddenly turned around and began to realize the importance of investigating the Wuhan virus institute, the CCP had deleted the relevant evidence. The outside world is allowed to conduct independent investigations.

In other words, it is difficult for the Biden-Harris administration to break through the last mile today. The root of the disaster was precisely planted by the left in order to attack Trump in the election.

News (30)

The first case of China's Sinopharm vaccine "breakthrough infection" in Taiwan
   

Image : A 50-year-old male of his nationality returned to Taiwan from China and had a breakthrough infection after completely vaccinating two doses of the Sinopharm for Taiwan's first entrant. The picture shows Sinopharm vaccine. (Reuters)



Today, 6 new cases of covid have been imported from abroad. One of them is a man in his 50s who returned to Taiwan from China.  After complete inoculation of 2 doses of Sinopharm vaccine, breakthrough infection occurred.

There are 6 new cases of overseas immigration today, 3 males and 3 females, aged between 10 and 50 years old, from the United States (Case 16050, 16052, 16057), Japan (Case 16051, 16053) and China (Case 16054) entering Taiwan, the entry date is between August 2 and August 24, and all have a negative test report within 3 days before the flight.

Among them, 2 cases were vaccinated, and 1 case was a male in his 50s who entered the United States on 3 August and received 2 doses of Comirnaty on 5 and 26 July but it has not yet reached the full 14 days after vaccination. 

As for one case of a male in his 50s who returned to Taiwan from China on 12 August, he was vaccinated in China on 24 April and 21 May. After returning to Taiwan, he had a sore throat on August 24. The hospital took an examination and was diagnosed on the 26th.

Luo Yijun, deputy head of the medical response team of the command center, confirmed that the case was the first domestic case of a breakthrough infection after a complete vaccination of two doses of Sinopharm vaccine. It was found that there was a sore throat symptom on 24 August, which is the day of onset. Infected before entering the country, the result of the inspection was Ct value 29.

News (31)

Taliban now blocking Westerners from Kabul airport as evacuation deadline looms

Reporter : Mike Miller, Red State / Image : Rahmat Gul


Before we dig in, as they say, here’s the thing: I can write 1,000 words or more on what I’m about to write about, and those words will not have any more impact — perhaps less — than Wednesday’s offering from my friend Michael P. Ramirez, IMHO the most brilliant political cartoonist on the planet.

See? Sums it up, perfectly, doesn’t it?

As the 31 August Afghan evacuation deadline looms ever closer, the panicked Biden administration on Monday sent CIA Director William Burns to Kabul to plead with the Taliban for an extension of the deadline.

The Taliban summarily rejected the pathetic “pretty please with sugar on it” plea, saying, in effect:

“Yeah, no. A deal is a deal. If your asses aren’t out of here by August 31, there will be consequences.” (I paraphrased, a tad.)

Biden promptly folded up like a cheap lawn chair, caved in to the Taliban, and undercut our allies. Again.

Hence, the brilliance of the Michael Ramirez political cartoon: Biden in a dress, taking notes, and dutifully (fearfully) responding “Yes sir” to the Taliban’s de facto leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar.

It just got worse. Way worse, reportedly.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, the Taliban have expanded their blockade of the besieged Hamid Karzai International Airport outside Kabul and are now blocking Westerners from getting to the airport, as well as Afghans, despite having repeatedly assured the Biden administration that “foreigners” would be allowed access to evacuation flights and would not be harrassed. (See: “complete crock of crap.”)

Needless to say, Corn Pop’s pal — Corn Pop was a “bad dude,” or so I’ve heard — continues to trot out to his little podium and trusty teleprompter on a near-daily basis and tell us yet again how the “Tollyybahn” have given his administration their “word” [ROFL emoj], precisely as the ruthless Islamist extremists continue to lie their lying faces off, insisting they’re not doing exactly what they’re doing.

As the WSJ noted, contradictions abound, depending on who says what, and when.

“New Taliban checkpoints on the road to Pakistan have made driving out of the country increasingly risky,” added the WSJ, and “confusing bureaucratic hurdles have prevented countless people from leaving Afghanistan.”

And according to a report from Politico, the Taliban’s expanded blockades are catching not just Afghans,  “but American citizens,” as well —and “halting evacuation efforts.”

The bottom line?

As The Washington Post Editorial Board observed on Wednesday, “there may be only three or four days left for the gigantic airlift currently underway, because time must be left to fly out U.S. and other troops securing the airport themselves. Indeed, some troops have started leaving already.”

And Biden’s band plays on.

In addition to the disastrous scope of the Biden administration that has continued to unfold over the last seven months, the second-worst part — in my opinion — is the stark reality that nothing this inept guy does — purposely so, in some cases — doesn’t surprise us, anymore.  Even worse, we’ve come to expect it. We wait for the other shoe to drop. And whatever that shoe is and however hard it drops, we have resigned ourselves in some respects to just chalking it up to Biden being Biden.

But we no longer have that luxury. We can no longer simply chalk it up to “Biden being Biden.”

I would argue — as I suspect many of you would, as well, that Biden is clearly mentally unfit to lead America — and that reality is getting clearer by the day.

That is the most frightening part of all.

News (32)

President Biden received a 90-day report from US intelligence on the origin of Covid-19

Kieu Anh/VOV.VN (translator) / Source : The Washington Post

VOV.VN - A secret 90-day report on the origins of Covid-19 by US intelligence agencies has reached President Biden and is likely to be released to the public.

US President Joe Biden on 24 August  received a confidential report from intelligence agencies, but has not yet reached a final conclusion about the origin of Covid-19, including the question of whether the virus was transmitted from animals to animals. humans as part of a natural process or escape a laboratory in China, said two US officials with ties to the matter.

It will take several days for the intelligence agency to disclose the findings of this report to the public. The assessment is the culmination of a 90-day rush of investigation after President Biden commissioned intelligence agencies in May to produce a report that "could bring us closer to a final conclusion" on the matter. SARS-CoV-2 has now killed more than 4 million people and devastated economies. However, despite analyzing a large amount of intelligence and looking for new evidence, intelligence officials have yet to reach a consensus, the two sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, President Biden directed intelligence agencies to investigate the origin of Covid-19 after he received a report in May from the agencies saying that they "combined the two possibilities" but had not yet. have a conclusion. He said two agencies are leaning towards the hypothesis that the virus was transmitted to humans through contact with infected animals while the third is leaning towards the laboratory incident hypothesis.

The head of the intelligence agency, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, cautiously assessed in June that the intelligence agencies may not be able to solve the problem.

"We hope to find 'evidence,' but this is a challenge" because "it may or may not happen," she said.

The US intelligence agency's assessment of the origins of Covid-19 involved many analysts and intelligence officials from different agencies, Haines said. Another official said the intelligence community "doesn't need to put in the best effort to deal with this," because it is fundamentally a matter of science.

President Biden himself, during his first visit to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in July, also spoke out about the need for a more aggressive working group to track the epidemic.

Many scientists expressed skepticism about this 90-day assessment report, while others said that the investigation into the origin of Covid-19 could take up to several years of research.

Ref: https://vov.vn/the-gioi/tong-thong-biden-da-nhan-duoc-bao-cao-90-ngay-cua-tinh-bao-my-ve-nguon-goc-covid-19-885454.vov

News (33)

The Chinese Embassy contributed articles that distorted the origin of SARS-CoV-2
Reporter : Xu Jian / Editor : Ye Ziwei / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/8/26/n13189050.htm
As the United States is about to announce the traceability report of  COVID-19, the CCP has accelerated its spread of rumors and "smashing the pot" at home and abroad However, the article concocted by its embassy in the United States defaming the investigation of the origin of the virus in the United States was rejected by many American media.
The CCP’s ambassadors abroad have exploited the "freedom of speech" in Western countries for many years and used Western media to infiltrate them. However, the speeches of Western ambassadors to China have made things difficult for them. Even the former U.S. ambassador to China, known as "Xi Jinping's old friend" Terry Branstad's article was also deleted on Weibo.
On Wednesday (25 August), the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. published an article on its website called "Supporting scientific tracing and opposing political viruses." Many U.S. media reject the relevant position of the Chinese side on the virus traceability investigations of the U.S.
In this article, the CCP reiterated Beijing’s repeated and baseless claims that the virus may have come from a US laboratory and called on the WHO to conduct a second-stage traceability investigation in the United States.
The article said, “No matter what conclusions this report draws, its arguments are simply untenable, because China (the CCP) has never done anything about laboratory-made new coronaviruses.” And it further gave the United States and Europe a bite to the world. Wei investigates "Fort Detrick, University of North Carolina, USA".
On Wednesday, a senior WHO official stated at a briefing that on the one hand, the CCP claimed that the laboratory leak hypothesis was impossible, and on the other hand, it asked the WHO to investigate laboratories in other countries. This is really "something contradictory."
This is the second time that the Chinese Embassy in Washington has asked the WHO to investigate the origin of the epidemic in Fort Detrick after the new special envoy of the Chinese Communist Party and former Deputy Foreign Minister Qin Gang arrived in the United States last month.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Defense Policy Secretary Colin Kahl and another related expert published a new book titled "Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order." Health experts no longer conduct related investigations on virus traceability in exchange for a request from the WHO expert team to enter Wuhan.
On May 26, US President Biden asked the US intelligence services to spend 90 days investigating the origin of the epidemic and making related reports. Currently, the 90-day deadline is approaching. Outsiders commented that tracing the origin of the virus is the most deadly point of the CCP. Therefore, the CCP is eager to beat back and confuse the audience.
The article from the Chinese Embassy in China also stated that the refusal of many American media to publish the article is an infringement of "freedom of speech." "You can accuse others without evidence without giving them a chance to defend. Is the 'freedom of press and speech' in the United States?"
In fact, CCP diplomats have used Western freedom of speech to speak for the CCP in the media many times. For example, Cui Tiankai, the former ambassador to the United States, has repeatedly spoken on American news programs and publications to promote the CCP’s brainwashing content, and the former ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming even criticized the British government on the BBC without hindrance.
Western ambassadors to China in mainland China have been censored many times by the CCP. For example, the former ambassador to China Branstad’s article was rejected by the CCP’s official media such as the People’s Daily, and even posted him on Weibo. , The article on WeChat was deleted, and he was completely "silenced". Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized this as showing the Chinese Communist Party’s hypocrisy and fear of the people’s freedom of thought.
British ambassador to China, Caroline Wilson, published a signed article on WeChat on March 2 entitled "Do foreign media hate China?", hoping that the CCP will respect the objective reports of foreign media. After that, the CCP will not only restrict this article from being Sharing, and also summoned Wu Ruolan and put forward the so-called "stern representation."
Last year, the British Embassy in China published a "Corrective Notes on Hong Kong Issues" article on WeChat, which was widely reposted on Chinese social media, with hundreds of thousands of views, but the post was deleted by the CCP two hours later.
In stark contrast, Liu Xiaoming, the former CCP’s ambassador to the UK, has freely published more than 170 works in mainstream British media. He has also been interviewed by the BBC many times and utterly uttered, “There are no political prisoners in China! My personal thoughts will not be put in jail!"
News (34) to (40) / Source : The Irrawaddy

News (34)
Myanmar Junta enacts genocide law

Myanmar’s military regime has added a genocide law to the country’s colonial-era Penal Code, a move being seen by legal experts as an attempt to ease international pressure on the regime as it faces a genocide charge at a United Nations court for its soldiers’ atrocities against the Rohingya.

The new provisions published in junta-controlled newspapers threaten the death sentence for murders committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The provisions were signed by coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday.

The addition to the Penal Code also carries a life sentence for other crimes committed with genocidal purpose.

They include causing grievous hurt or serious mental harm to members of a group, deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures, not in accordance with any existing laws, intended to prevent births within a group, and forcibly transferring children of a group to another group.

News (35)

Genocide law coincides with Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day

The promulgation of the new genocide law coincided with an online campaign to mark the fourth anniversary of atrocities against the Rohingya, the stateless Muslim people in Rakhine State, in 2017. A Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day was organized online on Wednesday, with many activists expressing their apologies to the Rohingya for failing to speak out while they were being persecuted by the Myanmar military.

News (36)

Gambia filed genocide case against Myanmar

Over 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh after the military carried out clearance operations in Rakhine in response to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attacks on security outposts in August 2017. The Gambia, representing the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, filed a genocide case against Myanmar at the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) in late 2019.

However, both the then National League for Democracy government and the military denied the accusations of genocide. In January 2020, the ICJ ordered Myanmar to comply with four provisional measures as requested by The Gambia.

The measures require that Myanmar take steps to prevent genocide from occurring in the future, as well as ensuring that the military and its affiliates do not commit further acts of genocide, in particular killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and preventing births. Myanmar is also required to preserve all evidence of genocide, and provide regular updates on its progress on these measures.

News (37)

Genocide law meant to ease international pressure on Myanmar Junta but will not stop accusations at the regime for previous crimes committed

One legal expert, who asked for anonymity, said that the military regime has enacted the genocide law to ease international pressure on it as it faces the genocide charge at the ICJ, but the move will not give the regime any protection from crimes it has previously committed.

“The law will not have an effect on things that happened before its enactment. This law should be accepted as it presents the opportunity for citizens, ethnic groups and religious organizations to open cases regarding genocidal crimes in the future,” he added.

The junta said it had enacted the genocide law because it was liable to do so after Myanmar ratified the Genocide Convention on December 30, 1949 and then became a member of the Convention in March 1956.

“As we are a member country, we have a responsibility to enact a law. So we have enacted a law to prevent and punish genocide,” said the regime spokesperson, Major General Zaw Min Tun.

News (38)

Myanmar Junta can arrest genocide suspects without a warrant

The junta has also changed the Code of Criminal Procedures, which allows authorities to arrest genocide suspects without a warrant. People accused of genocide can no longer be bailed.

“They just want to show the international community that they are against genocide and are taking action to prevent it,” said another legal expert. Meanwhile, the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) is also working to prosecute Myanmar’s military at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

News (39)

Myanmar shadow government NUG accepts ICC's jurisdiction on international crimes committed in Myanmar

Myanmar is not an ICC member, but Acting President Duwa Lashi La of the NUG lodged a declaration with the ICC registrar last week, accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction with respect to international crimes committed in Myanmar since 1 July 2002, the earliest date permitted by the Rome Statute that established the ICC.

News (40)

NUG advocates protection of the vulnerable, preventing genocidal acts

To mark Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, the NUG Deputy Minister for Women, Youths and Children Affairs, Daw Ei Thinzar Maung, called on Myanmar people to show sympathy for the traumatic experiences Rohingya women and children and other ethnic minorities have suffered. She also urged them to protect the vulnerable and to speak out for them to prevent genocidal acts from occurring in the future.



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