South Sudan sees hunger approaching record levels despite peace deal

Abstract: Juba - A record number of nearly 7 million people are facing severe hunger in South Sudan despite a peace agreement that has largely stopped fighting after more than five years of war, U.N. agencies warned Friday. “Every year, hunger reaches new and unprecedented levels in South Sudan with millions of people unsure where their next meal will come from, particularly at this time of the year when hunger peaks from May to July,” Hsiao-Wei Lee of the World Food Program said in Juba. U.N.-backed assessments use a ranking called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which rates hunger levels from one to five. The WFP, Food and Agriculture Organization and children’s agency UNIFCE said about 1.8 million people in South Sudan were in an “emergency,” or level four, which means large gaps between meals, acute malnutrition and excess deaths. More than 5 million others are also having to skip meals. At the beginning of 2019, it was estimated that 6.1 million people were facing hunger. But this figure now stands at 6.9 million — or roughly 61 percent of the population. Under the IPC system, level five is classified as “catastrophe,” and when it applies to 20 percent of the population is deemed a famine. South Sudan declared a “man-made” famine in 2017. While the technical requirements for a famine are not currently met, the overall number of people requiring food aid has increased by about 2 million. A statement from the agencies said the annual lean season “started early following record low stocks from the poor 2018 harvest and has been further extended by the delayed onset of 2019 seasonal rains.” Persistent economic instability, years of fighting and displacement and high food prices have all made access to food more difficult. If the current situation continues, about 21,000 people could slide into famine conditions, said Pierre Vauthier, deputy country director for the FAO. This estimation has dropped from about 30,000 in January. “With greater stability in the country, access to those in need has improved, allowing us to treat more than 100,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition in the first five months of the year, with more than 90 percent of those children recovering,” said Mohamed Ag Ayoya, UNICEF’s representative in South Sudan. “But malnutrition levels remain critical in many areas and our fear is that the situation could worsen in the coming months.” South Sudan descended into war in 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy and fellow former rebel leader Riek Machar of plotting a coup. The war, marked by ethnic violence and brutal atrocities, has left about 380,000 dead while some 4 million have fled their homes. Under a peace agreement signed in September, Kiir agreed to set up a unity government with Machar, who is to return from exile, but that has been delayed by six months until November.

south sudan
unicef
food security
famine
wfp
juba
sdf


U.S. considers more options for detaining transgender migrants

Abstract: MILAN, NEW MEXICO - About 300 migrants who identify as transgender have been booked into the custody of U.S. immigration authorities since Oct. 1, marking the highest number since officials began keeping track in 2015. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is considering opening a second permanent facility where transgender migrants can be detained amid the influx of Central Americans crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations field office director, Corey Price, says all options are being reviewed. Price on Wednesday led the first media tour of the agency’s only permanent transgender detention unit. The rural New Mexico unit opened in 2017. He acknowledged a second unit would be a significant investment given the higher costs associated with transgender detainees. The agency has been criticized for the deaths of two transgender women.

u.s .
immigration
lgbt
refugees
transgender
donald trump


U.S.-bound migrants rush to enter Mexico ahead of security crackdown demanded by Trump

Abstract: CIUDAD HIDALGO, MEXICO - Central American migrants eager to beat a crackdown by Mexico on its southern border with Guatemala scrambled into the country on Thursday as the government prepared to send thousands of National Guard members to plug gaps in the porous frontier. Mexico has agreed with the United States to demonstrate by late July that it can contain a surge in U.S.-bound migrants, following a threat from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on Mexican goods if it failed to do so. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said this week that Mexico would beef up control of its southern border, including sending 6,000 members of the National Guard. The deployment was due to begin on Wednesday though witnesses saw no signs of the deployment. As dawn broke on Thursday, a family of Honduran migrants floated across a narrow crossing of the Suchiate River from Guatemala on a raft and staggered onto Mexican soil. “They told us that they were deploying the National Guard,” said Melvin Ochoa, 28, carrying his 20-month-old daughter. Beside him was his heavily pregnant wife. “It made us hurry. I’m pushing to continue faster so they won’t catch us.” The trip was especially risky for Ochoa’s wife, who was only one month shy of giving birth. She declined to give her name. “But the risks at home were worse,” Ochoa said, explaining that the family had fled loan sharks affiliated with a criminal gang who demanded money even after they had paid them back. “If not, they were going to kill us.” Behind them, the steady daily traffic of the river continued unabated, with no Mexican official in sight. Migration officials remained in the shadow of immigration posts on a bridge linking the two countries. Improvised rafts made of planks of wood floating on giant inner-tubes carried black-market Corona beer, coffee and other contraband toward Guatemala. Half a dozen more floated toward Mexico crowded with Central Americans fleeing gang violence and poverty. It was business at usual too at immigration checkpoints along the highway north. “We haven’t seen any increase,” said a police officer at a checkpoint, when asked about any build-up in security forces. He asked not to be identified because he lacked permission to speak to the press. Mexico and the United States brokered an immigration agreement last week to prevent Washington from imposing tariffs starting at 5 percent on Mexican goods. The Mexican government has agreed to consider changing its migration laws after 45 days if it proves unable to stem the flow of people. The standoff over the border has piled pressure on Mexico’s leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He has called for national unity, describing the tariff threat as unfair, but vowing to avoid confrontation with the United States, Mexico’s largest trading partner. Threatening to raise tariffs on Mexican imports as high as 25 percent, Trump wants Mexico to accept asylum seekers as part of his effort to slow the flow of migrants and to relieve pressure on stretched U.S. border and immigration authorities. Mexico in December agreed to start taking in mostly Central American asylum seekers while their cases are being heard in the United States and absorbed about 10,000 during the first few months of this year, according to the Mexican government. However, under the deal struck last week, tens of thousands could be sent back to Mexico before the end of this year, putting increased pressure on Mexican migration authorities, said Deputy Interior Minister Alejandro Encinas. “This has become a national problem,” he told Reuters. Mexico sends around 80 percent of its exports to the United States so any move by Trump to impose levies on its goods would have serious repercussions for the economy, which is already struggling after contracting in the first quarter. Given that the United States had never managed to properly seal its own southern border, the chance of Mexico doing any better were extremely remote, said Andres Rozental, a former Mexican deputy foreign minister responsible for North America. “We’re never going to be able to get what presumably Mr. Trump wants in 45 days,” Rozental told Reuters. Complicating the deployment of the militarized police force along the border is the fact that the National Guard was only formally created a few weeks ago, and Lopez Obrador’s six-month-old administration is still finding its feet. For some migrants, those issues are of small consequence. “We have no plan. Only to go forward, as far as God permits,” said Antonio Hernandez, 29, stepping off another raft at dawn with his wife and 2-year-old son. Anxious and exhausted from days of travel since they fled El Salvador, they hustled on.

u.s .
immigration
mexico
guatemala
refugees
donald trump
andres manuel lopez obrador


Brazil's top court makes homophobia a crime

Abstract: RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil’s top court officially made homophobia and transphobia crimes similar to racism on Thursday, with the final justices casting their votes in a ruling that comes amid fears the country’s far-right administration is seeking to roll back LGBT social gains. Six of the Supreme Federal Tribunal’s 11 judges had already voted in favor of the measure in late May, giving the ruling a majority. The final justices voted Thursday for a tally of eight votes for and three against. Racism was made a crime in Brazil in 1989 with prison sentences of up to five years. The court’s judges ruled that homophobia should be framed within the racism law until the country’s congress approves legislation specifically dealing with LGBT discrimination. The court’s judges have said the ruling was to address an omission that had left the LGBT community legally unprotected. “In a discriminatory society like the one we live in, the homosexual is different and the transsexual is different. Every preconception is violence, but some impose more suffering than others,” said justice Carmen Lucia. Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, one of the judges who voted against the measure, recognized the lack of congressional legislation on the issue but said he voted against putting homophobia inside the framework of the racism legislation because only the legislature has the power to create “types of crimes” and set punishments. While same-sex marriage is legal in Brazil, it is still a dangerous country for members of the LGBT community and has a large evangelical movement often critical of gay rights. According to the rights group the Grupo Gay da Bahia, 420 LGBT people were killed across Brazil in 2018, while at least 141 have been killed so far this year. President Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain who assumed office on Jan. 1, has a history of offensive comments about gays, blacks and other minorities, openly acknowledging he is a homophobe. He has said he would rather have a dead son than a gay son.

courts brazil lgbt sexuality discrimination


Tripoli's children struggle to study as war reaches the capital

Abstract: TRIPOLI - For 13-year-old Taha Aboud, who dreams of becoming an engineer, war in Libya’s capital Tripoli has meant his family fleeing their home and him missing studies as they searched for a new school. “I’m happy to be back at school. I hope to become a technology engineer one day … I love it,” said Taha, as his father, Fouad, a civil servant, signed papers this week to enroll his son in the Ben Ashour primary school, which has 1,250 students. Up to 3,000 children face a similar plight, according to the country’s education ministry, as fighting forces dozens of schools to close, sometimes in order to house the displaced. In the chaos, authorities have struggled to keep count of how many students are missing school, said Rashad Bishr, head of a crisis committee at the education ministry. Authorities have been trying to find spots for students such as Taha, who returned to school this week as classes resumed with the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. Authorities, aided by the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), also organized extras classes during Ramadan to help displaced children catch up on what they missed ahead of exams set to take place at the end of the month. “We targeted 10 schools in six municipalities … to reach about 927 children,” said Ibrahim Farah, an educational specialist at UNICEF, adding that more activities were planned. Authorities will give children a reduced number of questions on their exams but some were still anxious about whether they would pass. “It will be difficult to pass the exams. We’ve missed lot,” said Aisha Rayan, 15, whose school was closed to house families fleeing the front line. “At my old school we were taught different things with different methods.” Libya’s schools are in poor condition after years of underfunding caused by war that has raged since the toppling of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The war arrived in Tripoli in early April and though it has not made it beyond the city’s southern defenses it has caused havoc in the suburbs. The United Nations estimates more than 650 people have been killed and more than 90,000 displaced. Forces loyal to Khalifa Hifter in eastern Libya are seeking to take control of the capital. Haftar has set up a national government in the east parallel to the internationally recognized administration in Tripoli.

conflict
children
libya
education
unicef
tripoli
khalifa hifter


U.S. reportedly consulting allies on how to protect shipping after Gulf of Oman tanker attacks

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The United States is discussing with its allies a variety of options on how to protect international shipping in the Gulf of Oman in the wake of tanker attacks that Washington has blamed on Iran, senior Trump administration officials said on Thursday. Two officials, speaking to a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity, said the United States wants to ensure the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and make sure international commerce is not disrupted. Two oil tankers were attacked on Thursday and left adrift in the Gulf of Oman. “We don’t think this is over,” one official said of the possibility of more such attacks. The official said options are being reviewed. “We’re discussing and will be discussing with our partners and allies suggestions on how we collectively can take steps to ensure, one, that we maintain freedom of navigation and international commerce is not disrupted and, second, that we protect our forces’ interests and our commercial assets and those of our partners and allies,” the official said. The official said the attacks appeared “designed to have a political outcome” and suggested it could have been an attempt to disrupt a visit to Tehran by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “We are going to obviously evaluate our presence in the region and the growing threat and make subsequent decisions,” the official said. “We have to look at the threat, as we always do, to our personnel and our forces but the threat to a strategic chokepoint. There’s a significant amount of trade that transits the Strait of Hormuz every day.”

shinzo abe
u.s .
gas
terrorism
oil
iran
shipping
hormuz tanker attack


Do you consume a credit card's worth of plastic every week?

Abstract: PARIS - Researchers say people worldwide could be ingesting 5 grams of microscopic plastic particles every week — equivalent in weight to a credit card. Coming mostly from tap water and especially bottled water, nearly invisible bits of polymer were also found in shellfish, beer and salt, scientists and the University of Newcastle in Australia reported. The findings, drawn from 52 peer-reviewed studies, are the first to estimate the weight of plastics consumed by individual humans: about 250 grams (half a pound) over the course of a year. Another study calculated that the average American eats and drinks about 45,000 plastic particles smaller than 130 microns annually, and breathes in roughly the same number. “Not only are plastics polluting our oceans and waterways and killing marine life, it’s in all of us,” said Marco Lambertini, director-general of WWF International, which commissioned the report. “If we don’t want it in our bodies, we need to stop the millions of tons of plastic that continue leaking into nature every year.” In the past two decades, the world has produced as much plastic as during the rest of history, and the industry is set to grow by 4 percent a year until 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research. More than 75 percent of all plastics wind up as waste. A third of that — some 100 million tons — is dumped or leaches into nature, polluting land, rivers and oceans. Based on current trends, the ocean will contain 1 metric ton of plastic for every 3 metric tons of fish by 2025, according to The New Plastics Economy report, published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Plastic particles have recently been found inside fish in the deepest recesses of the ocean, and blanketing the most pristine snow in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain. The authors of Wednesday’s report were up-front about the limitations of their research, starting with the fact that little is known about health consequences. Gaps in data were filled with assumptions and extrapolations that could be challenged, though the estimates, they insisted, were on the conservative side. They invited other researchers to build on their conclusions. “Developing a method of transforming counts of microplastic particles into masses will help determine the potential toxicological risks for humans,” said co-author Thava Palanisami, a microplastics expert at the University of Newcastle. Some experts remain skeptical about long-term impact. “Based on the evidence that is currently available, I do not think that health effects of microplastics are a major concern,” said Alastair Grant, a professor of ecology at the University of East Anglia. But that doesn’t mean plastic isn’t a major problem, he added. “What we do need is political and economic actions to reduce the amounts of plastic being disposed of into the environment and encourage recycling.” Media and watchdog reports have recently uncovered numerous cases of plastic waste from rich countries sent for recycling in poorer ones being dumped or burned instead. “This is likely to have much more serious health effects than a rather small number of plastic particles in food and water,” Grant said. The WWF said only hard targets backed by binding national commitments could hope to stem the tide. “The global goal must be to reduce plastic leakage into nature to zero,” Eirik Lindebjerg, WWF’s global plastics policy manager, said. “We need a new, legally binding agreement to combat marine plastic pollution — it should be a standalone treaty like the Montreal Protocol or the Paris Agreement.” “Zero plastics” does not mean no plastics used. But waste must be folded back into a circular economy, and plastics should no longer be made from fossil fuels, Lindebjerg added.

pollution food health environment plastic


Russia uncovers 40,000-year-old wolf head preserved in Siberian ice

Abstract: MOSCOW - About 40,000 years ago, a wolf died in what we know as Siberia. Now its severed head has been found, and because of the freezing conditions, it is so well preserved that its fur, teeth, brain and facial tissue are largely intact. A Yakutia resident, Pavel Yefimov, found the head last summer on the banks of the Tirekhtyakh river, close to the Arctic Circle in the region of Yakutia, local media outlet the Siberian Times reported. The head was handed over to the Science Academy of Yakutia. They sent samples and measurement data abroad and with help from colleagues in Japan and Sweden determined its age as approximately 40,000 years, the Siberian Times reported. The head was shown in public this week in footage provided to Reuters TV by the academy. It shows the head of an animal, visibly bigger than that of a modern wolf, covered with fur and with teeth visible. Its eyes are missing. The next step in the wolf’s journey is to undergo a procedure called plastination, a technique of replacing water and fat with plastics. That prevents decay and preserves tissue for scientific purposes. “This is a fixation by chemical means, so that the fur would not come off and so that we could keep it (the head) unfrozen,” Valery Plotnikov, one of academy scientists, said in the footage.

history archaeology russia animals wolves siberia yakutia


Expert meeting under way to decide if Ebola outbreak is global emergency

Abstract: GENEVA - The World Health Organization on Friday opened an expert meeting to decide whether the Ebola outbreak in Congo — which spilled into Uganda this week — should be declared a global emergency. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet that the committee will “review and make recommendations regarding the Ebola outbreak.” An announcement was expected Friday evening. The virus has killed more than 1,400 people since the outbreak, the second-deadliest in history, was declared in August. To be declared a global emergency, an outbreak must constitute a risk to other countries and require a coordinated response. The declaration typically triggers more funding and political attention. On Thursday, WHO’s emergencies chief acknowledged the agency has been unable to track the origins of nearly half of new Ebola cases in Congo, suggesting it doesn’t know where the virus is spreading. WHO’s expert committee has met twice previously to consider the situation in Congo. In April, the U.N. health agency said the outbreak was of “deep concern” but officials were “moderately optimistic” it could be contained within a “foreseeable time.” The outbreak, occurring close to the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan, has been like no other. Mistrust has been high in a region that had never faced Ebola before and attacks by rebel groups have undermined aid efforts. Alexandra Phelan, a global health expert at Georgetown University, said the legal criteria for declaring Ebola a global emergency were met long ago, even before the virus reached Uganda. “I think the declaration should be made tonight,” she said. “Given that we are still seeing daily numbers of cases in the double digits and we do not have adequate surveillance, this indicates the outbreak is a persistent regional risk.” Phelan said she was concerned WHO might be swayed by political considerations. When the far deadlier 2014-16 outbreak was raging in West Africa, WHO was heavily criticized for not declaring a global emergency until nearly 1,000 people had died and the virus had spread to at least three countries. Internal WHO documents later showed the agency feared the declaration would have economic and social implications for Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. “It’s legitimate for countries to raise these concerns, but the basis on which WHO and its emergency committee should be looking at is the risk to public health and the risk of international spread,” Phelan said. Dr. Axelle Ronsse, emergency coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres, was unsure whether a declaration would help. She said outbreak responders, including WHO, should re-evaluate their strategies to contain the spiraling outbreak. “It’s quite clear that it’s not under control,” she said. “Now may be the time to reset and see what should be changed at this point.”


Environmental group sues Trump administration over ice seal habitat decision

Abstract: ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - An environmental group sued the Trump administration Thursday for failing to designate critical habitat for two species of seals that rely on sea ice off Alaska’s northwest coast. The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Department of Commerce and the National Marine Fisheries Service for not designating critical habitat for threatened ringed and bearded seals. Agency spokeswoman Julie Speegle said by email the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation. Designation of critical habitat for a threatened species is required by the Endangered Species Act a year after a listing. Federal agencies that authorize activities such as oil drilling within critical habitat must consult with wildlife managers to determine if threatened species will be affected. Center for Biological Diversity attorney Emily Jeffers, who drafted the lawsuit, said by phone from Oakland, California, that additional protections are needed for ringed and bearded seals, which already are losing habitat because of climate warming. “It’s where the rubber hits the roads in terms of actual protections,” she said. Ringed and bearded seals live in the Bering and Chukchi seas. Though their numbers have not declined, they were listed as threatened in 2012 because of projected sea ice loss. The state of Alaska, oil industry groups and others sued in two lawsuits and the listing was vacated. However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last year reversed those decisions and said long-range data demonstrating a species decline is not required to adopt conservation policies to prevent the decline. “If you wait until their demise is certain, it’s too late,” Jeffers said Thursday. Ringed seals are the smallest and most numerous of Alaska’s ice seals and the main prey of another threatened species, polar bears. Ringed seals thrive in completely ice-covered Arctic waters because they maintain breathing holes with thick claws. After snow covers breathing holes, females excavate snow caves on sea ice. Inside those lairs, they give birth to pups that cannot survive in ice-cold water until weeks later when they have grown a blubber layer. Early breakup of sea ice, less snow and even rain threatens lairs, exposing pups to polar bears, Arctic foxes and freezing temperatures. Bearded seals get their name from short snouts covered with thick, long, white whiskers. Bearded seals give birth and rear pups on drifting pack ice. NOAA Fisheries officials announced Wednesday that at least 60 ice seals, including ringed, bearded and spotted seals, have been found dead this week on coastlines north and south of the Bering Strait. The cause has not been determined. The agency declared an unusual mortality event following abnormal molting and deaths of ice seals and walruses from 2011 to 2016. A definitive cause was not identified. The agency estimated that 657 seals were affected over those six years. Biologists confirmed symptoms in 233 dead and stranded seals, 179 seals killed by hunters and 245 live seals checked in health assessments.

animals
endangered
climate change
arctic
environment
alaska
seals
oil drilling
donald trump
center for biological diversity


New gene tests for germs quickly reveal source of infections

Abstract: NEW YORK - Brian Jetter, a healthy 40-year-old, found himself suddenly on life support, battling pneumonia and sepsis. A slew of tests had failed to find the cause. Mystery illnesses like this kill thousands of people each year when germs can’t be identified fast enough to reveal the right treatment. Now genetic tests are helping to solve these cases. One finally was used to search Jetter’s blood for bits of nonhuman genetic material. It detected unusual bacteria that probably got into the Connecticut man’s lungs when he choked and accidentally inhaled bits of a burger weeks earlier. With the right medicine, he recovered and went home to his 5-year-old son. Doctors routinely use genetic tests to spot inherited diseases and guide cancer treatment. But using them to detect infectious diseases is so new that few doctors know they are available. A study of one test appears in the current New England Journal of Medicine. They are modernizing a field long overdue for an overhaul. To identify bacteria, labs still rely on century-old techniques from Louis Pasteur — putting blood or another sample in a lab dish and waiting to see what germs grow. To test for a virus, a doctor usually has to guess what the patient is sick with. Testing for a fungus or some other things can take a long time. Several companies and university labs now offer gene-based tests on blood or spinal fluid. Once fragments of foreign DNA or other genetic material are found, their code is sequenced to identify bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites causing sepsis, meningitis, encephalitis and other deadly illnesses. “The key advantage of sequencing is it can look for everything at once” rather than doing separate tests for each virus or other microbe that is suspected, said Dr. Charles Chiu, a microbiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. He led the New England Journal study, which tried a spinal fluid test on 204 children and adults with meningitis or encephalitis, dangerous illnesses that aren’t always caused by an infection. The gene test wasn’t perfect. It missed some cases but also found others that standard tests missed. In all, 58 infections were diagnosed. The gene test matched standard lab findings in 19 cases, found 13 more that standard testing missed, and missed 26 that the standard tests found. Doctors say the gene-based tests could be a fast, noninvasive first step for serious or unusual cases. “For infectious disease, you need to know the answer today,” because a patient’s risk of dying goes up the longer the cause isn’t found, said Dr. Asim Ahmed, medical director at Karius Inc. The company sells a blood test developed by Stanford University scientists that searches for 1,200 bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites at once and gives a result within two days. The test showed high agreement with standard lab testing in a study in the journal Nature Microbiology. “The biggest issue is the cost” — around $2,000 for the Karius test, said Ali Torkamani, a San Diego scientist who directs a genetics conference that featured these tests in March. More competition may lower the price and lead to wider use, he said. Karius has its own lab for its test. Other companies offer software and tools that hospitals can use to develop their own gene-based tests. One of them, Arc Bio, offers virus testing from blood and gives an answer in less than two days. IDbyDNA uses a Utah lab that works with 3,000 U.S. hospitals. It gives an answer in about 48 hours once a sample arrives, said its chief medical officer, Dr. Robert Schlaberg, a University of Utah pathologist. So far, hospitals are using these tests for the worst cases — long, unexplained illnesses or very vulnerable patients such as children and people with cancer or weak immune systems. Dr. Asha Shah tried one for the first time last year, when Jetter was rapidly getting worse at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut. “He had multiple blood tests, chest X-ray, CAT scan, you name it,” she said. “I thought, this doesn’t make sense, why aren’t we getting any answers?” The Karius test revealed unusual oral bacteria in his lungs, suggesting he had inhaled some while choking on the burger. An even more unusual story emerged when Dr. Amir Khan, an infectious disease specialist at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois, ordered a Karius test for 47-year-old Ryan Springer, who doctors first suspected of having cancer. “Breathing made my lungs feel like they were on fire,” said Springer, a radio station program director in Champaign, Illinois. He turned out to have tularemia, sometimes called “rabbit fever,” which can come from inhaling bacteria from infected rodents or running over their droppings with a lawn mower. With the right treatment, he recovered. “This is the future of medicine,” Khan said. When patients are very sick, “every minute and hour counts.”

u.s .
dna
infections
genes
genetic sequencing
karius test


Half of Ebola outbreaks go undetected, study indicates

Abstract: PARIS - Half of all outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus never get detected, researchers said Thursday, as Uganda confirmed a second death from the disease that has claimed hundreds of lives in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Ebola, which spreads among humans through contact with bodily fluids, is one of the most virulent tropical hemorrhagic fevers, often killing within days of infection. Because it is so rare and predominantly confined to remote rural areas of central and western Africa, scientists believe many patients are never diagnosed or are misdiagnosed as suffering from other maladies, such as malaria or typhoid. There have been at least 10 major outbreaks since Ebola’s discovery in 1976, and dozens of smaller ones. Each epidemic results from what is known as a “spillover event” — where the disease jumps from animals to humans then spreads among people. Researchers at the University of Cambridge used several independent data sets from the last major outbreak, in West Africa in 2013-2016, to simulate thousands of outbreaks. They calculated how often on average a spillover event could be expected to fizzle out before gripping the population, versus how often a true outbreak was likely. The results consistently showed that only 1 in 2 Ebola outbreaks were likely to be detected. Further, the probability of an individual health worker detecting an isolated Ebola case was less than 10 percent. “Knowing how often spillover occurs is an important step to help to understand when and why it occurs,” Emma Glennon, from Cambridge’s Department of Veterinary Medicine, told AFP. “We have to understand the process of spillover if we want to prevent outbreaks from starting in the first place.” The latest outbreak, which began in the eastern Congolese provinces of North Kivu and Ituri in August, has seen more than 2,000 known cases. Around two-thirds were fatal. On Thursday Uganda’s health ministry said a woman had succumbed to the disease, two days after the first fatality in the country from the current epidemic. Glennon said the outbreaks of 2018-19 and 2013-16 may have been compounded by more frequent human movement, conflict, and a lack of effective diagnosis. “Knowing that Ebola is rarely detected within the first few cases emphasizes the importance of having widely available infection control and diagnostic resources,” she said. The research was published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.


Congo pastor likely sparked Ebola outbreak spread to Uganda: WHO official

Abstract: BWERA, UGANDA - The Congolese pastor who is thought to have caused the Ebola outbreak’s spread into Uganda was unknown to health officials before he died of the disease, the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief said Thursday. That underlines the problems in tracking the virus as a WHO expert panel on Friday discusses whether to declare a global health emergency. As a second person infected with Ebola died in Uganda, Dr. Mike Ryan told The Associated Press he did not believe the man had been on any list of high-risk Ebola contacts that health workers use to track infections and contain the outbreak. Three of the pastor’s family members were infected with Ebola when they traveled from Uganda to Congo to visit him. His 5-year-old grandson became the first Ebola case in Uganda and the first death after several family members quietly returned home on footpaths that bypassed border screening for the disease. The boy’s grandmother also died after their return, Ugandan officials said Thursday. “It’s an unfortunate occurrence that a pastor who’s taking care of people and providing care to people is himself infected in the line of his own work and then ultimately goes on to infect others,” Ryan said. The pastor’s positive test for Ebola came back only after he was buried, Dr. Dominique Kabongo, coordinator of Ebola response teams in Kasindi, told AP. Family members traditionally wash and dress the corpse. More than 80 people attended the burial, Kabongo said. The first cross-border cases in this Ebola outbreak — the second-deadliest in history — have prompted the WHO expert committee to again consider declaring a global health emergency after twice deciding against it. Such declarations almost always boost attention and donor funding. Ryan said there is no evidence Ebola is spreading within Uganda and that authorities have contained the virus to the family. He said 27 people who may have been exposed are being followed. Ugandan authorities said three suspected Ebola cases not related to the family were awaiting test results. More than 1,400 people have died in this outbreak declared in August in eastern Congo, one of the world’s most turbulent regions, where rebel attacks and resistance by community members wary of authorities have badly hampered Ebola containment work. For months, officials have feared the virus would cross the heavily traveled border where health workers have been screening millions of people for fever and other symptoms. Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan have been preparing for possible cases. Uganda’s health ministry on Thursday said it no longer had any confirmed Ebola cases after all members of the Congolese-Ugandan family, including the dead boy’s infected 3-year-old brother and a 6-month-old baby, were sent to Congo for monitoring and experimental treatments as part of clinical trials. There is no licensed treatment for the virus, which can spread quickly via close contact with bodily fluids of those infected and can be fatal in up to 90 percent of cases. The family’s case shows the challenges in tracking those infected in an outbreak where an alarmingly high percentage of cases aren’t discovered until it is too late. Doctors Without Borders last month said as few as a third of new confirmed Ebola cases were linked back to known contacts of infected people. Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief, told AP that about 55 percent of new Ebola cases in Congo last week were previously identified as potential contacts, suggesting significant problems remain. Many people are still dying at home instead of seeking treatment, and their burials put loved ones at risk of infection. Authorities in Congo and Uganda have vowed to step up border security after several members of the infected family, already showing symptoms of Ebola, were stopped at a Congolese border post but later slipped away and into Uganda. Five family members who stayed in Congo have tested positive for Ebola, Congo’s health ministry said. Health teams in Uganda “are not panicking,” Henry Mwebesa, the national director of health services, told the AP on Wednesday. He cited the East African nation’s experience battling previous outbreaks of Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers. For the first time an experimental but effective Ebola vaccine is being widely used, with more than 132,000 in Congo receiving it. Uganda is more stable than eastern Congo, and it has vaccinated nearly 4,700 health workers. WHO is shipping another 3,500 doses this week for health workers and contacts of those infected.


Putin fires police pair behind journalist's apparent trumped-up arrest

Abstract: MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday dismissed two senior police officers involved in the arrest of an investigative journalist on drug charges that were later dropped for lack of evidence, in a case that provoked national outrage. The firings, which came a day after massive arrests at a protest rally in the Russian capital, reflect a careful balancing act by the Kremlin, which seeks to assuage public anger while maintaining a tight lid on dissent. Last week’s arrest of Ivan Golunov on drug-dealing charges he rejected as sham drew an unprecedented show of solidarity, with three top national newspapers publishing front pages demanding his release. The interior ministry dropped all charges against the reporter on Tuesday in a highly unusual move, and asked Putin to dismiss two senior officers who oversaw the case. The Kremlin on Thursday announced the ouster of Moscow police’s anti-drugs chief, Yuri Devyatkin, and head of the police department for western Moscow, Andrei Puchkov. The firings follow arrests at an unsanctioned but peaceful rally supporting Golunov in Moscow on Wednesday. Moscow police said about 200 people were detained, while independent monitoring group OVD-Info said over 500 were taken into custody and some of them were beaten. The vast majority were released quickly without charges. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Thursday that the Kremlin is aware of complaints about excessive use of force by police and expects an official inquiry to look into that. Peskov told reporters that the president will consider proposals to revise legislation to prevent police from using drug charges to frame innocent people. “If such initiative is formulated it will be considered,” he said. He added that it’s premature to conclude that Golunov’s case highlights an urgent need for sweeping police reforms, saying that the Kremlin would await the results of an official probe. The decision to drop charges against Golunov and fire police generals responsible for his arrest marked an unusual shift for the Kremlin, which has staunchly backed law enforcement officials in other cases widely seen as trumped up. Observers say that this time the damage from Golunov’s arrest was too big for the Kremlin to stick to the familiar pattern. They also say that the officials allegedly involved in fabricating the case were too insignificant to merit high-level protection. “Moscow police’s expectations for political support were rooted in their belief that the Kremlin wouldn’t act against those protecting its own security, and that was a major mistake,” analyst Tatiana Stanovaya wrote in a commentary for Moscow’s Carnegie Center. Stanovaya noted that the Kremlin was angry to see a big image problem resulting from a case apparently driven by personal interests of minor officials. “Golunov was freed not only because of public outrage, but because those who arrested him have no political value for Putin,” she wrote. “In the world of Putin, they are like dust.”

vladimir putin
russia
police
ivan golunov


Man held stepdaughter captive for 19 years and fathered her nine kids, jury finds

Abstract: MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - A 64-year-old man accused of abducting his stepdaughter and holding her captive for 19 years in Mexico and elsewhere while fathering her nine children has been found guilty of kidnapping and other charges. A jury found Henri Michelle Piette guilty June 6 on federal charges of kidnapping and travel with intent to engage in sexual act with a juvenile, according to federal court records in Muskogee, Oklahoma, about 122 miles (196 km) east of Oklahoma City. No sentencing date was set, but Piette faces up to life in prison on the kidnapping conviction. Piette still faces state charges of first-degree rape of a victim under age 14, child abuse by injury and two counts of lewd molestation, according to Wagoner County court records. A hearing in that case is scheduled Aug. 7. A federal grand jury indicted Piette in December 2017 for allegedly kidnapping Rosalynn Michelle McGinnis in 1997 when she was about 11 years old and traveling with the intent to have sex with her. Federal prosecutors said she gave birth to the first child in 2000 when she was 15. The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify people who say they have been sexually abused, but McGinnis has discussed her case publicly. Prosecutors say the victim was kidnapped from her home in eastern Oklahoma where she had been living with her mother, who had been in a relationship with Piette. She conceived two children with Piette while she was younger than 18 and another seven after she turned 18, officials said. She managed to escape from Piette with her children in July 2016 and went to the U.S. Consular General’s Office in Nogales, Mexico, where she secured passports for herself and the children so they could enter the U.S.

u.s .
kidnapping
rape
mexico
oklahoma
henri michelle piette


Amanda Knox back in Italy where she was acquitted of murder

Abstract: MODENA, ITALY - Amanda Knox, the U.S. exchange student jailed for four years then acquitted for the 2007 murder of her roommate in the Italian town of Perugia, returned to Italy on Thursday to address a conference on wrongful convictions. The Seattle native was 20 years old at the time of the murder of Briton Meredeth Kercher, whose half-naked body was found on Nov. 2, 2007, in a bedroom of the apartment she and Knox shared in Perugia. The 21-year-old had been stabbed 47 times and had her throat slashed. Police also found signs of sexual assault. Sentenced to 26 years in jail, Knox served four years before an initial acquittal on appeal in 2011. That was overturned, but Italy’s highest court ended up definitively acquitting her in 2015. Knox, now 31, flew in to the northern city of Milan before heading to Modena, where she was seen at a cocktail party, glass in hand and smiling, on the eve of a Criminal Justice Festival. She will be a guest speaker on a panel titled “Trial by Media” on Saturday at the invitation of the Italy Innocence Project. Knox wrote in an article for Medium.com published Wednesday that she was “polishing up the speech I’m about to give to a potentially hostile audience in Italy. Prosecutors described the murder as a drug-fuelled sex game gone awry involving Knox, her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and an Ivorian drifter, Rudy Guede. Sollecito was acquitted along with Knox, but Guede was convicted and remains in jail in Italy. Defense lawyers argued that their clients could not get a fair trial because of the media frenzy over the murder. Since her release, Knox has written a book about her experience — “Waiting To Be Heard: A Memoir” — has been the subject of a Netflix documentary, and has become a public advocate for inmates who have been wrongfully imprisoned.

u.s .
murder
italy
amanda knox
seattle
innocence project
perugia
meredeth kercher


House committee subpoenas Michael Flynn and Rick Gates in Russia probe

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Thursday the committee is examining “deep counterintelligence concerns” raised in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and “requires speaking directly” with Flynn and Gates, who were important witnesses for Mueller’s investigation. “The American people, and the Congress, deserve to hear directly from these two critical witnesses,” the California Democrat said in a statement. “We hope these witnesses come to recognize their cooperation as being with the United States, not merely the Department of Justice.” The subpoena seeks documents and testimony from both men. Letters sent to their lawyers request that records be produced by June 26 and that they testify before the committee on July 10. Flynn admitted lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States and awaits sentencing. He was supposed to have been sentenced last December, but midway through the hearing abruptly asked for it to be postponed so that he could continue cooperating with the Justice Department and earn additional credit toward a reduced sentence. Schiff told reporters Thursday that “there are a whole host of issues that we want the opportunity to discuss.” “We have not had that opportunity over the past couple of years because of their involvement in their own cases and now potentially … in the cases involving others,” he added. Schiff told reporters the committee is interested in Flynn’s discussions with former Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about sanctions imposed on Russia as well as his involvement in foreign business deals. Asked if he thought Flynn and Gates would appear, Schiff said, “I would hope that they would consider it valuable as a part of their cooperation, to show the court that they are doing everything that they can to assist the United States government, that they will also assist the Congress.” Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, said in an email to The Associated Press, “The General is continuing to cooperate with the government,” but she declined comment on the subpoena. Gates’ lawyer did not immediately return an email message about the subpoena. Powell, a former federal prosecutor who has been an outspoken critic of Mueller’s investigation, was recently hired by Flynn after he fired his previous lawyers. The change may herald a shift in Flynn’s legal strategy in the final stages of his case. Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and false statement charges related to Ukrainian lobbying and political consulting he did with ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who’s been sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

u.s .
congress
robert mueller
donald trump
michael flynn
rick gates
sergey kislyak
adam schiff
russia probe


Federal agency recommends White House aide Kellyanne Conway be fired for Hatch Act violations

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A federal watchdog agency on Thursday recommended that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway be fired for repeatedly violating a law that limits certain political activities of federal employees. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which is unrelated to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, said Conway is a “repeat offender” of the Hatch Act by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media. Conway told reporters who encountered her in the White House press office, “I have no reaction.” White House spokesman Steven Groves called the watchdog agency’s decision “unprecedented” and “deeply flawed” and said it violated Conway’s constitutional rights to free speech and due process. “Its decisions seem to be influenced by media pressure and liberal organizations — and perhaps OSC should be mindful of its own mandate to act in a fair, impartial, non-political manner, and not misinterpret or weaponize the Hatch Act,” Groves said in a statement. The Office of Special Counsel noted that, during a May 29 media interview, Conway minimized the significance of the law as applied to her. When asked about the Hatch Act, the office stated that she replied: “If you’re trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it’s not going to work,” and “Let me know when the jail sentence starts.” The office had found in March 2018 that Conway violated the Hatch Act during two television interviews in which she advocated for and against candidates in the 2017 Alabama special election for U.S. Senate. Career government officials found to have violated the Hatch Act can be fired, suspended or demoted, and fined up to $1,000. Conway has been an unwavering defender of President Donald Trump on cable news. Trump has praised her for her “success” in her career.


Trump faces storm after saying it's OK to use foreign intel on political opponents

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Donald Trump on Thursday reignited the political storm that has threatened to engulf his presidency by insisting he has the right to use dirt provided by foreign governments on political opponents without informing the FBI. In an interview aired late Wednesday by ABC News television, Trump was asked about taking help similar to the research offered by Russian operatives to his 2016 campaign about rival Hillary Clinton. “There’s nothing wrong with listening,” Trump said, adding that he’d only “maybe” contact the FBI if he “thought there was something wrong.” When ABC interviewer George Stephanopoulos pointed out that FBI Director Christopher Wray recently said that any foreign meddling in U.S. elections should be reported, Trump responded: “The FBI director is wrong.” A torrent of criticism erupted Thursday, including from vital Republican ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, who said the president had made “a mistake.” “I believe that it should be practice for all public officials who are contacted by a foreign government with an offer of assistance to their campaign — either directly or indirectly — to inform the FBI and reject the offer,” Graham said. Senior Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer called Trump’s comments “shocking.” “To say that it’s OK for foreign countries to interfere in our elections, with motives that are not what’s in the interest of the American people? Disgraceful,” he said. “Everybody in the country should be totally appalled,” the Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said. Trump defended himself Thursday, saying that his remarks had been taken out of context and that anyway he talks “every day” with foreign figures. “Should I immediately call the FBI about these calls and meetings? How ridiculous! I would never be trusted again,” he tweeted. However, Trump was referring in his tweet to conversations with allies like the leaders of France and Britain, and even Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. But on Wednesday Trump was asked about getting assistance from countries like Russia or China, which are seen by the U.S. government as potentially dangerous competitors. The White House and Republicans argued that Trump was being unfairly singled out when the Democrats had been the ones to make use of the now infamous dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent, Christopher Steele, in 2016. Steele talked to Russian sources for the report, which was paid for by a legal firm linked to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Filled with explosive and in some cases apparently completely erroneous claims about Trump’s links to Russia, the report was eventually handed over to U.S. law enforcement, adding fuel to a massive official probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller. “The hypocrisy here knows no bounds,” Trump spokesman Hogan Gidley said, branding criticism of the president “absolutely ridiculous.” According to Mueller, who completed his probe in April after nearly two years of exhaustive inquiries, Trump’s 2016 campaign had numerous contacts with Russians but the pattern did not amount to proof of a conspiracy with Moscow. Despite that, Democrats say that Trump’s behavior was suspicious enough to warrant further investigation in congressional committees. A loud minority of lawmakers is even pushing for impeachment. Trump’s interview with ABC came on the same day his son, Donald Jr., was grilled by U.S. senators about his contacts with Russians. In June 2016, the younger Trump held a now-infamous meeting at Trump Tower that included his father’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, then-campaign manager Paul Manafort, and a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Democratic nominee Clinton. Trump declared victory after the Mueller report was released but his latest comments have reignited the controversy just as his 2020 reelection campaign starts up in earnest. Trump will hold a rally with supporters in Florida to mark the official kick-off on Tuesday. One of Trump’s fiercest Democratic opponents, House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff, called the president’s comments on taking foreign help “a dereliction of duty.” “The Trump campaign sought such help in 2016, and their candidate just put out word they want more in 2020. It’s up to Congress to put a stop to it,” he said.

russia
fbi
robert mueller
democrats
abc
nancy pelosi
donald trump
george stephanopoulos
russia probe
christopher wray


U.N. says it has confirmed 17 killings as well as house torchings in Sudan's Darfur region

Abstract: KHARTOUM - The United Nations said on Thursday it had confirmed the killing of 17 people and the burning of more than 100 houses in Deleij village in the Darfur region of Sudan earlier this week. The United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur also said 15 people were injured and the violence “occurred during heated clashes between nomads and residents apparently angered by the increase in commodity prices at the local market. Opposition medics said “Janjaweed militias” fired live ammunition at civilians on Monday at a market in Deleij, Central Darfur, killing 11 people and wounding 20 others. The Janjaweed are Arab militias who have been accused of committing atrocities in Darfur, in the west of Sudan, during a civil conflict that started in 2003 and, according to U.N. estimates, has killed up to 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million. Ousted President Omar al-Bashir’s government denied the allegations on Darfur. Janjaweed fighters were incorporated into Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been the dominant force in the capital Khartoum since Bashir was overthrown on April 11. The deputy head of the military council that took power after Bashir left, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, heads the RSF. Witnesses said the RSF led a raid on a protest sit-in in Khartoum on June 3 that left dozens dead and led to the collapse of talks between the military council and protest and opposition groups pushing for a democratic transition. The military council has said forces moved in to deal with disruptive groups near the sit-in and the violence spread from there. It also said that some RSF members had been attacked and that people had put on their uniforms to impersonate them in an attempt to harm their reputation. This week Amnesty International said it had new evidence showing that “Sudanese government forces, including the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias, have continued to commit war crimes and other serious human rights violations in Darfur.” At least 45 villages were completely or partially destroyed in the past year, Amnesty said. “In Darfur, as in Khartoum, we’ve witnessed the Rapid Support Forces’ despicable brutality against Sudanese civilians — the only difference being, in Darfur they have committed atrocities with impunity for years,” said Amnesty Secretary General Kumi Naidoo. “There are no Janjaweed elements currently in the national capital,” said Maj. Gen. Osman Mohamed Hamid, the RSF’s operations commander. “The Janjaweed are elements that were found in the period of armed movements in Darfur. These elements do not belong to a certain category, do not belong to a certain tribe,” he said on Al-Hadath TV on Tuesday. “They are elements rebelling against the law, harming every person in Darfur. (They are) elements that have no leadership, no structure.”

u.n .
sudan
omar al-bashir
darfur
mohamed hamdan dagalo


Spy used AI-generated face to connect with targets: experts

Abstract: LONDON - Katie Jones sure seemed plugged into Washington’s political scene. She boasted a job at a top think tank and a who’s-who network of pundits and experts, from the centrist Brookings Institution to the right-wing Heritage Foundation. She was connected to a deputy assistant secretary of state, a senior aide to a senator and the economist Paul Winfree, who is being considered for a seat on the Federal Reserve. But she doesn’t exist, The Associated Press has determined. Her persona was part of a vast army of phantom profiles lurking on the professional networking site LinkedIn. Experts who reviewed the Jones profile’s LinkedIn activity say it is typical of espionage efforts on the site, whose role as a global Rolodex has made it a magnet for spies. “It smells a lot like some sort of state-run operation,” said Jonas Parello-Plesner, who serves as program director at the Denmark-based think tank Alliance of Democracies Foundation and was the target several years ago of an espionage operation that began over LinkedIn. William Evanina, director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said foreign spies routinely use fake social media profiles to home in on American targets — and accused China in particular of spying via LinkedIn on a “mass scale.” “Instead of dispatching spies to some parking garage in the U.S. to recruit a target, it’s more efficient to sit behind a computer in Shanghai and send out friend requests to 30,000 targets,” he said. Last month, retired CIA officer Kevin Mallory was sentenced to 20 years in prison for passing details of top secret operations to Beijing, a relationship that began when a Chinese agent posing as a recruiter contacted him on LinkedIn. Unlike Facebook’s friends-and-family focus, LinkedIn is oriented toward job seekers and headhunters, people who build vast webs of contacts and pitch projects to strangers. That approach helps fill the millions of job openings advertised on the site but also provides a rich hunting ground for spies. And that has Western intelligence agencies worried. British, French and German officials have all issued warnings over the past few years detailing how thousands of people had been contacted by foreign spies over LinkedIn. In a statement, LinkedIn said it routinely takes action against fake accounts, yanking thousands of them in the first three months of 2019. It also said, “We recommend you connect with people you know and trust, not just anyone.” The Jones profile was modest in scale, with 52 connections. But those connections had enough influence that they imbued the profile with credibility to some who accepted Jones’ invites. AP spoke to about 40 other people who connected with Jones between early March and early April of this year, many of whom said they routinely accept invitations from people they don’t recognize. “I’m probably the worst LinkedIn user in the history of LinkedIn,” said Winfree, the former deputy director of President Donald Trump’s domestic policy council, who confirmed connection with Jones on March 28. Winfree, whose name came up last month in relation to one of the vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, said he rarely logs on to LinkedIn and tends to just approve all the piled-up invites when he does. “I literally accept every friend request that I get,” he said. Lionel Fatton, who teaches East Asian affairs at Webster University in Geneva, said the fact that he didn’t know Jones did prompt a brief pause when he connected with her back in March. “I remember hesitating,” he said. “And then I thought, ‘What’s the harm?'” Parello-Plesner noted that the potential harm can be subtle. Connecting to a profile like Jones’ invites whoever is behind it to strike up a one-on-one conversation, and other users on the site can view the connection as a kind of endorsement. “You lower your guard and you get others to lower their guard,” he said. The Jones profile was first flagged by Keir Giles, a Russia specialist with London’s Chatham House think tank. Giles was recently caught up in an entirely separate espionage operation targeting critics of the Russian antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab. So when he received an invitation from Katie Jones on LinkedIn he was suspicious. She claimed to have been working for years as a “Russia and Eurasia fellow” at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, but Giles said that if that were true, “I ought to have heard of her.” CSIS spokesman Andrew Schwartz told the AP that “no one named Katie Jones works for us.” Jones also claimed to have earned degrees in Russian studies from the University of Michigan, but the school said it was “unable to find anyone by this name earning these degrees from the university.” The Jones account vanished from LinkedIn shortly after AP contacted the network seeking comment. Messages sent to Jones herself, via LinkedIn and an associated AOL email account, went unreturned. Several experts contacted by AP said Jones’ profile picture appeared to have been created by a computer program. “I’m convinced that it’s a fake face,” said Mario Klingemann, a German artist who has been experimenting for years with artificially generated portraits and says he has reviewed tens of thousands of such images. “It has all the hallmarks.” Klingemann and other experts said the photo — a closely cropped portrait of a woman with blue-green eyes, copper-colored hair and an enigmatic smile — appeared to have been created using a family of dueling computer programs called generative adversarial networks (GANs), which can create realistic-looking faces of entirely imaginary people. GANs, sometimes described as a form of artificial intelligence, have been the cause of increasing concern for policymakers struggling to get a handle on digital disinformation. On Thursday, U.S. lawmakers were to hold their first hearing devoted primarily to the threat of artificially generated imagery. Hao Li, who directs the Vision of Graphics Lab at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies, reeled off a list of digital tells that he believes show the Jones photo was created by a computer program, including inconsistencies around Jones’ eyes, the ethereal glow around her hair and smudge marks on her left cheek. “This is a typical GAN,” he said. “I’ll bet money on it.”

china
u.s .
espionage
ai
donald trump
linkedin
phantom images
generative adversarial networks


Memphis police enforce tense calm after suspect's killing by marshals and riots

Abstract: MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - Police enforced a tense calm on Thursday in a Memphis neighborhood where 25 officers were injured by a rock-throwing crowd following a black man’s shooting death by U.S. marshals on a fugitive task force. Elected officials condemned the crowd as violent, and the police chief pleaded for patience while state authorities investigated the killing. Unanswered questions about the circumstances left many people angry as they recalled with bitterness a litany of police-involved shootings around the country. Crowds appeared shortly after the task force shot 20-year-old Brandon Webber around 7 Wednesday night, and numbers grew swiftly as people livestreamed the scene on social media. Memphis police initially responded in street uniforms, then returned in riot gear as people threw rocks and bricks. Mayor Jim Strickland said 25 officers were injured, six of them seriously enough to need hospital treatment. Officers cordoned off several blocks around the scene in the Frayser neighborhood north of downtown and arrested three people. By 11 p.m., officers had used tear gas and most of the crowd dispersed, police director Michael Rallings said. Early Thursday, officers on horseback patrolled the area, and lines of police cars with flashing blue lights were parked along the street. An ambulance waited at the outer edge, and a helicopter flew overhead. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Keli McAlister said the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force went to a Frayser home to look for a suspect with felony warrants. Marshals saw the man get into a vehicle and then proceed to ram task force vehicles several times before exiting with a weapon, McAlister said. Marshals then opened fire, killing the man who died at the scene. McAlister did not say how many marshals fired or how many times the man was shot. The TBI identified the dead man on Thursday as Webber. Authorities have not provided details about the charges that prompted the task force’s interest in him. A criminal history for him released by the TBI lists two arrests, April 2017 and April 2018, on charges including weapons possession, drug dealing, and driving without a proper license. Court records show the 2018 charges were not prosecuted and the 2017 charges were dismissed. His father, Sonny Webber, told The Associated Press that his son had been planning to return to the University of Memphis in August. “He had a son that’s 2,” Sonny Webber said in a phone interview. “He just had a daughter, his first daughter, two weeks ago. He’s got another daughter expected any day now. He would have had three children. Now he’ll have a child that he won’t get to meet.” Shelby County Commissioner and mayoral candidate Tami Sawyer tweeted that Webber had been shot several times in his family’s front yard. “Every life lost should matter…every single one. How many times will this be ok? It cannot continue to be,” she wrote. Memphis police officers were called in to help with crowd control as word of the shooting spread on social media. As more protesters showed up, more Memphis officers and Shelby County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene. The situation then escalated, and officers donned protective riot gear as people threw rocks and bricks. Police cars and a nearby fire station were damaged, Rallings said. The TBI is routinely called in to investigate police-involved shootings by district attorneys in Shelby and other counties in the state. TBI investigators then give their report to the district attorney, who will decide whether to pursue charges against officers involved. The police director implored residents to wait until the TBI finishes its investigation before spreading possible misinformation about the shooting. “I need everyone to stay calm,” Rallings said. While police support the right of people to demonstrate, Rallings said “we will not allow any acts of violence.” Mayor Strickland expressed pride in the city’s first responders. “I’m impressed by their professionalism and incredible restraint as they endured concrete rocks being thrown at them and people spitting at them,” the mayor tweeted. At least two journalists were injured, multiple police cars were damaged, a fire station’s windows were shattered and a concrete wall outside a business was torn down, he said. Senate Speaker Randy McNally said “lawlessness like this cannot and will not be tolerated in the state of Tennessee. “Attacks on police and firefighters have become far too common in our nation. No matter what the circumstances of the shooting last night, this kind of indiscriminate violence and mayhem is an unacceptable response,” McNally’s statement said. In 2016, police shootings of black men prompted protesters to block the Interstate 40 bridge connecting Tennessee to Arkansas. Activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement also have sued the police department, claiming officers illegally surveilled them. In 2015, Darrius Stewart, an unarmed 19-year-old, was fatally shot during a fight with Connor Schilling, a white officer who was trying to arrest him on outstanding warrants. Shelby County district attorney Amy Weirich recommended Schilling be charged with voluntary manslaughter, but a grand jury refused to indict. In 2018, Martavious Banks was shot and critically wounded by police while running from a traffic stop. Activists and relatives of Banks protested, claiming the shooting was unlawful and accusing police of an attempted cover up. Passion Anderson, a 34-year-old student, drove her 13-year-old son to the scene early Thursday, after protesters had gone and the scene had calmed down. She grew up in Memphis, but left to Ohio before moving in November to the Frayser neighborhood, a mostly low- to middle-income area north of downtown. Anderson said she worries about her son’s safety every day. “I just want him to see this, know what’s going on, to be conscious,” she said from the driver’s seat of her car, with her son in the passenger seat. “I fear for him all the time.” Earle Fisher, a Memphis pastor and activist, said in a phone interview Thursday: “This is part of a broader series of tensions that have continued to escalate between civilians and law enforcement of all stripes.”

u.s .
discrimination
memphis
tennessee
black lives matter
police
brandon webber


Boris Johnson takes strong lead in race for next U.K. leader

Abstract: LONDON - The flamboyant, divisive Boris Johnson took a commanding lead Thursday in the contest to become Britain’s next prime minister, winning by far the largest share of support in the first round of voting by Conservative Party lawmakers. Johnson, a former foreign secretary and leading Brexit campaigner, secured 114 of the 313 votes cast by Conservatives in the House of Commons, a ballot that reduced the field of candidates from 10 to seven . His successor as foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, trailed with 43 votes, followed by Environment Secretary Michael Gove with 37. The result exceeded the expectations of Johnson’s team and makes him almost certain to be among the final two candidates who will be put to a vote of 160,000 party members nationwide. The winner will become both the new Conservative Party leader and Britain’s next prime minister. Johnson thanked supporters and tweeted: “I am delighted to win the first ballot, but we have a long way to go.” Three candidates were eliminated. Lawmakers Esther McVey, Mark Harper and Andrea Leadsom all failed to reach the threshold of 17 votes needed to get to the next round. The contest is dominated by the issue of Britain’s stalled departure from the European Union, with all the contenders promising to succeed where departing Prime Minister Theresa May failed and lead the country out of the bloc. May quit as party leader last week after failing to secure Parliament’s backing for her Brexit divorce deal. Britain’s EU departure was originally due to take place on March 29, but has been delayed to Oct. 31 because of the political deadlock in London. Johnson vowed Wednesday that as prime minister he would “get Brexit done,” either by renegotiating May’s rejected Brexit deal or by leaving the EU on Oct. 31 without an agreement. “Delay means defeat” for the Conservatives, he said. EU leaders, however, are adamant that the agreement won’t be altered, and economists warn that a no-deal departure would cause major economic disruption for the U.K. and the EU economies. Johnson made a failed attempt to become prime minister three years ago in a contest won by May. This time around, his tough line on the EU has won him the support of many Brexiteers in the Conservative Party, who prioritize leaving the bloc above all other issues. He’s also being backed by Conservative moderates on Europe, who calculate that he’s the most likely leader to win a future U.K. general election in which the Conservatives will be squeezed by Nigel Farage’s newly founded Brexit Party on the right and the opposition Labour Party on the left. But rivals argue that Johnson’s record of misleading or untrue statements, verbal blunders and haphazard performance in high office make him unfit to lead the country. During the country’s 2016 EU membership referendum, Johnson campaigned on the inaccurate claim that Britain sends the EU some £350 million ($444 million) a week, money that could instead be spent on the nation’s National Health Service. In 2017, when he was foreign secretary, he said incorrectly that a British-Iranian woman imprisoned in Iran was a journalist, damaging attempts to secure her release. Johnson also faced criticism last year for comparing Muslim women who wear face-covering veils to “letter boxes.” After Thursday’s result was announced, Hunt tweeted: “The stakes have rarely been higher for our country. This serious moment calls for a serious leader.” Conservative legislators will hold further elimination rounds of votes next week until two contenders remain. Those two names will then be put to a postal ballot of party members, with the winner due to be announced the week of July 22. In addition to Johnson, Hunt and Gove, four other contenders remain in the race: ex-Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart. Stewart, who came seventh with 19 votes, said he was delighted to still be in the race. His call for compromise on Brexit and his refusal to support a no-deal exit make him a long shot. But he has run a clever, energetic campaign, traveling the country and appealing directly to voters as he positioned himself as the “anti-Boris” candidate. “I feel really inspired and encouraged and desperate to do more for the people who are supporting me out there,” Stewart said.

eu
u.k .
elections
conservatives
boris johnson
brexit
theresa may
michael gove
jeremy hunt


Trump announces exit of spokeswoman Sarah Sanders and urges her to run for Arkansas governor

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Thursday made the surprise announcement of the departure of spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, who has been widely criticized for her performance in the White House. “After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas,” Trump tweeted, adding that he hoped she would run for governor of her state. Sanders has been one of Trump’s most loyal foot soldiers, almost constantly at his side during his tumultuous White House tenure. However, she has a combative, sometimes bitter relationship with the White House press corps and is seen as responsible for the demise of the formal daily briefing — practically an institution under previous presidents. The last time she took to the podium for a back-and-forth with reporters in the White House briefing room was March 11. Instead, she communicates largely through interviews on the president’s favorite TV network Fox News and short, informal briefings with other journalists outdoors. She has also been accused of telling lies to reporters, although she denies this. Despite Sanders’ damaged reputation in media circles, there’d been no hint from the administration that her exit was imminent. Sanders’ father, Mike Huckabee, is a former Republican governor of Arkansas.

media
u.s .
journalism
donald trump
arkansas
sarah sanders


India plans 'very small' space station after 2022

Abstract: NEW DELHI - India plans to establish its own “very small” space station in the next decade as the country gears up for a first manned mission beyond Earth. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief K. Sivan said Thursday that the ambitious project would follow a successful launch of a manned space flight scheduled by 2022. “Our space station is going to be very small … useful to carry out experiments,” Sivan told reporters in New Delhi. “We are not having a big plan of sending humans on tourism and other things.” A space station is capable of hosting crew members for years on end and provides facilities for experiments and support vehicles to dock. India’s first manned space mission — named Gaganyaan — is due to take place by 2022, in time to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain. It will have two or three astronauts on a maximum seven-day mission. The Indian announcement comes a day after the country unveiled an unmanned moon lander expected to be launched on July 15 for a touchdown on the lunar surface around Sept. 6. India sent its first lunar mission to space in 2008, playing a crucial role in the discovery of water molecules on the moon. The country has made giant strides on its space journey in recent years and has been a pioneer in low-cost technology. It sent a mission to Mars in 2014 for just $74 million — a fraction of the $671 million spent by the U.S. space agency NASA. The Indian space organization also plans to send a mission to study the sun in 2020, and to Venus by 2023.


China's hard line in Hong Kong boosts Beijing critics in Taiwan

Abstract: TAIPEI - China’s heavy-handed tactics in Hong Kong could be also hurting its cause in Taiwan. In recent weeks, Taiwan’s China-skeptic president, Tsai Ing-wen, has come out strongly against Hong Kong’s proposal to allow extraditions with the mainland. The criticism has not only won Tsai praise from democracy advocates in Hong Kong, it also has helped her recover from a local election defeat last year that threatened to scuttle her bid for a second term. On Thursday, Tsai secured the nomination of the Democratic Progressive Party, clearing her to run again under the pro-independence party’s banner in January. She overcame one of the party’s most vocal China critics in part by taking a firm line against Beijing. Rather than take a victory lap, Tsai escalated her attacks on the extradition legislation, refusing to cooperate with Hong Kong on criminal suspect transfers should it be passed. “We don’t want to be an accomplice to an evil bill,” Tsai said at a briefing. That undercuts Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader, Carrie Lam, who has cited the city’s inability to extradite a local murder suspect to Taiwan as the reason why she needs to pass the legislation. On Wednesday, Tsai expressed solidarity with demonstrators gathered to oppose the proposal, saying on Twitter she was “utterly saddened to see the images of #HongKong police firing rubber bullets at protesters.” The remarks illustrate how Tsai has used concern about Beijing’s tactics to turn the tables on Chinese efforts to isolate her government. The Communist Party — angered over Tsai’s refusal to agree that both sides are part of “one China” — has pressed foreign entities to curb relations with Taiwan while promising benefits to Tsai’s political rivals who favor closer ties. While Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since a civil war seven decades years ago and remain military foes, the two have built deep economic bonds. Chinese President Xi Jinping this year cited the framework that facilitated Hong Kong’s return from British rule — “one country, two systems” — as his preferred model for eventual unification with the democratically run island. “This incident has made more Taiwanese people feel that one country, two systems isn’t feasible,” Tsai said Thursday. “One country, two systems won’t be accepted by a democratic Taiwan.” But it is not just China critics like Tsai who are expressing doubts about Beijing’s efforts to tighten control over Hong Kong. Even the more China-friendly Kuomintang, which favors eventual unification, has dismissed the two-systems model as unworkable. Foxconn Technology Group founder Terry Gou, who is seeking the Kuomintang’s nomination to challenge Tsai, took to Facebook to support Hong Kong protesters Wednesday. “The one country, two systems practiced in Hong Kong is a failure,” said Gou, who became China’s largest private-sector employer manufacturing gadgets such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone. The “people’s hearts and voices need to be respected and heard,” he said. Tsai’s victory in Thursday’s DPP primary bolsters arguments for continuing to challenge China in the general election. She defeated her former premier, Lai Ching-te, to secure the party’s nod by garnering support of more than 35 percent in a survey of 15,000 adults, compared 27.5 percent for Lai in hypothetical races against opposition candidates. Austin Wang, assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who specializes in political psychology and voter behavior in East Asia, said Tsai’s embrace of issues popular with the DPP’s activist base, such as concern over China and legalizing gay marriage, helped Tsai and Premier Su Tseng-chang rebuild support. “The moves in polling suggest that economic issues might have grabbed attention of voters in local elections in November, but political issues could weigh more in presidential elections,” Wang said. “Tsai and Premier Su’s new strategies successfully regained the energy of its core supporters, and made them willing to spread their campaign and policy outcomes to their network, which is crucial for Tsai’s winning.”

china
hong kong
taiwan
elections
xi jinping
dpp
tsai ing-wen
terry gou
extradition bill


As Chinese search for news on Hong Kong extradition protests, censors work overtime

Abstract: BEIJING - Chinese censors are working hard to erase or block news of the Hong Kong protests on social media and search platforms amid a surge in interest from mainland internet users. Reports and images of clashes this week between Hong Kong police and demonstrators protesting against an extradition law with mainland China have circulated world wide. At the same time, Beijing has been working to keep the news away from people on the mainland — or at least filter the content. “People are very curious and there is a lot of discussion on this event,” said one person who works as a content censor at Weibo Corp., which operates the Weibo platform. Tencent Holdings’ Wechat, the country’s most popular social media app, showed that searches for “Hong Kong” peaked at 32.4 million on Wednesday, up from 12 million a week before. Freeweibo.com , which tracks censored posts on the Weibo platform, said “Hong Kong” was the most-searched topic in the past few days. Phrases such as “oppose China extradition” and “go Hong Kong!” were also among the top 10 most-searched topics. Searches for “Hong Kong” on Baidu, China’s top search engine, more than tripled over the weekend, a sharp rise in interest despite strict rules that bar access to foreign social media and news outlets. Tests conducted by Reuters on Wednesday showed that some mainland Wechat users could not receive images of the Hong Kong protests, including demonstrators amid tear gas. Similar images posted to popular social media sites were removed within minutes. The censorship, while broadly effective, is not complete. Some content posted on individual accounts that showed this week’s protests was not immediately removed, though censors say popular images and posts in group chats are quickly flagged. China’s state media made virtually no mention of the protests until Hong Kong authorities denounced Wednesday’s violence. The Weibo censor said images of Sunday’s protests were not permitted on the platform, but images from official sources were allowed. On Thursday, searches for “Hong Kong” on Weibo showed only statements from the city’s chief executive condemning the protests. Other items showed photos of pro-Beijing protesters calling for an end to American interference. Photos of clashes between police and protesters were accompanied by captions that accused “Hong Kong separatists” of organizing attacks on police. Beijing has tightened censorship in a wider “rectification” effort that has ensnared foreign media websites and thousands of domestic news accounts on social media. “They are afraid it will trigger a chain reaction,” said political commentator Zhang Lifan, noting the sensitivity around the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and China’s tensions over trade and Taiwan with the United States. “If the flame of the Hong Kong spreads to the mainland, then it will be very bad for them,” he said.

china
hong kong
internet
rights
protests
social media
hong kong extradition protests


How encrypted messages and car 'crashes' helped Hong Kong protesters

Abstract: HONG KONG/ABU DHABI - Thousands of black-clad demonstrators braved tear gas and rain for 79 days in Hong Kong’s 2014 “Umbrella Movement.” The lessons of that agitation appear to have made the city’s protesters swifter and better prepared in some of their latest attempts to weather police action. The young citizens who crowded into the streets this week to protest a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China used the Telegram encrypted messaging app to share locations. They handed out surgical masks for protection against pepper spray and to hide their faces from the police. They turned cars and trucks into roadblocks in the middle of highways. And they set up supply stations throughout the demonstration, acting more quickly than they did five years ago. “It’s a real genius of Hong Kong people,” said Kong Tsung-gan, author of “Umbrella: A Political Tale from Hong Kong.” “There are no pre-existing structures, and before you know it, they’re there.” At the same time, Hong Kong’s police also appeared better equipped in their efforts to disperse the crowd — and more determined to prevent a repeat of 2014’s extended sit-in. In full riot gear, they used pepper spray and fired rounds of tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bags, making it harder for demonstrators to hold their ground. The police said they had fired about 150 rounds of tear gas in Wednesday’s melee, almost double the 87 rounds fired in the entirety of the Umbrella Movement. Here are some of the tactics Hong Kong’s protesters used in this week’s protests: Encrypted messaging While a pro-democracy group called the Civil Human Rights Front helped run the movement against the bill, there were no obvious leaders at Wednesday’s protests. Student activist Joshua Wong, one of the most public faces of the 2014 protests, is currently in jail in Hong Kong. A lot of demonstrations appeared to be initiated by individuals organizing friends and acquaintances via instant messaging. Before the showdown, social media sites like Facebook and Instagram showed multiple invitations to activities like “one-person picnics” or “painting on your own” near Hong Kong’s Legislative Council building. That was intentional: Any gathering of three or more without police consent could be seen as unlawful assembly, according to local law. Meanwhile, the Telegram messaging system topped the Apple app store in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Fearing surveillance, demonstrators switched to the encrypted messaging platform to share updates and coordinate tactics. (Telegram founder Pavel Durov said his messaging service had seen a massive cyberattack that originated in China, raising questions about whether Beijing had attempted to derail the demonstrations). Ninja-style outfits “You must wear a mask to protect yourself if you are going out there,” a young man told commuters outside the packed Admiralty subway station, the nearest one to the Legislative Council building. He was among a few others handing out masks to the demonstrators. Many of the protesters, dressed in black or white, had their masks on to make themselves less recognizable for potential prosecution. Some wore goggles to protect themselves against pepper spray and tear gas. “This time around, we have experience, so we know what we can do,” said protester Auyeung Tung, 40, a performance artist. Police-vs.-protester tactics Protesters appeared to almost instinctively know what they needed as they occupied certain roads, thanks to their 2014 experience. Within hours, multiple supply stations were loaded up with surgical masks, umbrellas, bottled water and cling wrap, further preparing demonstrators for pepper spray and tear gas. There were also plastic cables, masking tape and gloves for building roadblocks. Food, from biscuits to bread, was stocked up. Demonstrators formed human chains to distribute supplies from one part of the protest to another and to deliver parts of barricades used to ward off police. They also set up recycling and first-aid stations. As the crowd grew, demonstrators turned several barricades into staircases for people to climb onto the highway. Car crashes Cars, trucks and even a bus on Wednesday suddenly stopped on major roads leading toward the protest zone, likely in response to an online campaign asking drivers to “create friendly car crashes” to block roads. At least 10 private cars stopped in the middle of Queensway, a key avenue in the heart of Hong Kong’s Central business district.

china
hong kong
rights
protests
hong kong extradition protests


Hong Kong quiet, but prospect of new protest looms large

Abstract: HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s downtown was calm Friday after days of protests by students and human rights activists opposed to a bill that would allow suspects to be tried in mainland Chinese courts, although the prospect of further protests over the weekend loomed large. Demonstrators have said they remain committed to preventing the administration of Beijing-appointed Chief Executive Carrie Lam from pushing through the legal amendments they see as eroding Hong Kong’s cherished legal autonomy which it retained after its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Traffic flowed on major thoroughfares that had been closed after a protest by hundreds of thousands of people on Sunday, posing the biggest political challenge yet to Lam’s two-year-old government. Protesters had kept up a presence through Thursday night, singing hymns and holding up signs criticizing the police for their handling of the demonstrations. Police said they have arrested 11 people on charges such as assaulting police officers and unlawful assembly. Police Commissioner Stephen Lo Wai-chung said 22 officers had been injured in the fracas and hospital administrators said they treated 81 people for protest-related injuries. Several hundred young protesters gathered Thursday on a pedestrian bridge across from the government complex, standing for hours and singing “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord,” while holding signs with messages such as “Don’t Shoot” and “End the Violence.” Signs were posted on the walls of the bridge Friday, including photocopies of the famed Associated Press “Tank Man” picture that became a symbol of resistance to China’s bloody suppression of student-led pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. Other signs criticized the police for their use of force in fighting back against protesters, including firing tear gas and rubber bullets and striking out with steel batons. The debris-strewn area around government headquarters was blocked off by police while sanitation workers gathered rubbish and police officers checked the identity cards of pedestrians before letting them into the area. The standoff between police and protesters is Hong Kong’s most severe political crisis since the Communist Party-ruled mainland took control in 1997 with a promise not to interfere with the city’s civil liberties and courts. It poses a profound challenge both to the local leadership and to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the country’s strongest leader in decades who has demanded that Hong Kong follow Beijing’s dictates. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam declared that Wednesday’s violence was “rioting” that was “intolerable in any civilized society that respects the rule of law.” That designation could raise potential legal penalties for those arrested for taking part. “Intense confrontation is surely not the solution to ease disputes and resolve controversies,” Lam said, according to an official news release. It’s unclear how Lam, as chief executive, might defuse the crisis, given Beijing’s strong support for the extradition bill and its distaste for dissent. Beijing has condemned the protests but so far has not indicated whether it is planning harsher measures. In past cases of unrest, the authorities have waited months or years before rounding up protest leaders. Nearly two years ago, Xi issued a stern address in the city stating that Beijing would not tolerate Hong Kong becoming a base for what the Communist Party considers a foreign-inspired campaign to undermine its rule over the vast nation of 1.4 billion people. Not all in Hong Kong support the protesters. About a dozen older people staged a demonstration in a downtown garden in support of the extradition bill. But others expressed sympathy. Though never a bastion of democracy, Hong Kong enjoys freedoms of speech and protest denied to Chinese living in the mainland. Opposition to the proposed extradition legislation brought what organizers said was 1 million people into the streets on Sunday. The clashes Wednesday drew tens of thousands of mostly young residents and forced the legislature to postpone debate on the bill. That came days after Hong Kong held one of the biggest June 4 candlelight vigils in recent years to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1989 protests in mainland China, a reminder of the uneasy relationship citizens of the region maintain with the authoritarian regime in Beijing. Those in Hong Kong who anger China’s central government have come under greater pressure since Xi came to power in 2012. The detention of several Hong Kong booksellers in late 2015 intensified worries about the erosion of the territory’s rule of law. The booksellers vanished before resurfacing in police custody in mainland China. Among them, Swedish citizen Gui Minhai is under investigation for allegedly leaking state secrets after he sold gossipy books about Chinese leaders. In April, nine leaders of a 2014 pro-democracy protest movement known as the “Umbrella Revolution” were convicted on public nuisance and other charges. Hong Kong’s protests have drawn international concern and support from human rights groups and foreign capitals. On Thursday, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said Hong Kong’s situation shows the “one country, two systems” framework devised for Hong Kong when Britain handed the colony back to China cannot work. Beijing says it wants to unite with Taiwan under the same formula, despite overwhelming opposition among citizens of the self-governing island democracy that China claims as its own territory. The Hong Kong government should listen to its people and not rush to pass the legislation that sparked the protests, Tsai told reporters.