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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>PARA-DIPLOMACY IN TIME OF COVID-19: JAKARTA REGIONAL GOVERNMENT’S OBJECTIVES IN HOSTING INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP</strong> -
<div>
The Novel Corona Virus Disease or COVID-19 has caused unprecedented huge impacts and affected all aspects of governance including the relations among countries. Amid the crisis, sub-national governments have demonstrated their international engagements and innovations in order to respond to the pandemic. Jakarta as the largest city and the capital city of the Republic of Indonesia became the national attention in early of the pandemic due to its functional position as the main gate of international mobility. However, the region held an international event called the International Youth Championship while the pandemic still existed. This research aimed to describe the region’s objectives to carry out the event as a para-diplomacy practice. This research applied the qualitative research method with a descriptive analysis. In addition, the research utilized para-diplomacy concept as a theoretical tool to help describe such objectives. This research found that the regional government had a number of objectives in hosting the event; promoting the success of handing the COVID-19, promoting sports tourism in the post-pandemic, and introducing a new ‘green’ icon of the region. Those objectives belong to the economic and cultural dimension of para-diplomacy. This paper argues that Indonesian para-diplomacy is an asset inasmuch as the national government can harvest benefits from sub-national governments’ para-diplomatic activities.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/ncwe2/" target="_blank">PARA-DIPLOMACY IN TIME OF COVID-19: JAKARTA REGIONAL GOVERNMENT’S OBJECTIVES IN HOSTING INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The dynamic relationship between COVID-19 cases and SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations across time and space: considerations for model training data sets</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater-based surveillance has been used alongside diagnostic testing to monitor infection rates. With the decline in cases reported to public health departments due to at-home testing, wastewater data may serve as the primary input for epidemiological models, but training these models is not straightforward. We explored factors affecting noise and bias in the ratio between wastewater and case data collected in 26 sewersheds in California from October 2020 to March 2022. The strength of the relationship between wastewater and case data appeared dependent on sampling frequency and population size, but was not increased by wastewater normalization to flow rate or case count normalization to testing rates. Additionally, the lead and lag times between wastewater and case data varied over time and space, and the ratio of log-transformed individual cases to wastewater concentrations changed over time. This ratio increased sequentially in the Epsilon/Alpha, Delta, and Omicron BA.1 variant surges of COVID-19 and was also related to the diagnostic testing rate. Based on this analysis, we present a framework of scenarios describing the dynamics of the case to wastewater ratio to aid in data handling decisions for ongoing modeling efforts.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.23.22282684v1" target="_blank">The dynamic relationship between COVID-19 cases and SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations across time and space: considerations for model training data sets</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>An Early SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Outbreak in a Dormitory in Saint-Petersburg, Russia</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly spread globally in late 2021 - early 2022, displacing the previously prevalent Delta variant. Before December 16, 2021, community transmission had already been observed in tens of countries globally. However, in Russia, the majority of reported cases at that time had been sporadic and associated with travel. Here, we report an Omicron outbreak at a student dormitory in Saint Petersburg between December 16 - 29, 2021, which was the earliest known instance of large-scale community transmission in Russia. Out of the 465 sampled residents of the dormitory, 180 (38.7%) tested PCR positive. Among the 118 residents for whom the variant has been tested by whole-genome sequencing, 111 (94.1%) carried the Omicron variant. Among these 111 residents, 60 (54.1%) were vaccinated or had reported previous COVID-19. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that the outbreak was caused by a single introduction of the BA.1.1 sublineage of Omicron. The dormitory-derived clade constituted a significant proportion of BA.1.1 samples in Saint-Petersburg and has spread to other regions of Russia and other countries. The rapid spread of Omicron in a population with preexisting immunity to previous variants underlines its propensity for immune evasion.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.23.22282648v1" target="_blank">An Early SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Outbreak in a Dormitory in Saint-Petersburg, Russia</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Assessment of Attitude and Hesitancy Towards Covid-19 Vaccine among Hepatitis B and C Patients in Pakistan</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
OBJECTIVE: The research aimed to evaluate the attitude and perceptions towards the covid-19 vaccine among Hepatitis B and C patients in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. METHODS: A survey-based study was adopted to evaluate the attitude of Hepatitis B and C patients towards immunization against covid-19 in Peshawar (KPK) and Muzaffarabad (AJK) cities of Pakistan. The study continued from January 2020 to February 2021. Participants were also assessed for their perception towards covid-19 vaccination. RESULTS: A total of 839 (33.6%) individuals participated in the study. About 52 % of Hepatitis B patients were immunized against Covid-19, whereas the number of Hepatitis C patients was recorded at around 48%. About 53.7 % of participants refused to get the vaccine without any reason. About 63.2% of patients showed concern about the insufficient data available on the vaccine safety and efficacy published by the Public Health Department. Individuals with higher education were observed to be more open towards vaccination then those without a formal education. More than half of the participants (61.5 %) were concerned about the interference of the vaccine with their hepatitis treatment whereas 54.7 % patients refused vaccine because of a poor liver condition. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicated that limited data availability regarding the vaccine efficacy in viral hepatitis patients and negative attitudes of people toward covid-19 vaccination is the main cause of Covid-19 vaccination refusal among hepatitis B and C patients. DESCRIPTORS: Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, covid-19, immunization, vaccine refusal, Pakistan.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.23.22282686v1" target="_blank">Assessment of Attitude and Hesitancy Towards Covid-19 Vaccine among Hepatitis B and C Patients in Pakistan</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>An FcRn-targeted mucosal vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 and its variants cause COVID-19, which is primarily transmitted through droplets and airborne aerosols. To prevent viral infection and reduce viral spread, vaccine strategies must elicit protective immunity in the airways. FcRn transfers IgG across epithelial barriers; we explore FcRn-mediated respiratory delivery of SARS-CoV-2 spike (S). A monomeric IgG Fc was fused to a stabilized S protein; the resulting S-Fc bound to S-specific antibodies (Ab) and FcRn. A significant increase in Ab responses was observed following the intranasal immunization of mice with S-Fc formulated in CpG as compared to the immunization with S alone or PBS. Furthermore, we intranasally immunize adult or aged mice and hamsters with S-Fc. A significant reduction of virus replication in nasal turbinate, lung, and brain was observed following nasal challenges with SARS-CoV-2, including Delta and Omicron variants. Intranasal immunization also significantly reduced viral transmission between immunized and naive hamsters. Protection was mediated by nasal IgA, serum-neutralizing Abs, tissue-resident memory T cells, and bone marrow S-specific plasma cells. Hence FcRn delivers an S-Fc antigen effectively into the airway and induces protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission. Based on these findings, FcRn-targeted non-invasive respiratory immunizations are superior strategies for preventing highly contagious respiratory viruses from spreading.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.23.517678v1" target="_blank">An FcRn-targeted mucosal vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mapping the content of comments on bioRxiv and medRxiv preprints</strong> -
<div>
Introduction: Preprints have been increasingly used in biomedical sciences, providing the opportunity for research to be publicly assessed before journal publication. With the increase in attention over preprints during the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to assess the content of comments left on preprint platforms. Methods: Preprints posted on bioRxiv and medRxiv in 2020 were accessed through each platform’s API, and a random sample of preprints that had received between 1 and 20 comments was analyzed. Comments were evaluated in triplicate by independent evaluators using an instrument that assessed their features and general content. Results: 7.3% of preprints received at least 1 comment during a mean follow-up of 7.5 months. Analyzed comments had a median size of 43 words. Criticisms, corrections or suggestions were the most prevalent type of content, followed by compliments or positive appraisals and questions. Most critical comments regarded interpretation, data collection and methodological design, while compliments were usually about relevance and implications. Conclusions: Only a small percentage of preprints posted in 2020 in bioRxiv and medRxiv received comments in these platforms. When present, however, these comments address content that is similar to that analyzed by traditional peer review. A more precise taxonomy of peer review functions would be desirable to describe whether post-publication peer review fulfills these roles.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.23.517621v1" target="_blank">Mapping the content of comments on bioRxiv and medRxiv preprints</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 evolves increased infection elicited cell death and fusion in an immunosuppressed individual</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The milder clinical manifestations of Omicron infection relative to pre-Omicron SARS-CoV-2 raises the possibility that extensive evolution results in reduced pathogenicity. To test this hypothesis, we quantified induction of cell fusion and cell death in SARS-CoV-2 evolved from ancestral virus during long-term infection. Both cell fusion and death were reduced in Omicron BA.1 infection relative to ancestral virus. Evolved virus was isolated at different times during a 6-month infection in an immunosuppressed individual with advanced HIV disease. The virus isolated 16 days post-reported symptom onset induced fusogenicity and cell death at levels similar to BA.1. However, fusogenicity was increased in virus isolated at 6 months post-symptoms to levels intermediate between BA.1 and ancestral SARS-CoV-2. Similarly, infected cell death showed a graded increase from earlier to later isolates. These results may indicate that, at least by the cellular measures used here, evolution in long-term infection does not necessarily attenuate the virus.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.23.22282673v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 evolves increased infection elicited cell death and fusion in an immunosuppressed individual</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Rapid Real-time Squiggle Classification for Read Until Using RawMap</strong> -
<div>
ReadUntil enables Oxford Nanopore Technology’s (ONT) sequencers to selectively sequence reads of target species in real-time. This enables efficient microbial enrichment for applications such as microbial abundance estimation and is particularly beneficial for metagenomic samples with a very high fraction of non-target reads (&gt; 99% can be human reads). Read-until, however, requires a fast and accurate software filter that analyzes a short prefix of a read and determines if it belongs to a microbe of interest (target) or not. The baseline Read Until pipeline uses a deep neural network-based basecaller called Guppy and is slow and inaccurate for this task (60% of bases sequenced are unclassified). We present RawMap, an efficient CPU-only microbial species-agnostic Read Until classifier for filtering non-target human reads in the squiggle space. RawMap uses a Support Vector Machine (SVM), which is trained to distinguish human from microbe using non-linear and non-stationary characteristics of ONT’s squiggle output (continuous electrical signals). Compared to the baseline Read Until pipeline, RawMap is 1327X faster and significantly improve the sequencing time and cost, and compute time savings. We show that RawMap augmented pipelines reduce sequencing time and cost by 23.79% and computing cost by 22%. Additionally, since RawMap is agnostic to microbial species, it can also classify microbial species it is not trained on. We also discuss how RawMap may be used as an alternative to the RT-PCR test for viral load quantification of SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.22.517599v1" target="_blank">Rapid Real-time Squiggle Classification for Read Until Using RawMap</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Fragment-Based Hit Discovery via Unsupervised Learning of Fragment-Protein Complexes</strong> -
<div>
The process of finding molecules that bind to a target protein is a challenging first step in drug discovery. Crystallographic fragment screening is a strategy based on elucidating binding modes of small polar compounds and then building potency by expanding or merging them. Recent advances in high-throughput crystallography enable screening of large fragment libraries, reading out dense ensembles of fragments spanning the binding site. However, fragments typically have low affinity thus the road to potency is often long and fraught with false starts. Here, we take advantage of high-throughput crystallography to reframe fragment-based hit discovery as a denoising problem – identifying significant pharmacophore distributions from a fragment ensemble amid noise due to weak binders – and employ an unsupervised machine learning method to tackle this problem. Our method screens potential molecules by evaluating whether they recapitulate those fragment-derived pharmacophore distributions. We retrospectively validated our approach on an open science campaign against SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro), showing that our method can distinguish active compounds from inactive ones using only structural data of fragment-protein complexes, without any activity data. Further, we prospectively found novel hits for Mpro and the Mac1 domain of SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein 3. More broadly, our results demonstrate how unsupervised machine learning helps interpret high throughput crystallography data to rapidly discover of potent chemical modulators of protein function.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.21.517375v1" target="_blank">Fragment-Based Hit Discovery via Unsupervised Learning of Fragment-Protein Complexes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>RE2DC: a robust and efficient 2D classifier with visualization for processing massive and heterogeneous cryo-EM data</strong> -
<div>
Despite the fact that single particle cryo-EM has become a powerful method of structural biology, processing cryo-EM images are challenging due to the low SNR, high-dimension and un-label nature of the data. Selecting the best subset of particle images relies on 2D classification - a process that involves iterative image alignment and clustering. This process, however, represents a major time sink, particularly when the data is massive or overly heterogeneous. Popular approaches to this process often trade its robustness for efficiency. Here, we introduced a new unsupervised 2D classification method termed RE2DC. It is built upon a highly efficient variant of {gamma}-SUP, a robust statistical cryo-EM clustering algorithm resistant to the attractor effect. To develop this efficient variant, we employed a tree-based approximation to reduce the computation complexity from O(N2) to O(N), with N as the number of images. In addition, we exploited t-SNE visualization to unveil the process of 2D classification. Our tests of RE2DC using various datasets demonstrate it is both robust and efficient, with the potential to reveal subtle structural intermediates. Using RE2DC to curate a dataset of sub-millions of COVID-19 spike particles picked from 3,511 movies only takes 8 hours, suggesting its capability of accelerating cryo-EM structural determination. Currently, RE2DC is available with both CPU and GPU versions, where the implementation only requires modest hardware resources.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.21.517443v1" target="_blank">RE2DC: a robust and efficient 2D classifier with visualization for processing massive and heterogeneous cryo-EM data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Feline Coronavirus Infection of Domestic Cats Causes Development of Cross-Reactive Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Binding Domain</strong> -
<div>
The current study was initiated when our specific pathogen-free laboratory toms developed unexpectedly high levels of cross-reactive antibodies to human SARS-CoV-2 (SCoV2) receptor binding domain (RBD) upon mating with feline coronavirus (FCoV)-positive queens. Multi-sequence alignment analyses of SCoV2 Wuhan RBD and four strains each from FCoV serotypes 1 and 2 (FCoV1, FCoV2) demonstrated amino acid sequence identity of 11.5% and similarity of 31.8% with FCoV1 RBD, as well as 12.2% identity and 36.5% similarity for FCoV2 RBD. The sera from all three toms and three mated queens cross-reacted with SCoV2 RBD and reacted with FCoV1 RBD and FCoV2 spike-2, nucleocapsid, and membrane proteins of FCoV2 whole-virus, but not with FCoV2 RBD. Additionally, the plasma from all six FCoV2-inoculated laboratory cats reacted with FCoV2 and SCoV2 RBDs, but not with FCoV1 RBD. In another study, eight group-housed laboratory cats from a different lineage had a range of serum cross-reactivity to SCoV2 RBD even 15 months later. Such cross-reactivity was also observed in FCoV1-positive group-housed pet cats. The SCoV2 RBD at a high non-toxic dose and FCoV2 RBD at a 60-400-fold lower dose blocked the in vitro FCoV2 infection of the feline cells, demonstrating their close structural conformations essential as vaccine immunogens. Furthermore, such cross-reactivity to SCoV2 RBD was also detected by the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of both transient and chronically FCoV1-infected cats. Overall, the cross-reactivity with SCoV2 RBD by the sera from both serotypes of FCoV-infected cats also suggests that the cross-reactive epitope(s) on FCoV1 and FCoV2 RBDs may be similar to those of SCoV2 RBD and provides essential insights to developing a pan-CoV vaccine.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.23.517619v1" target="_blank">Feline Coronavirus Infection of Domestic Cats Causes Development of Cross-Reactive Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Binding Domain</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Trajectories of Relationship and Sexual Satisfaction Over Two Years in the Covid-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on various aspects of life, including romantic relationships, has already been demonstrated in several investigations. The aim of the present study was to extend these findings by including a period extending from the beginning to the near end of the pandemic (April 2020-March 2022) and applying a latent class approach to identify population subgroups with different relationship and sexual satisfaction trajectories. We identified three latent classes, a group with high satisfaction levels but a descending trajectory, a group with low satisfaction levels but an ascending trajectory, and a fluctuating group. Living apart, psychological symptoms, low life satisfaction, and avoidant attachment characterized the latter two groups. Separations were mainly predicted by sex and living apart.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/92xjk/" target="_blank">Trajectories of Relationship and Sexual Satisfaction Over Two Years in the Covid-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Individual bat viromes reveal the co-infection, spillover and emergence risk of potential zoonotic viruses</strong> -
<div>
Bats are reservoir hosts for many zoonotic viruses. Despite this, relatively little is known about the diversity and abundance of viruses within bats at the level of individual animals, and hence the frequency of virus co-infection and inter-species transmission. Using an unbiased meta-transcriptomics approach we characterised the mammalian associated viruses present in 149 individual bats sampled from Yunnan province, China. This revealed a high frequency of virus co-infection and species spillover among the animals studied, with 12 viruses shared among different bat species, which in turn facilitates virus recombination and reassortment. Of note, we identified five viral species that are likely to be pathogenic to humans or livestock, including a novel recombinant SARS-like coronavirus that is closely related to both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV, with only five amino acid differences between its receptor-binding domain sequence and that of the earliest sequences of SARS-CoV-2. Functional analysis predicts that this recombinant coronavirus can utilize the human ACE2 receptor such that it is likely to be of high zoonotic risk. Our study highlights the common occurrence of inter-species transmission and co-infection of bat viruses, as well as their implications for virus emergence.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.23.517609v1" target="_blank">Individual bat viromes reveal the co-infection, spillover and emergence risk of potential zoonotic viruses</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Monkeypox virus quadrivalent mRNA vaccine induces antibody responses and cellular immunity and protects mice against Vaccinia virus</strong> -
<div>
There is an urgent need for efficient and safe vaccines against the monkeypox virus (MPXV) in response to the rapidly spreading monkeypox epidemic. In the age of COVID-19, mRNA vaccines have been highly successful and emerged as platforms enabling rapid development and large-scale preparation. Here, we have developed two MPXV quadrivalent mRNA vaccines, named mRNA-A-LNP and mRNA-B-LNP, based on two IMVs (A29L and M1R) and two EEVs (A35R and B6R). By administering mRNA-A-LNP and mRNA-B-LNP intramuscularly twice, mice have induced MPXV-specific IgG antibodies and potent Vaccinia virus (VACV)-specific neutralizing antibodies. Additionally, it elicited durable MPXV-specific killer memory T-cell immunity as well as memory B-cell immunity in mice. Furthermore, the passive transfer of sera from mRNA-A-LNP and mRNA-B-LNP-immunized mice protected nude mice against the VACV challenge. In addition, two doses of mRNA-A-LNP and mRNA-B-LNP were also protective against the VACV challenge in mice. Overall, our results demonstrated that mRNA-A-LNP and mRNA-B-LNP appear to be safe and effective vaccine candidates against monkeypox epidemics, as well as against outbreaks caused by other orthopoxviruses, including the smallpox virus.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.22.517500v1" target="_blank">Monkeypox virus quadrivalent mRNA vaccine induces antibody responses and cellular immunity and protects mice against Vaccinia virus</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Direct Cryo-ET observation of platelet deformation induced by SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Its high pathogenicity is due to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S protein) contacting host-cell receptors. A critical hallmark of COVID-19 is the occurrence of coagulopathies. Here, we report the direct observation of the interactions between S protein and platelets. Live imaging showed that the S protein triggers platelets to deform dynamically, in some cases, leading to their irreversible activation. Strikingly, cellular cryo-electron tomography revealed dense decorations of S protein on the platelet surface, inducing filopodia formation. Hypothesizing that S protein binds to filopodia-inducing integrin receptors, we tested the binding to RGD motif-recognizing platelet integrins and found that S protein recognizes integrin v{beta}3. Our results infer that the stochastic activation of platelets is due to weak interactions of S protein with integrin, which can attribute to the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and the occurrence of rare but severe coagulopathies.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.22.517574v1" target="_blank">Direct Cryo-ET observation of platelet deformation induced by SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study on Voluntary Routine COVID-19 Self-testing in Mizoram, India.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: COVID-19 Self testing and related messaging<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   PATH;   UNITAID;   Zoram Medical College (ZMC);   Pacchunga University College;   Association for Leprosy Education Rehabilitation &amp; Treatment India (ALERT India);   Government of Mizoram<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate EDP-235 in Non-hospitalized Adults With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: EDP-235;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of RAY1216 Tablets Compared With Placebo in Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Mild to Moderate COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: RAY1216;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Guangdong Raynovent Biotech Co., Ltd<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The LAVA (Lateral Flow Antigen Validation and Applicability) 2 Study for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: Innova Lateral Flow Test<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Q-POC SARS-CoV-2 Assay COVID-19 Clinical Evaluation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Diagnostic Test: RT-PCR Test;   Diagnostic Test: Real-time PCR Test<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   QuantuMDx Group Ltd;   EDP Biotech;   Paragon Rx Clinical;   PathAI;   PRX Research and Development<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Acute Rehabilitation in Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Rehabilitation;   Physical Medicine<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Procedure: Acute rehabilitation program<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Institut za Rehabilitaciju Sokobanjska Beograd<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Enhancing Protection Against Influenza and COVID-19 for Pregnant Women and Medically at Risk Children</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Influenza;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Nudge<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Adelaide<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Trial Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of Recombinant COVID-19 Omicron-Delta Variant Vaccine (CHO Cell)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Omicron-Delta Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Protein Vaccine (CHO cells);   Biological: Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Protein Vaccine (CHO cells)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Antibody Responses in Cystic Fibrosis</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Cystic Fibrosis<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Blood sample<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hospices Civils de Lyon;   Queen’s University, Belfast<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Message Communicating Latest Data on COVID Transmission in Patient’s Area</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: COVID Booster text messages<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Pennsylvania<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Message From Local Pharmacy Team</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: COVID Booster text messages<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Pennsylvania<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of Trivalent Coronavirus Vaccine Candidate VBI-2901e With E6020 Adjuvant</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Coronavirus Infections<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: VBI-2901e<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   VBI Vaccines Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dietary Modulation of Gut Microbiota in Overweight/Obese Adolescents and COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Health Behavior;   Child Development;   Adolescent Obesity<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Probiotics;   Behavioral: Counselling on healthy eating, physical activity, and psychosocial stimulation;   Dietary Supplement: Placebo probiotics<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Indonesia University;   Gadjah Mada University;   Universitas Airlangga;   University of Melbourne;   The Indonesia Endowment Funds for Education, Ministry of Finance Indonesia<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phonation Therapy to Improve Symptoms and Lung Physiology in Patients Referred for Pulmonary Rehabilitation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Tonation Breathing Techniques;   Behavioral: Music Driven Vocal Exercises;   Behavioral: Silent Breathing<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   MetroHealth Medical Center<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Canadian Adaptive Platform Trial of Treatments for COVID in Community Settings</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Paxlovid;   Drug: Other;   Other: Other<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Unity Health Toronto;   Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR);   Health Canada<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Treatment of Advanced Systemic Mastocytosis with Midostaurin: Practical Guidance for Optimal Therapy and Management</strong> - Systemic mastocytosis (SM) is a rare disease with a range of clinical presentations, and the vast majority of patients have a KIT D816V mutation that results in a gain of function. The multikinase/KIT inhibitor midostaurin inhibits the D816V mutant and has a well-established role in treating advanced SM. Even if considered the standard of therapy, some open questions remain on optimizing midostaurin management in daily practice. The current review presents the opinions of a group of experts who…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Computational search for potential COVID-19 drugs from ayurvedic medicinal plants to identify potential inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 targets</strong> - CONCLUSION: Molecular ADMET profile estimation showed that the docked phytochemicals were safe. The present study suggested that active phytochemicals from medicinal plants could inhibit RdRp and spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CD147 contributes to SARS-CoV-2-induced pulmonary fibrosis</strong> - COVID-19 patients can develop clinical and histopathological features associated with fibrosis, but the pathogenesis of fibrosis remains poorly understood. CD147 has been identified as a universal receptor for SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, which could initiate COVID-19-related cytokine storm. Here, we systemically analyzed lung pathogenesis in SARS-CoV-2- and its delta variant-infected humanized CD147 transgenic mice. Histopathology and Transmission Electron Microscopy revealed inflammation,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rational Design and Synthesis of D-galactosyl Lysophospholipids as Selective Substrates and non-ATP-competitive Inhibitors of Phosphatidylinositol Phosphate Kinases</strong> - Phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinases (PIPKs) produce lipid signaling molecules and have been attracting increasing attention as drug targets for cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and viral infection. Given the potential cross-inhibition of kinases and other ATP-utilizing enzymes by ATP-competitive inhibitors, targeting the unique lipid substrate binding site represents a superior strategy for PIPK inhibition. Here, by taking advantage of the nearly identical stereochemistry between…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inhibition of p38 signaling curtails the SARS-CoV-2 induced inflammatory response but retains the IFN-dependent antiviral defense of the lung epithelial barrier</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of the immune response-driven disease COVID-19 for which new antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatments are urgently needed to reduce recovery time, risk of death and long COVID development. Here, we demonstrate that the immunoregulatory kinase p38 MAPK is activated during viral entry, mediated by the viral spike protein, and drives the harmful virus-induced inflammatory responses. Using primary human lung explants and lung epithelial organoids, we demonstrate…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nanobody derived using a peptide epitope from the Spike protein receptor-binding motif inhibits entry of SARS-CoV-2 variants</strong> - The emergence of new escape mutants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has escalated its penetration among the human population and has reinstated its status as a global pandemic. Therefore, developing effective antiviral therapy against emerging SARS-CoV variants and other viruses in a short period of time becomes essential. Blocking SARS-CoV-2 entry into human host cells by disrupting the Spike glycoprotein-angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) interaction has already been exploited for vaccine…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Xuanfei Baidu formula alleviates impaired mitochondrial dynamics and activated NLRP3 inflammasome by repressing NF-κB and MAPK pathways in LPS-induced ALI and inflammation models</strong> - CONCLUSION: In this study, we demonstrate that XBF exerts anti-ALI and -inflammatory effects by recovering mitochondrial dynamics and reducing inflammasome activation, providing a biological illustration of the clinical efficacy of XBF in treating COVID-19 patients.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Computational investigation of natural compounds as potential main protease (M<sup>pro</sup>) inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 virus</strong> - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is significantly impacting human lives, overburdening the healthcare system and weakening global economies. Plant-derived natural compounds are being largely tested for their efficacy against COVID-19 targets to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection. The SARS-CoV-2 Main protease (M^(pro)) is considered an appealing target because of its role in replication in host cells. We curated a set…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IFITM3 Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Is Associated with COVID-19 Susceptibility</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 has become a global threat to public health. Infected individuals can be asymptomatic or develop mild to severe symptoms, including pneumonia, respiratory distress, and death. This wide spectrum of clinical presentations of SARS-CoV-2 infection is believed in part due to the polymorphisms of key genetic factors in the population. In this study, we report that the interferon-induced antiviral factor IFITM3 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection by preventing SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein-mediated…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Prevention and Treatment of Monkeypox: A Systematic Review of Preclinical Studies</strong> - The outbreak of monkeypox, coupled with the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic is a critical communicable disease. This study aimed to systematically identify and review research done on preclinical studies focusing on the potential monkeypox treatment and immunization. The presented juxtaposition of efficacy of potential treatments and vaccination that had been tested in preclinical trials could serve as a useful primer of monkeypox virus. The literature identified using key terms such as…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Antiviral activity of nano-monocaprin against Phi6 as a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic involving SARS-CoV-2 has raised interest in using antimicrobial lipid formulations to inhibit viral entry into their host cells or to inactivate them. Lipids are a part of the innate defense mechanism against pathogens. Here, we evaluated the use of nano-monocaprin (NMC) in inhibiting enveloped (phi6) and unenveloped (MS2) bacteriophages. NMC was prepared using the sonochemistry technique. Size and morphology analysis revealed the formation of ~ 8.4 ± 0.2-nm NMC as measured…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Antiviral Properties of <em>Pennisetum purpureum</em> Extract against Coronaviruses and Enteroviruses</strong> - Many severe epidemics are caused by enteroviruses (EVs) and coronaviruses (CoVs), including feline coronavirus (FCoV) in cats, epidemic diarrhea disease virus (PEDV) in pigs, infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) in chickens, and EV71 in human. Vaccines and antiviral drugs are used to prevent and treat the infection of EVs and CoVs, but the effectiveness is affected due to rapidly changing RNA viruses. Many plant extracts have been proven to have antiviral properties despite the continuous mutations…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Investigating the Potential Anti-SARS-CoV-2 and Anti-MERS-CoV Activities of Yellow Necklacepod among Three Selected Medicinal Plants: Extraction, Isolation, Identification, In Vitro, Modes of Action, and Molecular Docking Studies</strong> - The anti-MERS-CoV activities of three medicinal plants (Azadirachta indica, Artemisia judaica, and Sophora tomentosa) were evaluated. The highest viral inhibition percentage (96%) was recorded for S.&amp;nbsp;tomentosa. Moreover, the mode of action for both S. tomentosa and A. judaica showed 99.5% and 92% inhibition, respectively, with virucidal as the main mode of action. Furthermore, the anti-MERS-CoV and anti-SARS-CoV-2 activities of S. tomentosa were measured. Notably, the anti-SARS-CoV-2…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gold-Based Metal Drugs as Inhibitors of Coronavirus Proteins: The Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease by Auranofin and Its Analogs</strong> - Gold compounds have a long tradition in medicine and offer many opportunities for new therapeutic applications. Herein, we evaluated the lead compound Auranofin and five related gold(I) complexes as possible inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease (SARS-CoV-2 M^(pro)), a validated drug target for the COVID-19 disease. The investigational panel of gold compounds included Auranofin; three halido analogues, i.e., Au(PEt(3))Cl, Au(PEt(3))Br, and Au(PEt(3))I; and two gold carbene complexes, i.e.,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Viral Channel Activity Using FDA-Approved Channel Modulators Independent of Variants</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: We developed an efficient method to screen FDA-approved ion channel modulators that could be repurposed to detect and inhibit SARS-CoV-2 viral replication, independent of variants.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is the Nancy Pelosi Era Really Ending?</strong> - The Speaker of the House is stepping aside, but her school of politics isn’t going anywhere. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/12/05/is-the-nancy-pelosi-era-really-ending">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Are We Doomed to See a Biden-Trump Rematch in 2024?</strong> - One thing’s sure: the early betting is often wrong—ask President Rand Paul. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/are-we-doomed-to-see-a-biden-trump-rematch-in-2024">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sam Bankman-Fried and the Long Road to Taking Crypto Mainstream</strong> - The disgraced founder of FTX played on the vanities of the establishment, reassuring V.C. firms and the media that smart-guy insiders like him could save the world. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/sam-bankman-fried-and-the-long-road-to-taking-crypto-mainstream">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Meaning of the Colorado Springs Attack</strong> - The essential precondition for mass violence is not guns or hate but a culture of terror, a common imaginary that includes the possibility of a mass shooting. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-meaning-of-the-colorado-springs-attack">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dimming the Sun to Cool the Planet Is a Desperate Idea, Yet We’re Inching Toward It</strong> - The scientists who study solar geoengineering don’t want anyone to try it. But climate inaction is making it more likely. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/dimming-the-sun-to-cool-the-planet-is-a-desperate-idea-yet-were-inching-toward-it">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>What else Qatar has built with its absurd wealth besides the 2022 World Cup</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Workers in orange uniforms stand in front of Qatar’s 2022 FIFA World Cup Al Thumama Football Stadium, which is shaped like a cream-colored dome." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/X6e2H7UmOsQyCKzrODGw80txZ0I=/444x0:4000x2667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71672262/1241430151.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Workers outside Al Thumama football stadium in Doha, Qatar, on June 20, 2022.  | Christopher Pike/Bloomberg via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The World Cup has exhibited Qatar’s soft power. Look closely to see its constraints.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a43DXi">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uX9vfQ">
Qatar is a player. In the Middle East and across the world, the petrostate of fewer than 3 million people plays an outsized role in<strong> </strong>geopolitics, media, and art. Its cultural diplomacy has established the country’s influence — and now it’s doing the same with sport.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eiZmfb">
The country’s absurd wealth is on display this month: It spent about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/true-cost-of-the-qatar-world-cup-2022-10">$300 billion</a> on stadiums and groundwork to host the <a href="https://www.vox.com/fifa-world-cup">2022 FIFA World Cup</a>, which kicked off Sunday. That money <a href="https://time.com/6235113/qatar-world-cup-2022-kick-off/">totaled more</a> than all previous World Cups and Olympics combined.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XZFsUR">
Qatar <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-02/qatar-reclaims-crown-from-u-s-as-world-s-top-lng-exporter">exports more liquified natural gas</a> than any other country. Its energy resources have made the royal family among the world’s richest, and with a <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2017/06/05/investing/qatar-investment-sovereign-wealth-fund/index.html">$335 billion sovereign wealth</a> fund, it is one of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2022/nov/05/how-qatar-bought-up-britain">biggest landowners in the United Kingdom</a>, and owns a major stake in the Empire State Building.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="phOLpb">
Yet Qatar has arguably been a more strategic spender than <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/04/07/the-real-reason-why-the-salvator-mundi-didnt-make-it-into-the-louvres-leonardo-show">neighboring</a> <a href="https://www.artforum.com/architecture/nasser-rabbat-on-the-louvre-abu-dhabi-73429">oil-rich states</a>. It has focused on successfully constructing domestic cultural and educational institutions for Qataris and creating a national identity. But it’s a national identity presented by the royal family that does not tolerate dissent and does not guarantee human rights.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cchqSg">
The achievement of the first World Cup being convened in the Arab world embodies those tensions: Qatar is a state that uses its immense wealth and power to elevate itself and the region, that cares deeply about culture, and yet has few freedoms.
</p>
<h3 id="Oovuul">
Qatar’s elaborate hosting of the World Cup parallels its art prowess
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PvEZzy">
Doha rapidly developed in recent decades from a small port to a dramatic cityscape in what Qatari artist Sophia Al-Maria describes as “<a href="https://whitney.org/essays/sophia-al-maria">Gulf Futurism</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UT9P4K">
Yet for all its <a href="https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-entertainment-soccer-sports-95c68fcde462922fc7c599e6f26497cb">lavish spending</a> and <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/energy-takes-center-stage-bidens-meeting-qatari-emir-signaling-deeper-ties">foreign-policy influence</a>, Qatar has managed to avoid criticism over the years for restricting rights for women and LGBTQ people and labor violations, including relative silence from its Western allies. (It must help that it’s home to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as-trump-tries-to-end-endless-wars-americas-biggest-mideast-base-is-getting-bigger/2019/08/20/47ac5854-bab4-11e9-8e83-4e6687e99814_story.html">largest US military base in the Middle East</a>.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hNHTA4">
The incredible development of World Cup arenas mirrors Qatar’s staggering art investments. The sister of Qatar’s emir and the head of its network of museums, Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, reportedly spends about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/arts/design/qatar-uses-its-riches-to-buy-art-treasures.html">$1 billion annually</a> on art. That’s much higher than any major US museum.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uRLWVg">
Qatar has commissioned epic works by Western artists, like <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/richard-serra-in-the-qatari-desert">Richard Serra</a>’s hulking steel plates in the desert (“East-West/West-East”) and <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/damien-hirst-public-fetus-works-go-back-up-in-doha-1398895">Damien Hirst</a>’s series of large bronze sculptures, some 46 feet high, of human reproduction from conception to embryo (“The Miraculous Journey”). Qatar has also bought some of the most expensive paintings in the world: Rothko’s “White Center” ($70 million), Cézanne’s “The Card Players” ($250 million), and Gauguin’s “When Will You Marry?” ($300 million).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XA9mCO">
There has been a huge emphasis on “<a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2022/02/17/starchitecture-and-the-national-museum-of-qatar-reproducing-the-western-gaze/">starchitects</a>” — largely American and European architects building outlandish structures that few other countries could afford, among them Rem Koolhaas and Jean Nouvel.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Three large bronze sculptures depicting a gestating fetus inside a uterus." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MQ9lYmUlwKlf4T7DnqW21lA4hQY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24222603/1063164338.jpg"/> <cite>AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
“The Miraculous Journey,” an art installation by artist Damien Hirst outside the Sidra Medical and Research Center in Qatar’s capital Doha, on the day of its unveiling, October 10, 2018.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A large white building built on the water’s edge made up of stacked rectangular shapes stands beside a row of palm trees." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GZ9CQNwqZkx-I8BjxOKAk1mxDSo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24222599/1369938057.jpg"/> <cite>Markus Gilliar/GES-Sportfoto via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
The Museum of Islamic Art, seen on December 5, 2021, in Doha, Qatar. It was designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jB18Q1">
But Qatar, importantly, hasn’t only imported from the West.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4aLsXm">
It has created institutions that have helped forge its national identities as a Muslim and Arab country. The breathtakingly minimalist <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/867307/why-im-peis-museum-of-islamic-art-is-the-perfect-building-to-suit-dohas-style">Museum of Islamic Art</a> in Doha’s center, designed by famed Chinese architect I.M. Pei, contains a remarkable international collection. On the outskirts of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2021/12/22/qatar-built-a-literal-city-for-education/?sh=57516591f269">Education City</a>, among satellites of universities like Georgetown, Northwestern, and Virginia Commonwealth, is the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, which contains one of the most extensive collections of 20th-century Arab art. (Qatar and the UAE are engaged in a <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-double-game-of-egyptian-surrealism-how-to-curate-a-revolutionary-movement/">cutthroat race</a> to buy up Arab modern art from across the Middle East.) And part of the capital has a new downtown made to look old, called Msheireb, with many cultural museums including one <a href="https://merip.org/2021/08/remembering-slavery-at-the-bin-jelmood-house-in-qatar/">focused on the country’s history of slavery</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YGhO8X">
“Qatar has always been much more connected, if you will, to that sense of their own past and their historical memory,” Kishwar Rizvi, a professor of art at Yale University, told me. “There’s this global stage on which they want to present themselves,” she explained, but also a sense that, “We have oil, wealth, and all of that, but we also need cultural capital, because that also is part of what makes a nation.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o0cr6t">
Perhaps because Qatar’s cultural investments have been so savvy, I’ve been taken aback by the ostentatiousness of its <a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2022/11/15/2022-fifa-world-cup-qatar-stadium-architecture/">World Cup stadiums</a>. One stadium is shaped like a traditional Qatari tent and another is made of shipping containers. Most of the marquee stadiums for world sporting events are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/aug/22/birds-nest-empty-monument-china-magnificence">showy or trying to represent the host country’s culture</a>, but with this year’s, everything looks ornamental or too obvious.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Al Thumama Stadium in Qatar’s Doha, shaped like a large white rectangle with rounded corners, covered in a textile pattern." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VJ3ptW9Zy1d_IJv5CH5RsJlwhrE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24222611/1244601261.jpg"/> <cite>Mohammed Dabbous/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A view of the Al Thumama Stadium’s facade in Doha, Qatar on October 28, 2022. The stadium’s design was inspired by the ghafiya, a traditional Arab cap worn by men in the Gulf countries.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A stadium that looks like a giant traditional Qatari tent." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0lKPZ0i3HKMhHFyLk6Onyjnt2dA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24222614/1244940384.jpg"/> <cite>Christopher Pike/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Al Bayt Stadium ahead of the opening match of the FIFA World Cup, built to resemble a traditional Qatari tent.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rMN7n6">
The starchitects’ result in Qatar is the lowest common denominator, a country reduced to stereotypes. “I think it shows a lack of imagination,” says Rizvi. These new stadiums stand in contrast, she says, to <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/middle-east/iraq/articles/le-corbusier-s-gymnasium-in-baghdad/">Le Corbusier’s modernist Olympic Stadium</a> designed for Baghdad in the 1950s.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5zyqJi">
That lack of imagination is so striking because so much of Qatar’s soft-power prowess has had impressive results in art, culture, education, and media.
</p>
<h3 id="3ffSgX">
Can cultural diplomacy thrive without human rights?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VBSVHg">
I visited Qatar in 2016 to attend a blue-chip conference of artists and architects, all presided over by Sheikha al-Mayassa. Conceptual artist Marina Abramović equated her and Qatar’s royal family to modern-day Medicis, with the funds to support artists like Serra in creating <a href="https://qm.org.qa/en/visit/public-art/richard-serra-east-west-west-east/">monumental works</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cppJyR">
That money, it seems, does buy the complicity of powerful people. “To just come and criticize, it’s such an easy way to close the culture forever, but I want to open this culture,” Abramović told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xhtfh4">
On the sidelines of the swish confab at the W Hotel Doha, <a href="https://www.jonathanguyer.com/uploads/2/0/2/2/20224295/guyer-mp-2016.pdf">I interviewed Jeff Koons</a>, one of the world’s most expensive living artists and a frequent guest of the royal family. I asked him: Why Qatar? “I would say because of the openness of Qatar to ideas, to education, to the humanities, to psychology and philosophy and all the different things that can stimulate the public for growth and development,” he told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7b3wPp">
I pushed Koons to discuss reported labor violations, that his nudes could never be exhibited in the conservative country, and the fact that a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35830372">Qatari poet</a> was imprisoned at the time for a protest song. “Going back to some of the problems here in Qatar and these different things, I’m naïve of some of the aspects,” Koons told me. “I know that internationally there has been a movement to try to make working conditions better for laborers, and I think that a lot of problems, not only here but internationally, have been addressed to try to make situations where, if abuses take place, they’re corrected.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KU8gYR">
Qatar is a monarchy with a large expat and migrant labor population that has very limited rights. Migrant workers <a href="https://theathletic.com/3910236/2022/11/18/trade-union-in-qatar-warns-there-is-no-sign-that-sustainable-change-is-coming-for-migrant-workers/">can’t join labor unions</a>. The Guardian has reported that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022">6,500 migrant workers died</a> over a decade, and a <a href="https://cpj.org/2021/05/qatar-detains-kenyan-labor-rights-blogger-malcolm-bidali-without-charge/">Kenyan blogger</a> who wrote about it was arrested in 2021.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jpLiJS">
Beyond that, women are stifled by <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/03/29/everything-i-have-do-tied-man/women-and-qatars-male-guardianship-rules">guardianship laws</a>, LGBTQ people <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gay-people-living-under-radar-qatar-prepare-warily-world-cup-2022-11-19/">lack rights</a>, and internet activists have been <a href="https://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/3156">imprisoned</a>. The courts are <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2014/01/un-rights-expert-urges-qatar-seize-opportunity-reform-its-justice-system">not independent</a>, the press <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/10/25/qatar-world-cup-media-journalism-freedom-migrant-labor/">cannot freely cover</a> the country’s politics, and there are no serious elections for leadership and <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/qatar/freedom-world/2021">no political parties</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JuI4eB">
“If you’re in Qatar, and your rights are trampled on as a woman or as a queer person or anything, if you don’t like it, you’re just thrown into jail and good luck,” Wafa Ben-Hassine, a human rights attorney based in Washington, DC, told me. “It’s like you have certain rights and freedoms only if you belong to a certain class of protected people” — the wealthy or certain expats — “then they become not human rights.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qBETrx">
Qatar has largely eluded scrutiny over the years. Now that the country is getting so much attention, there have been some articles criticizing a <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/world-cup-2022-qatar-schedule-marred-western-anger-rcna57891">double standard</a> that Qatar is being held to. But Ben-Hassine said that scrutiny is merited.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dO6u0k">
“I’m happy that an Arab nation is hosting one of the most lucrative spectacles in the world,” Ben-Hassine said. “But it can be better, and it should do better. We should be clear-eyed about the state of affairs that this country has and aim to hold it to the highest standards.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I5ik2t">
And it’s not just about Qatar. It’s about the world systems in which Qatar operates, and the ways in which the tournament serves Western interests, as Guardian columnist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/21/qatar-world-cup-british-double-standards-anger-gifts-property-arms-deals">Nesrine Malik writes</a>, at the expense of those who lack rights in Qatar.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jmFDEA">
Nasser Rabbat, a professor of Islamic architecture at MIT, put it this way: “I don’t want to absolve the patrons, the contractors, and the builders, from the amazing human rights violations they have sustained all these years. I’m not going to come to the defense of any of these countries in saying that their labor treatment is acceptable. It is absolutely unacceptable. But I’m not going to blame them as well.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d6qmTb">
“Because, at the end of the day, those who are making the most amount of money from the construction boom in the Gulf are companies from our part of the world, from the United States and from Europe,” Rabbat told me. “They are responsible for the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of workers, but we too are responsible for those deaths. And we too have benefited from those deaths.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1YjuUj">
So the World Cup — with the blitz of global media and the arrival of a million visitors — exposes Qatar to new pressures from the outside. In welcoming teams and fans from around the globe, the cameras may reveal the country’s limitations. Qatar’s deep investments in culture can’t shield it from criticism for the shallowness of rights there.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Holiday scam email season is here. Don’t fall for it.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An illustration of a person stealing a giant credit card." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-VhpSNqSPWTNotNOon8DOPlCaVA=/0x0:6667x5000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71672235/GettyImages_1345700152.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
This year’s holiday season, scammers are trying to trick us into giving up our credit card numbers by dangling free Yeti coolers in front of us. | Denis Novikov/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sorry, no one is actually going to give you a free Yeti cooler.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8O8BtL">
Someone claiming to be Kohl’s really wants to give me a beautiful orange Le Creuset dutch oven.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qzMKUm">
The email always says this is the chain department store’s second attempt to reach me, although I reckon it’s more like the 50th because I’ve gotten this email many, many times over the last few months. You probably have, too. Maybe it’s not from Kohl’s. Maybe it’s from Dick’s Sporting Goods or Costco. Whoever it claims to be from, the result is the same: You click on a link, fill out some kind of survey, and are asked to enter your credit card info to cover the cost of shipping your free Yeti cooler, Samsung Smart TV, or that Le Creuset dutch oven.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="An example of a phishing email claiming to be from Kohl’s. It features a set of Le Creuset cookware and says, “Answer &amp;amp; win a brand new Le Creuset. Get started now. Congratulations!”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zJ68wC1b1e6e5zDxAPxfTRw2zJ0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24220836/kohls.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Spoiler alert: There is no “fantastic prize” waiting for you on the other side of this scam email.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yx7kTR">
Those items will never come, of course. These emails are all phishing scams, or emails that pretend to be from a person or brand you know and trust in order to get information from you. In this case, it’s your credit card number. This latest campaign is particularly good at evading spam filters. That’s why you may have noticed so many of these emails in your inbox over the last several months. The fact that they got to your inbox in the first place as well as the realistic presentation of the emails and the websites they link to make them more convincing than the typical scam email. These attacks also usually ramp up during the holiday season. So here’s what you should watch out for.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LFYIF3">
“Grinch is getting security companies coal and blocked IPs for Christmas, and it’s resulting in more spam with domain hop architecture getting into your inboxes,” Zach Edwards, a security researcher, told Recode. Domain hop architecture is the series of redirects that route user traffic across multiple domains to help scammers hide their tracks and detect and block potential security measures.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WScEla">
Akamai Security Research identified the scam campaign in a <a href="https://www.akamai.com/blog/security-research/sophisticated-phishing-scam-abusing-holiday-sentiment">recent report</a>. The basic idea behind the scam itself — pretending to be a well-known brand and offering a prize in return for some personal information — isn’t new. Akamai has been following these kinds of grifts <a href="https://www.akamai.com/blog/security/quiz-phishing--one-scam--78-variations">for</a> a <a href="https://www.akamai.com/blog/security/question-quiz-the-forgotten-scam">while</a>. But this year’s version is new and improved.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zRnGrj">
“This is a reflection of the adversary’s understanding of how security products work and how to use them for their own advantage,” Or Katz, Akamai’s principal lead security researcher, said.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="An example of a scam email pretending to be from Costco. It features a woman in a yoga pose in front of a large-screen TV and it reads, “Pure cinematic 8K viewing. Get it now. Costco wholesale Samsung OLED 8K UHD HDR Smart TV. Congratulations! You have been chosen to participate in our loyalty program for free! Answer survey.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1kc-T4tMpVUo9bj2F9uJY3AJa9E=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24220848/costco.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Sorry, but you’ll have to buy a Samsung TV from Costco just like everyone else. This survey is just trying to steal your credit card information.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sHc9EK">
Basically, these scammers are deploying lots of technical tricks to evade scanners and get through spam filters behind the scenes. Those include (but aren’t limited to) routing traffic through a mix of legitimate services, like Amazon Web Services, which is the URL several of the scam emails I’ve received appear to link out to. And, Edwards said, bad actors can identify and block the IP addresses of known scam and spam detection tools, which also helps them bypass those tools.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f78W4g">
Akamai said this year’s campaign also included a novel use of fragment identifiers. You’ll see those as a series of letters and numbers after a hash mark in a URL. They’re typically used to send readers to a specific section of a website, but scammers were using them to instead send victims to completely different websites entirely. And some scam detection services don’t or can’t scan fragment identifiers, which helps them evade detection, according to Katz. That said, Google told Recode that this particular method alone was not enough to bypass its spam filters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UwYZ2h">
“What we see in this recently released research is new and sophisticated techniques being used, indicating the evolution of the scam, reflecting on the adversary’s intention to make their attacks hard to be detected and classified as malicious,” Katz said. “And, as we can see, it is working!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Z4YNX">
But you don’t see any of that. You just see the emails. At best, they’re annoying, and at worst, they could trick you into giving your credit card details to people who will presumably use that information to buy a lot of things on your tab. The fact that they’re in your inbox in the first place adds a veneer of legitimacy, and both those emails and the websites they send victims to look better and therefore might be more convincing than some typical phishing attempts. They also seem to change according to the season or time of year. Akamai’s examples, which it collected weeks ago, have a Halloween theme. More recent phishing emails send users to a website boasting of a “Black Friday Special.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ITvhrh">
“The literal holiday banners are unique, so that’s a cool newish addition,” Edwards said.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="An example of a scam website claiming to offer a prize from Dick’s Sporting Goods. It has a picture of a Yeti cooler and reads, “Dick’s Sporting Goods, November 21, 2022. Congratulations! You’ve been chosen to receive a brand new Yeti M20 Cooler! To claim, simply answer a few quick questions regarding your experience with us. Attention, this survey offer expires today, November 21, 2022. Start survey.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Oxiq-3ZQnZmgJaPyNkwNvnGfvDw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24220843/dicks.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Dick’s Sporting Goods isn’t giving away a Yeti Cooler, even if you fill out a survey.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zKLeFr">
And it’s all being deployed on an apparently massive scale, which is why most people reading this have probably gotten not just one of these emails, but an onslaught of them, extended over a period of months.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2SMMxR">
Or, as one of my co-workers said to me when she forwarded me an example of just one of the many scam emails she’s received in her Gmail inbox: “help.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nRMuvT">
A spokesperson for Google told Recode that the company is aware of the “particularly aggressive” campaign and is taking measures to stop it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RSu10F">
“Our security teams have identified that spammers are using another platform’s infrastructure to make a path for these abusive messages,” they said. “However, even as spammers’ tactics evolve, Gmail is actively blocking the vast majority of this activity. We are in contact with the other platform provider to resolve these vulnerabilities and are working hard, as always, to stay ahead of the attacks.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CIOnBb">
Google also recently put out a <a href="https://blog.google/products/gmail/holiday-season-scams/">blog post</a> warning users about common holiday season scams, and the fake giveaway was at the top of the list.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xyZxZc">
“Received an offer that looks too good to be true? Think twice before clicking any links,” Nelson Bradley, manager of Google Workspace Trust and Safety, wrote.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kebbn6">
Google also noted that it blocks 15 billion spam emails every day, which it believes to be 99.9 percent of the spam, phishing, and malware emails its users are being sent. In the last two weeks, Bradley wrote, there’s been a 10 percent increase in malicious emails. To be fair, I think there are more fake Kohl’s giveaway emails sitting in my spam filter than in my inbox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xZTGki">
The spokesperson added that Gmail users can use its “report spam” tool, which helps Google <a href="https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1366858?hl=en&amp;co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid">better identify and prevent</a> future spam attacks. Beyond that, the typical <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/5/21164745/coronavirus-phishing-email-scams">how to</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23157229/online-scam-venmo-zelle-cashapp-crypto">avoid</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/21254841/working-from-home-security-vpn-malware-phishing">getting phished</a> tips still apply. Check the sender’s email address and the URL it’s linking out to. Don’t give out your personal information, especially not your account passwords or credit card numbers. Take a few seconds to think about why Kohl’s would just randomly decide to give you Le Creuset bakeware or Dick’s would give you a Yeti cooler worth hundreds of dollars just for answering a few basic survey questions. The answer is that they wouldn’t.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GCIvI7">
You could also just spend your Black Friday shopping for real items in real stores (or on their real websites) and giving your credit card details to real employees. Good luck out there; the Google spokesperson said the company expects that the scam campaign will “continue at a high rate throughout the holiday season.” So it’ll almost certainly continue even after Black Friday ends.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The high stakes and unique weirdness of the Georgia Senate runoff, briefly explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Split photo of Herschel Walker campaigning on November 16, and Senator Raphael Warnock campaigning on November 17." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WwO9qrUA4Y3wkkEx8c17oWD7mU4=/461x287:3190x2334/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71672179/headshots_1669231444761a.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Herschel Walker, left, on November 16, and Sen. Raphael Warnock, right, on November 17. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sen. Raphael Warnock and former football player Herschel Walker will face off one more time in December.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QnPLaU">
In many ways, this year’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23425078/midterm-elections-results-2022-georgia-senate-run-off-walker-warnock">Georgia Senate runoff is a lot like the last one</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gO34NS">
Once again, Georgia is holding a runoff after neither Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) nor his opponent, former football player Herschel Walker, got more than 50 percent in November’s general election. The stakes are high, if not quite as high as they were in 2021: Democrats already won 50 seats and kept <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23425051/midterm-elections-2022-senate-majority-congress-democrats-cortez-masto">the Senate majority</a>, but gaining another seat could increase their power on different committees and hedge against potential losses in 2024.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hOLSJL">
There are some notable differences, though. Because of a new state election law that went into effect last year, there are key changes to the logistics of the election and who can vote in it. Those updates, ultimately, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-georgia-93f3ee7ff34e5d6aa2bd96d048832a8e">could impact participation</a>, reducing the amount of time people have to engage in early voting and mail-in voting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7T24KE">
Here’s what to know about the effects of the new election law, the stakes of the runoffs, and where things currently stand between the two candidates.
</p>
<h3 id="Xn5SQb">
When is the Georgia runoff?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="irlZBc">
The runoffs will take place on Tuesday, December 6, and results could be available within one to two days, depending on how close it is. This past November, Georgia was able to announce the outcome of the Senate race a day after the general election. The state has expedited how it processes mail-in ballots compared to 2020, a change that could help get results sooner compared to past elections.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0Aq25I">
Early voting will give voters a chance to participate before December 6 as well: It will be available in all counties between November 28 and December 2, and was available in a handful of counties as early as <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/early-voting-kicks-off-georgias-senate-runoff-legal/story?id=93804838">November 22</a>. <a href="https://elections.sos.ga.gov/Elections/advancedVotingInfo.do">Georgia’s Secretary of State website</a> offers information about when each county will kick off early voting and where voters can go.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q7oLFU">
Voters can also participate in the runoff by mail. To do so, they have to submit an application for an absentee ballot to their county election office by Monday, November 28. Voters can submit these applications <a href="https://securemyabsenteeballot.sos.ga.gov/s/absentee-ballot-request">online</a>, via <a href="https://georgia.gov/vote-absentee-ballot">email, mail, fax, or in-person.</a> They’ll then have to send these ballots back or drop them off so that their county election office receives them by 7 pm on December 6, the day of the runoff.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iiElUg">
The timing of this year’s election marks a change from how things were conducted in 2021, when there were nine weeks between the general election and the runoff. This year, there’s just four weeks, the result of a new law signed in 2021 that oversees how the state holds elections. In 2021, there were three weeks of early voting, compared to the week or less many counties will have in 2022.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f15Dbo">
That change could affect voter participation, particularly among Democrats, who are more likely to use early voting and mail-in options, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-georgia-93f3ee7ff34e5d6aa2bd96d048832a8e">Associated Press reports</a>. “For voters who are registered and planning to vote, the biggest effect will be the fewer number of early voting opportunities they have and the constricted timeline for absentee voting,” University of Georgia law professor Lori Ringhand told Vox.
</p>
<h3 id="pYM8ps">
Who can vote?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vPyMxx">
In 2022, only voters who were already registered to vote prior to the general election are able to do so.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GXKbei">
This is also another difference from 2021, when new people were able to register specifically for the runoff election. That year, <a href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/75k-new-georgia-voters-registered-before-us-senate-runoffs/H3CXAFIKFVCKHJNW5MBFZKQDZU/">more than 75,000 new voters</a> registered after the deadline had passed for the general election, in time to weigh in on the runoffs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yHNKHl">
The new election law, SB 202, specifies that voters need to register at least 30 days before an election to be eligible to participate in it. So between that and the shortened window between the two races, those who haven’t registered yet don’t have time to do so before the runoff.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9XXCAr">
Those who are already registered, however, are able to participate in the runoff even if they didn’t vote in the general election.
</p>
<h3 id="y1U2Dg">
Where does the race stand now?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xE7RZk">
The race between Warnock and Walker is expected to be close. (It’s the only statewide race in the runoff election, though some counties could have other races at the local level.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vfLw0q">
Warnock had the edge in the general election and could well have it again in the runoff, though both face the challenge of getting their voters to turn out for the second time in less than a month.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ciNS0h">
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/08/us/elections/results-georgia-us-senate.html">In the general election</a>, Warnock secured 49.4 percent of the vote, Walker secured 48.5 percent, and libertarian candidate Chase Oliver secured 2.1 percent. <a href="https://states.aarp.org/georgia/new-aarp-georgia-poll-voters-50-may-tip-scales-in-runoff-election">A mid-November AARP poll</a>, one of the few conducted after the general election, had Warnock four points ahead among likely voters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="edXzFm">
Those leads, however, are still narrow, and each candidate still has different factors going in their favor.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ykebsk">
Warnock, an incumbent senator <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-senate-race-brian-kemp-stacey-abrams-raphael-warnock-herschel-walker-opinion-poll-2022-09-20/">with solid approval ratings in-state</a>, has benefited from a deluge of scandals Walker has faced, including allegations of domestic violence and claims that he paid for two women’s abortions. (Walker has denied that he paid for the abortions.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QcBSzB">
University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock also theorized that Republicans could see declines in turnout because Gov. Brian Kemp, who won most Republicans and many independents, would no longer be at the top of the ticket.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kpB3pe">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23412672/herschel-walker-georgia-football-jeff-pearlman">Walker, meanwhile, is a well-known football star in the state</a> and is likely getting a boost from Georgia’s Republican lean and backlash people may be experiencing toward the Biden administration over issues like inflation.
</p>
<h3 id="RZ9Qak">
What are the unique challenges of a runoff?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EV6PPJ">
The biggest challenge posed by a runoff is typically getting voters to head to the polls for a second time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xeo2iD">
“Both sides risk heavy attrition of their November voters, and the side that does the best job reminding voters to return to the polls will likely be the one that wins,” Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GZv8bZ">
According to Bullock, Georgia has seen anywhere between a 10 to 40 percent drop-off in voter participation in past runoffs. The 2021 elections were a best-case scenario: Roughly 10 percent fewer voters participated in those relative to the general election that year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8nOmDo">
Prior to 2021, runoffs had favored Republicans because they were able to turn more of their voters out, <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-happens-if-georgias-senate-race-goes-to-a-runoff-again/">per FiveThirtyEight</a>. That dynamic, however, shifted that year, with Democrats seeing gains among their voters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="02q37v">
This year, it’s still unclear which party will be more successful, though both have invested heavily in the election. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/18/politics/georgia-runoff-get-out-the-vote/index.html">According to NBC News</a>, Democrats have thus far outspent Republicans on ads, pouring in $17 million to the GOP’s $5 million.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wPlFBU">
Organizers including the New Georgia Project Action Fund have also been canvassing heavily on the ground, with upward of 400 canvassers using everything from text and phone banking to more traditional door-knocking to reach voters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ktZYi7">
“At this point, it’s really a turnout game. We are focused on voter education. We’ve been knocking on people’s doors since March, so they are very familiar with us,” says James Mays, a field director with the New Georgia Project Action Fund.
</p>
<h3 id="62IkxT">
What are the stakes of this election?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FSIVa6">
Unlike 2020, Senate control is not up for grabs since Democrats have already won the majority.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ksCJKY">
That doesn’t mean this election isn’t still extremely important. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/11/13/23456019/democrat-majority-senate-georgia-warnock-walker-trump-biden">As Vox’s Ellen Ioanes explained,</a> there’s a lot at stake if Democrats are able to pick up a 51st seat:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NyyNMz">
If Warnock keeps his seat, Democrats won’t have to depend on Vice President Kamala Harris to cast a tie-breaking vote, and they would have more leverage over Sens. Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), the more conservative members of the party, in order to get legislation passed.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QNUBRO">
With 51 votes, Democrats would have solid majorities on congressional committees, which are currently split down the middle. That would give them the power to confirm judicial nominees more quickly and swiftly approve measures that could be contentious. Any gains Democrats make this cycle could also help blunt potential losses they might face in 2024, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/10/18/22724808/democrats-senate-disadvantage-shor-klein">when the Senate map will be much</a> less favorable to the party.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="om9N1u">
Beyond the balance of power in the Senate, organizers also note that this election sends a message about the values and issues that Georgia stands for. Recently, for instance, Walker used an anti-trans ad describing how trans athletes should be barred from sports competitions, to try to make the case for his candidacy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tXGzTw">
“What we’re asking people to say, to make a choice about the kind of Georgia they want to live in, the kind of representation they want in the Senate and the direction that they want the United States to go in,” says Keron Blair, the chief of field and organizing at the New Georgia Project Action Fund.
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rubirosa and Kings Walk impress</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FIFA World Cup 2022 | Jakobs makes first start for Senegal in Qatar showdown</strong> - With both sides having lost their first game, a defeat for either at the Al Thumama Stadium would likely see them go out of the competition</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Stormy Ocean, Katana, Anzac Pipernal, Groovin and Worldly Wise impress</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FIFA World Cup 2022 | Last-gasp double keeps Iran in knockout contention after Wales thriller</strong> - Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian scored to give Iran a famous win</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Iran regime supporters confront protesters at World Cup game</strong> - Unlike in their first match against England, the Iran players sang along to their national anthem before the match against Wales</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A decade of emptiness for waqf board’s ambitious seven-storey mall</strong> - More than 10 years after the waqf board of undivided Andhra Pradesh announced grand plans, neither it nor subsequent elected waqf board have done anything with the seven storey structure, thereby losing crores in revenue.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andhra Pradesh: Ministers launch  modernisation works in Kakinada Anchorage Port</strong> - The works are expected to be completed in 12 months to increase the annual cargo handling capacity from 4 to 5 million tonnes</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Online portal for appointment of notaries in Kerala</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>One-person, one-ticket rule will apply to all aspirants from Congress, says D.K. Shivakumar</strong> - This gains significance in the light of some leaders, including Siddaramaiah, still being undecided on choice of constituency</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>KCR blaming Centre for State’s financial crisis is ridiculous: Uttam</strong> - KCR destroyed the state taking huge loans and showing them as revenue</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Merkel says she lacked power to influence Putin</strong> - The German ex-chancellor says she could not block Russia’s designs on Ukraine in 2021.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French vote for right to abortion in constitution</strong> - The proposal was prompted by increased restrictions in the US and Poland, but it faces a tough passage.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Ukraine struggles to restore power after Russian strikes</strong> - Ukraine says 50% of the country’s electricity needs are not being met, and water supplies are affected.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Olena Zelenska: We will endure</strong> - Olena Zelenska tells the BBC’s Lyse Doucet cold and blackouts are not the worst things Ukraine has faced.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: The race to rebuild infrastructure in Kherson</strong> - Engineers are starting to rebuild infrastructure destroyed during Russia’s occupation of Kherson.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Scientists debate the role of a virus in multiple sclerosis</strong> - Recent study offers evidence of link between Epstein-Barr and multiple sclerosis. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1899794">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>[Updated] Here are all the best Black Friday deals live now</strong> - We’re wading through the Black Friday flood so you don’t have to. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1898433">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The best Black Friday laptop deals we can find</strong> - Some favorite and notable laptops are getting solid discounts this week. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1899696">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Oxford scientists crack case of why ketchup splatters from near-empty bottle</strong> - Squeezing more slowly and doubling diameter of the nozzle can help prevent splatter - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1899879">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Report: FTC “likely” to file suit to block Microsoft/Activision merger</strong> - Any federal action could easily push deal past crucial July 2023 deadline. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1899979">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>A guy is jailed for the first time…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A guy is imprisoned for his first time
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On his first night, a few minutes after lights-out, his cellmate moves closer to the cell-bars.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A while later, someone from another cell shouts “Number 13!”. His cellmate and the entire block bursts into laughter. The new prisoner finds this strange.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Shortly after they were done laughing, another inmate shouts “33!” and the entire block of inmates again started laughing. “27!” Shouted another inmate. More laughter followed. The new prisoner is now completely puzzled.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What’s going on? Why is everyone laughing at numbers?” He asks the cellmate. “Oh!” Replied the cellmate, still giggling. “Thing is, we’ve been in here for so long, we told the same jokes until we eventually knew them all, so we decided to give them numbers, so that instead of saying the entire joke, you just say the number and we know which one it is!”.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Astonished, the new prisoner decides to see if that’s true. He goes over to the cell bars and shouts “Number 72!”. All the inmates explode into a massive laughter, and the entire block is roaring, to a point where his cellmate is now on the floor, rolling with laughter. The new prisoner is now dumbstruck and completely lost.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Which one is number 72?” He asks the cellmate. In between laughs, while trying to catch his breath, his cellmate replies “We’ve never heard that one before!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/amradoofamash"> /u/amradoofamash </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z3s1ms/a_guy_is_jailed_for_the_first_time/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z3s1ms/a_guy_is_jailed_for_the_first_time/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A guy with no arms……. (Long)</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A guy who was born with no arms goes to the doctor one day and the doc says, ‘I have bad news, you are terminally ill and you only have one month left to live.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man was a absolutely despondent - but as he walked out of his doctors office, he looked up at the monastery atop the hill near town and thought to himself, I have always wanted to ring the bells in the monastery tower - if I don’t do it now, it will never happen.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So he walks up the path to the monastery and, using his head, ‘knock knock knock’, bangs on the door. A few moments later, a portly monk answers the door and asks how he may be of assistance. The man with no arms explains his plight and asks if there is any way that the monk can help.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The monk pauses, then looks at his watch, looks back at the man - focusing on his lack of arms - and says, ”well, I don’t know how you would do it, but it is almost time to ring the bells so I will give you a shot.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man is overwhelmed with joy and can’t stop thanking the monk as the monk leads him to the bell tower, slowly waddling across the yard and up the long spiral staircase to the bell tower. They reach the bell tower with just minutes to spare. The skeptical monk looks at his watch, and when the hour strikes twelves, he says , ‘ tis time to ring the bell, my son’.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Expecting the young man to grab the rope in his teeth in his attempt to ring the bell, the monk is stunned when instead the man leans forward and runs full speed into the bell. And ring the bell the young man did. When he made contact, the bell let out the most glorious ring - a sound so beautiful that the monk was brought to tears. And as the bell rang, it slowly swung backwards from the force of the impact before swinging back. But when it did swing back, it squarely struck the young man, sending him flying out the window and down to the sidewalk just outside of the monastery.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The chubby monk waddled down the stairs as fast as he could - which wasn’t very fast - and when he finally gets around to the side of the monastery where the man had fallen, a passing police officer had already arrived and covered the corpse with a blanket. When he saw the monk running up in a flustered state, he just assumed that the monk knew the victim, so he pulled back the blanket and said, ‘I am sorry to ask this brother, but do you know this man.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The monk paused for a moment as he looked down at the newly deceased before he said, “Well, I don’t know his name, but his face sure does ring a bell.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Objective_Resolve833"> /u/Objective_Resolve833 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z4569m/a_guy_with_no_arms_long/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z4569m/a_guy_with_no_arms_long/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>What starts with T, ends with T, but only has T in ?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Teapot
</p>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/NathanGoatTv"> /u/NathanGoatTv </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z3yycb/what_starts_with_t_ends_with_t_but_only_has_t_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z3yycb/what_starts_with_t_ends_with_t_but_only_has_t_in/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My girlfriend just dumped me because of my gambling addiction.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But I know I can win her back.
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Anti-AntiThisBot-Bot"> /u/Anti-AntiThisBot-Bot </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z3l96f/my_girlfriend_just_dumped_me_because_of_my/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z3l96f/my_girlfriend_just_dumped_me_because_of_my/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I don’t see what the big deal about Black Friday is.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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All Fridays matter.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/VanillaSarsaparilla"> /u/VanillaSarsaparilla </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z3u8si/i_dont_see_what_the_big_deal_about_black_friday_is/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/z3u8si/i_dont_see_what_the_big_deal_about_black_friday_is/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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