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<title>20 December, 2023</title>
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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>Coping with Covid 19 lockdown: Optimism and Intolerance of Uncertainty in India</strong> -
<div>
Background: Kerala state in India has been hailed as an exceptional model in containing the Covid 19 pandemic within a low resource setting Insights from such a setting are valuable for mental health research during an epidemic situation, especially for resource poor countries. Aims:The study examined the relationship between optimism intolerance of uncertainty (IU), and socio- demographic factors among participants from Kerala, India. Methods: An observational design was used and data was collected using online survey. Snowball sampling method was employed. Sample consisted of 121 adults belonging to Kerala. Standardised tools and customised questionnaire were used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed. Results: A strong relationship existed between inhibitory anxiety and optimism. Socio-demographic factors did not determine either intolerance of uncertainty or optimism. The unprecedented uncertainty brought about by the pandemic needs further exploration. Conclusions: The present pandemic has presented an unprecedented situation regarding well being of individuals. Further studies on anxiety and related issues, and protective factors during situations of uncertainty are needed for policy and practice related to community level disaster preparedness.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/bzfp7/" target="_blank">Coping with Covid 19 lockdown: Optimism and Intolerance of Uncertainty in India</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>PandoGen: Generating complete instances of future SARS-CoV-2 sequences using Deep Learning</strong> -
<div>
Deep generative models have achieved breakthrough performance in generating computer code, instances of human language and images. We explore the use of these models to create as yet undiscovered instances of viral sequences in a pandemic situation. Towards this goal, we formulate a novel framework for training models to align the sequence generation problem to the characteristics of a pandemic. We applied our method to modeling the SARS-CoV2 Spike protein, the primary driver of the COVID-19 pandemic, and compared our method to models trained via prevalent practices applied to biological sequence modeling. Our method substantially outperforms a state-of-the-art generative model finetuned on SARS-CoV2 data, producing samples containing sequences which are four times as likely to be real, undiscovered sequences, and ten times as infectious. Our method can forecast novel lineages of the virus up to approximately 3 months in advance. Given a limited sequence budget, our method generates sequences belonging to the Delta variant and multiple dominant Omicron subvariants up to a month in advance.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.10.540124v5" target="_blank">PandoGen: Generating complete instances of future SARS-CoV-2 sequences using Deep Learning</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Robust detection of SARS-CoV-2 exposure in population using T-cell repertoire profiling</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic offers a powerful opportunity to develop methods for monitoring the spread of infectious diseases based on their signatures in population immunity. Adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing (AIRR-seq) has become the method of choice for identifying T cell receptor (TCR) biomarkers encoding pathogen specificity and immunological memory. AIRR-seq can detect imprints of past and ongoing infections and facilitate the study of individual responses to SARS-CoV-2, as shown in many recent studies. Here, we have applied a machine learning approach to two large AIRR-seq datasets with more than 1,200 high-quality repertoires from healthy and COVID-19-convalescent donors to infer TCR repertoire features that were induced by SARS-CoV-2 exposure. The new batch effect correction method allowed us to use data from different batches together, as well as combine the analysis for data obtained using different protocols. Proper standardization of AIRR-seq batches, access to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing, and the use of both - and {beta}-chain sequences of TCRs resulted in a high-quality biomarker database and a robust and highly accurate classifier for COVID-19 exposure. This classifier is applicable to individual TCR repertoires obtained using different protocols, paving the way to AIRR-seq-based immune status assessment in large cohorts of donors.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.08.566227v2" target="_blank">Robust detection of SARS-CoV-2 exposure in population using T-cell repertoire profiling</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>CNP blocks mitochondrial depolarization and inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro and in vivo</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 6.5 million lives worldwide and continues to have lasting impacts on the world’s healthcare and economic systems. Several approved and emergency authorized therapeutics that inhibit early stages of the virus replication cycle have been developed however, effective late-stage therapeutical targets have yet to be identified. To that end, our lab identified that 2’,3’ cyclic-nucleotide 3’-phosphodiesterase (CNP) inhibits SARS-CoV-2 virion assembly. We show that CNP inhibits the generation of new SARS-CoV-2 virions, reducing intracellular titers without inhibiting viral structural protein translation. Additionally, we show that targeting of CNP to mitochondria is necessary for inhibition, blocking mitochondrial depolarization and implicating CNP’s proposed role as an inhibitor of the mitochondrial permeabilization transition pore (mPTP) as the mechanism of virion assembly inhibition. We also demonstrate that an adenovirus expressing virus expressing both human ACE2 and CNP inhibits SARS-CoV-2 titers to undetectable levels in lungs of mice. Collectively, this work shows the potential of CNP to be a new SARS-CoV-2 antiviral target.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.09.544327v2" target="_blank">CNP blocks mitochondrial depolarization and inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro and in vivo</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Early acquisition of S-specific Tfh clonotypes after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination is associated with the longevity of anti-S antibodies</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have been used worldwide to combat COVID-19 pandemic. To elucidate the factors that determine the longevity of spike (S)-specific antibodies, we traced the characteristics of S-specific T cell clonotypes together with their epitopes and anti-S antibody titers before and after BNT162b2 vaccination over time. T cell receptor (TCR) {beta} sequences and mRNA expression of the S-responded T cells were investigated using single-cell TCR- and RNA-sequencing. Highly expanded 199 TCR clonotypes upon stimulation with S peptide pools were reconstituted into a reporter T cell line for the determination of epitopes and restricting HLAs. Among them, we could determine 78 S epitopes, most of which were conserved in variants of concern (VOCs). In donors exhibiting sustained anti-S antibody titers (designated as “sustainers”), S-reactive T cell clonotypes detected immediately after 2nd vaccination polarized to follicular helper T (Tfh)-like cells, which was less obvious in “decliners”. Even before vaccination, S-reactive CD4+ T cell clonotypes did exist, most of which cross-reacted with environmental or symbiotic bacteria. However, these clonotypes contracted after vaccination. Conversely, S-reactive clonotypes dominated after vaccination were undetectable in pre-vaccinated T cell pool, suggesting that highly-responding S-reactive T cells were established by vaccination from rare clonotypes. These results suggest that de novo acquisition of memory Tfh-like cells upon vaccination contributes to the longevity of anti-S antibody titers.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.06.543529v2" target="_blank">Early acquisition of S-specific Tfh clonotypes after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination is associated with the longevity of anti-S antibodies</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>UVAE: Integration of Heterogeneous Unpaired Data with Imbalanced Classes</strong> -
<div>
We introduce the Unbiasing Variational Autoencoder (UVAE), a novel computational framework developed for the integration of unpaired biomedical data streams, with a particular focus on clinical flow cytometry. UVAE effectively addresses the challenges of batch effect correction and data alignment by training a semi-supervised model on partially labeled datasets. This approach enables the simultaneous normalisation and integration of diverse data within a shared latent space. The framework is implemented in Python with a descriptive interface for the specification and incorporation of multiple, partially overlapping data series. UVAE employs a probabilistic model for batch effect normalisation, with a generative capacity for unbiased data reconstruction and inference from heterogeneous samples. Its training process strategically balances class contents during various stages, ensuring accurate representation in statistical analyses. The model's convergence is achieved through a stable, non-adversarial training mechanism, complemented by an automated selection of hyper-parameters via Bayesian optimization. We quantitatively validate the performance of UVAE's constituent components and consequently apply it to the real problem of integrating heterogeneous clinical flow cytometry data collected from COVID-19 patients. We show that the alignment process enhances the statistical signal of cell types associated with severity and enables clustering of subpopulations without the impediment of batch effects. Finally, we demonstrate that homogeneous data generated by UVAE can be used to improve the performance of longitudinal regression for predicting peak disease severity from temporal patient samples.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.18.572157v1" target="_blank">UVAE: Integration of Heterogeneous Unpaired Data with Imbalanced Classes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Quantification of biases in predictions of protein-protein binding affinity changes upon mutations</strong> -
<div>
Understanding the impact of mutations on protein-protein binding affinity is a key objective for a wide range of biotechnological applications and for shedding light on disease-causing mutations, which are often located at protein-protein interfaces. Over the past decade, many computational methods using physics-based and/or machine learning approaches have been developed to predict how protein binding affinity changes upon mutations. They all claim to achieve astonishing accuracy on both training and test sets, with performances on standard benchmarks such as SKEMPI 2.0 that seem overly optimistic. Here we benchmarked eight well-known and well-used predictors and identified their biases and dataset dependencies, using not only SKEMPI 2.0 as a test set but also deep mutagenesis data on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in complex with the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. We showed that, even though most of the tested methods reach a significant degree of robustness and accuracy, they suffer from limited generalizability properties and struggle to predict unseen mutations. Interestingly, the generalizability problems are more severe for pure machine learning approaches while physics-based methods are less affected by this issue. Moreover, undesirable prediction biases towards specific mutation properties, the most marked being towards destabilizing mutations, are also observed and should be carefully considered by method developers. We conclude from our analyses that there is room for improvement in the prediction models and suggest ways to check, assess and improve their generalizability and robustness.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.04.551687v2" target="_blank">Quantification of biases in predictions of protein-protein binding affinity changes upon mutations</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Interferon signaling in the nasal epithelium distinguishes among lethal and common cold respiratory viruses and is critical for viral clearance</strong> -
<div>
All respiratory viruses establish primary infections in the nasal epithelium, where efficient innate immune induction may prevent dissemination to the lower airway and thus minimize pathogenesis. Human coronaviruses (HCoVs) cause a range of pathologies, but the host and viral determinants of disease during common cold versus lethal HCoV infections are poorly understood. We model the initial site of infection using primary nasal epithelial cells cultured at air-liquid interface (ALI). HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63 and human rhinovirus-16 are common cold-associated viruses that exhibit unique features in this model: early induction of antiviral interferon (IFN) signaling, IFN-mediated viral clearance, and preferential replication at nasal airway temperature (33C) which confers muted host IFN responses. In contrast, lethal SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV encode antagonist proteins that prevent IFN-mediated clearance in nasal cultures. Our study identifies features shared among common cold-associated viruses, highlighting nasal innate immune responses as predictive of infection outcomes and nasally-directed IFNs as potential therapeutics.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.18.571720v1" target="_blank">Interferon signaling in the nasal epithelium distinguishes among lethal and common cold respiratory viruses and is critical for viral clearance</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Neuropathological assessment of the olfactory bulb and tract in individuals with COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
The majority of patients with Parkinson disease (PD) experience a loss in their sense of smell and accumulate insoluble alpha-synuclein aggregates in their olfactory bulbs (OB). Subjects affected by a SARS-CoV-2-linked illness (COVID-19) frequently experience hyposmia. We previously hypothesized that alpha-synuclein and tau misprocessing could occur following host responses to microbial triggers. Using semiquantitative measurements of immunohistochemical signals, we examined OB and olfactory tract specimens collected serially at autopsies between 2020 and 2023. Deceased subjects comprised 50 adults, which included COVID19+ patients (n=22), individuals with Lewy body disease (e.g., PD and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB; n=6)), Alzheimer disease (AD; n=3), other non-synucleinopathy-linked degenerative diseases (e.g., progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP; n=2) and multisystem atrophy (MSA; n=1)). Further, we included neurologically healthy controls (HCO; n=9) and those with an inflammation-rich brain disorder as neurological controls (NCO; n=7). When probing for inflammatory changes focusing on anterior olfactory nuclei (AON) using anti-CD68 immunostaining, scores were consistently elevated in NCO and AD cases. In contrast, inflammation on average was not significantly altered in COVID19+ patients relative to controls, although anti-CD68 reactivity in their OB and tracts declined with progression in age. Mild-to-moderate increases in phospho-alpha-Syn and phospho-tau signals were detected in the AON of tauopathy- and synucleinopathy-afflicted brains, respectively, consistent with mixed pathology, as described by others. Lastly, when both sides were available for comparison in our case series, we saw no asymmetry in the degree of pathology of the left versus right OB and tracts. We concluded from our autopsy series that after a fatal course of COVID-19, microscopic changes, when present, in the rostral, intracranial portion of the olfactory circuitry generally reflected neurodegenerative processes seen elsewhere in the brain. In general, inflammation correlated best with the degree of Alzheimer's-linked tauopathy and declined with progression of age in COVID19+ patients.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.18.572180v1" target="_blank">Neuropathological assessment of the olfactory bulb and tract in individuals with COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Multi-target mode of action of Sulfodyne(R), a stabilized Sulforaphane, against pathogenic effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> -
<div>
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has shown that, except vaccination, few therapeutics options for its treatment or prevention are available. Among the pathways that can be targeted for COVID-19 treatment, the Keap1/Nrf2 pathway seems of high interest as it regulates redox homeostasis and inflammation that are altered during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we use three potent activators of the Keap1/Nrf2 pathway and showed that Sulfodyne(R), a stabilized natural Sulforaphane preparation with optimal bioavailability, had the highest antiviral activity in pulmonary or colonic epithelial cell lines even when added late after SARS-CoV-2 infection. This antiviral activity was not dependent on NRF2 activity but associated with action on ER stress and mTOR signaling that are activated during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Sulfodyne(R) also decreased the inflammatory response of epithelial cell lines infected by SARS-CoV-2 independently of SARS-CoV-2 replication and reduced the activation of human monocytes that are recruited after infection of epithelial cells by SARS-CoV-2. Administration of Sulfodyne(R) had little effects on SARS-CoV-2 replication in mice and hamsters infected with SARS-CoV-2 but significantly reduced weight loss and disease severity. Altogether, these results pinpoint the natural compound Sulfodyne(R) as a potent therapeutic agent of COVID-19 symptomatology.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.18.572126v1" target="_blank">Multi-target mode of action of Sulfodyne(R), a stabilized Sulforaphane, against pathogenic effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Broadly neutralizing antibody induction by non-stabilized SARS-CoV-2 Spike mRNA vaccination in nonhuman primates</strong> -
<div>
Immunization with mRNA or viral vectors encoding spike with diproline substitutions (S-2P) has provided protective immunity against severe COVID-19 disease. How immunization with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike elicits neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) against difficult-to-neutralize variants of concern (VOCs) remains an area of great interest. Here, we compare immunization of macaques with mRNA vaccines expressing ancestral spike either including or lacking diproline substitutions, and show the diproline substitutions were not required for protection against SARS-CoV-2 challenge or induction of broadly neutralizing B cell lineages. One group of nAbs elicited by the ancestral spike lacking diproline substitutions targeted the outer face of the receptor binding domain (RBD), neutralized all tested SARS-CoV-2 VOCs including Omicron XBB.1.5, but lacked cross-Sarbecovirus neutralization. Structural analysis showed that the macaque broad SARS-CoV-2 VOC nAbs bound to the same epitope as a human broad SARS-CoV-2 VOC nAb, DH1193. Vaccine-induced antibodies that targeted the RBD inner face neutralized multiple Sarbecoviruses, protected mice from bat CoV RsSHC014 challenge, but lacked Omicron variant neutralization. Thus, ancestral SARS-CoV-2 spike lacking proline substitutions encoded by nucleoside-modified mRNA can induce B cell lineages binding to distinct RBD sites that either broadly neutralize animal and human Sarbecoviruses or recent Omicron VOCs.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.18.572191v1" target="_blank">Broadly neutralizing antibody induction by non-stabilized SARS-CoV-2 Spike mRNA vaccination in nonhuman primates</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Direct comparison of SARS-CoV-2 variant specific neutralizing antibodies in human and hamster sera</strong> -
<div>
Antigenic characterization of newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants is important to assess their immune escape and judge the need for future vaccine updates. As exposure histories for human sera become more and more complex, animal sera may provide an alternative for antigenic characterization of new variants. To bridge data obtained from animal sera with human sera, we here analyzed neutralizing antibody titers in human and hamster first infection sera in a highly controlled setting using the same live-virus neutralization assay performed in one laboratory. Using a Bayesian framework, we found that titer fold changes in hamster sera corresponded well to human sera and that hamster sera generally exhibited higher reactivity. Our results indicate that sera from infected hamsters are a good surrogate for the antigenic characterization of new variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.19.572347v1" target="_blank">Direct comparison of SARS-CoV-2 variant specific neutralizing antibodies in human and hamster sera</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Comparison of mitochondrial response to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain in human lung microvascular, coronary artery endothelial and bronchial epithelial cells</strong> -
<div>
Recent evidence indicate that SARS-CoV-2 spike protein affects mitochondria with a cell type-dependent outcome. We elucidate the effect of SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) on the mitochondrial network and cristae morphology, oxygen consumption, mitoROS produc-tion, and inflammatory cytokine expression in cultured human lung microvascular (HLMVEC) and coronary artery endothelial (HCAEC) and bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC). Live Mito Orange staining, STED microscopy and Fiji MiNa analysis were used for mitochondrial cristae and net-work morphometry, Agilent XFp analyser for mitochondrial/glycolytic activity, MitoSOX fluo-rescence for mitochondrial ROS, and qRT-PCR plus Luminex for cytokines. In HLMVEC, SARS-CoV-2 RBD fragmented the mitochondrial network, decreased cristae density, mitochondrial oxygen consumption and glycolysis and induced mitoROS-mediated GM-CSF and IL-1{beta} expression in all three investigated cell types and IL-8 - in both endothelial cell types. Mito-chondrial ROS control SARS-CoV-2 RBD-induced inflammation in HLMVEC, HCAEC and HBEC, with the mitochondria of HLMVEC being more sensitive to SARS-CoV-2 RBD.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.19.572363v1" target="_blank">Comparison of mitochondrial response to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain in human lung microvascular, coronary artery endothelial and bronchial epithelial cells</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Are we done with Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19? Studies with ethical, legal, and methodological concerns must now be retracted</strong> -
<div>
On October 30th, a new study from the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection (IHU-MI) was published in the journal “New Microbes and New Infections” [1]. This is the latest publication in a long series that is controversial both scientifically and legally. Indeed, several other articles had been published by this team on the topic of Covid-19. The first one [2], has been adjudicated to be fraudulent by the former President of the board of this institute [3]. Further COVID-19 research has had significant ethical concerns arise, regarding the conduct of the studies [4,5,6,7,8] due to their purported retrospective nature despite the trial description appearing to be a prospective trial. These trials are also prima facie problematic because, from May the 11th 2020 and the removal of a special decree authorizing it temporarily, the use of hydroxychloroquine was forbidden outside of clinical trials in France, and these were not conducted as clinical trials. Similarly, off-label prescription was not possible in that case because this process is subject to a strict law regulation in France and can be proposed to patients only if: i) there is no alternative labeled therapy, ii) it is used case by case and not systematically for all patients as was the case at the IHU and iii) the available scientific data ensures efficacy and safety of the drug in the dedicated indication (see Code de la Santé Publique, Article L5121-12-1-2), which was clearly not the case for hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 treatment. Consequently, since hydroxychloroquine is considered in this indication as an experimental drug in France, a retrospective design likely contravenes French law on biomedical research (see Code de la santé publique, Article L1121-1) [9]. Despite all scientific and ethics arguments having been brought to the attention of the editor, and the publisher themselves declaring that the study has no scientific merit and is “fully irresponsible” [10] even prior to the fraud being uncovered, the initial publication has still not been retracted [11].
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/vhr7s/" target="_blank">Are we done with Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19? Studies with ethical, legal, and methodological concerns must now be retracted</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Should we publish every correlation during the COVID-19 pandemic?</strong> -
<div>
Recently, Sun et al. published an article in Scientific Reports entitled: “Increased emergency cardiovascular events among under-40 population in Israel during vaccine rollout and third COVID-19 wave” [2]. In this paper, the authors highlighted correlations between the Israeli vaccine campaign and an increased number of severe cardiovascular event calls to Emergency Management Services in the under-40 population. Even if the correlation seemed statistically significant, it is, to our opinion, clinically irrelevant.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/zj4xr/" target="_blank">Should we publish every correlation during the COVID-19 pandemic?</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>Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of “Formosa 1-Breath Free (NRICM101)” in Subjects With the Symptoms of COVID-19 or Influenza-like Disease</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Influenza Viral Infections; COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Formosa 1-Breath Free (NRICM101); Drug: Placebo control drug <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: China Medical University Hospital; Tian-I Pharmaceutical,. Co. Ltd.; China Medical University, China; Qualitix Clinical Research 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>A Phase 3 Clinical Study to Evaluate the Efficacy, Safety and Immunogenicity of Booster Vaccination With Recombinant COVID-19 (XBB) Trimer Protein Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) (WSK-V102D).</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 (XBB) Trimer Protein Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) (WSK-V102D); Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 Variant Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) (WSK-V102); Biological: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.; WestVac Biopharma (Guangzhou) 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>Restoring Energy With Sub-symptom Threshold Optimized Rehabilitation Exercise for Long COVID</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long Covid19; Exercise Intolerance, Riboflavin-Responsive <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Restoring Energy with Sub-symptom Threshold Aerobic Rehabilitation Exercise; Behavioral: Light Stretching/Breathing Exercises <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Columbia University; New York University <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 Pilot Study of Liraglutide (A Weight Loss Drug) in High Risk Obese Participants With Cognitive and Memory Issues</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Multiple Sclerosis; Long COVID; Long Covid19; Obese; Obesity; Obesity, Morbid; Acute Leukemia in Remission <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Liraglutide Pen Injector [Saxenda]; Other: Medication Diary <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Chicago <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 Phase 1 Trial of Recombinant COVID-19 Trivalent Protein Vaccine （CHO Cell）LYB002V14 in Booster Vaccination</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19 Vaccine <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: 30μg dose of LYB002V14; Biological: 60μg dose of LYB002V14; Biological: placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Guangzhou Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.; Yantai Patronus 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>COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Against Recurrent Infection Among Lung Cancer Patients and Biomarker Research</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Recurrent; Lung Cancer; Vaccination; Antibody; Chemotherapy; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Any Chinese government-recommended COVID-19 booster vaccine <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Peking Union Medical College Hospital <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>EXERCISE TRAINING USING AN APP ON PHYSICAL CARDIOVASCULAR FUNCTION INDIVIDUALS WITH POST-COVID-19 SYNDROME</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Exercise; Behavioral: Control <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Nove de Julho <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>IMMUNERECOV CONTRIBUTES TO IMPROVEMENT OF RESPIRATORY AND IMMUNOLOGICAL RESPONSE IN POST-COVID-19 PATIENTS.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long Covid19; Dietary Supplements; Respiratory Tract Infections; Inflammation <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Dietary Supplement: Nutritional blend (ImmuneRecov). <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Federal University of São Paulo <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>Physical Activity Coaching in Patients With Post-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Self-monitoring; Behavioral: Goal setting and review; Behavioral: Education; Behavioral: Feedback; Behavioral: Contact; Behavioral: Exercise; Behavioral: Report; Behavioral: Social support; Behavioral: Group activities; Behavioral: World Health Organization recommendations for being physically active <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Alcala; Colegio Profesional de Fisioterapeutas de la Comunidad de Madrid <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>Study on Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome in Improvement of COVID-19 Rehabilitated Patients by Respiratory Training</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19, Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome, Dyspnea, Incentive Spirometer <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: breathing training <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Tri-Service General Hospital <br/><b>Active, not 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>Ensitrelvir for Viral Persistence and Inflammation in People Experiencing Long COVID</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID; Post Acute Sequelae of COVID-19; Post-Acute COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Ensitrelvir; Other: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Timothy Henrich; Shionogi 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>Low-intensity Aerobic Training Associated With Global Muscle Strengthening in Post-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Procedure: muscle strengthening <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Centro Universitário Augusto Motta <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>Intravenous Immunoglobulin Replacement Therapy for Persistent COVID-19 in Patients With B-cell Impairment</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Immunoglobulins <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Jaehoon Ko <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>Effect of Inhaled Hydroxy Gas on Long COVID Symptoms</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Hydroxy gas <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Oxford Brookes University <br/><b>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>Molecular dynamics, molecular docking, DFT, and ADMET investigations of the Co(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) chelating on the antioxidant activity and SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibition of quercetin</strong> - The natural flavonol quercetin (Q) is found in many vegetables, fruits, and beverages, and it is known as a strong antioxidant. Its metal ion chelation may increase its antioxidant activity. The present study aims to explore the Co(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) chelating on the antioxidant effectiveness and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) main protease (M^(pro)) inhibitory of quercetin using Density-functional theory (DFT), molecular docking, and molecular dynamics…</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>Integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses reveal metabolic responses to TGEV infection in porcine intestinal epithelial cells</strong> - Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) is a coronavirus that infects piglets with severe diarrhoea, vomiting, dehydration, and even death, causing huge economic losses to the pig industry. The underlying pathogenesis of TGEV infection and the effects of TGEV infection on host metabolites remain poorly understood. To investigate the critical metabolites and regulatory factors during TGEV infection in intestinal porcine epithelial cells (IPEC-J2), we performed metabolomic and transcriptomic…</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 potential of natural flavonoids against selected omicron (B.1.19) mutations in the spike receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2: a molecular modeling approach</strong> - The omicron (B.1.19) variant of contagious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is considered a variant of concern (VOC) due to its increased transmissibility and highly infectious nature. The spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) is a hotspot of mutations and is regarded as a prominent target for screening drug candidates owing to its crucial role in viral entry and immune evasion. To date, no effective therapy or antivirals have been reported; therefore, there is an…</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 the lysine demethylase LSD1 modulates the balance between inflammatory and antiviral responses against coronaviruses</strong> - Innate immune responses to coronavirus infections are highly cell specific. Tissue-resident macrophages, which are infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in patients but are inconsistently infected in vitro, exert critical but conflicting effects by secreting both antiviral type I interferons (IFNs) and tissue-damaging inflammatory cytokines. Steroids, the only class of host-targeting drugs approved for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),…</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>Toxin release by conditional remodelling of ParDE1 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis leads to gyrase inhibition</strong> - Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, is a growing threat to global health, with recent efforts towards its eradication being reversed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increasing resistance to gyrase-targeting second-line fluoroquinolone antibiotics indicates the necessity to develop both novel therapeutics and our understanding of M. tuberculosis growth during infection. ParDE toxin-antitoxin systems also target gyrase and are regulated in response to both…</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>Unraveling viral drug targets: a deep learning-based approach for the identification of potential binding sites</strong> - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spurred a wide range of approaches to control and combat the disease. However, selecting an effective antiviral drug target remains a time-consuming challenge. Computational methods offer a promising solution by efficiently reducing the number of candidates. In this study, we propose a structure- and deep learning-based approach that identifies vulnerable regions in viral proteins corresponding to drug binding sites. Our approach takes into…</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 NSP-15 by Uridine-5’-Monophosphate Analogues Using QSAR Modelling, Molecular Dynamics Simulations, and Free Energy Landscape</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 is accountable for severe social and economic disruption around the world causing COVID-19. Non-structural protein-15 (NSP15) possesses a domain that is vital to the viral life cycle and is known as uridylate-specific endoribonuclease (EndoU). This domain binds to the uridine 5’-monophosphate (U5P) so that the protein may carry out its native activity. It is considered a vital drug target to inhibit the growth of the virus. Thus, in this current study, ML-based QSAR and virtual…</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>Human super antibody to viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase produced by a modified Sortase self-cleave-bacteria surface display system</strong> - CONCLUSION: The functionalized super antibody to RNA virus RdRp was successfully produced by using combined Sortase self-cleave and bacterial surface display systems with modification. The display system is suitable for downstream processing in a large-scale production of the super antibody. It is applicable also for production of other recombinant proteins in soluble free-folding form.</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>Contemporary Public Health Finance: Varied Definitions, Patterns, and Implications</strong> - The financing of public health systems and services relies on a complex and fragmented web of partners and funding priorities. Both underfunding and “dys-funding” contribute to preventable mortality, increases in disease frequency and severity, and hindered social and economic growth. These issues were both illuminated and magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated responses. Further complicating issues is the difficulty in constructing adequate estimates of current public health…</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>Investigation of the mutated antimicrobial peptides to inhibit ACE2, TMPRSS2 and GRP78 receptors of SARS-CoV-2 and angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) as well as controlling COVID-19 disease</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 is a global problem nowadays. Based on studies, some human receptors are involved in binding to SARS-CoV-2. Thus, the inhibition of these receptors can be effective in the treatment of Covid-19. Because of the proven benefits of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and the side effects of chemical drugs, they can be known as an alternative to recent medicines. RCSB PDB to obtain PDB id, StraPep and PhytAMP to acquire Bio-AMPs information and 3-D structure, and AlgPred, Toxinpred,…</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>Decoy peptides effectively inhibit the binding of SARS-CoV-2 to ACE2 on oral epithelial cells</strong> - The entry of SARS-CoV-2 into host cells involves the interaction between the viral spike protein and the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. Given that the spike protein evolves rapidly to evade host immunity, therapeutics that block ACE2 accessibility, such as spike decoys, could serve as an alternative strategy for attenuating viral infection. Here, we constructed a drug screening platform based on oral epithelial cells to rapidly identify peptides or compounds capable of…</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>Efficacy and safety of zapnometinib in hospitalised adult patients with COVID-19 (RESPIRE): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre, proof-of-concept, phase 2 trial</strong> - BACKGROUND: Zapnometinib is an oral, non-ATP-competitive, small-molecule inhibitor of MEK1/MEK2 with immunomodulatory and antiviral properties. We aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of zapnometinib in patients with COVID-19.</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>Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of betulinic acid derivatives as potential inhibitors of 3CL-protease of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - During the coronavirus reproduction process, 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro) and papain-like protease (PLpro) are accountable for the fragmentation of two polyprotein precursors (pp1a/pp1ab) into substructural proteins. These two proteins are vital for the replication and transcription of the viral genome. Therefore, 3CLpro is a key protein and target for the design of coronavirus inhibitors. In previous studies, we found that betulinic acid has an inhibitory effect on 3CLpro, with 51.5 %…</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>Chlorogenic acid inhibits porcine deltacoronavirus release by targeting apoptosis</strong> - Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), belonging to family Coronaviridae, genus Deltacoronavirus, can cause acute diarrhea in piglets, and also possesses cross-species transmission potential, leading to severe economic losses and threatening public health. However, no approved drug against PDCoV infection is available. Here, we investigated the antiviral effect of chlorogenic acid (CGA), the main active component of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos, against PDCoV infection. The results showed that CGA…</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>Protective Efficacy of Novel Engineered Human ACE2-Fc Fusion Protein Against Pan-SARS-CoV-2 Infection In Vitro and in Vivo</strong> - Enduring occurrence of severe COVID-19 for unvaccinated, aged, or immunocompromised individuals remains an urgent need. Soluble human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has been used as a decoy receptor to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection, which is limited by moderate affinity. We describe an engineered, high-affinity ACE2 that is consistently effective in tissue cultures in neutralizing all strains tested, including Delta and Omicron. We also found that treatment of AC70 hACE2 transgenic mice…</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>When a Border Closure Hits Americans</strong> - The shutting of a crossing in Arizona has reduced access to a popular Mexican beach town, leading to outrage from unfamiliar sources. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/when-a-border-closure-hits-americans">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>There Are No Safe Places in Gaza</strong> - As Israel’s military campaign has expanded into southern Gaza, displaced families have been forced to move again and again. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/there-are-no-safe-places-in-gaza">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Deconstructing Paul Ryan’s Condemnation of Donald Trump</strong> - The impeachment votes of February, 2021, may have marked the last opportunity for the party of Lincoln to escape its fate as Trump’s purring lap dog. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/deconstructing-paul-ryans-condemnation-of-donald-trump">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Unpermitted Shooting Range Upends Life in a Quiet Town</strong> - Residents of Pawlet, Vermont, were accustomed to calm and neighborly interactions. Then a new resident moved in. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/one-mans-war-against-a-small-towns-rules">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Disturbing Impact of the Cyberattack at the British Library</strong> - The library has been incapacitated since October, and the effects have spread beyond researchers and book lovers. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/the-disturbing-impact-of-the-cyberattack-at-the-british-library">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The very best books of 2023</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A brightly colored photo illustration showing the covers of the 13 featured books" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/C4k3E1bCKb_dKxl8dbLEikMsHJQ=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72981679/Vox_BooksoftheYear_ConstanceGrady.0.png"/>
<figcaption>
Paige Vickers/Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
From buzzy novels to literary biographies, Vox’s book critic breaks down the year in reading.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L2greU">
Every year, I recommend the best books out of the hundreds that have crossed my desk in my work as Vox’s book critic. These are the books I can’t stop thinking about months after I’ve read them, the books I’ve pressed on my friends along with demands that they tell me all their thoughts and especially let me know if they burst out laughing/burst into tears/threw the book across the room at <em>that one part</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7UsnKL">
I’ve already recommended <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23778258/2023-best-books-first-half-year-guest-emma-cline-kelly-link-wager-david-grann-big-swiss-jen-beagin">the best books from the first half of the year</a>. These are the books that wowed me in the second half of the year, when publishers rush to release their most exciting novels and buzziest memoirs for the one-two punch of the National Book Awards and the holiday book tables.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aCsd7C">
In this batch: An action-packed allegory of the failures of America’s prison system. A philosophical literary biography about the paradoxes of marriage. A surprising amount of excellent historical fiction, a trend I’m choosing to blame on <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/3/16/21176984/mirror-and-the-light-review-hilary-mantel-wolf-hall-thomas-cromwell">Hilary Mantel</a>. Domestic novels and satire and an extended tribute to Nabokov.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LOjjuU">
Let’s get into it. In no order but alphabetical, here are the 13 best books from the second half of 2023.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A scythe striking the letter C of “Chain” in the title." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QGSd3y40oO7-OK43EkTKlxCOQ_M=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25087023/ChainGangAll_Stars_PRH.jpg"/> <cite>Penguin Random House</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>Chain-Gang All-Stars</em> by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="bt9tuZ">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fchain-gang-all-stars-nana-kwame-adjei-brenyah%2F17944080%3Fean%3D9780593317334"><em>Chain-Gang All-Stars</em></a> by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6qWeZy">
Imagine a version of <em>The Hunger Games</em> with the original’s alchemical combination of scathing social criticism and adrenaline-pumping action. Now fix its biggest flaws by adding to the mix beautiful sentences and coherent racial politics. You have just created a near-perfect book. You have also invented <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/11/23/18105092/nana-kwame-adjei-brenyah-friday-black-interview">Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah</a>’s debut novel, <em>Chain-Gang All-Stars</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nKbZFa">
<em>Chain-Gang All-Stars</em> takes place in a near-future US where prisoners have the option of leaving jail to fight to the death in nationally televised gladiatorial games. If they live through three years on the circuit, the prisoners are free, sentence served. Almost no one ever lives that long.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2titwl">
Across three acts in this taut novel, Adjei-Brenyah kaleidoscopes into the minds of people at all levels of complicity and victimization from the Chain-Gang All-Stars fights. A white spectator goes from justifying her fascination with the games as cultural anthropology to rooting for the villains to get their throats cut. A prisoner tortured in solitary confinement opts for the circuit over another day at the mercy of his brutal guards. A board member working for a private prison company strategizes the best way to increase audience investment in the games. And two veteran fighters struggle to find love and forgiveness within their brutal, bloody world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fXvrJ8">
Glossing the text with periodic footnotes, Adjei-Brenyah makes it clear that the atrocities of his world are only slightly removed from the atrocities of our own. His most admirable characters declare that they are opposed not just to the Chain-Gang All-Stars fights but to the whole system: the games, the death penalty, and the prisons themselves. They dare us to ask whether we can be so brave.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="etifi0">
<em>Read alongside</em>: <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthe-hunger-games-hunger-games-book-one-volume-1-suzanne-collins%2F228929%3Fean%3D9780439023528"><em>The Hunger Games</em></a>,<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthe-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-the-age-of-colorblindness-anniversary-michelle-alexander%2F594237%3Fean%3D9781620971932"><em>The New Jim Crow</em></a>, <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fare-prisons-obsolete-angela-y-davis%2F577080"><em>Are Prisons Obsolete?</em></a>
</p>
<aside id="O2UZ1j">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="In thick oil pastel lines, an older woman in a red sweater sits next to a toddler in a white gown, both against a blue background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/I_kmVxjE6l83_E2IpdmRiuvo8_A=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174432/LovedandMissed_3b425625_dc94_4125_aab3_20abd243396f.jpeg"/> <cite>New York Review of Books</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>Loved and Missed</em> by Susie Boyt.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="ePz3cN">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Floved-and-missed-susie-boyt%2F19562312%3Fean%3D9781681377810"><em>Loved and Missed</em></a> by Susie Boyt
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Iqbbqu">
<em>Loved and Missed</em>, the seventh book by UK author Susie Boyt and her first to be published in the US, is a deceptively simple novel. On a first read through, this tale of a grandmother building a life with her granddaughter is so charming that you almost don’t notice how technically difficult the book is. It is hard to write a book that is warm without being sentimental. Yet <em>Loved and Missed</em> is full of heart but never saccharine; it is warm, and it shows you the effort and strain it takes to become so warm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SAeOfc">
Ruth, prone to sardonic observations yet also deeply earnest, is the narrator of this slight book. She’s a part-time schoolteacher and a single mother. At school she is a triumph — her students have been known to call her “Mum” — but her own daughter, Eleanor, ran away from home at 15. As the novel opens, the pair are partially estranged, and Eleanor is addicted to drugs. Ruth, desperate to care for someone who will have to love her back and certain that Eleanor is incapable of caring for anyone, more or less kidnaps Eleanor’s daughter, Lily, to come and live with her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UMOYPD">
The domestic routine between Ruth and Lily fills this novel with its pleasing cozy rhythms. “It was so civilized,” Ruth marvels, recounting the ritual of their days. “The evenings settled on us gently and we read our books side by side on the sofa, a saucer of biscuits balanced on a cushion, until six, when we put the television on.” The pleasure of this small-scale household bliss is all the more intense because we know how hard-won it is, and how easily it can be disrupted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FikBWK">
<em>Read accompanied by</em>: very hot toast sliced very thin, butter and marmalade dripping off the sides, and a pot full of good strong tea ready next to it.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="The upper body of a human being faces away from the viewer. Their neck and back are made up of the word “blue” repeated over and over in blue type. Their head is the word orange in orange type, and their hair is the word green in green type." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/n1_9kP_T90Mowz4b80JHAU40sk4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174443/LastLanguage_300dpi_RGB.jpg"/> <cite>Milkweed Editions</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>The Last Language</em> by Jennifer duBois.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="G5e6kE">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthe-last-language-jennifer-dubois%2F19555586%3Fean%3D9781639551088"><em>The Last Language</em></a> by Jennifer duBois
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jT3Egl">
In 2014 and 2015, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/magazine/the-strange-case-of-anna-stubblefield.html">a startling court case gripped the nation</a>. Anna Stubblefield, a professor of ethics at Rutgers, was accused of raping a nonverbal man named D.J., who had a developmental disability. Stubblefield argued that D.J., who had cerebral palsy, consented to everything that had happened and that they were in love. They had communicated, she explained, through a speech therapy method called facilitated communication, in which she held D.J.’s arm to steady it and he typed on a keyboard.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XJb5EE">
Stubblefield said D.J. was brilliant and that facilitated communication had unleashed his true self. Skeptics said facilitated communication wasn’t real, that it was barely more than a Ouija board party game. The court found D.J. legally incapable of either communication or consent and Stubblefield guilty of rape. In the end, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/magazine/the-strange-case-of-anna-stubblefield-revisited.html">she served 22 months in jail</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BGFR2Z">
In <em>The Last Language</em>, Jennifer duBois uses the story of Stubblefield and D.J. as the basis for a fictional, <em>Lolita</em>-inflected story, and the results are sharp enough to cut. Here, Angela is a Harvard-educated linguist who ends up working as a facilitated communication speech therapist out of sheer desperation for a job. She’s in a rough spot: In rapid succession, her husband died by suicide, she was kicked out of her graduate program, and then she miscarried. (This beginning, Angela notes, “casts me as an extremely sympathetic figure.”)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gXehFI">
At first it’s enough for Angela that she’s managed to find an employer willing to hire someone with a master’s in linguistics. But then, she meets a patient, Sam, determines that he is a savant, and falls in love with him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rfi6ca">
“I see how it all looks,” Angela admits. She’s a crafty and Nabokovian narrator, fond of linguistic games and literary references. As she walks us through what she continues to insist is a love story, it remains a mystery how much of what she’s saying even she believes to be true.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bfSGYx">
<em>Read if you</em>: are a sucker for an unreliable narrator and have opinions on linguistic determinism.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="On a lavender field, a green plant stem and an orange plant stem intersect." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ls12-3c6Sf_13kqglUqTWSODdsE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174451/9780374600464.jpg"/> <cite>Farrar, Straus and Giroux</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>The Marriage Question</em> by Clare Carlisle.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="lCW5JM">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthe-marriage-question-george-eliot-s-double-life-clare-carlisle%2F18789057%3Fean%3D9780374600457"><em>The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s Double Life</em></a> by Clare Carlisle
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RLn2OV">
In this richly compelling biography of George Eliot, philosophy professor Clare Carlisle builds her story around the issue that gave Eliot both her life and her scandal: marriage. It’s a surprisingly effective organizing principle.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cgGgRQ">
Eliot famously spent most of her life living with George Henry Lewes, a man she called her husband but to whom she was not legally married. (Lewes’s first wife was still alive.) Their partnership scandalized polite Victorian society and cost Eliot some of her dearest friendships. Eliot demanded to be known socially as Mrs. Lewes; her acquaintances only sometimes acquiesced.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1CIONN">
Meanwhile, Eliot’s books are haunted by the specter of marriage gone wrong. The most devastating portrait arrives in <em>Middlemarch</em>, in which blazingly idealistic teenager Dorothea marries herself off to dry, dull, middle-aged Casaubon under the mistaken apprehension that he is a great man. It’s an awful moment to read, which is why <em>Middlemarch</em> is a great book.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cA04Dj">
Carlisle argues that marriage is one of the great philosophical problems of modern life: “that leap into the open-endedness of another human being.” For her, Eliot is a brilliant investigator of that problem, one who “pursued her marriage question with the tenacity of a great philosopher, as well as the delicacy of a great artist.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4Ku1XS">
Eliot sacrificed her reputation for a marriage. She publicly performed her scandalous marriage as a union of near-religious bliss. She wrote great novels of marriage as a destroyer of dreams. This lovely, rigorous biography explores all Eliot’s contradictions to bring her to life, both in her cramped, anxious human mind and in her expansive literary genius.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HFNf9E">
<em>Read alongside</em>: <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fmiddlemarch-penguin-classics-deluxe-edition-george-eliot%2F226687%3Fean%3D9780143107729"><em>Middlemarch</em></a>, of course. It’s always a good time to read <em>Middlemarch</em>.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A black-and-white photo depicts a midcentury New York street scene. A man in a trench coat and tie stands with his hands in his pockets in the doorway of Blossom Restaurant, with a chalkboard menu scrawled over the doorway." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QgI_OJ3sDqa0DhkVStYvvdeo4wQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174460/9780374603427.jpg"/> <cite>Farrar, Straus and Giroux</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>The Upstairs Delicatessen</em> by Dwight Garner.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="ir5jeQ">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthe-upstairs-delicatessen-on-eating-reading-reading-about-eating-and-eating-while-reading-dwight-garner%2F19509951%3Fean%3D9780374603427"><em>The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading About Eating, and Eating While Reading</em></a> by Dwight Garner
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pjxxun">
Somewhere between a memoir and a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book">commonplace book</a>, <em>The Upstairs Delicatessen</em> is a sweet and witty ode to two of life’s great pleasures. (Three, if you consider reading while eating to be sensually distinct from reading and eating on their own.) New York Times book critic Dwight Garner is in full raconteur mode as he talks through his life in food and books, liberally salt-and-peppering the pages with his favorite quotes about food.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FIJyq1">
Garner describes himself as a kind of omnivore of both food and words from his earliest days. Every day after school, he writes, he would “gather an armload of newspapers and magazines and library books and paperback novels,” then pile a plate with sandwiches and potato chips and pretzels and cookies, not neglecting a glass of cold red juice (from powder) and a glass of milk for the cookies. He’d fling the reading material onto the living room floor and read on his stomach. “I’d tattoo the pages with greasy fingerprints,” Garner writes. Don’t you want to flop down on the floor yourself with a big snacking plate and an absorbing book and join him?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oJb7Qz">
<em>Read accompanied by</em>: a dry martini and richly buttered anchovy toast.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A woman in a medieval cloak with long, flowing red hair stands in the middle of the cover, holding a staff. Superimposed around her are images of a knight on horseback, flaming arrows, flags showing a red boar, and a mountain lion." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NlJYdQpddFY79Z1rcA-YV4vlBfM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174467/9780374715861.jpg"/> <cite>MCD</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>Menewood</em> by Nicola Griffith.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="6tHFqJ">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fmenewood-nicola-griffith%2F18402461%3Fean%3D9780374208080"><em>Menewood</em></a> by Nicola Griffith
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d50LAJ">
A friend recommended Nicola Griffith’s Hild trilogy, about the life of seventh-century British St. Hilda of Whitby, as being a cross between Hilary Mantel’s <em>Wolf Hall</em> and Tamora Pierce’s Alanna quartet. She’s entirely right: The Hild books marry the detailed historical past of <em>Wolf Hall</em>, all smelly wool and oiled knife blades, with the joyous feminine coming of age of the Alanna books.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sKYtDs">
<em>Menewood</em>, this fall’s release, is the second in a planned trilogy; the first volume, <em>Hild</em>, came out in 2013. Both follow Hild, our heroine, a political operator in the body of a very young girl. In volume one, Hild’s mother presents her to the king as a seer, and Hild, drawing on her ability to read people and animals in ways others cannot, pulls off the scam. She’s 3 as the book opens and 7 years old when she makes her debut in the royal court. Over the next 11 years, she develops into a fearsome kingmaker within the political landscape of early Britain.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kIZUE5">
<em>Menewood</em>, which picks up shortly after the queasy, unsettling ending of <em>Hild</em>, is a more compressed and more traumatic novel. It covers a bare four years of Hild’s life, with a war at either end. Most compelling, though, is the central third of the novel, which Griffith gives over to the process of restoration. Hild’s unindustrialized country must rebuild itself and its infrastructure after the massive destruction of war, and she must rebuild herself after enormous personal tragedy. The results are redemptive, absorbing, and deeply satisfying.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0paD8g">
<em>Read equipped with</em>: a notepad and pen to help you keep track of the many identical-sounding medieval names, so you can tell Oswald from Osric.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A tree stands at the far right on a white background, leaning off the edge of the book cover." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zC0WnNNlZ7njV8J_xDAsQR9iOFY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174475/9780593418390.jpg"/> <cite>Riverhead Books</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>The Vaster Wilds</em> by Lauren Groff.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="Mvzngr">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthe-vaster-wilds-lauren-groff%2F19900858%3Fean%3D9780593418390"><em>The Vaster Wilds</em></a> by Lauren Groff
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wmSaTb">
There’s a stark purity to <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23840033/vaster-wilds-review-lauren-groff"><em>The Vaster Wilds</em></a> that makes it stand out from the other books I’ve read this year, a viciousness and a precision of language that isn’t quite like anything in the other books on this list.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KBIPUC">
<em>The Vaster Wilds</em> tells the story of an unnamed girl fleeing the Jamestown colony in the midst of the <a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/teaching-resources/written-bone/unearthing-chesapeake/struggling-survive">Starving Time</a>. Outside the walls of the settlement is winter wilderness, but the girl, who possesses a scrappy survivor’s cunning, has determined that her odds are better outside than in. The result is a girl-versus-nature story that’s all the more compelling for being so unforgiving.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jtB7cl">
<em>Read if you</em>: still think you could probably survive in a hollow tree trunk for a few years à la <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fmy-side-of-the-mountain-jean-craighead-george%2F11041146%3Fean%3D9780141312422"><em>My Side of the Mountain</em></a>.
</p>
<aside id="l2xDSy">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A faceless Black figure stands against a green background, wearing a newsboy cap and carrying a red abstract object under one arm." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_2dRQQsGgrb4YlcrYAzeGw1Vlus=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174480/9780593422946.jpg"/> <cite>Riverhead Books</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store</em> by James McBride.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="IteXRx">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthe-heaven-earth-grocery-store-james-mcbride%2F19674560%3Fean%3D9780593422946"><em>The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store</em></a> by James McBride
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PVgKQa">
<em>The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store</em> is a shaggy-dog tale, a deeply charming yarn of a book that ambles its way slowly from tales of two-bit vaudeville theaters to horrific murders. At its core, it’s a novel of solidarity between the Black and Jewish communities of Chicken Hill, Pennsylvania, in the 1920s.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KG3vMb">
Moshe Ludlow owns the local dance hall, which mostly plays Black musical acts because they’re the most popular. His wife, Chona, runs the titular Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. The dance hall more or less subsidizes the store, which keeps losing money because Chona lets poor neighbors shop on credit and never collects. At their neighbors’ behest, the pair agree to take in and hide an orphaned deaf Black child named Dodo, whom the state has threatened to place in a dangerous mental asylum.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LcLrLI">
The great pleasure of this book is watching McBride swing between the patterns of Jewish American and Black American speech with an easy, virtuosic rhythm. This is a voicey novel in the truest sense of the term, and a pure joy from start to finish.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RIu2ll">
<em>Read alongside</em>: <a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Ftroubling-the-waters-black-jewish-relations-in-the-american-century-cheryl-lynn-greenberg%2F8934530%3Fean%3D9780691146164"><em>Troubling the Waters: Black-Jewish Relations in the American Century</em></a>.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A snowy winter landscape at twilight." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iOqqYa76Q3JBwKBQO_1kj4dKJBk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174496/9781250822901.jpg"/> <cite>Henry Holt &amp; Company</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>The End of Drum-Time</em> by Hanna Pylväinen.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="2ozqbP">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthe-end-of-drum-time-hanna-pylvainen%2F18391564%3Fean%3D9781250822901"><em>The End of Drum-Time</em></a> by Hanna Pylväinen
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4G6Lbv">
Hanna Pylväinen’s <em>The End of Drum-Time</em> deals with a 19th-century preacher’s daughter who ruins her reputation because she is in love with an animal herder, like something out of a lost Hardy novel. But this preacher’s daughter lives in the tiny village of Garasavvon, along the borders of Finland and the federated powers of Sweden and Norway, and the man she is in love with is a Samí reindeer herder.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="caiY3P">
The Samí are the native people of Sápmi, historically known in English as Lapland. Their <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a> and social structures are all built around reindeer: keeping them, tending them, following their migrations. Yet as the nationalist powers of Scandinavia keep redrawing their political boundaries, the reindeer migration is becoming an ever-more perilous expedition — as that heartsore preacher’s daughter is soon to learn.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PCVNQw">
Pylväinen’s prose is rich with physical detail. You can smell the grass with which the Samí stuff their reindeer-hide shoes and see the ghostly twilight of a land where the sun never quite sets in the summer. Most of all, her sparse, precise sentences are as beautiful and merciless as the snow itself.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Iq83dB">
<em>Read somewhere close to</em>: a sauna and cold plunge, so you can warm up and cool down with the Samí.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="The book’s title appears on a gradient background shading from yellow on top to green on the bottom, with the British royal crest appearing at the top." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KlonHLqg3W9F-FzLBniyZeqrDVQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174506/9780525558965.jpg"/> <cite>Penguin Press</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>The Fraud</em> by Zadie Smith.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="XuxaFt">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthe-fraud-zadie-smith%2F19427896%3Fean%3D9780525558965"><em>The Fraud</em></a> by Zadie Smith
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CTbddp">
In this year of historical novels, Zadie Smith has written a historical novel about why books in this genre are so often very bad. <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23832803/zadie-smith-fraud-review"><em>The Fraud</em></a> takes place primarily in the house of one William Ainsworth, a Victorian author who spends most of his career writing sentimental romances in tin-eared dialect.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CNxxRu">
Early in his career, Ainsworth attempts a contemporary novel. When it is pronounced morally corrupting, he flees, ”off into the distant, storied past — where he felt safest — or up and away into the ether, the supernatural, where nothing is real and nothing matters.” The novels that result are torpid and dull, but they also make a great deal of money.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zx5jui">
It’s the money that’s of chief importance to Smith’s protagonist, Eliza Touchet, Ainsworth’s cousin and housekeeper. Touchet watches Ainsworth work with a sardonic eye, quietly convinced that all novels are morally suspect. She , meanwhile, becomes enmeshed in a tabloid case of the era and the racial politics that have set Victorian London ablaze. Smith’s historical novel, it’s clear, takes place in a world where a great deal is real, and all of it matters today.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="alI0Kd">
<em>Read accompanied by</em>: a cappuccino and a scone that you can eat slowly, mouthful by mouthful, crunching the sugar grains on top of the pastry between your teeth, over the course of an hour as you read.
</p>
<aside id="OlMqwb">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Three pairs of eyes appear on a red background. The top pair is blue. The bottom pair is brown. The middle pair is winking, and in the open eye, the iris has been replaced by a Nobel Prize medal." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CxUxXE-1d0naakf6qV07cRUjIMY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174513/9780316513074.jpeg"/> <cite>Little, Brown and Company</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>How I Won a Nobel Prize</em> by Julius Taranto.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="wJo2bL">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fhow-i-won-a-nobel-prize-julius-taranto%2F19623374%3Fean%3D9780316513074"><em>How I Won a Nobel Prize</em></a> by Julius Taranto
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mj7RFr">
Helen, the narrator of Julius Taranto’s witty and provocative new novel <em>How I Won a Nobel Prize</em>, doesn’t consider herself a natural for the Rubin Institute Plymouth, also known as RIP, also known as Cancel U, also known as Rape Island. Built on a fictional island off the coast of New Haven, the Rubin Institute is a university that specializes in hiring the canceled. Helen’s just a physics grad student who wants to solve <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SsK2GN">
All the professors at Rubin were fired from their home institutions for <a href="https://www.vox.com/sexual-harassment">sexual harassment</a>, except for the ones that were fired for racism. R. Kelly shows up for soirees where the caterers serve “ostentatiously problematic meat: foie gras, roast suckling pig, octopus, horse.” The whole thing is funded by an anti-<a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy">woke</a> billionaire who’s committed to giving the students free tuition, as long as they sign a detailed waiver.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MEqG1r">
Helen finds herself stuck there after her adviser, the only person alive who can understand her research, accepts a job on the faculty. She’s sure that if she just keeps her head down and focuses on her research, she’ll be fine, but things don’t quite work out that easily. Some of Taranto’s most insightful passages come as we see Helen finding herself drawn toward a Philip Roth–like canceled author. Taranto understands the appeal of bad-man geniuses, and he understands their dangers, too. Not for nothing: This book is funny as heck.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nDqBy5">
<em>Read if you</em>: are tired of reading Woody Allen think pieces.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Against a hazy purple background, two hands reach for each other but do not touch." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3DbaERJvwBwWRuhVs5nRS3c6PZc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174524/9781419769146_s3.jpg"/> <cite>Harry N. Abrams</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>Idlewild</em> by James Frankie Thomas.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="vJUj0O">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fidlewild-james-frankie-thomas%2F19737076%3Fean%3D9781419769146"><em>Idlewild</em></a> by James Frankie Thomas
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uga38v">
<em>Idlewild</em> is about one of those high school friendships that is all-consuming, that takes over your whole personality and sense of self. Faye and Nell are theater kids at a tony Quaker school in Manhattan in 2002. Nell is the only out lesbian at school; Faye spends her English classes pointing out homosexual subtext in the assigned reading.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lv0dyo">
They write torrid fanfiction together over AOL Instant Messenger and speculate over which of their classmates is secretly gay. Both of them consider Faye to be the boss, partially because Nell is in unrequited love with her. Faye herself is only interested in the prospect of beautiful evil gay men, but not, exactly, because she wants to have sex with them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fPt59H">
In 2002, Faye and Nell call themselves “we, the F&amp;N unit,” and narrate their days in the second person plural. In 2018, they recall their friendship from separate perspectives as though they’re looking back on a murder. In a way, they are: They’re telling us the story of how they killed their friendship.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eh2z5h">
<a href="https://themillions.com/2023/09/james-frankie-thomas-found-himself-in-idlewild.html">Author James Frankie Thomas has said</a> that he sees <em>Idlewild</em> as a novel in conversation with <em>The Secret History</em> and <em>The Talented Mr. Ripley</em> and <em>A Little Life</em>: novels that are widely read by writers “with an attraction to <a href="https://www.vox.com/lgbtq">trans</a> masculinity and gay trans masculinity in particular.” The connection is there. <em>Idlewild</em> has a similar aesthetic sensibility to those novels, a nostalgia for a past that was always corrupted, a kind of lushness to the atmosphere that is heavy with unspoken yearnings. When Thomas at last allows his characters to speak those yearnings aloud, the results will break your heart.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8weJOB">
<em>Read accompanied by</em>: the most luscious slice of cheesecake you can find.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A wilted yellow flower tilts to the right at the center of a cream background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xZhRX39ilZx37u9o53uUXx1ZLSw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25174533/This_Is_Salvaged_jacket_art.jpg"/> <cite>W. W. Norton &amp; Company</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>This Is Salvaged</em> by Vauhini Vara.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<h4 id="JLfxPj">
<a href="https://go.skimresources.com?id=1025X1701643&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fp%2Fbooks%2Fthis-is-salvaged-stories-vauhini-vara%2F19659665%3Fean%3D9780393541731"><em>This Is Salvaged: Stories</em></a> by Vauhini Vara
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XsqWLl">
Vauhini Vara was a Pulitzer finalist for her first novel, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23171264/immortal-king-rao-review-vauhini-vara"><em>The Immortal King Rao</em></a>. In <em>This Is Salvaged</em>, a short story collection, she returns to the themes of grief and alienation that made that book sing.
</p>
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Vara’s characters are mourning: the loss of a sister, a brother, a pregnancy, a mother, a job, a marriage. In the title story, an artist running out on his marriage attempts to build a replica of Noah’s Ark, with unhoused men doing the labor. Another story sees a teen girl mourning her brother’s death trying to get a job at a phone sex line. In another, a disgraced alcoholic lawyer tries to hide a pile of vomit from her visiting family.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BEzoeS">
What’s perhaps most compelling in this book is how physical grief is — it smells. These characters keep finding forgotten egg rolls and apple cores lost in their homes, or building balls of dead skin out of their frustration and rage. You can smell the rot in them. Always, though, there is a possibility of redemption, a glimpse of something human and warm to air out the stale air that grief has brought.
</p>
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<em>Read if you like</em>: complicated endings, characters with bad habits, stories with some spike.
</p>
<aside id="5OUcyN">
<div>
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</aside></li>
<li><strong>Indigenous activists are risking their lives for butterflies</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An illustration shows a man with a gun standing in front of a pile of giant logs and a forest beyond. Two figures in the foreground are approaching him." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d3-2uwURRsE3JeTVHLzFl9tkcWY=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72981635/KarlottaFreier_Vox.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Karlotta Freier for Vox
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</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
In Central Mexico’s forests, armed community members defend an iconic butterfly from cartel-backed logging.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hrXZ7j">
<em>This story is part of </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/11/27/23959446/cop28-united-nations-climate-crisis"><em><strong>a Vox series</strong></em></a><em> examining how the </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/climate"><em>climate crisis</em></a><em> is impacting communities around the world, as the 28th annual United Nations conference on climate change (COP28) unfolds.</em>
</p>
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Every winter, northwest of Mexico City, the branches of the Oyamel fir trees ignite in orange, colored by the wings of monarch butterflies that have made the epic journey south from Canada and the United States.
</p>
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The forest is home to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/conservation/index.shtml">created</a> by presidential decree in 1986 and designated as a Unesco World Heritage site in 2008. The reserve <a href="http://www.cec.org/media/media-releases/during-the-2019-2020-season-the-monarch-butterfly-population-occupied-2-83-hectares-of-forest/">shelters</a> nearly 90 percent of the region’s over-wintering monarch butterfly population.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3iLegh">
Despite the fact that the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is internationally protected, decades of degradation of the forest have posed an existential threat to this fragile ecosystem. Over the past four decades, the number of winter roosting sites for the butterflies in the reserve has <a href="https://foresthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/SharpWright_Monarch_Reserve_blog.pdf">fallen by over 50 percent</a>, driven in part by illegal logging.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MEPfJD">
After researchers <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12138">found</a> that 10 percent of total canopy cover had been lost between 2001 and 2012, the Mexican government ramped up enforcement of laws prohibiting logging. Government <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mexican-police-raid-sawmills-protect-monarch-habitat-180960556/">raids</a> on illegal sawmills in the reserve <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/deforestation-and-mining-threaten-a-monarch-butterfly-reserve-in-mexico/">sharply reduced</a> logging. Yet according to an <a href="https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/6laxzmdrsd_Forest_Degradation_in_the_Core_Zone_of_the_MBBR_2021_22.pdf">analysis</a> by the World Wildlife Fund, the rate of forest degradation in the reserve tripled in 2022.
</p>
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To protect these forests — one of the few remaining wintering refuges for migrating monarchs — the local Mazahua Indigenous community in Crescencio Morales has established its own security force.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Orange and black butterflies on a tree." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zrWcumhR-q_lMTL8nJ9DcwMzGVA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25171579/1233393446.jpg"/> <cite>Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Thousands of monarch butterflies cluster on the stems and branches of Oyamel firs that tower in and around the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, about 60 miles north of Mexico City.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TlJpJJ">
<em>Guardia comunales</em>, or communal security units, historically operate independently from the state and federal governments, which the community says fail to prevent illegal logging in the reserve. These forces are made up of regular members of the community. Earlier this year, I visited a new base the community was building, alongside rows of high-performance pickup trucks used to navigate the difficult forest terrain, where illegal loggers often hide. Guardia comunal<em> </em>fighters<em> </em>wore military fatigues and carried lightweight semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifles.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mAr6RY">
As these self-described forest defenders from Crescensio Morales fight to protect the monarch butterfly’s refuge, Indigenous leaders took the global stage at the United Nations annual climate change summit in Dubai to wage this battle on a second front: to convince world leaders to recognize the dangers environmental land defenders, particularly in Latin America, face and to build stronger mechanisms to support them.
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<aside id="WjETLc">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MWmM0L">
During the COP28 summit in Dubai this month, María José Andrade Cerda, an Indigenous young woman from the Kichwa community of Serena in Ecuador, spoke. She is a member of the Yuturi Warmi, the first Indigenous and female-led land-defense group in the Napo province in the Ecuadorian Amazon. “As Indigenous Peoples, we call on COP28 and on each and every one of you to do your bit (or as we say, contribute your grain of corn) toward the sustainable use and management, and conservation of natural and cultural resources,” said Cerda. “We call on world leaders to recognize and respect our rights and our territories — to guarantee the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples in ongoing negotiations, and direct access to adequate financial resources.”
</p>
<h3 id="HyTbg8">
Around the world, environmental activists face increasing violence
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DNvxLx">
As their weapons indicate, the world’s environmental defenders need defending. Every day, the councils of Crescencio Morales’ guardia comunales work in shifts, patrolling their community as well as the boundary of the Monarch Biosphere Reserve. They say they are threatened by sicarios, cartel hitmen, who also benefit from the illegal trade, and are allied with clandestine loggers who camp in the surrounding forests. The guardia comunales<em> </em>run well-armed patrols through their territories to prevent the sicarios<em> </em>from expanding their territories and cutting down the precious Oyamel fir trees.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pmSIJO">
These conflicts put environmental activists at great risk. Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/disappeared-mexican-activist-underscores-deadly-threat-environmental-defenders-2022-05-11/">has promised</a> to stop such violence, but the country remains among the world’s <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/decade-defiance/#decade-killings-globally">deadliest</a> for those defending its pristine ecosystems. In January 2020, the body of the anti-logging activist and monarch butterfly defender Homero Gómez Gonzalez was <a href="https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/murdered-guardian-butterflies-netflix-series/">found in a community near Crescencio</a>. Activists suspect his death was connected to illegal logging disputes, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/30/mexico-activist-monarch-butterflies-dead-homero-gomez-gonzalez">Guardian</a> reported.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JUUu5l">
The pressures that Mexico’s Indigenous activists face are emblematic of similar conflicts arising globally. Communities like Crescencio Morales are on the front lines of a battle to protect their local environment from a mounting scramble for natural resources, amplified by corruption.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pjRJxy">
Members of Crescencio Morales’s community told me that in addition to fighting the illegal loggers, they also protect their forested mountains from mining companies seeking to extract <a href="https://www.citizen.co.za/business/gold-renewable-energy-technologies-trading-implications/">gold</a>, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2021/08/13/will-green-infrastructure-spur-silver-demand/?sh=3f8cd579747d">silver</a>, and <a href="https://copperalliance.org/policy-focus/climate-environment/renewable-energy/">copper</a> — minerals now <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions/mineral-requirements-for-clean-energy-transitions">in high demand</a> as the world transitions to <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy">clean energy</a> technologies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B77Iam">
Land defenders around the world — in countries including Mexico, Brazil, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Philippines — face increasing violence as they defend their territories, according to Global Witness, an accountability nonprofit that studies the link between natural resources, conflict, and corruption. A <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/almost-2000-land-and-environmental-defenders-killed-between-2012-and-2022-protecting-planet/">2023 investigation</a> by the organization found that nearly 2,000 activists have been killed over the last decade for their efforts to protect the planet, many of them from Indigenous communities trying to preserve their ecological heritage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HEF6mq">
The majority of recorded killings of land defenders in 2022 took place in Latin America, making the continent perhaps the most dangerous place for environmental defense.
</p>
<h3 id="B8bxXy">
Indigenous lands include some of the planet’s most threatened landscapes
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7GnXRR">
The Mexican <a href="https://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5584632&amp;fecha=23/01/2020#gsc.tab=0">constitution protects</a> the right of Indigenous communities’ self-determination — which, among other forms of sovereignty, allows them to govern their land communally. In 2023, more than <a href="https://rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/GlobalBaseline_complete_web.pdf">50 percent</a> of Mexico’s land fell under these legal regimes, termed tierra comunal or tierra ejidal — which roughly translates to communal land. This, according to <a href="https://rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/GlobalBaseline_complete_web.pdf">a study</a> by the Rights and Resources Initiative, is the highest percentage of land collectively owned by Indigenous and local communities of any country in the Americas.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w3s2qD">
This unique aspect of Mexican Indigenous heritage means that broad swaths of land in Mexico remain protected. Yet mounting effects from climate change as well as political and economic pressures mean that some of Mexico’s Indigenous communities have been forced to block highways in protest and appeal for help to protect themselves, their communities, their ecosystems, and their way of life.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PQn3nr">
Mexico’s unique legal regime is especially important for Crescencio Morales because it offers communities in the area, with deep historical and cultural ties to the monarch butterflies, the legal authority to protect the reserve. But the law can only do so much to protect the refuge and its migrating butterflies from illegal logging pressure.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dZHEgz">
To prevent destruction of the Monarch Biosphere Reserve, Indigenous activists have taken their security and that of the butterflies’ precious trees into their own hands. When I visited Crescencio Morales earlier this year, I walked with a community policeman named Aurelio during an armed patrol along his community’s border. (We are withholding his identity and using a pseudonym to protect him from being targeted by local violence.) At the summit of one of the hills surrounding the community, Aurelio told me Crescencio Morales had been forced to arm itself to protect its people, butterflies, and forests.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X0gtNp">
The security situation in towns such as Crescencio Morales is complex. According to other community leaders I spoke with this year, who wished to remain anonymous due to security risks, the locals did not trust the army or the state police, which they often suspected of cutting business deals with the cartels. Armed security volunteers who protected the community from taladores, the illegal loggers, patrolled their town in pickup trucks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BE267x">
These hyperlocal battles — on highways and in open warfare by the <em>guardias comunales</em> — have larger stakes: Mexican Indigenous environmental activists are defending landscapes that have implications for global biodiversity. Without their efforts, environmentalists fear systemic deforestation from illegal logging, which would not only destroy habitat for vulnerable species but also increase the greenhouse gas emissions that further drive climate change. And without the preservation of the <a href="https://elpais.com/mexico/2021-12-17/levantarse-en-armas-para-conservar-los-bosques-de-la-mariposa-monarca.html">Crescencio Morales</a> Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, an important chain in a migration that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/how-monarch-butterflies-find-their-way-to-mexico-1.1302747">connects ecosystems</a> from Canada to Mexico would be severed.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Butterflies flying between trees, seen from below against white clouds and blue sky." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m8Hpq6VTKMkbF0PtQI_eDu8aXIE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25171560/827540076.jpg"/> <cite>Carlos Tischler/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Monarch butterflies travel thousands of miles to reach the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, where they hibernate.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="0K29Iy">
Indigenous leaders call for direct financial support at UN climate summit
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mrybU5">
Much of the planet depends on the protection provided by these Indigenous groups. Eighty percent of Earth’s biodiversity lies within Indigenous lands, which includes nearly 40 percent of the world’s remaining, intact forests. Yet Indigenous people and local communities receive less than 1 percent of global funding for climate and biodiversity and often lack direct access to funding.
</p>
<aside id="vtBrXZ">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ah4NHD">
As <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02122023/cop28-indigenous-leaders-agenda/">reported</a> by Inside Climate News, the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) delegation at the UN climate summit this month argued that climate agreements should support Indigenous peoples and local communities financially so they can better preserve ecosystems.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ywsqaa">
Such an agreement would support local conservation work by Indigenous communities and, in the case of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, help local communities boost their defense against illegal loggers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tz8t6z">
During the UN summit in Dubai, world nations also made non-binding pledges to a loss and damage fund, ostensibly to compensate communities for adverse effects of climate change such as forest loss, soil degradation, and damage from increasingly intense hurricanes. But many of Mexico’s Indigenous communities worry these international funds will take too long to get to the communities that need them most or that they will be misappropriated by the government or international organizations.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="pU1Tks">
<q>Eighty percent of Earth’s biodiversity lies within Indigenous lands, which includes nearly 40 percent of the world’s remaining, intact forests</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lEivw2">
Global conservationists, however, recognize that Indigenous people are a priority. “Nature is central to our collective humanity, our various cultures, identity, and futures as human beings,” said Sushil Raj, executive director of rights and communities for the Wildlife Conservation Society. “[Indigenous peoples] are the best guardians of nature.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jPAYE0">
Until they receive more international and national support, activists such as the Indigenous defenders in Crescencio Morales feel they are on their own. A council leader in Crescencio, Silvestre Chávez, told me that the government had done little to protect his community from the illegal loggers and sicarios who still threatened his forest.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vubg0n">
He said he still waits for justice for the death of Homero Gómez González, who was known locally as the “Guardian of the Monarch.” “We cleaned up our community on our own,” Chávez said. “At least in our part of the forest, we can now say that people and butterflies are safer.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>Why the rape allegations against Diddy are coming to light now</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rxYee67sa9toKXbv4XFKmy9SDl8=/0x45:3000x2295/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72981559/GettyImages_1747401006.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Sean “Diddy” Combs, pictured at Howard University in October, was accused of trafficking and rape a month later by singer Cassie in a civil lawsuit that later inspired other women to come forward. | Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs
</figcaption>
</figure>
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New York’s survivors laws have helped spur a reckoning in music — one that some say is long overdue.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JGM2oi">
Especially in the 1990s and 2000s, Diddy was a figure of enormous power, not just in hip-hop but in the business and entertainment worlds writ large. In the past two months, however, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-rape-lawsuit.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share">four women have sued him</a>, saying he used that influence and wealth to sexually victimize them and avoid any consequences for decades.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k5iJ6g">
Their lawsuits, several of which include brutal and disturbing details, state that Diddy, whose birth name is Sean Combs and who has also publicly gone by Puff Daddy, Puffy, and Love, raped them and, in some cases, trafficked them by coercing them to engage in sex with other men. Together, the cases have redirected public attention toward <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-accusations-legacy.html">longstanding allegations of violence</a> against Combs, leading some brands to cut ties with him and Hulu to <a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/sean-diddy-combs-hulu-reality-show-scrapped-rape-allegations-1235837063/">scrap his upcoming reality show</a> in recent days.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tTI3KB">
The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-cassie-rape-lawsuit.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share">first suit</a>, filed in November by the singer Cassie, who dated Combs and was signed to his label, alleged that he urged her to have sex with male sex workers while he filmed, and later, that he raped her. In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-rape-lawsuit.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share">the most recent complaint</a>, a woman identified only as Jane Doe says that in 2003, when she was 17, Combs had her flown on a private jet to New York, where he and two other men gave her drugs and alcohol and gang-raped her. The women have come forward because <a href="https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-7235">two</a> New York <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2023/11/adult-survivors-act-celebrities-sued-sexual-assault.html">laws</a> — one of which paved the way for <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23717295/donald-trump-verdict-e-jean-carroll-rape-sexual-assault-battery-defamation">E. Jean Carroll’s successful lawsuit against Donald Trump</a> for sexual abuse and defamation — opened limited windows of time in which people can file civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, even if the statute of limitations has passed. One of those windows closed in late November, explaining the flurry of recent complaints.
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Combs has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-rape-lawsuit.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share">denied the allegations</a>, saying in <a href="https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/1732457807255847165?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">a statement</a>, “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.” A spokesperson for Brafman &amp; Associates, the law firm representing the rapper in the suits, declined Vox’s request for comment.
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The cases have captured the public’s attention in part because Combs was such an influential executive and gatekeeper in music and fashion — yet one who had long been the subject of allegations of violence, including <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/09/09/sean-combs-puff-daddy-p-diddy-i-am-fashion">arrests</a>. They are among the first major allegations in years against a major figure in the music industry, which many feel has failed to reckon with abuses of power, even at the height of the Me Too movement. Combs is just one of many powerful men who have evaded scrutiny, but whose alleged past conduct is being revisited now with fresh and more critical eyes, in some cases thanks to the landmark New York laws.
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Indeed, Combs is now <a href="https://collider.com/surviving-r-kelly-survivng-diddy/">drawing comparisons to R. Kelly</a>, with <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/a/tracewilliamcowen/50-cent-diddy-2pac-selfie">frequent critic 50 Cent</a> announcing that <a href="https://variety.com/2023/music/news/50-cent-diddy-documentary-donate-proceeds-to-victims-1235827607/">he will produce</a> a series about Combs in the style of the bombshell docuseries <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/1/30/18192932/lifetime-surviving-r-kelly-documentary-sexual-abuse"><em>Surviving R. Kelly</em></a>, with the proceeds going to assault survivors.
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Dream Hampton, producer of <em>Surviving R. Kelly</em>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-accusations-legacy.html">told the Times</a> that an accounting was arriving for the Bad Boy founder. “Puff is done,” she said.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y11etI">
The suits against Combs also show that despite <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23581859/me-too-backlash-susan-faludi-weinstein-roe-dobbs-depp-heard">recent backlash</a>, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/metoo">Me Too movement</a> and the legal and cultural changes that came with it have had an enduring impact. Even if allegations of sexual assault and harassment do not make daily headlines the way they did in 2017, the reckoning is ongoing — and no industry is likely to remain immune forever.
</p>
<h3 id="JutxC4">
Diddy built an empire across multiple businesses
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZmVb3U">
Combs is a producer and rapper who rose to become an influential figure across music, media, and fashion. He started Bad Boy Records in New York in 1993, when he was in his early 20s, and soon signed Notorious B.I.G., whose two albums <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/09/09/sean-combs-puff-daddy-p-diddy-i-am-fashion">helped define New York hip-hop</a> in that era. Bad Boy would grow into a <a href="https://www.mtv.com/news/okjd4w/p-diddy-no-longer-has-total-bad-boy-control">multimillion-dollar business</a>, and Combs would produce iconic ’90s acts from <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/09/09/sean-combs-puff-daddy-p-diddy-i-am-fashion">Jodeci to Mary J. Blige</a>. When Biggie was killed in 1997, Combs released a Grammy-winning tribute, “I’ll Be Missing You,” that “helped inaugurate a commercial boom in hip-hop that lasted until the end of the nineties,” according to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/09/09/sean-combs-puff-daddy-p-diddy-i-am-fashion">Michael Specter of the New Yorker</a>.
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Combs was also one of the first to blend the worlds of hip-hop, business, and luxury. His fashion label, Sean John, founded in 1998, became <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/09/09/sean-combs-puff-daddy-p-diddy-i-am-fashion">known for high-end menswear</a>. He promoted brands of vodka and tequila and hosted exclusive <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/diddy-white-party-turns-20-pictures-hamptons-8342051/">white parties</a> in the Hamptons with guests like Martha Stewart. Though no longer as central a figure as he was in the ’90s, Combs remains a rich and well-connected celebrity: In recent months, he’s held a <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/diddy-birthday-party-naomi-campbell">joint album release and birthday party</a> attended by stars such as Naomi Campbell and Janet Jackson, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/08/giggs-diddy-review-potent-chemistry-unites-peckham-and-nyc">performed for a sold-out crowd in London</a>, and appeared at the homecoming celebration for his alma mater, Howard University, where he made a <a href="https://www.ebony.com/diddy-fulfills-1-million-pledge-alma-mater-howard-university-homecoming-2023/">surprise $1 million donation</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/s-hM4eUYHXNF03mfyT8AJpCzd68=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25173755/GettyImages_1780944974.jpg"/> <cite>Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs</cite>
<figcaption>
Diddy, pictured at a performance in London in November.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="34XqwT">
As Combs built his empire, however, he was also accused of multiple acts of violence. In 1999, he was arrested for beating another executive with a chair, a phone, and a champagne bottle (he had to pay a fine and take an anger management class, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/09/09/sean-combs-puff-daddy-p-diddy-i-am-fashion">according to the New Yorker</a>). The same year, he was <a href="https://nymag.com/news/features/scandals/p-diddy-2012-4/">involved in a shooting</a> at a club in Manhattan, where he was attending a party with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez; witnesses said they saw him with a gun, but he was ultimately acquitted after a public, much-watched trial.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l7DFV5">
He has also been accused of threats and violence against women. In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-accusations-legacy.html">a 2019 interview</a>, for example, his ex-girlfriend Gina Huynh said he had thrown a shoe at her and dragged her by the hair. But these reports have not received mainstream public attention — until now.
</p>
<h3 id="FH52wM">
Singer Cassie filed suit against Diddy in November
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xfxdkT">
In November, Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, sued Combs, alleging sexual assault and sex trafficking. In the suit, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-cassie-rape-lawsuit.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share">first reported by the New York Times</a>, Ventura said she had experienced years of abuse from Combs, starting soon after she met him in 2005, when she was 19. She said he beat her repeatedly, at one point kicking her in the face, and said that later, in 2018, he raped her. She also said he trafficked her by coercing her to have sex with sex workers in different cities while he filmed and masturbated. She would try to delete the photos and videos afterward, but Combs retained access, she said in the suit, and at one point made her watch a video she thought she had deleted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IuGaqR">
Ventura’s suit also said that Combs and his associates used his power and wealth to intimidate her into silence and compliance, with his employees threatening to damage her music career if she spoke out against him. In one particularly shocking detail, Ventura said Combs threatened to blow up the rapper Kid Cudi’s car because Cudi and Ventura were dating; the car later exploded. “This is all true,” a spokesperson for Kid Cudi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-cassie-rape-lawsuit.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share">told the Times</a> of the car exploding.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lMQllwu4r-beqwpEpNciC6s9PEI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25173772/GettyImages_954469910.jpg"/> <cite>Leon Bennett/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Singer Cassie, pictured in 2018 in Los Angeles, sued Combs in a case made possible by New York laws including the Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window to file civil lawsuits in cases of sexual abuse, even if the statute of limitations had expired.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RVDhnL">
Through his lawyer, Ben Brafman, Combs had accused Ventura of blackmail. “For the past six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship,” Brafman said in a statement. “Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s reputation and seeking a payday.” Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, said Combs had actually offered Ventura money for her silence, which she had declined.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="72rhQB">
Ventura’s suit was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/arts/music/cassie-diddy-sean-combs-settlement.html">settled</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/arts/music/cassie-diddy-sean-combs-settlement.html">for an undisclosed amount</a> within a single day, with the singer stating that she had “decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H8nXUT">
But Ventura’s decision to come forward publicly opened the floodgates, and more reports of assault and abuse began pouring out.
</p>
<h3 id="Qb2u6Y">
Three other women say Diddy harmed them
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="23x5Fc">
Three other women have filed suit against Combs. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-accusations-legacy.html">In the second suit</a>, Joi Dickerson-Neal says he drugged and raped her in 1991. In the third, Liza Gardner says that in 1990, he coerced her into sex and choked her, causing her to lose consciousness. Jonathan Davis, a lawyer for Combs, said in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-accusations-legacy.html">statement to the Times</a> that Combs denied these allegations as well: “Because of Mr. Combs’s fame and success, he is an easy target for accusers who attempt to smear him.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iZAc5v">
In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-rape-lawsuit.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share">the most recent suit</a>, the woman identified as Jane Doe says she was a junior in high school when she met then-Bad Boy president Harve Pierre and another Combs associate in Detroit. They convinced her to fly on their jet to New York, the suit says, where they and the rapper gave her drugs and alcohol and then violently raped her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kKwOaK">
“Ms. Doe has lived with her memories of this fateful night for 20 years, during which time she has suffered extreme emotional distress that has impacted nearly every aspect of her life and personal relationships,” the suit says. “Given the brave women who have come forward against Ms. Combs and Mr. Pierre in recent weeks, Ms. Doe is doing the same.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A9bfYQ">
In response to that suit, Combs released a statement denying all reports of violence, calling them “sickening allegations” made “by individuals looking for a quick payday.” Pierre has also denied the allegations, saying in <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/12/08/diddy-bad-boy-president-harve-pierre-lawsuit/">a statement to TMZ</a> that “I have never participated in, witnessed, nor heard of anything like this, ever.”
</p>
<h3 id="C1lkdF">
Is this the music industry’s Me Too moment?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nT6Qj7">
The growing number of reports, and their chilling details, have led companies and influential people in media and business to distance themselves from the rapper. Diageo, the beverage brand with which Combs partnered on vodka and tequila, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/arts/music/sean-combs-diddy-accusations-legacy.html">removed his image</a> from its website. Capital Preparatory Schools, a New York charter school network Combs helped expand, <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/a/markelibert/diddy-charter-preparatory-schools-partnership-ended">posted a statement</a> on the school’s website saying it was cutting ties with him (though the statement was later removed). Combs also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/28/1215600691/sean-diddy-combs-temporarily-quits-chairman-revolt">stepped aside</a> as chair of Revolt, a TV network he helped start in 2013.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yr85lx">
The cases against Combs are coming to light against a backdrop of other accusations against major figures in music. In November, a woman <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/arts/music/neil-portow-grammys-rape-lawsuit.html">sued Neil Portnow</a>, former head of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/grammy-awards">Grammy Awards</a>, saying he had drugged and raped her in 2018. The same month, a former employee <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/arts/music/la-reid-drew-dixon-sexual-assault-lawsuit.html">sued music executive L.A. “Babyface” Reid</a>, saying he sexually assaulted and harassed her, leading to irrevocable damage to her career in the music industry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QvS9CY">
They also occur at a time when <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23398795/kanye-west-ye-antisemitic-bigot-white-lives-matter-tucker-carlson-art-vs-artist">Ye</a>, a music and fashion mogul whose career has parallels with Diddy’s, has lost many of his brand partnerships after public antisemitic and racist statements as well as what many say was a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/business/kanye-west-adidas-yeezy.html">years-long pattern</a> of verbal abuse and harassment, which may have been kept quiet in part because his partnership was so lucrative for brands.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IGLgTR">
While the Me Too movement forced reckonings around sexual assault and harassment in industries from film to media to restaurants in 2017 and 2018, many in the music business felt that its biggest players were relatively unscathed. R. Kelly, for example, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/1/30/18192932/lifetime-surviving-r-kelly-documentary-sexual-abuse">faced few consequences</a> until Hampton’s widely watched 2019 docuseries <em>Surviving R. Kelly</em> drew renewed attention to the accusations, despite repeated allegations that he had sex with underage girls, several lawsuits, and even a 2008 criminal<strong> </strong>trial over child sexual abuse material. <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/7/21/16008230/r-kelly-surviving-sex-cult-abuse-john-legend-chance-the-rapper">Many argued</a> that the reason Kelly was given a pass for so long was that the women coming forward to report abuse by him were Black. In 2021, he was <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/25/17248084/r-kelly-sexual-misconduct-allegations-timeline">convicted of sex trafficking</a> and sentenced to 30 years in prison; a second, 20-year sentence was added the following year (with all but one year to be served concurrently with the first sentence).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CuXCbk">
Three women <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/arts/music/russell-simmons-rape.html">stated publicly in 2017</a> that another influential music industry figure, Def Jam Recordings co-founder Russell Simmons, had raped them. Like Kelly, he was the subject of <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2023/12/russell-simmons-graham-bensinger-interview.html">a documentary</a> focusing on the allegations, though he has not faced charges.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="581vNH">
Now, Ventura and the other women filing suit are reporting violent rape, intimidation, and abuse by one of the biggest names in music, someone who symbolized the movement of hip-hop into both mainstream and high-end culture. Diddy in his heyday was an icon of power and influence in music, fashion, and business, and the lawsuits filed against him represent a new willingness to call that power to account.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uDRHIv">
They also serve as a reminder that the Me Too movement has made enduring changes, including influencing law and policy and creating a road map for survivors of assault to come forward and share their stories.
</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>There are so many good players from Chennai now: Sanjiv Sachdeva</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>English League Cup | Chelsea, Fulham into semis after wins on penalties</strong> - Mykhailo Mudryk scored in stoppage time for Chelsea to level scores against Newcastle United, before the Londoners won 4-2 on penalties</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>Toss played a factor, we’re 50-60 runs short on a lively wicket: Rahul</strong> - Rahul, who scored 56 off 64 balls, said role clarity and execution is key to success for any cricketer</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>Emotional decision to change captain, but Rohit will be part of MI legacy: Jayawardene</strong> - Hardik Pandya’s return to MI as captain had evoked sharp responses from the teams’ fan base, but Jayawardene asserted that Rohit will remain an integral part of the side.</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>Doping case | Italian shot putter Ponzio banned for 18 months; will miss Paris Olympics</strong> - Ponzio reached a plea deal with doping authorities after he was unable to be found for surprise tests on three occasions.</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>Railways to pay ₹500 as incentive to night patrolmen for any defect detected</strong> - Night patrolling staff work from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the cold weather</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>BJP MP Ahluwalia cites suspension of 63 MPs in 1989 to hit out at opposition</strong> - As many as 143 opposition MPs have been suspended from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha in the last few days.</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>Not meant to be disrespectful: Mamata on Dhankhar’s mimicry by party MP</strong> - In the eye of the storm over the mimicry row, Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee also said he never had any intention to hurt or disrespect Dhankhar</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>Congress protests against Kerala Police’s ‘high-handedness’ turn violent in many parts of State</strong> - Scores of Congress workers in Kerala marched to police stations across the State to protest against what they termed the law enforcement’s ‘political partisanship and high-handedness’</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>Woman’s accident at metro station: DMRC to give ₹15 lakh compensation to next of kin</strong> - She was dragged along the platform as her sari got stuck in the door of a train. The woman is survived by a 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.</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>US citizens jailed by Putin left hostage to a deal</strong> - US citizen Paul Whelan has been held for five years by Russia, and feels abandoned by his country.</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 MPs pass controversial immigration reform</strong> - The vote divided Mr Macron’s party, with a minister reportedly resigning in protest at the tough reform.</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>Pair jailed in Italy for daughter’s ‘honour killing’</strong> - The Pakistani couple were jailed for life for killing Saman Abbas, 18, over an arranged marriage.</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>Iceland volcano eruption weakening</strong> - But new vents could open at short notice at the volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula, meteorologists say.</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 court jails former Rwanda doctor for 24 years for role in 1994 genocide</strong> - Sosthene Munyemana is jailed for 24 years by a French court for his involvement in the 1994 genocide.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Xfinity waited 13 days to patch critical Citrix Bleed 0-day. Now it’s paying the price</strong> - Data for almost 36 million customers now in the hands of unknown hackers. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1992160">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket flies for first time in 15 months</strong> - An engine failure destroyed a New Shepard rocket on its previous flight. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1991878">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wolverine-developer Insomniac Games sees 1.67TB of secrets leaked in data breach</strong> - Future Ratchet &amp; Clank, X-Men, and Spider-Man games exposed—but it gets worse. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1992064">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Beeper’s esoteric fix for iMessage access suggests why it’s pushing politically</strong> - Beeper’s iMessage access could depend on both Mac data and DOJ action. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1992070">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Microsoft releases downloadable tool to fix phantom HP printer installations</strong> - Windows 10 and 11 users noticed this bug earlier this month. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1991945">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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