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<title>04 December, 2022</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>Analysis of the ARTIC V4 and V4.1 SARS-CoV-2 primers and their impact on the detection of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 lineage defining mutations</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The ARTIC protocol uses a multiplexed PCR approach with two primer pools tiling the entire SARS-CoV-2 genome. Primer pool updates are necessary for accurate amplicon sequencing of evolving SARS-CoV-2 variants with novel mutations. The suitability of the ARTIC V4 and updated V4.1 primer scheme was assessed using whole genome sequencing of Omicron from clinical samples using Oxford Nanopore Technology. Analysis of Omicron BA.1 genomes revealed that 93.22% of clinical samples generated improved genome coverage at 50x read depth with V4.1 primers when compared to V4 primers. Additionally, the V4.1 primers improved coverage of BA.1 across amplicons 76 and 88, which resulted in the detection of the variant defining mutations G22898A, A26530G and C26577G. The Omicron BA.2 sub-variant (VUI-22JAN-01) replaced BA.1 as the dominant variant by March 2022, and analysis of 168 clinical samples showed reduced coverage across amplicons 15 and 75. Upon further interrogation of primer binding sites, a mutation at C4321T (present in 163/168, 97% of 30 samples) was identified as a possible cause of complete dropout of amplicon 15. Furthermore, two mutations were identified within the primer binding regions for amplicon 75: A22786C (present in 90% of samples) and C22792T (present in 12.5% of samples). Together, these mutations may result in reduced coverage of amplicon 75 and further primer updates would allow the identification of the two BA.2 defining mutations present in amplicon 75; A22688G and T22679C. This work highlights the need for ongoing surveillance of primer matches as circulating variants evolve and change.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.01.22282842v1" target="_blank">Analysis of the ARTIC V4 and V4.1 SARS-CoV-2 primers and their impact on the detection of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 lineage defining mutations</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Protection of hybrid immunity against SARS-CoV-2 reinfection and severe COVID-19 during periods of Omicron variant predominance in Mexico</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
BACKGROUND: With widespread transmission of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant, reinfections have become increasingly common. Here, we explored the role hybrid immunity, primary infection severity, and variant predominance on the risk of reinfection and severe COVID-19 during periods of Omicron predominance in Mexico. METHODS: We analyzed reinfections in Mexico in individuals with ≥90 days from a previous primary infection using a national surveillance registry of SARS-CoV-2 cases from March 3rd, 2020, until August 13th, 2022. Immunity-generating events included primary infection, partial or full vaccination and vaccine boosting. Reinfections were matched by age and sex with controls with primary SARS-CoV-2 infection and negative RT-PCR or antigen test ≥90 days after infection to explore risk factors for reinfection and reinfection-associated severe COVID-19. We also explored the protective role of heterologous vs. homologous vaccine boosters against reinfection or severe COVID-19 in fully vaccinated individuals. RESULTS: We detected 231,202 SARS-CoV-2 reinfections in Mexico, with most occurring in unvaccinated individuals (41.55%). Over 207,623 reinfections occurred during periods of Omicron (89.8%), BA.1 (36.74%) and BA.5 (33.67%) subvariant predominance and a case-fatality rate of 0.22%. Vaccination protected against reinfection, without significant influence of the order of immunity-generating events and provided &gt;90% protection against severe reinfections. Heterologous booster schedules were associated with ~11% and ~54% lower risk for reinfection and reinfection-associated severe COVID-19 respectively, modified by time-elapsed since the last immunity-generating event. CONCLUSIONS: SARS-CoV-2 reinfections have increased during periods of Omicron predominance. Hybrid immunity provides protection against reinfection and reinfection-associated severe COVID-19, with potential benefit from heterologous booster schemes.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.02.22282981v1" target="_blank">Protection of hybrid immunity against SARS-CoV-2 reinfection and severe COVID-19 during periods of Omicron variant predominance in Mexico</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Associations between area-level health-related social factor indices and risk of acute COVID-19: An EHR-based cohort study from the RECOVER program</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Research demonstrates that SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) among adults disproportionately impacts racial and ethnic minorities and those living in lower-income communities. Similar research in children is limited due, in part, to the relatively low incidence in children compared to adults. This analysis, conducted as part of the RECOVER Initiative, explores this question. Methods: Electronic health record (EHR) data from PEDSnet, a multi-institutional research network of pediatric healthcare organizations, were geocoded and linked to two indices of contextual social deprivation: the Area Deprivation Index and the Child Opportunity Index. Univariate statistics were employed to test the association between each index and COVID19 positivity among children ages 0-20 tested at one of six Childrens hospitals. Multivariate logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between these social context indices and racial disparities in positivity, controlling co-variates. Results: Both ADI and COI were significantly associated with COVID-19 positivity in univariate and adjusted models, particularly in the pre-delta and delta variant waves. ADI showed a stronger association. Higher rates of positivity were found for non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and multi-racial children compared to non-Hispanic White children. These racial disparities remained significant after control for either index and other variables. Conclusion: ADI and COI are significantly associated with COVID-19 test positivity in a population of children and adolescents tested in childrens hospital settings. These social contextual variables do not fully explain racial disparities arguing that racial disparities are not solely a reflection of socioeconomic status. Future disparities research should consider both race and social context.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.02.22282944v1" target="_blank">Associations between area-level health-related social factor indices and risk of acute COVID-19: An EHR-based cohort study from the RECOVER program</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Battle of Polio eradication in the Western Pacific Region in the transition to COVID-19 endemicity</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Polio eradication campaign has been set back substantially since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent detections of poliovirus transmission in multiple high-income countries suggest suboptimal population immunity in many parts of the world even though polio vaccination has been included in routine childhood immunization for decades. We reviewed polio vaccination schedules and vaccine uptake in the Western Pacific Region countries and assessed the potential shortfall in population immunity against polio resurgence across these populations. In addition, we conducted a repeated cross-sectional study between 2021 and 2022 in the Western Pacific Region to understand factors contributing to polio vaccine hesitancy. Our results reveal potential shortfalls in population immunity against polio in Western Pacific Region and provide insights into how vaccination programs and campaigns can be strengthened to ensure continual progress towards polio eradication.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.30.22282954v1" target="_blank">Battle of Polio eradication in the Western Pacific Region in the transition to COVID-19 endemicity</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluating the use of social contact data to produce age-specific forecasts of SARS-CoV-2 incidence</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Short-term forecasts can provide predictions of how an epidemic will change in the near future and form a central part of outbreak mitigation and control. Renewal-equation based models are increasingly popular. They infer key epidemiological parameters from historical epidemiological data and forecast future epidemic dynamics without requiring complex mechanistic assumptions. However, these models typically ignore interaction between age-groups, partly due to challenges in parameterising a time varying interaction matrix. Social contact data collected regularly by the CoMix survey during the COVID-19 epidemic in England, provide a means to inform interaction between age-groups in real-time. We developed an age-specific forecasting framework and applied it to two age-stratified time-series: incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, estimated from a national infection and antibody prevalence survey; and, reported cases according to the UK national COVID-19 dashboard. Jointly fitting our model to social contact data from the CoMix study, we inferred a time-varying next generation matrix which we used to project infections and cases in the four weeks following each of 29 forecast dates between October 2021 and November 2022. We evaluated the forecasts using proper scoring rules and compared performance with three other models with alternative data and specifications alongside two naive baseline models. Overall, incorporating age-interaction improved forecasts of infections and the CoMix-data-informed model was the best performing model at time horizons between two and four weeks. However, this was not true when forecasting cases. We found that age-group-interaction was most important for predicting cases in children and older adults. The contact-data-informed models performed best during the winter months of 2020 - 2021, but performed comparatively poorly in other periods. We highlight challenges regarding the incorporation of contact data in forecasting and offer proposals as to how to extend and adapt our approach, which may lead to more successful forecasts in future.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.02.22282935v1" target="_blank">Evaluating the use of social contact data to produce age-specific forecasts of SARS-CoV-2 incidence</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mice Humanized for Major Histocompatibility Complex and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 with High Permissiveness to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Replication</strong> -
<div>
Human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (hACE2) is the major receptor enabling host cell invasion by SARS-CoV-2 via interaction with Spike glycoprotein. The murine ACE2 ortholog does not interact efficiently with SARS-CoV-2 Spike and therefore the conventional laboratory mouse strains are not permissive to SARS-CoV-2 replication. Here, we generated new hACE2 transgenic mice, which harbor the hACE2 gene under the human keratin 18 promoter, in C57BL/6 HHD-DR1 background. HHD-DR1 mice are fully devoid of murine Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) molecules of class-I and -II and express only MHC molecules from Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) HLA 02.01, DRA01.01, DRB1.01.01 alleles, widely expressed in human Caucasian populations. We selected three transgenic strains, with various hACE2 mRNA expression levels and distinctive profiles of lung and/or brain permissiveness to SARS-CoV-2 replication. Compared to the previously available B6.K18-ACE22Prlmn/JAX mice, which have limited permissiveness to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron replication, these three new hACE2 transgenic strains display higher levels of hACE2 mRNA expression, associated with high permissiveness to the replication of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sub-variants. As a first application, one of these MHC- and ACE2-humanized strains was successfully used to show the efficacy of a lentiviral vector-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.01.518541v1" target="_blank">Mice Humanized for Major Histocompatibility Complex and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 with High Permissiveness to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Replication</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Predicting Immune Escape with Pretrained Protein Language Model Embeddings</strong> -
<div>
Assessing the severity of new pathogenic variants requires an understanding of which mutations enable escape of the human immune response. Even single point mutations to an antigen can cause immune escape and infection by disrupting antibody binding. Recent work has modeled the effect of single point mutations on proteins by leveraging the information contained in large-scale, pretrained protein language models (PLMs). PLMs are often applied in a zero-shot setting, where the effect of each mutation is predicted based on the output of the language model with no additional training. However, this approach cannot appropriately model immune escape, which involves the interaction of two proteins–antibody and antigen–instead of one protein and requires making different predictions for the same antigenic mutation in response to different antibodies. Here, we explore several methods for predicting immune escape by building models on top of embeddings from PLMs. We evaluate our methods on a SARS-CoV-2 deep mutational scanning dataset and show that our embedding-based methods significantly outperform zero-shot methods, which have almost no predictive power. We also highlight insights gained into how best to use embeddings from PLMs to predict escape. Despite these promising results, simple statistical and machine learning baseline models that do not use pretraining perform comparably, showing that computationally expensive pretraining approaches may not be beneficial for escape prediction. Furthermore, all models perform relatively poorly, indicating that future work is necessary to improve escape prediction with or without pretrained embeddings.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.30.518466v1" target="_blank">Predicting Immune Escape with Pretrained Protein Language Model Embeddings</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVID-19 and friendships: Agreeableness and neuroticism predict being more concerned about COVID-19 and bothered by friends’ risky behavior</strong> -
<div>
Given the importance of friendships during challenging times and the mixed associations reported between personality traits and disease-related behaviors, we investigated the influence of personality traits on friendships during the COVID-19 pandemic and how both influenced risky behaviors. In November 2020, we asked participants about their reactions to friends’ behavior as part of a larger study. We found that agreeableness and neuroticism predicted participants being more concerned about COVID-19 and bothered by friends’ risky behavior, and extraversion predicted enjoying helping friends during the pandemic. Our results suggest that personality influences how individuals cope with their friends’ risky behaviors.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/qkp8b/" target="_blank">COVID-19 and friendships: Agreeableness and neuroticism predict being more concerned about COVID-19 and bothered by friends’ risky behavior</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Gut microbiota dysbiosis is associated with altered tryptophan metabolism and dysregulated inflammatory response in severe COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
The clinical course of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is variable and to a substantial degree still unpredictable, especially in persons who have neither been vaccinated nor recovered from previous infection. We hypothesized that disease progression and inflammatory responses were associated with alterations in the microbiome and metabolome. To test this, we integrated metagenome, metabolome, cytokine, and transcriptome profiles of longitudinally collected samples from hospitalized COVID-19 patients at the beginning of the pandemic (before vaccines or variants of concern) and non-infected controls, and leveraged detailed clinical information and post-hoc confounder analysis to identify robust within- and cross-omics associations. Severe COVID-19 was directly associated with a depletion of potentially beneficial intestinal microbes mainly belonging to Clostridiales, whereas oropharyngeal microbiota disturbance appeared to be mainly driven by antibiotic use. COVID-19 severity was also associated with enhanced plasma concentrations of kynurenine, and reduced levels of various other tryptophan metabolites, lysophosphatidylcholines, and secondary bile acids. Decreased abundance of Clostridiales potentially mediated the observed reduction in 5-hydroxytryptophan levels. Moreover, altered plasma levels of various tryptophan metabolites and lower abundances of Clostridiales explained significant increases in the production of IL-6, IFN{gamma} and/or TNF. Collectively, our study identifies correlated microbiome and metabolome alterations as a potential contributor to inflammatory dysregulation in severe COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.02.518860v1" target="_blank">Gut microbiota dysbiosis is associated with altered tryptophan metabolism and dysregulated inflammatory response in severe COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Potent Immunogenicity and Broad-Spectrum Protection Potential of Microneedle Array Patch-Based COVID-19 DNA Vaccine Candidates Encoding Dimeric RBD Chimera of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 Variants</strong> -
<div>
Breakthrough infections by SARS-CoV-2 variants pose a global challenge to pandemic control, and the development of more effective vaccines of broad- spectrum protection is needed. In this study, we constructed pVAX1-based plasmids encoding heterodimeric receptor-binding domain (RBD) chimera of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 (RBDSARS/BA1), SARS-CoV and SARS- CoV-2 Beta (RBDSARS/Beta), or Omicron BA.1 and Beta (RBDBA1/Beta) in secreted form. When i.m. injected in mice, RBDSARS/BA1 and RBDSARS/Beta encoding plasmids (pAD1002 and pAD131, respectively) were by far more immunogenic than RBDBA1/Beta plasmid (pAD1003). Dissolvable microneedle array patches (MAP) laden with these DNA plasmids were fabricated. All 3 resulting MAP-based vaccine candidates, namely MAP-1002, MAP1003 and MAP-131, were comparable to i.m. inoculated plasmids with electroporation assistance in eliciting strong and durable IgG responses in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice as well as rabbits, while MAP-1002 was comparatively the most immunogenic. More importantly, MAP-1002 significantly outperformed inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus vaccine in inducing RBD-specific IFN-g+ T cells. Moreover, MAP-1002 antisera effectively neutralized pseudo- viruses displaying spike proteins of SARS-CoV, prototype SARS-CoV-2 or Beta, Delta, Omicron BA1, BA2 and BA4/5 variants. Collectively, MAP-based DNA constructs encoding chimeric RBDs of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 variants, as represented by MAP-1002, are potential COVID-19 vaccine candidates worthy further translational study.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.01.518127v1" target="_blank">Potent Immunogenicity and Broad-Spectrum Protection Potential of Microneedle Array Patch-Based COVID-19 DNA Vaccine Candidates Encoding Dimeric RBD Chimera of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 Variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Are remote mental healthcare interventions cost-effective? A systematic review of economic evaluations of remote mental healthcare</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Remote interventions known as telemental health care increased in use due to the COVID-19 pandemic when social distancing requirements were in place. Whilst there is some evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of telemental health prior to the pandemic, there is a need for further evaluation due to the increase in remote care. Aims To systematically review the literature to explore whether remote mental health care interventions are cost-effective in terms of incremental cost per quality adjusted life year and in relation to condition specific outcomes compared to usual care or an alternative intervention. Method A multilayer search strategy was conducted to build on the searches of a previous systematic review, as well as including grey literature and economic models. Six databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central, PsychINFO, CINAHL, and EconLit) were searched for literature relating to the cost effectiveness of telemental health. Quality appraisal was conducted for all included studies, and findings were synthesised using narrative synthesis. Results 7386 studies were identified of which 59 met our inclusion criteria and were included in the synthesis of findings. 45 studies were rated as very good or excellent quality. Of the 59 included studies, 40 indicated that the telemental health intervention was cost-effective, whilst a further 16 suggested the intervention had potential to be cost-effective, but there was some uncertainty in the findings. Three studies reported that the intervention was not cost-effective. Conclusions This evidence will be used to inform practice in the UK as we respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.01.22282817v1" target="_blank">Are remote mental healthcare interventions cost-effective? A systematic review of economic evaluations of remote mental healthcare</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Detection of COVID-19 in Chest X-Rays Using Ensemble CNN Techniques</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Advances in the field of image classification using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have greatly improved the accuracy of medical image diagnosis by radiologists. Numerous research groups have applied CNN methods to diagnose respiratory illnesses from chest x-rays, and have extended this work to prove the feasibility of rapidly diagnosing COVID-19 to high degrees of accuracy. One issue in previous research has been the use of datasets containing only a few hundred images of chest x-rays containing COVID-19, causing CNNs to overfit the image data. This leads to a lower accuracy when the model attempts to classify new images, as would be clinically expected of it. In this work, we present a model trained on the COVID-QU-Ex dataset, overall containing 33,920 chest x-ray images, with an equal share of COVID-19, Non-COVID pneumonia, and Normal images. The model itself is an ensemble of pre-trained CNNs (ResNet50, VGG19, VGG16) and GLCM textural features. It achieved a 98.34% binary classification accuracy (COVID-19/no COVID-19) on a balanced test dataset of 6581 chest x-rays, and 94.68% for distinguishing between COVID-19, Non-COVID pneumonia and normal chest x-rays. Also, we herein discuss the effects of dataset size, demonstrating that a 98.82% 3-class accuracy can be achieved using the model if the training dataset only contains a few thousand images, but that generalisability of the model suffers with such small datasets.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.29.22282856v2" target="_blank">The Detection of COVID-19 in Chest X-Rays Using Ensemble CNN Techniques</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Investigating orthographic versus auditory cross-situational word learning with online and lab-based research</strong> -
<div>
In recent years, cross-situational word learning (CSWL) paradigms have shown that novel words can be learned through implicit statistical learning. So far, CSWL studies using adult populations have focused on the presentation of spoken words (auditory information), however, words can also be learned through their written form (orthographic information). This study compares auditory and orthographic presentation of novel words with different degrees of phonological overlap using the CSWL paradigm. Additionally, we also present a lab-based and online-based approach to testing behavioural experiments. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, lab testing was prematurely terminated, and testing was continued online using a newly created online testing protocol. Analyses first compared accuracy and response times across modalities, with our findings showing better and faster recognition performance for CSWL when novel words are presented through their written (orthographic condition) than through their spoken forms (auditory condition). As well, Bayesian modelling found that accuracy for the auditory condition was higher online compared to the lab-based experiment, whereas performance in the orthography condition was high in both experiments and generally outperformed the auditory condition. We discuss the implications of our findings for modality of presentation, as well as the benefits of our online testing protocol and its implementation for future research.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/tpn5e/" target="_blank">Investigating orthographic versus auditory cross-situational word learning with online and lab-based research</a>
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<li><strong>Viral burdens are associated with age and viral variant in a population-representative study of SARS-CoV-2 that accounts for time-since-infection related sampling bias.</strong> -
<div>
In this study, we evaluated the impact of viral variant, in addition to other variables, on within-host viral burdens, by analysing cycle threshold (Ct) values derived from nose and throat swabs, collected as part of the UK COVID-19 Infection Survey. Because viral burden distributions determined from community survey data can be biased due to the impact of variant epidemiology on the time-since-infection of samples, we developed a method to explicitly adjust observed Ct value distributions to account for the expected bias. Analysing the adjusted Ct values using partial least squares regression, we found that among unvaccinated individuals with no known prior infection, the average Ct value was 0.94 lower among Alpha variant infections, compared those with the predecessor strain, B.1.177. However, among vaccinated individuals, it was 0.34 lower among Delta variant infections, compared to those with the Alpha variant. In addition, the average Ct value decreased by 0.20 for every 10 year age increment of the infected individual. In summary, within-host viral burdens are associated with age, in addition to the interplay of vaccination status and viral variant.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.02.518847v1" target="_blank">Viral burdens are associated with age and viral variant in a population-representative study of SARS-CoV-2 that accounts for time-since-infection related sampling bias.</a>
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<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Antibody response to the Sputnik Vaccine in previous infected Patients and non-infected one</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The begging of 2020 saw the development and trials of vaccines against Covid-19 at an unprecedented pace. The first half of 2021 has seen vaccine rollout in many countries, on the other hand, Immunity to covid-19 has exhibited to minimize the risk of having a severe infection and initiate an excellent degree against the disease. This study compares Anti-Spike IgG antibodies among vaccinated people with or without previous exposure to the coronavirus. To determine whether a single dose of sputnik V can produce significant antibody titer amongst previously infected cases and design vaccine dosage regimens accordingly. This study was performed at the Libyan biotechnology research Centre from August 2021 to December 2021. Blood samples were collected from 1811 adult males and females vaccinated with and without a history of exposure to covid-19. Previously infected individuals9 record was noted separately. Samples were immediately analyzed by Beckman Unicel Dxl 600, Access immunoassay system. Data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism 9 Software. A P-value &gt;0.5 was not significant. The Majority of candidates 60% of the total samples were males and on analysis, it was found that 72% of patients were seropositive, on the other hand, individuals who were vaccinated and have naive antibodies from the previous infection showed slightly higher immunological response rather than vaccinated patients without previous infected and this finding can help the policymakers to design a single-dose vaccine regimen for the former category. Keywords: Sputnik V, COVID-19, Antibody, Vaccine.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.30.22282668v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 Antibody response to the Sputnik Vaccine in previous infected Patients and non-infected one</a>
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<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>Pilot Clinical Trial to Explore Efficacy and Safety of Pyramax in Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Pyramax<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Shin Poong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.<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>Animation Supported COVID-19 Education</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pandemic<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Animation-Supported Education<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Siirt University<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>CareSuperb COVID-19 Antigen Test Usability</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Device: CareSuperb COVID-19 Antigen Home Test Kit<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   AccessBio, Inc.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Feasibility and Usability of COVID-19 Antigen RDTs in Uganda</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pandemic<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Diagnostic Test: PMC Sure Status COVID-19 Antigen Test;   Diagnostic Test: Acon Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Home Test<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   PATH<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>SUNRISE-3: Efficacy and Safety of Bemnifosbuvir in High-Risk Outpatients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS CoV 2 Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Bemnifosbuvir (BEM);   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Roles of Vitamin D and Microbiome in Children With Post-acute COVID-19 Syndromes (PACS) and Long COVID</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-acute COVID-19 Syndromes<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Vitamin D;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   China Medical University 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>A Study to Learn About Bivalent COVID-19 RNA Vaccine Candidate(s) in Healthy Infants and Children</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Bivalent BNT162b2 (original/Omicron BA.4/BA.5) 3 microgram dose;   Biological: Bivalent BNT162b2 (original/Omicron BA.4/BA.5) 6 microgram dose;   Biological: Bivalent BNT162b2 (original/Omicron BA.4/BA.5) 10 microgram dose;   Biological: Bivalent BNT162b2 (original/Omicron BA.4/BA.5) 1 microgram dose<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   BioNTech SE;   Pfizer<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>Evaluation of an Integrative Medicine Outpatient Clinical Setting for Post-COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Fatigue<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: outpatient clinic with multimodal integrative medicine and naturopathy for post-COVID-19 patients;   Other: waiting group<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Universität Duisburg-Essen<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>Clinical Evaluation of the Panbio™ COVID-19/Flu A&amp;B Rapid Panel Professional Use Product Using Mid-Turbinate Nasal Swabs</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Influenza A;   Influenza Type B<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: Panbio™<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Abbott Rapid Dx<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>Efficacy of a Physical and Respiratory Rehabilitation Program for Patients With Persistent COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2).</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19 Recurrent;   Cognitive Dysfunction;   Fatigue<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: COPERIA-REHAB<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Fundacin Biomedica Galicia Sur;   University of Vigo;   Galician South Health Research Institute<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>Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Azvudine in Preventing SARS-Cov-2 Infection in Household Contacts of Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Azvudine;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Shanghai Henlius Biotech;   Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Industrial Development Co. Ltd.;   HeNan Sincere 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>Randomised Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of an Online Cognitive Rehabilitation Programme (COPERIA-COG) for Patients With Persistent COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Neuro-Degenerative Disease;   Psychological;   SARS CoV 2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Sessions of cognitive stimulation<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Fundacin Biomedica Galicia Sur;   Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental;   Galician South Health Research Institute<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>VNS for Long-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome;   Postural Tachycardia Syndrome;   Dysautonomia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation;   Device: Sham Intervention<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai<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>Differential Diagnosis of Persistent COVID-19 by Artificial Intelligence</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Fatigue;   Distress Respiratory Syndrome;   Cognitive Dysfunction;   COVID-19 Recurrent;   SARS CoV 2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Experimental tests<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Fundacin Biomedica Galicia Sur;   University of Vigo;   Galician South Health Research Institute<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dietary Modulation of Gut Microbiota in Overweight/Obese Adolescents and COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Health Behavior;   Child Development;   Adolescent Obesity<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Probiotics;   Behavioral: Counselling on healthy eating, physical activity, and psychosocial stimulation;   Dietary Supplement: Placebo probiotics<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Indonesia University;   Gadjah Mada University;   Universitas Airlangga;   University of Melbourne;   The Indonesia Endowment Funds for Education, Ministry of Finance Indonesia<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
</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>Agent-based model using GPS analysis for infection spread and inhibition mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 in Tokyo</strong> - No abstract</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>Platelets in COVID-19 disease: friend, foe, or both?</strong> - No abstract</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 colonisation with Neisseria lactamica on cross-reactive anti-meningococcal B-cell responses: a randomised, controlled, human infection trial</strong> - No abstract</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>Functional proteomic profiling links deficient DNA clearance with increased mortality in individuals with severe COVID-19 pneumonia</strong> - No abstract</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>Cholinergic dysfunction in COVID-19: frantic search and hoping for the best</strong> - No abstract</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>Immune response and protective efficacy of the SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike protein vaccine S-268019-b in mice</strong> - No abstract</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>Evaluation of action of steroid molecules on SARS-CoV-2 by inhibiting NSP-15, an endoribonuclease</strong> - No abstract</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>Co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin normalizes GABA<sub>B</sub>-ergic activity and cortical plasticity in long COVID-19 syndrome</strong> - No abstract</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>Ubiquitin specific peptidase 25 alleviates acute lung injury and suppresses the inflammatory response in lung epithelial cells</strong> - No abstract</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>Combining Computational and Experimental Evidence on the Activity of Antimalarial Drugs on Papain-Like Protease of SARS-CoV-2: A Repurposing Study</strong> - No abstract</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>Paxlovid<sup>TM</sup> Information From FDA and Guidance for AES Members</strong> - No abstract</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>Platelet in thrombo-inflammation: Unraveling new therapeutic targets</strong> - No abstract</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>Recombinant proteins of spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 with the Omicron receptor-binding domain induce production of highly Omicron-specific neutralizing antibodies</strong> - No abstract</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>B-cell lymphoma-2 family proteins-activated proteases as potential therapeutic targets for influenza A virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2: Killing two birds with one stone?</strong> - No abstract</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>Common and rare variant associations with clonal haematopoiesis phenotypes</strong> - No abstract</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>The E-Mail Newsletter for the Mogul Set</strong> - The media startup Puck is aiming to build a business by covering power and wealth from the inside. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-e-mail-newsletter-for-the-mogul-set">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sam Bankman-Fried, Effective Altruism, and the Question of Complicity</strong> - Leaders of the social movement had no way to know that FTX would collapse. But they also had every incentive to ignore warnings. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-and-the-question-of-complicity">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Hacked Newsroom Brings a Spyware Maker to U.S. Court</strong> - When Roman Gressier, an American reporter working in El Salvador, found out that he and his colleagues were being surveilled, he feared persecution and worried for his sources’ safety. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-hacked-newsroom-brings-a-spyware-maker-to-us-court-pegasus">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Fight for a New National Monument in Texas</strong> - El Paso’s Castner Range could transform the way that underserved communities engage with the outdoors. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the-fight-for-a-new-national-monument-in-texas">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Supreme Court Case That Could Upend Elections</strong> - J. Michael Luttig, a retired judge, discusses how Moore v. Harper could impact our democracy. Plus, Susan Orlean on the death of a snack food. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/the-supreme-court-case-that-could-upend-elections">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>World leaders have 2 weeks to agree on a plan to save nature</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lsGBNqXPkuDOlDerjVflLTi8JVI=/0x0:4449x3337/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71707384/GettyImages_502266254.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A green sea turtle swimming off the coast of Western Australia. | Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
At COP15 in Montreal, officials will try to hash out a deal to protect animals and ecosystems. It won’t be easy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B0QV1h">
One of the most important events for life on Earth, ever, is about to begin. This week and next, delegates from <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/15th-conference-of-the-parties-montreal-welcomes-the-world-855344262.html">more than 190 countries</a> will come together in Montreal, Canada, for a conference known as COP15, or the UN Biodiversity Conference, to hash out a plan to halt the <a href="https://www.vox.com/23032486/deforestation-2021-brazil-amazon">decline of ecosystems</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2022/10/12/23399105/biodiversity-loss-wwf-living-planet-index">wildlife</a>, and the life-supporting services they provide.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X6KcWu">
If the term “COP” sounds familiar, that’s because there was another UN conference last month called <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23464353/cop27-egypt-outcome-climate-change-agreement-result-loss-damage">COP27</a>. But these two events are very different. COP27 was about climate change — a conference of countries “party” to the UN’s major climate pact. COP15 will bring together nations party to another major treaty called the Convention on Biological Diversity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KcUHPu">
I know this is a lot of jargon, but these agreements are worth knowing about. They’re arguably the most important tools the world has to protect the planet and, in the case of the biodiversity conference, underappreciated. Many experts call COP15 the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cop15-uk-nature-agencies-set-out-vision-to-restore-nature-to-avoid-profound-threat-to-humanitys-future">last chance</a> to reverse the decline of nature.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U93qkJ">
“Our planet is in crisis,” Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said in a press conference earlier this month. More than a million species are threatened with extinction, she said, and populations of most major animal groups have <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2022/10/12/23399105/biodiversity-loss-wwf-living-planet-index">declined by an average of 69 percent</a>. “Clearly, the world is crying out for change,” she said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yit0rg">
During COP15, which starts Wednesday, negotiators are expected to finalize and sign a document called the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. You can think of it as the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/12/12/9981020/paris-climate-deal">Paris Agreement</a> but for biodiversity — a strategy with nearly two dozen measurable targets designed to conserve ecosystems and the benefits they provide, such as food and plant-derived medicines.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="97IFNR">
One of the splashiest and most contested targets is a commitment to conserve at least 30 percent of Earth’s land and water by 2030. It’s known as 30 by 30. The agreement also addresses what is perhaps the most hotly debated topic: Who will pay for all of this?<strong> </strong>This is especially relevant for poorer nations and Indigenous communities, which harbor most of the world’s remaining biodiversity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VmAukj">
Finalizing the biodiversity framework at COP15 will be tough. There’s a noticeable rift between rich and poor nations, which could stall the talks. No heads of state are attending as of yet, other than Canadian Prime Minister <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-trudeau-attend-un-biodiversity-summit-montreal-2022-11-17/">Justin Trudeau</a>. Negotiators, who have to agree on specific terms, are already exhausted from COP27. Meanwhile, the World Cup is drawing attention elsewhere.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X5VPTU">
But if and when the framework is signed, it will be a huge moment for conservation — and it could help stave off an apocalyptic-like future, where even our most basic needs like clean water and food are hard to meet. Here’s what to expect in the coming days.
</p>
<h3 id="aqiAyv">
The Convention on Biological Diversity, briefly explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mpMXyo">
The UN oversees hundreds of global treaties on everything from human rights to outer space. They’re essentially contracts between a bunch of countries that stipulate how they should behave, and they’re legally binding. One of them is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — that’s what sprouted the Paris Agreement and the goal to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2Gjxcb">
A related treaty is the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22434172/us-cbd-treaty-biological-diversity-nature-conservation">Convention on Biological Diversity</a> (CBD), which dates back to the early 90s. It lays out three primary goals:
</p>
<ol>
<li id="r5FEJQ">
To conserve <a href="https://www.vox.com/22584103/biodiversity-species-conservation-debate">biodiversity</a>, which includes species, ecosystems, and genetic diversity.
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YN1zIJ">
To use its components, like wild animals, in a sustainable way.
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vRSYHw">
And to share the various benefits of genetic resources fairly. Those resources might include medicines derived from bacteria or genes that produce desirable traits in crops, such as drought tolerance.
</li>
</ol>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9O74g6">
Parties to the CBD typically meet every two years at events known as the Conference of the Parties, or COP, to check in on progress and update the terms of the contract. That’s what’s happening this week in Montreal (COP15 was supposed to begin in 2020, but it got delayed several times due to Covid; the first part of the event took place last year in Kunming, China).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dwg5o4">
Every country in the world is a party to CBD except the Holy See (a.k.a. the Vatican) — and the United States. Why?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dvwk4Q">
The gist is this: In the US, treaties need to be ratified in the Senate by a <a href="https://www.senate.gov/general/Features/Treaties_display.htm">two-thirds majority</a>, and conservative lawmakers worry that joining global agreements puts American sovereignty at risk. (In the case of CBD, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22434172/us-cbd-treaty-biological-diversity-nature-conservation">it doesn’t</a>.)
</p>
<aside id="B8OUnD">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GKo9Nj">
That said, the US will still have a large presence at COP15. Although it can’t formally vote on language in the framework, it <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/cop15-why-world-needs-new-deal-protect-nature-2022-11-28/">will still send a delegation</a> to Montreal and ultimately help shape the outcome, given the sheer size of its economy and abundance of wildlife.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/A7lQIXs3m9uSOUNy2vp-8XQQumM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24250020/GettyImages_1235887839.jpg"/> <cite>Chen Yehua/Xinhua via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A performance at the opening ceremony of COP15 in Kunming, China, on October 14, 2021.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hrn98c">
Unlike the big climate COPs, heads of state usually don’t show up at CBD conferences, which environmentalists decry. “This is a very concerning situation considering this critical conference seeks to agree on a pathway to curb the collapse of our entire planetary life support system,” Campaign for Nature, an environmental group advocating for 30 by 30, said in a <a href="https://www.campaignfornature.org/heads-of-state-to-attend-cop15">statement</a> last month. “Having government leaders there is essential to elevate this crisis to the level it deserves.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gF1Cvi">
One reason why their attendance is so important, the campaign says, is it signals to investors and shareholders that countries are united in the effort to protect the planet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b8y3cX">
But COP15 is still drawing more attention and attendees than, perhaps, any other UN biodiversity event before, said Brian O’Donnell, who leads the Campaign for Nature. More than 10,000 delegates have already registered, according to CBD. “This is going to be a much bigger deal than we’ve ever seen,” O’Donnell said, compared to other biodiversity COPs. “The amount of participants is bigger, the amount of media attention is bigger, the stakes are higher.”
</p>
<h3 id="4hynPa">
What COP15 aims to achieve
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rKffpg">
Averting the worst effects of climate change is, in a sense, pretty simple: Keep warming below 1.5°C by limiting the emission of greenhouse gases. Protecting the integrity of ecosystems, however, is a bit more complicated — as is what countries will try to accomplish in Montreal.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lY5Lv3">
A major goal of theirs is to figure out how to protect remaining natural environments, restore those that are damaged, and get corporations to stop further destruction. Simple, right? You won’t hear as much chatter about “net-zero emissions” in Montreal as terms like “nature-positive” — a buzzword typically referring to a future with more<em> </em>intact ecosystems, compared to today — and “<a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2022/11/17/23460525/nature-based-solutions-climate-change-cop27">nature-based solutions</a>.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SwKLZI5PTRmjk0dcDO32-YrhdL0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24250008/GettyImages_1425704990.jpg"/> <cite>Monica Schipper/Getty Images for WWF International</cite>
<figcaption>
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during an event at Central Park Zoo in New York City ahead of the COP15 conference, on September 20, 2022.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TS21m1">
So, what’s the plan? The biggest to-do at COP15 is for countries to agree on a number of targets that they can achieve by 2030. That’s what’s in the biodiversity framework, which experts have been working on for a few years now. There are currently 22 of them, but that number could change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7BVgYM">
The targets cover a lot of territory and are pretty specific. Target 2, for example, calls on countries to restore 20 or 30 percent of degraded lands and waters, target 3 proposes conserving at least 30 percent of the planet (such as by limiting development and other harmful activities), and target 7 suggests cutting the use of pesticides or the risks of them by half or two-thirds. There are also targets related to invasive species, harmful subsidies, plastic waste, and the role of businesses in preventing biodiversity loss.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="emLN2s">
(You can find a complete list of targets starting on page 20 <a href="https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/dfeb/e742/b936c09eae9dd558c1310b5b/wg2020-05-02-en.pdf">here</a>, though, again, keep in mind it’s still a draft.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zKJYTP">
In addition to hashing out the framework, negotiators at COP15 will also devise — and this is key — a mechanism to measure progress toward those targets. It’s easier to do for some than for others. For target 3, for example, about conserving at least 30 percent of the Earth, there are already <a href="https://www.protectedplanet.net/en">databases of protected areas</a>, showing how much land is formally conserved (though even this measuring tool has some issues).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qC4ZpF">
If this all sounds like … a lot, that’s because it is. And COP15 is less than two weeks long, so it will be a race to finish. Many experts suspect it could go into overtime.
</p>
<h3 id="UIry61">
The major sticking points
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JqADA1">
Today, the biodiversity framework — the key document of COP15 — is very much just a draft. The text has roughly 1,800 brackets surrounding phrasing that delegates don’t agree on, making it hard to even read.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JKzV3D">
“The draft is not in good shape,” said <a href="https://enb.iisd.org/people/elsa-tsioumani-dr">Elsa Tsioumani</a>, an international lawyer, during a COP15 press conference hosted last week by the Earth Negotiations Bulletin. “There’s so much cleaning to be done.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8ZhxrZ">
Just two of the targets are mostly finalized, she said: one about restoring and conserving nature in cities and another about sharing advances in technology and information.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5oLYrI">
Many more remain controversial.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kzTSiu">
One such target is 30 by 30, or target 3. Some Indigenous people and local communities worry that efforts to conserve more land could impinge on their rights, according to Viviana Figueroa, a legal expert at the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cZRjzZ">
These concerns are rooted in a very real and dark history: Western environmentalists once thought of “conserved” nature as something pristine and devoid of human life, and they used that thinking to expel Indigenous people from their land. In reality, Indigenous people are the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22518592/indigenous-people-conserve-nature-icca">most effective</a> stewards of the planet’s ecosystems.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="00gOmn">
“We want recognition of what we are doing — what we have been doing for millennia,” Figueroa said, of Indigenous conservation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JWA5rc">
The agreement will likely acknowledge the importance of Indigenous tribes and their rights, environmental advocates told me. But it’s not clear if their lands will “count” toward reaching the 30 by 30 target, partly because there’s still no universal understanding of what “conserved” means. (There’s a whole other debate about whether 30 percent is enough to protect the integrity of ecosystems, which I delve into <a href="https://www.vox.com/22369705/biden-conservation-biodiversity-collapse-30-by-30">here</a>.)
</p>
<aside id="zXRFaU">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JQY0so">
Tension also surrounds funding for conservation and the phase-down of subsidies. Developing countries have called on richer nations to put at least $100 billion a year into a fund for poorer countries, but “we’re nowhere near that right now,” O’Donnell said of funding. Existing pledges for biodiversity financing total about <a href="https://www.naturefinance.info/">$6.6 billion</a> a year. (This debate echoes <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23464353/cop27-egypt-outcome-climate-change-agreement-result-loss-damage">similar conversations</a> at COP27.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bji7jx">
There’s also an ongoing debate about who should be administering the money, according to Helen Tugendhat, a program coordinator at the nonprofit Forest Peoples Programme.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2CuKhi">
Beyond that, delegates are also somewhat stuck on targets 2 (restoration), 7 (pollution), 10 (agriculture reform), and 15 (the role of corporations), experts say. “Almost all targets still have multiple brackets and multiple options,” said Guido Broekhoven, who leads policy, research, and development at WWF International. “It’s really difficult to see how these will be played out.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TBlVVfedvBiPcXnWd9F7kfpF0sE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24256849/GettyImages_687245076__1_.jpg"/> <cite>Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A great gray owl.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h3 id="9jZoD9">
So, can COP15 actually do anything?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MVEEh4">
First, the bad news: The Convention on Biological Diversity doesn’t have a great track record. More than a decade ago, its member countries agreed to a similar but much vaguer set of 20 targets — known as the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/">Aichi Biodiversity Targets</a> — to protect ecosystems by 2020. They included things like reducing impacts on coral reefs and preventing the extinction of threatened species.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bgfZeh">
Yet the world <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/09/16/decade-ago-world-agreed-20-aichi-biodiversity-targets-it-did-not-meet-any-them/">didn’t meet</a> a single one of them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zqHBsS">
So what will make these new targets different? They’re certainly no less ambitious.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gch2l7">
These targets need to be more specific and measurable, Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, said at a press conference last week. “This is a key element that we’re really advocating for in the new GBF,” he said. In other words, countries need to have clear goals and a way to track their progress against them — so, not just “make farming more environmentally friendly” but “reduce X farming chemicals by X amount,” and so on.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1puhc1">
Countries will also need to agree on a rigorous approach to monitoring progress toward the framework’s targets. Broekhoven of WWF suggests that, after four years, for example, nations should review their progress and then potentially make even bigger commitments, following the monitoring framework of the Paris Agreement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HRlODG">
But perhaps the biggest reason to think that this time will be different is that people — world leaders, business executives, and the general public — are paying more attention to what’s happening to nature, to the erosion of ecosystems, than ever before. “Nature has never been higher on the political or corporate agenda,” Lambertini said. That means more eyes are watching and there will be more accountability.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m6nBD0">
“We already have lost half of the forests, half of the coral reefs, 80 percent of the wetlands,” Lambertini said. “All this will only get worse unless we change the way we live, produce, and consume — in other words, unless we rebalance our relationship with nature. Failure in Montreal is not an option.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>The deranged Supreme Court case that threatens US democracy, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A crowd of people on the steps of the Supreme Court building, holding signs including one high in the air that reads “Count me in.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SDmGA8U9QNU6FBDDaA8cV8JLl44=/163x0:3772x2707/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71707298/1158640010a.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
People gather in front of the US Supreme Court in June 2019 after a decision opening the floodgates to partisan gerrymandering. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Moore v. Harper is a test of whether this Supreme Court can ever be trusted with power.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zGi9E5">
The opening brief in <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/moore-v-harper-2/"><em>Moore v. Harper</em></a>, an extraordinarily high-stakes election case that the Supreme Court will hear December 7, is one of the least persuasive documents that I’ve ever read in any context. And I’ve read both Ayn Rand’s <em>Atlas Shrugged</em>, and Donald Trump’s <em>Art of the Deal</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5WSFUI">
<em>Moore</em> is also potentially the <a href="https://www.vox.com/23161254/supreme-court-threat-democracy-january-6">biggest threat to free and fair elections</a> in the United States to reach the Supreme Court in my lifetime — and I was alive for <em>Bush v. Gore</em>. Four justices have <a href="https://www.vox.com/23161254/supreme-court-threat-democracy-january-6">endorsed the utterly nonsensical legal theory underlying <em>Mo</em>ore</a>, which means that, unless one of those four has second thoughts, the future of US elections will be decided by Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HI6iWf">
To be fair, enough conservative elites have now denounced this lawsuit that there is a real chance some of their ideological allies on the Court will have second thoughts. But the fact that any judge might embrace this nonsensical legal theory is absurd.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FKZh6y">
The case involves the awkwardly named “independent state legislature doctrine” (ISLD), a theory that the Supreme Court rejected many times over the course of more than a century. It’s also a theory repudiated by many of the very same sources that the ISLD proponents rely upon in their briefs to the justices.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lw8ZpF">
Under the strongest form of this doctrine, members of each state’s legislative branch have unchecked authority to decide how elections for Congress and the presidency will be conducted in their state — indeed, a state legislature could potentially pass a law canceling the presidential election in that state and awarding its electoral votes to Donald Trump. Any state constitutional provisions that protect the right to vote, that limit gerrymandering, or that otherwise constrain lawmakers’ ability to skew elections would cease to function. State governors would lose their ability to veto laws impacting federal elections. And state courts would lose their authority to strike down these laws.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BTeqbV">
As Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a <a href="https://utexas.app.box.com/s/pd70m6vmah3xf3h7je69pgmnunwuscbm">2020 concurring opinion</a> endorsing the ISLD, “the Constitution provides that state legislatures — <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/26/21535503/supreme-court-wisconsin-democratic-national-committee-neil-gorsuch-brett-kavanaugh-bush-v-gore">not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials</a> — bear primary responsibility for setting election rules.” Notably, this opinion was joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who currently sits at the conservative Supreme Court’s ideological center.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tt2BXX">
In fairness, the petitioners in <em>Moore</em> (in Supreme Court parlance, the term “petitioner” typically refers to the party that lost in the court below) take a slightly less extreme position than Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. For example, these petitioners, Republican lawmakers in North Carolina who object to a state supreme court decision striking down gerrymandered congressional maps, do not ask the Court to overrule <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1547832757359985052&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr"><em>Smiley v. Holm</em></a> (1932), which held that state governors may exercise their veto power over election legislation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="um6FQN">
But the <em>Moore</em> petitioners nonetheless seek sweeping and radical changes to some of the most foundational principles of US election law. They argue that state constitutions “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1271/236562/20220829124545799_21-1271%20Brief%20for%20Petitioners.pdf">may not impose substantive state-constitutional limits</a>” on laws governing federal elections, an argument that also precludes state courts from striking down election laws that violate such limits. In practice, their theory would also make the Supreme Court, where Republican appointees control two-thirds of the seats, the final word on disputes arising under state election law (currently, state supreme courts have the final say on all questions of state law).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IlytnW">
An array of conservative luminaries filed briefs practically begging the Supreme Court not to do any of this. Foremost among them is <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1271/243451/20221019130339119_21-1271%20Moore%20v%20Harper%20Non-State%20Respondents%20Brief%2010-19%20Final.pdf">J. Michael Luttig</a>, a former federal judge who was on the cutting edge of legal conservatism in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3LwPSd">
Then there’s an amicus brief signed by Steven Calabresi, a founder of the conservative Federalist Society and the co-chair of its board, warning that the <em>Moore </em>petitioners “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1271/243761/20221024133404048_21-1271%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf">flout core tenets of the American Founding</a>.” A brief by Benjamin Ginsberg, for many years the Republican Party’s top election lawyer, warns that the ISLD would “create untenable legal uncertainty around elections” and “increase the odds that state legislatures <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1271/244068/20221026162059761_21-1271%20Moore%20v%20Harper%20%20Brief%20of%20Benjamin%20L%20Ginsberg%20as%20Amicus%20Curiae.pdf">replace the popular vote with their own political preferences</a>.” A brief on behalf of retired admirals, generals, and service secretaries — some of whom held high-level political appointments in Republican administrations — warns that the ISLD “undermines election integrity and <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1271/243970/20221026122043996_Ret.%20Admirals%20AmicusBrief%20-%20Moore%20v.%20Harper.pdf">exacerbates both domestic and foreign threats to national security</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WzYTKS">
Let me be explicit about just how weak the arguments are supporting the independent state legislature doctrine: Any judge who, after reading the briefs in this case, concludes that the ISLD has merit is either too incompetent to practice law or too blinded by ideology to sit on any court.
</p>
<h3 id="ob2JLJ">
This entire case turns on the <em>Moore </em>petitioners’ inability to understand a dictionary
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iKRobC">
The ISLD is one of those legal arguments that, if I can borrow some <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-2024.ZC.html">choice words from the late Justice Antonin Scalia</a>, periodically rises “like some ghoul in a late night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and buried.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qzBBMX">
The Court first rejected it in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6094069846348614449&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr"><em>Davis v. Hildebrant</em></a> (1916), which upheld a provision of the Ohio constitution permitting the people of the state to veto state election laws via a popular referendum — even though that meant blocking a law enacted by the state’s legislative branch. It rejected the ISLD again in <em>Smiley</em>, the 1932 case holding that governors may veto election laws. The Court most recently rejected it in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/13-1314#writing-13-1314_OPINION_3"><em>Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission</em></a> (2015), which held that states may use a bipartisan commission to draw congressional maps.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GFXaIP">
It’s likely that this particular ghoul refuses to die because the independent state legislature doctrine actually sounds plausible if you read the text of the Constitution without doing any legal or historical research, or even bothering to pick up a dictionary to see how a particularly important word is defined.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kYf0ei">
The Constitution states that “the times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei#:~:text=Article%20I%20describes%20the%20design,the%20powers%20that%20Congress%20has.">shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof</a>.” Meanwhile, another <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/article/article-ii">provision</a> says that presidential elections shall also be conducted in a way determined by the state “Legislature.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VVOQUe">
So the argument for the ISLD is deceptively simple, and can be summarized in three sentences: The Constitution says that the rules governing federal elections shall be made by each state’s “legislature.” A governor, a state supreme court, or a state constitution is not the “legislature.” Checkmate, libs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7L6Vpo">
The problem with this argument is that, at least at the time when the Constitution was drafted, and popularly elected legislative bodies like the US Congress were a relatively new innovation, the word “legislature” did not mean “the elected body of men and women who make up the House and Senate.” It meant, as the Supreme Court explained in <em>Arizona State Legislature</em>, “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/13-1314#writing-13-1314_OPINION_3">the power that makes laws</a>.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="twDUn4">
And that power can be shared. Just as the US president plays a role in making federal laws through their veto power, so too can states allocate that legislative power among their various branches of government. <em>Davis</em> confirmed that this lawmaking power may be given, in part, to the people of the state as a whole through a referendum process. <em>Smiley </em>confirmed that a portion of the legislative power may be wielded by a state governor through his or her veto power. <em>Arizona State Legislature </em>confirmed that a portion of this power may be given to a bipartisan commission.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="15zW69">
Indeed, if you doubt this definition of the word “legislature,” I encourage you to read the <em>Moore</em> petitioners’ brief. Specifically, I encourage you to <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-1271/236562/20220829124545799_21-1271%20Brief%20for%20Petitioners.pdf">read page 14 of their brief</a>, where they quote four dictionary definitions of the word “legislature.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jJFz4u">
Only one of these four definitions, from a dictionary published four decades after the Constitution was drafted, even plausibly could be read to support the ISLD. That 1828 dictionary defines the word “legislature” to mean “the body of men in a state or kingdom, invested with power to make and repeal laws.” Notably, even this definition does not state that these men must serve in a formally organized legislative branch. And the other three dictionaries quoted by the <em>Moore</em> petitioners define the word “legislature” the same way it was defined in <em>Arizona State Legislature</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SwYTG2">
One 1755 dictionary defines the word to mean “the power that makes laws.” Another, from 1797, offers an identical definition. A third, from 1763, defines the word to mean “the Authority of making Laws, or Power which makes them.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v3oWN2">
This, alone, is fatal to the <em>Moore</em> petitioners’ arguments — and to Gorsuch and Kavanaugh’s. Properly understood, the federal constitution does not give primacy to a state’s House and Senate. Rather, it says that state election laws should be enacted through whatever process the state uses to make any other law. That may involve a gubernatorial veto, a popular referendum, or a constitutional amendment process that writes some of a state’s election laws into its constitution. A state could even give a portion of its lawmaking power to its judiciary, if it chose to do so.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tsvR8Q">
There is no merit whatsoever to the <em>Moore </em>petitioners’ arguments.
</p>
<h3 id="wdb1DU">
The <em>Moore </em>petitioners’ arguments fail even if you accept the ISLD as valid
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fR0zwF">
Again, the <em>Moore </em>petitioners claim that the Constitution gives North Carolina’s legislative branch primacy in redistricting, and that the North Carolina General Assembly’s decision to draw gerrymandered maps cannot be second-guessed by the state’s courts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FoHOAR">
But even if you accept the strongest version of the ISLD — that is, even if you believe that the General Assembly has unchecked authority to decide how congressional districts are drawn in that state — the petitioners should still lose their case. That’s because the General Assembly passed a law which explicitly authorizes certain state courts to hear redistricting lawsuits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iVrS7B">
North Carolina law provides that lawsuits challenging “any act of the General Assembly that apportions or redistricts State legislative or congressional districts” <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/north-carolina/2011/chapter1/article26a/section1-2671/">may be filed</a> “in the Superior Court of Wake County and shall be heard and determined by a three‑judge panel.” This court’s decision <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220317132500136_2022-03-17-Moore-Appendix.pdf">may then be appealed to the state supreme court</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FtmnO8">
What’s more, North Carolina law — law that was enacted by the legislative branch — provides detailed instructions on how state courts should behave when they determine that a legislative map is illegal. One statute requires state courts to “<a href="https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_120/GS_120-2.3.pdf">find with specificity all facts supporting</a>” its conclusion that a map is illegal. Another provides that, after a state court strikes down a redistricting plan, it may not “impose its own substitute plan unless the court first <a href="https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_120/GS_120-2.4.pdf">gives the General Assembly a period of time to remedy any defects</a> identified by the court.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6IE0Vl">
So even if you accept Gorsuch’s extreme version of the ISLD, the <em>Moore </em>petitioners still lose their case. The legislative branch of North Carolina’s government explicitly authorized the state courts to hear lawsuits challenging gerrymandered maps. It gave them specific instructions on how to decide these cases, and it even delineated the specific circumstances when a state court may draw its own maps replacing those drawn by state lawmakers.
</p>
<h3 id="hiiMgY">
The ISLD would transfer an enormous amount of power over elections to a GOP-controlled Supreme Court
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vIAWrI">
Setting aside <em>Moore</em> itself, and the dispute over redistricting commissions in <em>Arizona State Legislature</em>, the independent state legislature doctrine has shambled out of its grave at least two other times in the last three decades. Both times, it was invoked by Republican-appointed justices to solve a political problem: The Supreme Court isn’t supposed to decide most questions involving election disputes, and often the body that is supposed to decide those questions resolves them in ways that favor Democrats.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CyKrqy">
Consider <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/531/98/"><em>Bush v. Gore</em></a><em> </em>(2000), the dispute over a recount of Florida’s presidential ballots, where the Court split along ideological lines and handed the presidency to George W. Bush.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mrXxTB">
The case involved several fights over which votes should be counted during a recount of Florida’s presidential ballots, as well as questions about whether this recount had to comply with tight deadlines. The Florida Supreme Court, which was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/11/18/floridas-supreme-court-partisan-or-impartial/a1fd278f-5524-4c51-94c6-9af865431354/">dominated by Democratic appointees in 2000</a>, had resolved many of these questions in ways that favored Democratic candidate Al Gore.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u2baRP">
That created a serious problem for Bush. Although the Supreme Court has the final say on questions involving <em>federal </em>law, the Florida Supreme Court had ruled in favor of Gore by interpreting Florida’s own law. And, as the Supreme Court explained in <a href="https://casetext.com/case/hortonville-dist-v-hortonville-ed-assn"><em>Hortonville District v. Hortonville Education Association</em></a><em> </em>(1976), even the nation’s highest Court is “bound to accept the interpretation of [state] law by the highest court of the State.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XXgfmi">
Enter the independent state legislature doctrine. Although a majority of the Court did not rely on the ISLD in <em>Bush</em>, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-949.ZC.html">concurring opinion</a>, joined by two other justices, which argued that the ISLD allows the Supreme Court to bypass the rule prohibiting it from reinterpreting a state’s law — and to substitute its own interpretation of a state election law for that of a state’s highest court.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WKQIxT">
Pointing to constitutional language stating that presidential electors shall be appointed “in such Manner as the <em>Legislature</em> thereof may direct,” Rehnquist wrote that “in order to determine whether a state court has infringed upon the legislature’s authority, we necessarily must examine the law of the State as it existed prior to the action of the” Florida Supreme Court.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OnXOBJ">
A similar dispute arose during the 2020 election, in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-542_i3dj.pdf"><em>Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar</em></a> (2020). In that case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that certain mailed ballots, which <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/28/21539169/supreme-court-pennsylvania-republican-party-samuel-alito-mail-in-ballots-boockvar">arrived up to three days after Election Day</a>, should be counted. Because the state supreme court relied upon the state’s own constitution in reaching this decision, it should have had the final word. Again, the US Supreme Court is not allowed to overrule a state’s highest court’s interpretation of the state’s own law.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Et7Nr7">
The full Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-542_2c83.pdf">decided not to hear the case</a>. But Justice Samuel Alito, in an opinion joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Gorsuch (but not Kavanaugh), called for the Court to invoke the ISLD to <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-542_i3dj.pdf">give itself the final word on how to read Pennsylvania’s law</a>. “The provisions of the Federal Constitution conferring on state legislatures, not state courts, the authority to make rules governing federal elections would be meaningless,” Alito claimed, “if a state court could override the rules adopted by the legislature simply by claiming that a state constitutional provision” invalidates those rules.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eLccfW">
To be clear, the longstanding rule that state supreme courts, and not the US Supreme Court, have the final say over how to interpret state law will sometimes lead to results that one party thinks are unfair. Currently, for example, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is <a href="https://www.wpr.org/partisan-battle-over-balance-power-wisconsin-supreme-court">controlled by Republicans</a>, while Michigan’s Supreme Court has a <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/key-2022-state-supreme-court-election-results-and-what-they-mean">Democratic majority</a>. That means that Wisconsin’s justices may interpret the state’s election law in ways that benefit Republicans, while Michigan’s justices may interpret it in ways that benefit Democrats.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rRh1wD">
But the alternative — the one floated by Rehnquist in <em>Bush</em> and by Alito in <em>Republican Party</em> — is much worse. That alternative is to give the US Supreme Court final authority over all disputes involving federal elections, regardless of where that dispute arises, because it would become the final arbiter over whether one side in a dispute infringed on the state legislature’s power. It would mean that, no matter what, the outcome of a disputed congressional or presidential election would rest on a Court where Republican appointees currently have a 6-3 supermajority.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zBOj9E">
The ISLD would effectively turn Brett Kavanaugh, the median vote on the current Supreme Court, into the final authority on all federal elections.
</p>
<h3 id="UpBipA">
No Court that would claim this kind of power can be trusted with it
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gowsIv">
The independent state legislature doctrine is obviously and embarrassingly wrong. It relies on a simplistic reading on the Constitution that is repudiated by many of the same sources quoted in the <em>Moore</em> petitioners’ briefs. It would upend more than a century of precedent. And it would give an unprecedented amount of power over elections to whichever political party controls the Supreme Court.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FnU5oP">
Indeed, the arguments for the independent state legislature doctrine are so flimsy, and the consequences of a Supreme Court decision embracing it are so alarming, that even the co-chair of the Federalist Society’s board — the same Federalist Society that Trump <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/12/9/20962980/trump-supreme-court-federal-judges">relied upon to choose his judges and justices</a> — is urging the Supreme Court to stay its hand. I am under no illusions that the pivotal justices on this Court will care what I have to say about <em>Moore</em>, but I hope they can find it within themselves to listen to Steven Calabresi. Or to Judge Luttig. Or to the generals and admirals telling them that the ISLD is a threat to national security!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5p6NoP">
And, on top of all of that, the <em>Moore </em>petitioners have managed to bring a case to the Supreme Court that is so weak that they should lose <em>even if you accept their ludicrous reading of the Constitution</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DiJ5Ag">
Any justice who would claim the simply enormous amount of power offered to them by the independent state legislature doctrine cannot be trusted to wield that power fairly, or in a nonpartisan way. There is simply no plausible legal argument for the ISLD, and so a Supreme Court decision embracing it would be a declaration that the law simply does not matter in this Court.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IN0R92">
And it would be a declaration that every disputed federal election will now be resolved by justices who care nothing about the law.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Qatar’s anti-LGBTQ policies, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Germany v Japan: Group E - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UeNFL6TX2cGT57nlk4-up8D9Ij0=/273x0:4645x3279/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71705684/1443857957.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Photo by Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The FIFA World Cup has highlighted Qatar’s laws and attitudes towards homosexuality.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="536QJD">
Qatar’s anti-LGBTQ policies have become a flashpoint in a controversial World Cup tournament; between national teams facing punishment for wearing rainbow “One Love” armbands, international fans told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/22/rainbow-flag-fifa-soccer-qatar/">they can’t wear rainbow shirts</a>, and a Qatari minister’s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/lgbtq-community-can-visit-qatar-dont-try-change-us-minister-2022-11-30/">anti-LGBTQ comments</a> this week, queer rights in the tiny Gulf emirate are one of the controversies on and off the pitch.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MxdgOu">
In Qatar, where punishments can include up to three years in prison for being LGBTQ, it has meant friction with the world over the country’s policies and attitudes toward queer people, and even those showing support for LGBTQ rights — as well as concern locally about what happens once the tournament is over and the world’s attention moves on.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="944TRt">
On Monday, a <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/11/28/world-cup-qatar-protest-lgbtq">protester</a> disrupted the match between Uruguay and Portugal, running onto the pitch waving <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/world-cup-2022-rainbow-flag-waving-protester-invades-pitch-during-portugal-uruguay-match-204326094.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAC0xf5BiNna4MJCG_i4EEwozPmWvbhlDazktyCIG36PC6vjWPGb3g1QK8sGthILTvSkx7QCfpKZYBkg-h31vAWnrhEQUypq9vkfoZepw2SmpkaMTUSqChnx8cmQnR83bIEwHK6ntp0q7LYE5pXIIMbM0rVLRZFMNau7sK4w1Kbdp#:~:text=%22Following%20the%20pitch%20invasion%20that,His%20embassy%20has%20been%20informed.">a rainbow flag reading “PACE,”</a> the Italian word for peace, and wearing a Superman t-shirt with messages of support for Ukraine and the women protesting in Iran. Following the stunt, the Qatari Supreme Committee banned the fan from the remainder of this year’s matches and revoked his permit to stay in the country, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/29/protester-banned-by-qatar-from-world-cup-matches-ran-on-to-pitch-portugal-uruguay">Guardian reported</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CtMOjq">
Later in the week, Qatar’s energy minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi told Germany’s Bild newspaper that though LGBTQ people were welcome to visit Qatar, western countries cannot “dictate” support for LGBTQ rights. Qatari law criminalizes sex outside marriage, including gay sex.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zodxHY">
“If you want to change me so that I will say that I believe in LGBTQ, that my family should be LGBTQ, that I accept LGBTQ in my country, that I change my laws and the Islamic laws in order to satisfy the West — then this is not acceptable,” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/lgbtq-community-can-visit-qatar-dont-try-change-us-minister-2022-11-30/">Al-Kaabi said</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ai8R93">
Perhaps the most visible struggle over LGBTQ rights emerged over FIFA’s decision to punish players wearing “OneLove” arm bands in support of LGBTQ rights. According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/23/sports/soccer/german-player-protest-armbands-world-cup.html">the New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/21/sports/world-cup-updates/englands-rainbow-armband-fifa-world-cup?smid=url-share">seven European teams</a> alerted FIFA to their plans to have captains wear the armbands back in September. FIFA didn’t hand down its decision to give yellow cards to players wearing the armbands until just a few hours before England, one of the teams planning to protest, took the pitch, and has not responded to Vox’s request for comment regarding that decision.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FOQUA0">
German players protested that decision, covering their mouths during pre-match team photos.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6erBK9">
On its English-language Twitter account, the German team wrote, “It wasn’t about making a political statement — human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us. Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position.”
</p>
<div id="ZySYYA">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us.<br/><br/>Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position. <a href="https://t.co/tiQKuE4XV7">pic.twitter.com/tiQKuE4XV7</a>
</p>
— Germany (<span class="citation" data-cites="DFB_Team_EN">@DFB_Team_EN</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/DFB_Team_EN/status/1595405792957562880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2022</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OtUFkc">
In a joint statement, the teams planning to wear the armbands said they were prepared to pay fines for violating FIFA’s stringent uniform codes, but the prospect of starting a game with a penalty already against valuable players was an unfair risk, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-soccer-sports-netherlands-europe-c0e2cc20f8b50ea1b2eaf2e866ec5090">according to the Associated Press</a>. FIFA offered “<a href="https://www.fifa.com/social-impact/campaigns/no-discrimination/media-releases/no-discrimination-campaign-made-available-for-entire-fifa-world-cup-qatar">no discrimination</a>” arm bands.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WipKgq">
During this year’s World Cup, fans as well as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/21/us-journalist-grant-wahl-says-he-was-detained-in-qatar-for-rainbow-shirt">journalist Grant Wahl </a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/22/rainbow-flag-fifa-soccer-qatar/">report that they’ve been confronted when wearing rainbow paraphernalia in public</a>, with some fans refused entry to early matches despite assurances from Qatar and FIFA that all were welcome.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6EYHVb">
“I have been speaking about this subject with the country’s highest leadership,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “They have confirmed, and I can confirm that everyone is welcome. If anyone says the opposite, well it’s not the opinion of the country and it’s certainly not the opinion of FIFA.”
</p>
<h3 id="xYJTXD">
Qatar’s anti-LGBTQ policies are draconian
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kD1aS2">
Qatar’s government, run by the wealthy Al-Thani family, mandates a conservative Islamic society. In the interpretation of Sharia law Qatar follows, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/qatar?gclid=CjwKCAiA7IGcBhA8EiwAFfUDsUOZChFqg0L57YYfhbpsGjeg1zyXt5Yp9kqZPqSGkpfLr3MAj6morxoCOH8QAvD_BwE#bd2d9c">sex outside of marriage</a>, including homosexuality, <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/country-profile/qatar/">is punishable by jail time</a> and, as a maximum sentence, death by stoning, though there isn’t available evidence that such a punishment has ever been used.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1LU6sC">
It’s difficult to gauge what queer life is like in Qatar because LGBTQ expression is extremely limited, Dr. Nasser Mohamed, a gay Qatari living in exile in the US, explained to Vox. “I came out to have a platform for us,” he said, explaining that none of the queer people he knew in Qatar were out. “In Qatar, it’s extremely dangerous for us to organize. When one person is found out, law enforcement tries to find out everyone they’re in touch with. So it’s really hard to build a gay community.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WCcGIv">
Mohamed left Qatar in his 20s for medical school “with the intention of never coming back” because of the limited life he could have as a gay man there. “There’s a lot of similarity to Mormon and Amish communities, in terms of their religious practices and cultural practices — you’re either in or out, as a Qatari, you really can’t be different in any way,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W6Gv8X">
Though there are small pockets of LGBTQ people in Qatar, there’s not a gay scene, Mohamed said. According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gay-people-living-under-radar-qatar-prepare-warily-world-cup-2022-11-19/">a report in Reuters</a>, there are some places where it’s possible for queer people to congregate safely — at parties in the homes of close friends, and at some high-end restaurants and clubs. But that’s largely dependent on social status, as well as one’s country of origin; it’s easier to be queer if you’re not a Qatari citizen, but only if you’re also wealthy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gkuIr8">
“If you’re an expat, you’re able to live your life like you want,” a gay Arab man living in Doha told Reuters. “At the same time, I know I can live like this because I am privileged. I know gay men in workers’ camps wouldn’t be able to live the same way.”
</p>
<h3 id="vL5kDl">
What happens when the world is no longer watching Qatar?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SO6GRs">
Now Mohamed is in touch with closeted queer Qataris, some of whom spoke to Human Rights Watch for <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/10/24/qatar-security-forces-arrest-abuse-lgbt-people">a recent report</a> detailing the abuses they’ve suffered at the hands of the state. As recently as September of this year, LGBTQ Qataris reported that members from the Preventive Security Department had “detained them in an underground prison in Al Dafneh, Doha, where they verbally harassed and subjected detainees to physical abuse, ranging from slapping to kicking and punching until they bled.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lQCcQZ">
Other reported punishments include “verbal abuse, extracted forced confessions,” and mandated, state-sponsored conversion therapy for transgender women as a condition of their release. According to the report, the security forces also “denied detainees access to legal counsel, family, and medical care” and searched their phones, all while they were detained without charge. They received no record of their time in detention — which makes proving the state’s violence against LGBTQ people difficult. A Qatari official denied information in the report, including accounts of forced conversion therapy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mu8SsH">
Mohamed expressed concern that the lack of documentation around state-sponsored abuses of LGBTQ people could prevent people seeking asylum from supporting their cases. “The tolerance [the Qatari government] is giving to the world, is not extended to us, and people really need to know that,” he said. Vox reached out to the US State Department for comment about the plight of queer Qataris and the protection of asylum claims, but did not receive a response by press time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ajeDie">
Mohamed’s other worry is the backlash, “What they are calling ‘Western cleansing’ after the World Cup,” he said. Queer people in Qatar are worried, too, about what happens after the world’s attention to Qatar’s human rights record inevitably shifts after the tournament wraps up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4cKUMC">
“What about us, who have lived in Doha for years and made Doha queer?” an Arab man living in Doha and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gay-people-living-under-radar-qatar-prepare-warily-world-cup-2022-11-19/">interviewed by Reuters</a> said. “What happens when the World Cup is over? Does the focus on the rights stop?”
</p>
<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>Briar Ridge should make amends in Mica Empress Plate</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>Joseph and Gowri triumph</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>Dyf and Iron Age impress</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mirabai, Indian lifters begin quest for Olympic qualification with World Championships</strong> - The 2022 World Championships are the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FIFA World Cup | Bollywood actor Siddhant Chaturvedi, rapper Lil' Baby gear up for FIFA World Cup anthem</strong> - The actor, who recently starred in ‘Phone Bhoot’, took to Instagram share the news of his role in the ongoing Qatar World Cup</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>Kamal Nath challenges BJP, RSS for discussion on religion and spirituality with Rahul Gandhi</strong> - Kamal Nath said is a possibility that Mr. Gandhi may embark on another yatra from “east to west” in the 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>‘Freedom of religion does not include the right to convert people’: Gujarat in Supeme Court</strong> - Gujarat government requested the Supreme Court to vacate a High Court stay on the provision of a State law that mandates prior permission of the district magistrate for conversion through 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>Prior sanction required for direction to register FIR for hate speech, says court</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>Madurai Reader’s Mail</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>Dindigul Reader’s Mail</strong> -</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Fighting set to slow for winter months, says US intelligence</strong> - US intelligence says fighting has slowed down and this will continue throughout the winter.</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>Cutting energy prices will take years - power boss</strong> - The head of energy giant Enel says renewables are key to getting prices back to pre-Ukraine war levels.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Zelensky calls West’s Russian oil cap ‘weak’</strong> - The measure - due to come into force on Monday - intensifies pressure on Russia over the Ukraine invasion.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: New images show Russian army facility built in occupied Mariupol</strong> - Russia captured Mariupol earlier this year, and the images suggest it is consolidating its presence.</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>Netherlands 3-1 USA: Dutch overcome USA to book quarter-final spot</strong> - The Netherlands survive a late scare against the United States to move into the World Cup quarter-finals with a ruthless display of finishing.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>As the Arctic warms, beavers are moving in</strong> - Scientists are just beginning to study the impacts of beaver dams on the tundra. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901741">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Chinese netizens swamped China’s Internet controls</strong> - Citizens protesting zero-COVID policies proved smartphones can help fuel mass action. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901755">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Darknet markets generate millions in revenue selling stolen personal data</strong> - A handful of markets were responsible for trafficking most of the data. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901711">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>OLED monitor selection is pathetic. 2023 can change that</strong> - There’s reason to hope for greater OLED monitor variety in the new year. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901593">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple slices its AI image synthesis times in half with new Stable Diffusion fix</strong> - Creating AI-generated images on Macs, iPhones, and iPads just got a lot faster. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901694">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The US got knocked out in the World Cup on day 13!!!</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Its their fastest exit from the middle east!!!
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/IrrationalID_12"> /u/IrrationalID_12 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc5qv1/the_us_got_knocked_out_in_the_world_cup_on_day_13/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc5qv1/the_us_got_knocked_out_in_the_world_cup_on_day_13/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a pub</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Scotsman yells out “Drinks for the House, On Me!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The newspaper next morning reads ‘Irish Ventriloquist Found beaten to Death behind Pub’
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Mal_Havok"> /u/Mal_Havok </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zbzais/an_irishman_and_a_scotsman_walk_into_a_pub/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zbzais/an_irishman_and_a_scotsman_walk_into_a_pub/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Honest Priest</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A distinguished young woman on a flight from Ireland asked the Priest beside her, “Father, may I ask a favour?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Of course child, What may I do for you?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well, I bought an expensive woman’s electronic hair dryer for my Mother’s birthday that is unopened and well over the Customs limits, and I’m afraid they’ll confiscate it. Is there any way you could carry it through customs for me? Under your robes perhaps?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I would love to help you, dear, but I must warn you: I will not lie.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“With your honest face, Father, no one will question you.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
When they got to Customs, she let the priest go ahead of her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The official asked, “Father, do you have anything to declare?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“From the top of my head down to my waist, I have nothing to declare.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The official thought this answer strange, so asked, “And what do you have to declare from your waist to the floor?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I have a marvelous instrument designed to be used on a woman, but which is, to date, unused.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Roaring with laughter, the official said, “Go ahead, Father. Next!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/sfrogerfun"> /u/sfrogerfun </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc0euc/honest_priest/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc0euc/honest_priest/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My Daughter: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Me: “I dunno”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“To get to the idiots house” . . . . . “Knock knock”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Me: “Who’s there?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“It’s the chicken….”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She’s 8…
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Twunts"> /u/Twunts </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zbn73j/my_daughter_why_did_the_chicken_cross_the_road/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zbn73j/my_daughter_why_did_the_chicken_cross_the_road/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An English spy, a Scottish spy and an Irish spy are captured by the Nazis.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Nazis ask if they have any last wishes
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Irishman says “I want the Irish national anthem to be played before I die”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Scottish man says “I want the Scottish anthem to be played on bagpipes before I die”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Englishman says “I wanna die first”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Lazy-Drink-277"> /u/Lazy-Drink-277 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc1jzb/an_english_spy_a_scottish_spy_and_an_irish_spy/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc1jzb/an_english_spy_a_scottish_spy_and_an_irish_spy/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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