diff --git a/archive-covid-19/11 January, 2021.html b/archive-covid-19/11 January, 2021.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a643d82 --- /dev/null +++ b/archive-covid-19/11 January, 2021.html @@ -0,0 +1,196 @@ + + + + + + + +Covid-19 Sentry + +

Covid-19 Sentry

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Contents

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From Preprints

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From Clinical Trials

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From PubMed

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From Patent Search

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Daily-Dose

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Contents

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From New Yorker

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From Vox

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+If the US had Canada’s Covid-19 death rate, 225,000 more Americans would likely be alive today. +

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+Despite Covid-19 surges in Europe, the United States of America’s extraordinary death toll remains among the worst in the developed world. +

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+As of January 9, 2021, nearly 373,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the US, with a death rate of more than 1.1 per 1,000 people, according to Our World in Data. +

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+While there are nations with higher death rates, this still puts the US in the top 20 percent for deaths among the world’s developed countries, with more than twice the death rate of the median developed country. +

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+Some numbers to put that in perspective: +

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+As a result of Covid-19 surges in Europe, the US does look relatively better, compared to other developed nations, than in September. Back then, the US had seven times the death toll as the median developed country. That gap has shrunk massively — to two times. +

+

+That’s not because the US has done better but because Europe has done much worse. After managing to largely suppress the coronavirus over the spring and summer of 2020, Europe eased up over the late summer and fall, and saw huge surges as a result. +

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+The European surge has engulfed even countries widely heralded as successful for their fights against Covid-19 — such as Germany, which has recently reported a higher daily Covid-19 death toll than the US. +

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+But Europe is still doing better when you look at deaths since the pandemic began; it at least managed to suppress cases for a time — something the US hasn’t been able to do. One of the key reasons the US death toll remains so high compared to other developed nations is because America suffered a huge summer surge of Covid-19 that other places, including much of Europe, managed to avoid. +

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+And there are some countries that have managed the pandemic well. That includes some European nations like Denmark, Estonia, Cyprus, Finland, Norway, and Iceland. But the biggest success stories are Australia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan — which have broadly adopted more aggressive government measures against the coronavirus than America. +

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+In September, San Marino, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Italy, and Sweden led the US in Covid-19 deaths per million people. But Slovenia and Czechia now also pull ahead of America, while Spain and Sweden have fallen behind. +

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    <img alt="A chart of the Covid-19 death rate among several developed countries." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jTm0Lv2ZIRjdMMOjXnDw2TCyaEM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22226009/coronavirus_data_explorer__1_.png" />
+  <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&amp;time=2019-12-31..latest&amp;country=AUS~CAN~DEU~JPN~USA~EuropeanUnion~GBR~BEL&amp;region=World&amp;deathsMetric=true&amp;interval=total&amp;perCapita=true&amp;smoothing=0&amp;pickerMetric=location&amp;pickerSort=asc" target="_blank">Our World in Data</a></cite>
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+

+So why did the US fail so badly? A lot of this comes down to President Donald Trump. He pushed the country to reopen far too early and quickly, calling on states to “LIBERATE” their economies. He abdicated federal leadership and instead forced states, cities, and private entities to pick up the slack on a host of issues, particularly testing and, recently, vaccines. He downplayed the need for masks, outright mocking people, such as President-elect Joe Biden, for wearing them. The list goes on and on. +

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+In comparison, other leaders around the world have taken Covid-19 more seriously — embracing social distancing, testing and tracing, masking, and, when necessary, more extreme measures like lockdowns. Even with the recent surge of the coronavirus, many countries across Europe have reacted quickly and aggressively by imposing lockdowns, slowing the spread of the virus. The US, by comparison, has by and large remained open, with some states still not requiring masks. +

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+Clearly, not everything has gone perfectly in Europe and other parts of the world. A lot of people and places have screwed up their response to the coronavirus, showing that it’s no easy challenge. +

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+But when the numbers are added up, the US remains an extraordinary failure in its handling of Covid-19. +

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+Lawmakers may have been exposed to the coronavirus during Wednesday’s riot. +

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+Congress’s attending physician warned House members on Sunday that they may have been exposed to the coronavirus last week, after evacuating from the House chamber when pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol. +

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+In an email, attending physician Dr. Brian Monahan wrote that, after evacuating to “a large committee hearing space,” members “may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection.” +

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+NEW — the attending physician has sent out an email saying that people in the safe room during the riots may have been exposed to the coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/iqxYHG32ye +

+— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 10, 2021 +
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+“Please continue your usual daily coronavirus risk reduction measures,” Monahan goes on to say in the email, and “obtain an RT-PCR coronavirus test next week as a precaution.” +

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+Monahan’s warning is especially stark in the context of a video obtained last week by Punchbowl News — a new news outlet started in early 2021 by a handful of Politico alums — that shows evacuated House members unmasked and in close quarters with each other. +

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+In the video, one lawmaker — Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Delaware Democrat — can be seen offering other members masks, but many turn down the offer. +

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+“While I was disappointed in my colleagues who refused to wear a mask, I was encouraged by those who did,” Rochester said in a Friday tweet after the video became public. “My goal, in the midst of what I feared was a super spreader event, was to make the room at least a little safer.” +

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+While I was disappointed in my colleagues who refused to wear a mask, I was encouraged by those who did. My goal, in the midst of what I feared was a super spreader event, was to make the room at least a little safer. https://t.co/HpEZdUzHbd +

+— Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (@RepLBR) January 8, 2021 +
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+It’s unclear if the room in the video is the same one Monahan’s email warns was the location of a potential coronavirus exposure, but the footage, combined with the email, raises the alarming possibility of a Covid-19 outbreak on Capitol Hill. +

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+Since Wednesday, at least one House member — Republican Rep. Jake LaTurner of Kansas — has announced that he tested positive for Covid-19, though it is again unclear if LaTurner is the person with a coronavirus infection referenced in Monahan’s email. +

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+LaTurner, a first-term member of Congress, confirmed in a tweet that he tested positive on Wednesday night — the same day the Capitol was attacked. +

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+“Congressman LaTurner is following the advice of the House physician and CDC guidelines,” a tweet from his official account said, “and, therefore, does not plan to return to the House floor for votes until he is cleared to do so.” +

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+Congressman LaTurner is following the advice of the House physician and CDC guidelines and, therefore, does not plan to return to the House floor for votes until he is cleared to do so. +

+— Rep. Jake LaTurner (@RepLaTurner) January 7, 2021 +
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+There also are obvious coronavirus concerns about the mob of largely maskless pro-Trump insurgents who swarmed the Capitol on Wednesday. Many of these insurrectionists were in close contact with members of the Capitol Police while lawmakers evacuated. +

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+“You cannot keep distance if you’re trying to leave a very intense and dangerous situation,” one expert in respiratory virus transmission, Seema Lakdawala, told the New York Times last week. “You’re weighing the risk of your life over the risk of getting a virus at that moment.” +

+

+Also of concern is that if the events of Wednesday result in additional Covid-19 cases — or even morph into a superspreader event, though there is currently no evidence that has occurred — Congress is a particularly vulnerable population. +

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+In particular, age is a significant risk factor for cases of severe Covid-19. According to Mayo Clinic, about 80 percent of US deaths from the virus have been people age 65 and older — and the average age of House Democratic leadership in the 116th Congress (the 117th Congress began just last Sunday) was 71. The average age of the entire Democratic caucus in the previous Congress was 58, and for the Republican conference, 57. +

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+One fact that could help limit any potential spread, however, is that many members of Congress — including the top-ranking members of each party in the House and the Senate — have already received the the first of two Covid-19 vaccinations, hopefully lessening the risk of an outbreak. As Vox’s Kelsey Piper has explained, “getting just one dose still reduces a person’s chances of getting Covid-19 by 80 to 90 percent, at least initially.” +

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+Congress has been spared the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic +

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+Despite the risk factors on Capitol Hill, Congress has thus far been spared the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. As of mid-December, 49 members across both chambers had tested positive for Covid-19, though that number has since grown, and there have been no deaths among serving members. +

+

+However, Representative-elect Luke Letlow, 41, died of the coronavirus in late December, just days before he was set to be sworn in as a member of the 117th Congress. +

+

+Even elderly members of Congress, such as Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, 87, who tested positive in November, have come through the experience in good health, though Alaska Rep. Don Young, also 87, said on Twitter after surviving the virus that “very frankly, I had not felt this sick in a very long time.” +

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+Very frankly, I had not felt this sick in a very long time, and I am grateful to everyone who has kept me in their thoughts and prayers. Unfortunately, a lot of what you may have heard about my condition was based on speculation in the media that did not respect my privacy. +

+— Rep. Don Young (@repdonyoung) November 16, 2020 +
+
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+That’s in sharp contrast to the plight currently facing the country at large: Overshadowed by Wednesday’s insurrection on Capitol Hill, the US on Thursday reported the single highest one-day death toll of the pandemic with 4,112 deaths. +

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+On Friday, the US also recorded 300,000 new cases in a single day for the first time ever, reporting 300,594 cases. On average, the country has reported 253,958 new cases per day over the last seven days, according to the New York Times. +

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+The broader US vaccine rollout is also well behind pace, with only 5.9 million people vaccinated as of Thursday, far short of the 20 million the Trump administration said would be vaccinated by the end of December. +

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+It’s possible the tide will turn in the near future: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said last week that though the initial vaccine rollout has stumbled, “I believe that we will pick up momentum as we get beyond the holiday season into the first couple of weeks in January.” +

+

+And President-elect Joe Biden, who will be inaugurated in 10 days, has pledged a large-scale vaccine effort to get “at least 100 million Covid vaccine shots into the arms of the American people” within his first 100 days in office. +

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+To do so, Biden has said he will make a somewhat controversial change to the US distribution strategy, releasing all available doses at once. Both vaccines currently authorized for widespread use in the US require two doses, and the Trump administration had chosen to hold back doses to ensure those who get their first dose are guaranteed to have a second available when they’re scheduled to receive it. +

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+But even if the US vaccination effort improves in weeks to come, right now the pandemic is tearing through the US all but unchecked — and Wednesday’s events could have left Congress more vulnerable than ever to the virus. +

+ +

+House Majority Whip James Clyburn said Trump will likely face an impeachment vote by Wednesday. +

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+Democrats have been working rapidly to prepare articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump — and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) told Fox News Sunday a vote on those will come “probably Tuesday, maybe Wednesday.” +

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+Punchbowl News co-founder and Capitol Hill veteran John Bresnahan reported Sunday that the House will hold a brief session Monday. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), who helped draft the articles of impeachment, tweeted that the articles would be introduced at this session and that, as of Sunday afternoon, they had 200 cosponsors. +

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+The House move to begin impeachment proceedings comes in response to Trump’s role in inciting a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol last Wednesday, with the goal of stopping, delaying, or interfering with congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election. The articles of impeachment draft that has been made available addresses this by accusing Trump of “incitement of insurrection.” +

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+But the final articles may also address earlier efforts Trump made to overturn the results of the election. Clyburn told CNN’s State of the Union that he thought a series of phone calls in which Trump cajoled and threatened Georgia state election officials in an effort to have them overturn the state’s presidential vote results “is impeachable and I think it should be brought into the discussion.” +

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+Rep. James Clyburn says President Trump's phone call with the Georgia secretary of state "is impeachable and it should be brought into question" #CNNSOTU https://t.co/z34PT4AuTB pic.twitter.com/NXABsyQbq1 +

+— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 10, 2021 +
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+Some Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) discouraged their party from pursuing immediate impeachment charges, saying that focusing on quickly passing legislation at the start of the new administration and confirming Biden’s Cabinet should take precedence. +

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+“We have to put our government together quickly — that’s the most important thing we should do,” Manchin told the Washington Post Friday. “We don’t need any more political theater.” +

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+Addressing these concerns, Clyburn indicated to CNN that House Democrats may sit on impeachment until after President-elect Biden’s first 100 days have passed, giving priority instead to the new president’s policy agenda. +

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+Clyburn said figuring out the best way to balance impeachment with the beginning of Biden’s term will ultimately fall to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but said he would suggest, “Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we will send the articles sometime after that.” +

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+Rep. James Clyburn says while he expects the House will take action on the article of impeachment against Pres. Trump this week, House Democrats might wait until after President-elect Biden's first 100 days in office to send the article to the Senate. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/aLjjNWAxG9 +

+— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) January 10, 2021 +
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+Regardless of when the House might deliver any potential articles, there is likely to be some delay on the Senate side. Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) circulated a memo to his GOP colleagues laying out a potential schedule should the House immediately send articles of impeachment to the upper chamber. In it, McConnell writes that a trial wouldn’t begin until January 19 at the earliest, a day before Trump is supposed to leave office. +

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+If the impeachment process leads to a Senate trial, it is not clear Democrats will have the 67 votes needed to convict Trump; after newly-elected Georgia Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are sworn in as senators, Democrats will have a slim one-vote majority in the chamber (with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking 51st vote). +

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+There are two Republican senators, Sens. Pat Toomey and Lisa Murkowski, calling for Trump’s resignation, but so far, no GOP senators have said they would vote to convict him. +

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+In the House, there does seem to be enough support for a successful impeachment — beyond the draft article’s 200 cosponsors, over 220 Democrats in the chamber have publicly indicated support for impeachment proceedings. +

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+If impeached, Trump would become the first president in US history to be impeached twice. +

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+Democrats argue Trump needs to be impeached — even if he leaves office before a Senate trial +

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+Given possible delays in the Senate, Trump’s removal from office via a Senate conviction seems unlikely before his term expires on January 20. +

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+A more rapid form of removal could come through the vice president and the Cabinet invoking the 25th Amendment — which allows those parties to depower a president deemed unfit for office. +

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+But Vice President Mike Pence decided against invoking the 25th Amendment earlier this week, despite reportedly facing pressure to do so from some Cabinet members. According to CNN, Pence has chosen to keep that option in his back pocket in case Trump’s behavior worsens in his term’s final days. +

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+As Vox’s Andrew Prokop has reported, Democrats initially hoped Pence would lead a removal through the 25th Amendment. Now that it is clear that isn’t going to happen, Democrats are arguing they have no choice but to proceed with impeachment. +

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+Sunday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that “every minute” that Trump remains in office “represents a clear and present danger,” adding she hopes that Congress can bar Trump from holding office again through the impeachment process. +

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+Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs impeachment, telling @GStephanopoulos “every minute" that Trump is "in office represents a clear and present danger.”

“We’re also talking about complete barring of (Donald Trump) from running for office ever again.” https://t.co/k4g6uA7rAo pic.twitter.com/k5nIiWuOtx +

+— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 10, 2021 +
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+Several prominent Republicans, like Trump allies Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), have argued against impeachment, calling instead for “healing and unity” after the insurrection. But Ocasio-Cortez pushed back against that rhetoric Sunday, saying “The process of healing is separate and in fact requires accountability ... because without it, it will happen again,” she said. +

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+Rep. Ocasio-Cortez pushes back against some GOP lawmakers suggesting a second impeachment of Pres. Trump would threaten unity: "The process of healing is separate and in fact requires accountability... because without it, it will happen again." https://t.co/wbex0bS4Sb pic.twitter.com/6QcDczitua +

+— ABC News (@ABC) January 10, 2021 +
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+Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) echoed Ocasio-Cortez in comments to CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, saying that “there can only be reconciliation with repentance.” +

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+"Many of my Republican colleagues are now calling for healing and for us to come together. I'll tell you that there can only be reconciliation with repentance." -- Sen. Chris Coons pic.twitter.com/dl6Sg1lNUQ +

+— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 10, 2021 +
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+Essentially, Democrats are arguing that impeachment, even if done after Trump leaves office, will make it clear that incitement of an insurrection by federal elected officials is a line that must never be crossed again. +

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From The Hindu: Sports

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From The Hindu: National News

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From BBC: Europe

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From Ars Technica

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From Jokes Subreddit

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