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<title>11 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>Alone and in the dark: Sensemaking through online platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
During the lockdowns and social distancing mandates of the coronavirus pandemic, many turned to digital media to obtain information on COVID-19 and to make sense of the pandemic. At the same time, there has been ongoing scrutiny over the trustworthiness and authenticity of online spaces, such as the risk of fake news and algorithms promoting misinformation and echo chambers. In this chapter, I explore a tangential question: How does being aware of the dangers of our digital environment affect our experience of sensemaking? I present my own journey of reflexivity in making sense of the pandemic, and invite the reader to analyze how their awareness of filter bubbles, disinformation, platform governance decisions, and other influences over online spaces affects their experience of sensemaking and sheds light on relationship between the self, the other, and the machine.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/evy2g/" target="_blank">Alone and in the dark: Sensemaking through online platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL (COVID-19 IPC EDITION)</strong> -
<div>
This paper presents essential knowledge and skills in infection prevention practices, amid COVID-19, in our immediate community. A collection of hands on Health, Safety, and Infection Control skills and knowledge.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/7kqj6/" target="_blank">INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL (COVID-19 IPC EDITION)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>UPHOLDING MULTILATERALISM: INDONESIA’S FOREIGN POLICY IN RESPONDING TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC</strong> -
<div>
The 2019 Coronavirus disease or COVID-19 has apparently become a new global challenge. Not only did the pandemic drive all actors to make response, but it also affected the relations among them. That Indonesia raised multilateralism in the unprecedented situation while more unilateral or populist actions taken by a number of states encouraged this research. This paper attempts to explain Indonesia’s foreign policy in upholding multilateralism to respond to the COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic. Such response was intended to mitigate the impacts caused by the pandemic. This research applied holistic constructivism in understanding the determinants of Indonesia’s foreign policy by investigating both domestic and international cause. This research utilized the qualitative method with an explanatory analysis. The findings show that such Indonesia’s foreign policy was driven by its identity constructed by both indigenous norm of gotong royong and global norm of International Health Regulation. The norm-laden or identity-based foreign policy was leading it to uphold multilateralism which was considered appropriate in order to coordinate, collaborate and cooperate with international communities. In addition, Indonesia maintained its trust on and support to the the World Health Organization as the most leading actor in health governance championing fight against the pandemic. This paper argues that the norm factors do matter in Indonesia’s foreign policy in facing uncertainties in the vulnerable and interconnected world. Through the case studied, this paper suggests that looking at the domestic actor as well as the state in international system help provide a better understanding on the state behavior in international relations.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/d3pht/" target="_blank">UPHOLDING MULTILATERALISM: INDONESIA’S FOREIGN POLICY IN RESPONDING TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>wastewaterSPAdes: SARS-CoV-2 strain deconvolution using SPAdes toolkit</strong> -
<div>
Motivation: SARS-CoV-2 wastewater samples are extensively collected and studied because it allows quantitatively assess a viral load in surrounding populations. Additionally, SARS-CoV-2 strain deconvolution gives more insights into pandemic dynamics, and the uprising of new strains. Usually, the solution to the strain deconvolution problem starts with read alignment of wastewater short read sequencing data to the SARS-CoV-2 reference genome. After variants are called and their abundances are estimated, a reference database is used to assign variants to strains, select a subset of strains, and infer relative abundance of these strains based on some mathematical model. Assembly-based methods have its own strengths, but currently reside in the shadow of alignment-based methods. Results: In this paper we propose a new assembly-based approach based on SPAdes toolkit codebase - wastewaterSPAdes, that is able to deconvolve wastewater without a need of read alignment. Our results show that watewaterSPAdes is able to accurately identify strains presented in a sample, and correctly estimate abundances for most of the samples.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.08.519672v1" target="_blank">wastewaterSPAdes: SARS-CoV-2 strain deconvolution using SPAdes toolkit</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Global loss of cellular m6A RNA methylation following infection with different SARS-CoV-2 variants</strong> -
<div>
Host-viral interactions during SARS-CoV-2 infection are needed to understand COVID-19 pathogenesis and may help to guide the design of novel antiviral therapeutics. N6-methyladenosine modification (m6A), one of the most abundant cellular RNA modifications, regulates key processes in RNA metabolism during a stress response. Gene expression profiles observed post-infection with different SARS-CoV-2 variants show changes in the expression of genes related to RNA catabolism, including m6A readers and erasers. We found that infection with SARS-CoV-2 variants caused a loss of m6A in cellular RNAs, whereas m6A was detected abundantly in viral RNA. METTL3, the m6A methyltransferase, showed an unusual cytoplasmic localization post-infection. The B.1.351 variant had a less pronounced effect on METTL3 localization and loss of m6A than the B.1 and B.1.1.7 variants. We also observed a loss of m6A upon SARS-CoV-2 infection in air/liquid interface cultures of human airway epithelia, confirming that m6A loss is characteristic of SARS-CoV-2 infected cells. Further, transcripts with m6A modification were preferentially down-regulated post-infection. Inhibition of the export protein XPO1 resulted in the restoration of METTL3 localization, recovery of m6A on cellular RNA, and increased mRNA expression. Stress granule formation, which was compromised by SARS-CoV-2 infection, was restored by XPO1 inhibition and accompanied by a reduced viral infection in vitro. Together, our study elucidates how SARS-CoV-2 inhibits the stress response and perturbs cellular gene expression in an m6A-dependent manner.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.08.519593v1" target="_blank">Global loss of cellular m6A RNA methylation following infection with different SARS-CoV-2 variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Biochemistry-informed design selects potent siRNAs against SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
RNA interference (RNAi) offers an efficient way to repress genes of interest, and it is widely used in research settings. Clinical applications emerged more recently, with 5 approved siRNAs (the RNA guides of the RNAi effector complex) against human diseases. The development of siRNAs against the SARS-CoV-2 virus could therefore provide the basis of novel Covid-19 treatments, while being easily adaptable to future variants or to other, unrelated viruses. Because the biochemistry of RNAi is very precisely described, it is now possible to design siRNAs with high predicted activity and specificity using only computational tools. While previous siRNA design algorithms tended to rely on simplistic strategies (raising fully complementary siRNAs against targets of interest), our approach uses the most up-to-date mechanistic description of RNAi to allow mismatches at tolerable positions and to force them at beneficial positions, while optimizing siRNA duplex asymmetry. Our pipeline proposes 8 siRNAs against SARS-CoV-2, and ex vivo assessment confirms the high antiviral activity of 6 out of 8 siRNAs, also achieving excellent variant coverage (with several 3-siRNA combinations recognizing each correctly-sequenced variant as of September 2022). Our approach is easily generalizable to other viruses as long as a variant genome database is available. With siRNA delivery procedures being currently improved, RNAi could therefore become an efficient and versatile antiviral therapeutic strategy.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.08.519651v1" target="_blank">Biochemistry-informed design selects potent siRNAs against SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>TMPRSS2 is essential for SARS-CoV-2 Beta and Omicron infection</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic remains a global health threat and novel antiviral strategies are urgently needed. SARS-CoV-2 employs the cellular serine protease TMPRSS2 for entry into lung cells and TMPRSS2 inhibitors are being developed for COVID-19 therapy. However, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, which currently dominates the pandemic, prefers the endo/lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsin L over TMPRSS2 for cell entry, raising doubts whether TMPRSS2 inhibitors would be suitable for treatment of patients infected with the Omicron variant. Nevertheless, the contribution of TMPRSS2 to spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the infected host is largely unclear. Here, we show that loss of TMPRSS2 strongly reduced the replication of the Beta variant in nose, trachea and lung of C57BL mice and protected the animals from weight loss and disease. Infection of mice with the Omicron variant did not cause disease, as expected, but again TMPRSS2 was essential for ef-ficient viral spread in the upper and lower respiratory tract. These results identify a key role of TMPRSS2 in SARS-CoV-2 Beta and Omicron infection and highlight TMPRSS2 as an attractive target for antiviral intervention.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.09.519765v1" target="_blank">TMPRSS2 is essential for SARS-CoV-2 Beta and Omicron infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Respiratory Virus Circulation during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Household Influenza Vaccine Evaluation (HIVE) Cohort</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background. The annual reappearance of respiratory viruses has been recognized for decades. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic altered typical respiratory virus transmission patterns. COVID-19 mitigation measures taken during the pandemic were targeted at SARS-CoV-2 respiratory transmission and thus broadly impacted the burden of acute respiratory illnesses (ARIs), in general. Methods. We used the longitudinal Household Influenza Vaccine Evaluation (HIVE) cohort of households in southeast Michigan to characterize mitigation strategy adherence, respiratory illness burden, and the circulation of 15 respiratory viruses during the COVID-19 pandemic determined by RT-PCR of respiratory specimens collected at illness onset. Study participants were surveyed twice during the study period (March 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021), and serologic specimens were collected for antibody measurement by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Incidence rates of ARI reports and virus detections were calculated and compared using incidence rate ratios for the study period and a pre-pandemic period of similar length. Results. Overall, 437 participants reported a total of 772 ARIs and 329 specimens (42.6%) had respiratory viruses detected. Rhinoviruses were the most frequently detected organism, but seasonal coronaviruses, excluding SARS-CoV-2, were also common. Illness reports and percent positivity were lowest from May to August 2020, when mitigation measures were most stringent. Study participants were more adherent to mitigation measures in the first survey compared with the second survey. Supplemental serology surveillance identified 5.3% seropositivity for SARS-CoV-2 in summer 2020; 3.0% between fall 2020 and winter 2021; and 11.3% in spring 2021. Compared to a pre-pandemic period of similar length, the incidence rate of total reported ARIs for the study period was 50% lower (95% CI: 0.5, 0.6; p&lt;0.001) than the incidence rate from March 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017. Conclusions. The burden of ARI in the HIVE cohort during the COVID-19 pandemic fluctuated, with declines occurring concurrently with the widespread use of public health measures. It is notable, however, that rhinovirus and seasonal coronaviruses continued to circulate even as influenza and SARS-CoV-2 circulation was low.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.08.22283268v1" target="_blank">Respiratory Virus Circulation during the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Household Influenza Vaccine Evaluation (HIVE) Cohort</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Duration of viral shedding of the Omicron variant in asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 cases from Shanghai, China</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization, spreads globally and was confirmed as the cause of the Omicron wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Shanghai, China. The viral shedding duration of Omicron variants needs to be determined. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 382 patients admitted to a shelter hospital for COVID-19. Of the patients, 8 patients were referred to a designated hospital, 100 were infected asymptomatic patients, and 274 patients had mild COVID-19. Results: The vaccination rates (including fully and boosted) in the asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 patients were 92.00% and 94.16%, respectively. Majority of the studied population showed a first reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction cycle threshold (Ct) value of 20. For 2565 nasopharyngeal swabs from close or sub-close contacts, the Ct value gradually increased to 35 for 8 days, and the median duration of viral shedding time was 10 days after the first positive detection of the SARS-CoV-2 nuclei acid. Conclusions: Quantitative viral RNA load assays in COVID-19 (BA.2.2.1) close or sub-closed contacts could be used to prevent transmissions and control precautions.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.08.22283272v1" target="_blank">Duration of viral shedding of the Omicron variant in asymptomatic and mild COVID-19 cases from Shanghai, China</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Determinants for detection of infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants of concern in health care workers by rapid antigen tests</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
IMPORTANCE The rapid genetic evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and in particular the highly contagious Omicron variant of concern (VoC) may pose problems for rapid and accurate diagnosis of infection especially in health care workers. OBJECTIVE Determine the diagnostic accuracy and robustness of two rapid antigen tests compared to the golden standard, PCR-based diagnostics, for detection of infection with different SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VoC sub lineages in health care workers. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The study included 428 health care workers from the University Hospital Munich Rechts der Isar who reported recent onset of COVID-19 associated symptoms or completed routine diagnostic testing from 24th of May to 22nd of September 2022. All participants gave written informed consent to participate in this study and completed a questionnaire on infection-associated symptoms, prior SARS-CoV-2 infections and vaccination status. INTERVENTIONS During the first visit, two nasal swabs were taken to perform two rapid antigen tests and one oropharyngeal swab for PCR-based diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. A second set of nasal swabs was taken by participants two days later for repeated performance of the two rapid antigen tests. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The accuracy for detection of infection with different SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VoCs with two rapid antigen tests (Test I and Test II) was determined and compared to quantitative SARS CoV-2 RNA levels detected by PCR. RESULTS In a side-by-side comparison, we found that Test I detected viral nucleocapsids from Omicron VoC (BA.5.2.3) at higher dilutions compared to Test II. In the study, that included a total of 428 health care workers, Test I and Test II detected PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection with different Omicron VoCs (BA.2, BA.4, BA.5) with a sensitivity of 89.4% (95% CI 81.9% - 94.6%) and of 83.7% (95% CI 75.12% - 90.18%), respectively. Increased sensitivity by Test I was also reflected by earlier detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and lesser test sensitivity by Test II was compensated for by a repeated test performed two days later. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The results from the study demonstrate the usefulness of rapid antigen tests for detection of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VoC and reveal an advantage of a lower detection limit for earlier detection of infection in health care workers.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.08.22283259v1" target="_blank">Determinants for detection of infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants of concern in health care workers by rapid antigen tests</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The impact of the pandemic on student Spanish language proficiency</strong> -
<div>
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to take stock of student learning. Although the “crisis-context” (Gacs, et al., 2020) move to fully online instruction may be over, a complete understanding of how student outcomes have been impacted remains. The present study focuses on how student Spanish language proficiency, as measured by the STAMP test, was affected by moving all on-ground language courses online in March 2020 at a small public university in the northeastern US. Comparing median student Spanish language proficiency as well as sub-level proficiencies in reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills across a total of 30 sections of a third-semester Spanish course (n=568) pre- and post-2020, we examined student learning outcomes based upon the modality of instruction. Results revealed a significant increase in students’ overall Spanish language proficiency and significant increases in sub-level proficiencies in three out of the four skills in the online modality. Thus, in spite of the many changes that took place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, students’ Spanish language proficiencies were either positively impacted or unimpacted. We discuss the implications of these results and pose questions for on- ground and online language courses moving forward.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://edarxiv.org/g4qd8/" target="_blank">The impact of the pandemic on student Spanish language proficiency</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The impact of age and psychosocial factors on cognitive and auditory outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
Purpose: In March 2020, the UK government announced that people should isolate to reduce the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Outside a pandemic, psychosocial factors, such as socialisation and mental health, may impact the relationship between hearing loss and increased dementia risk. We aim to report the impact of psychosocial factors, including social isolation, depression, and engagement in activities, on hearing and cognitive function in younger and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A online survey and behavioural experiment assessed psychosocial factors, hearing, and cognition. Data presented were collected between June 2020 and February 2021. Participants included older (N = 112, MAGE = 70.08) and younger (N = 121, MAGE = 20.52) monolingual speakers of English, without any language or neurological disorders. Results: Multiple regression analyses indicated that older adults displayed poorer hearing and cognitive performance compared to younger adults, and that increased depression was associated with poorer subjective hearing. Other psychosocial factors did not significantly predict hearing or cognitive function. Conclusions: Our findings shed light on whether the relationship between hearing loss and cognitive decline is impacted by psychosocial factors. Ethical approval given by Lancaster University’s Faculty of Science and Technology (FST19175).
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/rqfjy/" target="_blank">The impact of age and psychosocial factors on cognitive and auditory outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Atlas-scale single-cell multi-sample multi-condition data integration using scMerge2</strong> -
<div>
The recent emergence of multi-sample multi-condition single-cell multi-cohort studies allows researchers to investigate different cell states. The effective integration of multiple large-cohort studies promises biological insights into cells under different conditions that individual studies cannot provide. Here, we present scMerge2, a scalable algorithm that allows data integration of atlas-scale multi-sample multi-condition single-cell studies. We have generalised scMerge2 to enable the merging of millions of cells from single-cell studies generated by various single-cell technologies. Using a large COVID-19 data collection with over five million cells from 1000+ individuals, we demonstrate that scMerge2 enables multi-sample multi-condition scRNA-seq data integration from multiple cohorts and reveals signatures derived from cell-type expression that are more accurate in discriminating disease progression. Further, we demonstrate that scMerge2 can remove dataset variability in CyTOF, imaging mass cytometry and CITE-seq experiments, demonstrating its applicability to a broad spectrum of single-cell profiling technologies.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.08.519588v1" target="_blank">Atlas-scale single-cell multi-sample multi-condition data integration using scMerge2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effect of BNT162b2 antigen dosage on protection against SARS-CoV-2 omicron infection</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine antigen dosage may affect protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, but direct evidence to quantify this effect is lacking. Methods: A matched, retrospective, cohort study that emulated a randomized control trial was conducted in Qatar between February 3, 2022 and November 8, 2022, to provide a head-to-head, controlled comparison of protection induced by two antigen dosages of the BNT162b2 vaccine. The study compared incidence of omicron infection in the national cohort of adolescents 12 years of age who received the two-dose primary-series of the 30-μg BNT162b2 vaccine to that in the national cohort of adolescents 11 years of age who received the two-dose primary-series of the pediatric 10-μg BNT162b2 vaccine. Associations were estimated using Cox proportional-hazard regression models. Results: Among adolescents with no record of prior infection, cumulative incidence of infection was 6.0% (95% CI: 4.9-7.3%) for the 30-μg cohort and 7.2% (95% CI: 6.1-8.5%) for the 10-μg cohort, 210 days after the start of follow-up. Incidence during follow-up was dominated by omicron subvariants including, consecutively, BA.1/BA.2, BA.4/BA.5, BA.2.75*, and XBB. The adjusted hazard ratio comparing incidence of infection in the 30-μg cohort to the 10-μg cohort was 0.77 (95% CI: 0.60-0.98). Corresponding relative effectiveness was 23.4% (95% CI: 1.6-40.4%). Relative effectiveness was -3.3% (95% CI: -68.0-27.5%) among adolescents with a record of prior infection. Conclusions: Three-fold higher BNT162b2 dosage was associated with ~25% higher protection against infection in infection-naive adolescents of similar age. These findings may inform design of future COVID-19 vaccines and boosters for persons of different age groups.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.29.22282864v1" target="_blank">Effect of BNT162b2 antigen dosage on protection against SARS-CoV-2 omicron infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Sample average treatment effect on the treated analysis using counterfactual explanation identifies BMT and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination as protective risk factors associated with COVID-19 severity and survival in patients with multiple myeloma</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Patients with multiple myeloma (MM), an age-dependent neoplasm of antibody-producing plasma cells, have compromised immune systems and might be at increased risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes. This study characterizes risk factors associated with clinical indicators of COVID-19 severity and all-cause mortality in myeloma patients utilizing NCATS9 National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) database. The N3C consortium is a large, centralized data resource representing the largest multi-center cohort of COVID-19 cases and controls nationwide (&gt;16 million total patients, and &gt;6 million confirmed COVID-19+ cases to date). Our cohort included myeloma patients (both inpatients and outpatients) within the N3C consortium who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 based on positive PCR or antigen tests or ICD-10-CM diagnosis code. The outcomes of interest include all-cause mortality (including discharge to hospice) during the index encounter and clinical indicators of severity (i.e., hospitalization/emergency department/ED visit, use of mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)). Finally, causal inference analysis was performed using the propensity score matching (PSM) method. As of 05/16/2022, the N3C consortium included 1,061,748 cancer patients, out of which 26,064 were MM patients (8,588 were COVID-19 positive). The mean age at COVID-19 diagnosis was 65.89 years, 46.8% were females, and 20.2% were of black race. 4.47% of patients died within 30 days of COVID-19 hospitalization. Overall, the survival probability was 90.7% across the course of the study. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed histories of pulmonary and renal disease, dexamethasone, proteasome inhibitor/PI, immunomodulatory/IMiD therapies, and severe Charlson Comorbidity Index/CCI were significantly associated with higher risks of severe COVID-19 outcomes. Protective associations were observed with blood-or-marrow transplant/BMT and COVID-19 vaccination. Further, multivariate cox proportional hazard analysis showed that high and moderate CCI levels, International Staging System (ISS) moderate or severe stage, and PI therapy were associated with worse survival, while BMT and COVID-19 vaccination were associated with lower risk of death. Finally, matched sample average treatment effect on the treated (SATT) confirmed the causal effect of BMT and vaccination status as top protective factors associated with COVID-19 risk among US patients suffering from multiple myeloma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest nationwide study on myeloma patients with COVID-19.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.07.22283208v1" target="_blank">Sample average treatment effect on the treated analysis using counterfactual explanation identifies BMT and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination as protective risk factors associated with COVID-19 severity and survival in patients with multiple myeloma</a>
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</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>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>COVID-19 Huashi Baidu Formula Clinical Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Huashi Baidu Granule;   Drug: Monapiravir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences;   Beijing YouAn Hospital;   Kossamak Hospital;   Kamuzu University of Health Sciences<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>Shaping Care Home COVID-19 Testing Policy</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: Lateral Flow Device<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University College, London<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>Asunercept for the Treatment of Patients With Moderate to Severe COVID-19 Disease</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Asunercept;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Apogenix AG<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study in Adults to Assess the Safety and Efficacy of Inhaled IBIO123, for Post-exposure Prophylaxis of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: IBIO123;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Immune Biosolutions Inc<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>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>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>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>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>A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy, Safety, and Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Variant (BA.4 /5) mRNA Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: ABO1020;   Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Efficacy of Azvudine and Paxlovid in High-risk Patients With COVID-19: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Azvudine;   Drug: Paxlovid group<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Southeast University, China;   Hohhot First Hospital, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China<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>Post-COVID-19 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome;   Post-COVID Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Synthetic Vitamin B1<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   ClinAmygate;   As-Salam Center, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Efficacious Benefit of 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D to Prevent COVID-19: An In-Silico Study Targeting SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein</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>N-acetylcysteine Reduces Inflammasome Activation Induced by SARS-CoV-2 Proteins In Vitro</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>Triacetyl Resveratrol Inhibits PEDV by Inducing the Early Apoptosis In Vitro</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>Adaptor protein MyD88 confers the susceptibility to stress via amplifying immune danger signals</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>Porcine deltacoronavirus uses heparan sulfate as an attachment receptor</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>A potential host and virus targeting tool against COVID-19: Chemical characterization, antiviral, cytoprotective, antioxidant, respiratory smooth muscle relaxant effects of Paulownia tomentosa Steud</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>Potential therapeutic value of necroptosis inhibitor for the treatment of COVID-19</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>Influence of online opinions and interactions on the Covid-19 vaccination in Chile</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>Engineering antiviral immune-like systems for autonomous virus detection and inhibition 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>SARS-CoV-2 Spike triggers barrier dysfunction and vascular leak via integrins and TGF-β signaling</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>Cross-reaction of current available SARS-CoV-2 MAbs against the pangolin-origin coronavirus GX/P2V/2017</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>Biochemical and structural insights into SARS-CoV-2 polyprotein processing by Mpro</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>Small-molecule metabolites in SARS-CoV-2 treatment: a comprehensive review</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>To prophylax or not, and how much and how long? Controversies in VTE prevention for medical inpatients, including COVID-19 inpatients</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>A perspective study of the possible impact of obeticholic acid against SARS-CoV-2 infection</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>Trump’s 2024 Campaign So Far Is an Epic Act of Self-Sabotage</strong> - But is this really the end of an error? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/trumps-2024-campaign-so-far-is-an-epic-act-of-self-sabotage">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Pedro Castillo’s Failed Coup Attempt Means for Peru</strong> - Can the country emerge intact from the world’s shortest-lived dictatorship? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-pedro-castillos-failed-coup-attempt-means-for-peru">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Respect for Marriage Act Is Also a Victory for Same-Sex-Marriage Opponents</strong> - It favors the rights of religious groups over those of gay couples—and, if Obergefell were to be overruled, it would create two classes of marriage. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-respect-for-marriage-act-is-also-a-victory-for-same-sex-marriage-opponents">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Should Local Police Departments Deploy Lethal Robots?</strong> - A vote from the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco reopened the debate over deploying surplus military matériel. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/should-local-police-departments-deploy-lethal-robots">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Happens When Jobs Are Guaranteed?</strong> - In a small Austrian village, an experimental program finds—or creates—work for the unemployed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/what-happens-when-jobs-are-guaranteed">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Neuralink shows what happens when you bring “move fast and break things” to animal research</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Photo collage of a gloved hand holding a mouse, with Elon Musk’s face in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TNqN8NDZiPFmlAwmwk_sHUL6nM0=/310x0:1750x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71736350/elon_animal_cruel_art_1.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Christina Animashaun/Vox; Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Elon Musk’s brain chip implant company is reportedly under federal investigation for violating the Animal Welfare Act.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dDIVzP">
Among the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/10/28/23426922/elon-musk-army-fandom-former-fans-twitter-ceo">many grievances</a> people harbor toward Elon Musk, add one more: alleged animal cruelty.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GplH4P">
Neuralink, a startup co-founded by Musk in 2016, aims to develop a brain chip implant that it <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/what-does-elon-musks-brain-chip-company-neuralink-do-2022-12-05/">claims</a> could one day help paralyzed people walk and blind people see. But to do that, the company has first been testing its technology on animals, killing some 1,500 since 2018 — and employee whistleblowers <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/musks-neuralink-faces-federal-probe-employee-backlash-over-animal-tests-2022-12-05/">recently told Reuters</a> the experiments are going horribly wrong.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dcHUoV">
Reuters reported this week that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Inspector General has opened a probe into potential violations of <a href="https://rt.cto.mil/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Animal-Welfare-Act-and-Regulations.pdf">the Animal Welfare Act</a> at Neuralink. It’s a rare corrective for an agency that is generally <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ilarjournal/article/57/3/285/3796586">hands-off</a> when it comes to animal research.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q9MUnw">
Congressional Democrats are weighing in too. As <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-lawmakers-push-more-oversight-elon-musks-neuralink-2022-12-08/">reported</a> by Reuters, US House Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Adam Schiff wrote in a draft letter to the USDA that they are “very concerned that this may be another example of high-profile cases of animal cruelty involving USDA-inspected facilities.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ixUCMT">
Questions around Neuralink’s treatment of animals date back to 2017, when Neuralink conducted experiments on monkeys at the University of California Davis. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a group that campaigns for alternatives to animal testing, obtained public records detailing the experiments. The findings were gruesome: One rhesus macaque monkey’s nausea was “so severe that the animal vomited and had open sores in her esophagus before she was finally killed,” according to Ryan Merkley, PCRM’s director of research advocacy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="juUriJ">
Surgeons used an unapproved adhesive to fill open spaces in an animal’s skull, created from implanting the Neuralink device, “which then caused the animal to suffer greatly due to brain hemorrhaging,” Merkley said.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wZ8Xcy4K_f6s0pLdrUEHsyq7QK8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24280242/WAM13805.jpg"/> <cite>Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media</cite>
<figcaption>
The Coulston Foundation in Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA, was a bio-medical research lab that at one point held over 600 primates used for toxicology, pre-clinical drug testing, and infectious disease research. The foundation’s ongoing record of poor and negligent care led to numerous charges and violations under the US Animal Welfare Act (AWA). In 2001, the research lab lost its government contracts due to concerns over animal welfare, and it was eventually closed. (Note: This photo is not from a Neuralink experiment.)
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wQ0P91">
He also pointed to “instances of animals suffering from chronic infections, like staph infections where the implant was in their head. There were animals pulling out their hair and self-mutilating, which are signs of really poor psychological health in laboratory animals and are very common in rhesus macaques” and other primates. (Disclosure: My partner worked at PCRM six years ago and was colleagues with Merkley.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t29Wkp">
A few years later, Neuralink moved its experiments in-house. Current and former employees told Reuters that Musk put staff under immense pressure to speed up animal trials in order to begin human trials, telling them that they had to imagine a bomb was strapped to their head as motivation to work harder and faster. That may have contributed to botched experiments: Through documents and interviews with Neuralink staff, Reuters identified four experiments with 86 pigs and two monkeys that went awry due to employee mistakes. As a result, the experiments had to be repeated. “One employee,” Reuters reported, “wrote an angry missive earlier this year to colleagues about the need to overhaul how the company organizes animal surgeries to prevent ‘hack jobs.’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3JUz0x">
The breakneck speed at Neuralink likely caused researchers to test and kill more animals than a slower, more conventional approach would call for. Since 2018, the company has tested on and killed at least 1,500 animals — over 280 sheep, pigs, and monkeys, as well as mice and rats.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hqp1-IlL6nfxPzXa9vYanSFcbaQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24280231/WAM22413.jpg"/> <cite>Roger Kingbird / We Animals Media</cite>
<figcaption>
A pig at an undisclosed research laboratory in the US. (Note: This is not from a Neuralink experiment.)
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SfRTxG">
“There’s this incredible pressure by these Silicon Valley dudes who want their devices on the market, they want to push things forward, but they don’t understand that these things take time,” said Merkley. “That leads to — as we’ve seen — botched experiments and animals suffering.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7A4Y5w">
Neuralink did not respond to an interview request for this story. UC Davis declined an interview request and pointed me to its <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-and-neuralink">media statement</a> on the issue.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DRfp6f">
“The research protocols were thoroughly reviewed and approved by the campus’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC),” one part of it reads. “When an incident occurred, it was reported to the IACUC, which mandated training and protocol changes as needed.” The university also said it “follows all applicable laws and regulations,” including those of the USDA and the National Institutes of Health.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3o7iBA">
In February, PCRM filed a complaint with the USDA alleging violations of the Animal Welfare Act stemming from the earlier Neuralink experiments at UC Davis. In March, the USDA posted inspection reports of both UC Davis and Neuralink facilities and found zero violations.<strong> </strong>But a federal prosecutor in the Northern District of California sent PCRM’s complaint to the USDA Inspector General (OIG), a federal office charged with investigating and auditing USDA programs, which then opened a formal probe, according to Reuters.<strong> </strong>When contacted, the USDA OIG responded “USDA OIG can neither confirm or deny any investigation.<strong>”</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mmWqEA">
That the USDA found no violations at UC Davis or Neuralink “just shows you how weak the Animal Welfare Act is, and even more so how weak the enforcement of that law is,” Merkley said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1AS8N9">
The USDA declined an interview request for this story but said in an emailed statement, “USDA takes its charge to enforce the AWA seriously, and works diligently every day to protect the welfare of regulated animals.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="voo6qC">
The “move fast and break things” ethos of Silicon Valley can be dangerous enough when a company is building a new social network, but the stakes are far higher when the life and death of hundreds or thousands of animals is in question, let alone the human patients whom Neuralink hopes will be the ultimate recipients of its technology. But it would be a mistake to think of Musk and Neuralink as a mere bad apple. Cruel animal experiments are taking place not just at private medical companies, but also at universities, commercial research facilities, and government agencies across the country — and regulators are lagging behind.
</p>
<h3 id="SbTygx">
The Animal Welfare Act, explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9jVfJT">
As federal laws go, the 1966 Animal Welfare Act may have one of the weirder and darker origin stories. Starting in the 1940s, the demand for animal experimentation by federally funded scientists exploded, to the point where stray dogs were <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pepper/2009/06/pepper_goes_to_washington.html">seized from animal shelters</a> to serve as test subjects, while even pet dogs would sometimes be snatched up and sold to experimenters. The most high-profile case involved <a href="https://vault.si.com/vault/1965/11/29/the-lost-pets-that-stray-to-the-labs">Pepper</a>, a 5-year-old Dalmatian in Pennsylvania who went missing in the summer of 1964 and turned up nine days later at a New York City hospital, where she was used in a medical experiment and then cremated. Pepper’s fate — and a <a href="https://awionline.org/sites/default/files/publication/digital_download/LA-Life-Concentration-Camps-for-Dogs.pdf">Life magazine exposé</a> into dog experiments — caused an uproar. Two years later, Congress passed the Animal Welfare Act.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A group of beagles plays around a woman laying on the ground." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vAQYsYy_1RmrURI1aIrKpTcpFwI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24280234/GettyImages_1244031738.jpg"/> <cite>Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Caretaker Danielle McClammy plays with beagle pups at Fairfax, Virginia, County Animal Shelter in August 2022. They were among 16 beagles that were taken in by the shelter and are among thousands of beagles that were removed from the Envigo animal research breeding facility in Cumberland, Virginia, because of numerous animal welfare violations.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iAfLiY">
Despite its exhaustive-sounding name, the law excludes most animals kept in human captivity: the billions of animals we raise for food. It primarily covers the treatment and living conditions of companion animals bred in puppy mills, animals used for entertainment at zoos and circuses, and animals used in research for everything from vaccines to makeup. Even for these covered use cases, there are some big loopholes. Birds, reptiles, fish, and virtually all mice and rats — which make up the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79961-0">vast majority</a> of animals used in vivisection — aren’t protected by the law, nor are animals used in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/dining/animal-welfare-at-risk-in-experiments-for-meat-industry.html?_r=0">agricultural research</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="auEdNd">
The Animal Welfare Act also doesn’t say much about what can and can’t be done to animals in experiments. Rather, it sets minimum standards for basic conditions such as food, water, space, and lighting.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VHdqf3">
The law leaves much of how experiments are conducted to bodies called Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees, or IACUCs. Most research facilities — private or public — must set up an IACUC, which means the research is essentially self-governed. IACUCs are usually composed of employees, in the case of private companies like Neuralink, or faculty at universities.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rUKvWx">
IACUCs do have some checks and balances — they must have at least one external member, inspect facilities every six months, and follow some record-keeping requirements, like submitting annual reports to the USDA and conducting literature reviews to minimize duplicative research. They’re also charged with minimizing pain in animals during procedures, among other requirements.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KmUNEC">
Those checks and balances still give scientists wide latitude to conduct research how they see fit, critics say, leading to many cruel and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/7/28/12228036/mice-cell-studies-flaws">unnecessary experiments</a>.
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In 2014, the USDA’s Office of the Inspector General <a href="https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/33601-0001-41.pdf">said</a> some IACUCs “did not adequately approve, monitor, or report on experimental procedures on animals.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lCXtL4">
One study that looked at a group of IACUCs found a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4494267/">98 percent approval rate</a> for experiment protocols, and other papers have found similarly high rates.
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“There’s a tremendous problem if these IACUCs are populated just with the colleagues of the same institution,” said Thomas Hartung, a biochemist and the director of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing at Johns Hopkins University. “In Europe, there’s a very different approach where there’s a separation of these bodies that are linked to competent authorities, where conflicts of interest are much more avoided. In general, the bar is much higher to get these experiments accepted.” He added that the more rigorous process leads to better science.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VVAg2x">
We don’t know the full scope of animal experiments or what exactly happens to the tens of millions of animals estimated to go under the knife in the name of science and product development each year. The USDA inspects each facility at least once a year and publishes those inspections, but they’re only a small snapshot of animal treatment. And labs accredited by AAALAC International, a private veterinary organization, benefit from only being subject to <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/usda-now-only-partially-inspects-some-lab-animal-facilities-internal-documents-reveal">partial inspections</a>. According to <em>Science</em>, 91 out of 322 facilities inspected during one period only received partial inspections.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tw5pjo">
It’s <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/ninth-circuit-takes-up-peta-challenge-of-university-of-washington-public-records-block/">not</a> <a href="https://www.twincities.com/2010/04/05/madison-peta-suing-over-uw-public-records/">uncommon</a> for testing labs to fight to prevent details of experiments from coming to light (PCRM has sued UC Davis to <a href="https://futurism.com/uc-davis-neuralink-monkey-photos-lawsuit">hand over photos</a> from the experiments under California’s public records law). But public records requests have exposed a number of disturbing experiments.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NGjrpM">
Wayne State University in Michigan has induced <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/news/campaign-aims-to-end-decades-long-painful-experiments-on-dogs-at-detroits-wayne-state-university-27916087">heart failure in dogs</a>, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2013/oct/18/people-ethical-treatment-animals/cats-have-holes-drilled-their-heads-undergo-other-/#:~:text=The%20cat%20research%20is%20aimed,similar%20to%20those%20in%20humans.">deafened two cats</a> with an antibiotic to study hearing implants, and the Department of Veterans Affairs <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/veterans-affairs-ends-experiments-on-cats-in-west-la/">implanted devices</a> into cats’ skulls to study sleep disorders (one employee said it gave them nightmares). Last year, Vice <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkbbx9/science-researcher-mental-health-animal-killing">reported</a> on the mental health crisis among those who kill animals for science.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5YrTic">
A Harvard researcher recently <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/harvard-studies-infant-monkeys-draw-fire-split-scientists">drew condemnation</a> after publishing work about separating mother monkeys from their newborns and replacing them with stuffed animals, and suturing baby monkeys’ eyelids shut to study how they process faces.
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There’s also the more mundane but cruel everyday practices, like keeping social animals, including mice and rats, in captivity for weeks, months, or years on end. It’s not <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/carceral-logics/treating-humans-worse-than-animals/D548EF7F30DCCF088848BA357FC84937">uncommon</a> for nonhuman primates to be caged alone, despite the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1999-07-15/pdf/99-18050.pdf">USDA’s acknowledgment</a>, back in 1999, that “… primates are clearly social beings and social housing is the most appropriate way to promote normal social behavior and meet social needs.” Routine toxicity tests required by the EPA force animals to inhale and ingest <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2019-10/documents/ocspp-testguidelines_masterlist-2019-09-24.pdf">pesticides</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cVoFelR-GohpzRaS8YK9znt36_o=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24280232/WAM22390.jpg"/> <cite>Roger Kingbird / We Animals Media</cite>
<figcaption>
Black-furred mice, also known as C57BL/6 mice, with skull implants at an undisclosed research laboratory in the US. A part of their skull is removed with a window inserted so that scientists can observe a brain working in a fully conscious living animal. (Note: This is not from a Neuralink experiment.)
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8WsZSA">
Even when Animal Welfare Act violations are found, researchers get off easy, according to Delcianna Winders, director of Vermont Law and Graduate School’s animal law and policy institute. The USDA can impose severe penalties against other enterprises governed by the Animal Welfare Act, including <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/7/2149">criminal charges</a>, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/7/2146">confiscating animals</a>, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/7/2149">revoking or suspending licenses</a>, or <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/7/2159">applying for injunctions</a>. But for research facilities, these are generally off the table (there’s a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/7/2146">small caveat</a> for confiscation). It’s what Winders calls “animal experimentation exceptionalism.”
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Instead, violators might pay a settlement that’s a fraction of the maximum penalty. The USDA “typically offers to settle for a civil penalty that is much lower than the maximum civil penalty authorized in the relevant statute,” according to an agency <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/business-services/ies/IES_FAQ">FAQ</a>. In a <a href="https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/33601-0001-41.pdf">2014 audit</a>, the Office of Inspector General found that the USDA reduced penalties by an average of 86 percent from the AWA’s authorized maximum penalty per violation.
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The USDA has also excluded certain violations from public reports. For the past six years, the agency had a policy called <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/teachable-moments-policy-canceled-usda-animal-welfare?loggedin=true&amp;rnd=1670376475596">“Teachable Moments,”</a> in which it refrained from including minor violations in public inspection reports (the policy ended this summer after years of pressure). Last year, the agency <a href="https://www.akc.org/legislative-alerts/usda-aphis-removes-guidance-allowed-licensees-self-report-noncompliance/">terminated a program</a> that excluded some violations from public inspection reports if the research facility self-reported and corrected them.
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In an emailed statement, the USDA said, “When inspectors identify items that are not in compliance with the federal standards, USDA Animal Care holds those facilities responsible for properly addressing and correcting those items within a set timeframe. If the noncompliance is not corrected, or if it is serious enough in nature, USDA pursues appropriate regulatory compliance and enforcement actions.”
</p>
<h3 id="m95kze">
The moral math of animal testing
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5U56xU">
Animal testing is often justified using a kind of moral math: It’s worth killing X number of animals if it leads to outcome Y, like helping paralyzed people walk or blind people see. But the problem is that we rarely know the number for X — it could take experimenting on one more animal, or millions more, for Neuralink to achieve its goal (even if Musk’s true goal is to use brain-computer interfaces to <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/8/28/21404802/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-machine-interface-research">merge humans with AI</a>). The same goes for inventing important new medical devices, pharmaceutical drugs, and vaccines. And of course, achieving outcome Y is almost always uncertain.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gwzgIu">
But moral math is hard to do if you’re missing half the equation. We have no idea how many animals are experimented on because federal agencies don’t keep a comprehensive tally. In fiscal year 2018, the USDA reported that <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33436799/">780,070</a> AWA-covered animals were used in experiments, with an additional 122,717 held in facilities but not used for research. But that number excludes birds, reptiles, and fish, as well as rats and mice, who make up the vast majority of animals used in experiments — over 99 percent according to veterinarian Larry Carbone, who estimates the US experiments on <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79961-0">111.5 million rats and mice</a> per year (though some critics say this <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/how-many-mice-and-rats-are-used-us-labs-controversial-study-says-more-100-million">estimate is flawed</a>).
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FRoq63">
Animal testing has led to scientific breakthroughs we all benefit from, but it’s also costly and slow, and it often fails — according to the NIH, <a href="https://ncats.nih.gov/ntu/about">95 percent</a> of pharmaceutical drugs that work in animal trials fail in human trials. But just how much humans benefit from animal experimentation is hard to parse: A <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/authors?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0193758">2018 meta-analysis</a> from UK researchers looked at 212 studies from 1967 to 2005, involving over 27,000 animals, and concluded that most studies were poorly designed and didn’t meaningfully advance scientific knowledge. Only 3 percent of the studies mentioned pain relief for animals. Some in the science community <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/10/522775456/drugs-that-work-in-mice-often-fail-when-tried-in-people">wonder why</a> we’re betting so much of the future of medicine on mice and rats.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oGESyd">
Public opinion is changing on the issue, with the percentage of Americans who support medical animal testing dropping from 65 percent in 2001 to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/210542/americans-hold-record-liberal-views-moral-issues.aspx">51 percent in 2017</a>. There’s also a growing chorus of voices — not just activists and law professors, but also drug developers, researchers, veterinarians, and entrepreneurs — arguing that a <a href="https://neo.life/2022/10/what-if-we-didnt-have-to-test-new-drugs-on-animals/">new suite</a> of high-tech, non-animal alternative methods could lead to faster, safer, and more ethical drug development and product testing.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A doctor is pointing at photos on a computer screen." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Mk0cIiSjzx84fgiRPMvjpuAhp7w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24280263/GettyImages_1131841988.jpg"/> <cite>Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Mark Donowitz, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Epithelial Disorders, shows microscopic views of human duodenal organoids displayed on a computer monitor at the University in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2012. Organoids, grown from a piece of the intestine that contains stem cells, are part of a growing field of science at research institutions around the country that aim to improve on animal studies drugmakers use to test their potential treatments for safety in the earliest stages of investigation.
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“There has been, over the last 40 years, an enormous change,” said Hartung. “Alternative methods are as good or better than animals in many areas.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kf82r5">
Musk has always viewed himself as a change agent, a disruptor, and Neuralink is part of that. But in allegedly mistreating animals in research, his company is all too conventional.
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</p></li>
<li><strong>Iran’s months-long protest movement, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Iranian Protest in Istanbul, Turkey" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aFWT4c6M78s6yALlnxQWtq9CV-I=/320x0:5440x3840/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71734874/1448157532.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Protestors take part in an anti Iran demonstration on December 10, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey. | Hakan Akgun/ dia images via Getty Images
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Though the Islamic Republic has a history of protest, this year’s unrest is unique.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mZTLLd">
For nearly three months, protests have gripped Iran — protests that have not only been surprisingly durable, but also led primarily by women.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w58e4y">
On Thursday, the Islamic Republic, headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-crime-tehran-59d4b028bbd402a642b83fdddc35fdc8">executed 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari</a> for the crime of “waging war against God,” or moharebeh in Farsi.
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Shekari was the first prisoner to be executed due to the recent unrest, in what head of the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63900099">told the BBC</a> was a “show trial without any due process.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q59T5F">
With <a href="https://twitter.com/AmnestyIran/status/1600827249502175234">Shekari’s execution</a> — likely the first of dozens — the Iranian regime is reverting to a tried and tested playbook of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/08/irans-1988-mass-executions#two">executing political opponents</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/12/iran-dissident-executed-vague-charges">dissidents</a>. But it’s not clear that the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/03/iran-thousands-detained-protesters-and-activists-peril">mass imprisonment</a>, extrajudicial killings, and further possible state-sanctioned executions will deter the protesters who have for more than two months now defied crackdowns and curfews to call for an end to Khamenei’s regime.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i9frBE">
It’s also not clear what success looks like for the protesters should they somehow manage to topple the regime that’s had an iron grip on the nation since the 1979 revolution — or how they would manage to do so in the first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L94MCi">
The inciting spark for the now 11-week-long protests was the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16 while in the custody of Iran’s morality police. Amini, a 21-year old Kurdish woman, was arrested while in Tehran for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly; since her death, she has become a potent symbol of many Iranians’ contempt for the country’s oppressive theocracy.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HWsJsq">
The protests have gained momentum since they <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/17/iran-protests-death-kurdish-woman-mahsaa-amini-morality-police">began in Amini’s hometown of Saqez</a>, in Iranian Kurdistan, appearing in dozens of cities throughout the Islamic Republic despite the government’s efforts — including <a href="https://ooni.org/post/2022-iran-technical-multistakeholder-report/#summary-of-key-findings">internet and mobile network disruptions</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-iran-sentencing/fact-check-confusion-spreads-online-about-15000-people-detained-in-iran-idUSL1N32D2S8">mass arrests</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/19/iran-security-forces-shoot-dead-at-least-three-civilians">civilian killings</a> — to quash them. <strong> </strong>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rgfYFZ">
There are some ways this protest echoes past movements, but there are also key differences — not just the longevity, but the degree of societal cohesion and solidarity, too. Women have led and been the public face of this movement — a<strong> </strong>particularly notable fact in 2022, though, given the ways that women have been repressed under the current regime.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="svfJsI">
All of that, however, doesn’t mean that this movement will bring down the Islamic Republic; decades of repression, a poor economic outlook, extremely limited opposition in the political establishment, plus the fact that that military and security service as well as the economic elite continue to throw their lot in with the regime make it difficult to imagine an alternative vision for the future of Iran.
</p>
<h3 id="Ay4KCX">
Why the protests are happening now
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kQKqM2">
The protests began with one young woman’s death in police custody, but quickly grew into a call to change the future of Iranian society.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="McCfDz">
Amini, who was also known by her Kurdish name, Jina or Zhina, was taken into custody by the Guidance Patrol — Iran’s so-called morality police — on September 13 at a Tehran metro station. Police alleged she was wearing her hijab incorrectly, and they were taking her into custody to “educate” her, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/events-iran-since-mahsa-aminis-arrest-death-custody-2022-10-05/">Reuters</a> reported in October. Sometime between her arrest and September 16, when she died at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2022/oct/31/mapping-irans-unrest-how-mahsa-aminis-death-led-to-nationwide-protests">Tehran’s Kasra hospital</a>, she fell into a coma. Police said it was due to a heart condition, but Amini’s family denied any heart problems, and her father claimed he saw bruises on Mahsa’s legs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qk7WWM">
“There was nothing wrong with what she was wearing,” Azadeh Moaveni, an Iranian-American journalist and former head of the Gender and Conflict Program at the International Crisis Group, said on <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/protests-in-iran">a November episode of the London Review of Books podcast</a>. “She was completely covered and she died, so I think that’s what’s shaking about it. Any mother, from any religious background, from whatever type of family — and I think that’s why so many religious families are with the protesters — that could have been anyone’s daughter.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LtulAx">
News of Amini’s death spread quickly via social media, and her funeral erupted into protests; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/events-iran-since-mahsa-aminis-arrest-death-custody-2022-10-05/">according to Reuters</a>, security forces fired teargas at the demonstrators as protests quickly spread to Sanandaj, the regional capital. Already protesters were shouting “death to the dictator,” and women were removing their headscarves. By September 18, protesters at the University of Iran were shouting what is now the protest’s slogan: “Woman, life, freedom,” in short, calling for the end of the regime.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0UrIbg">
“This corrupt regime will do anything to stay where they are,” a female protester <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2quqOqQJcjwF8Tu4P74Nwz">told BBC News Hour</a> December 4. “We the protesters don’t care about ‘no hijab’ no more [sic]. We’ve been going out without it for the past 70 days. A revolution is what we care [about] — hijab was the start of it, and we don’t want anything, anything less than death for the dictator, and regime change.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JXp8mt">
Amini’s death became the catalyzing event to unleash pent-up fury at the government; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-unrest-sounds-death-knell-once-vibrant-reformists-2022-11-10/">political opposition is basically nonexistent</a>, with Iran’s Reform Party suggesting gradual fixes in the face of protester’s demands for radical change. Ordinary Iranians have little political representation, particularly after the election of the hard-line current <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/world/middleeast/iran-election-president.html">President Ebrahim Raisi</a>, Khamenei’s preferred candidate in the 2021 elections who has a record of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/19/world/middleeast/ebrahim-raisi-iran-president.html">grievous human rights abuses</a>. Many Iranians refused to vote in those most recent elections, both as the only feasible way to show disgust with the system, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/19/world/middleeast/iran-election-president-raisi.html">because many understood the vote to be rigged in Raisi’s favor.</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LYQFNZ">
One of the main sources of people’s dissatisfaction is Iran’s miserable economy — the result of brutal sanctions on the part of the US and its allies, as well as the regime’s determination to exert its influence in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and now Russia by funding proxy groups and exporting weapons. With unemployment <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS?locations=IR">running at about 11.5 percent</a>, people have both the incentive and the time to protest, and little to lose.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yO6QQ8">
However, the country’s elite seem to be surviving the economic free-fall and maintaining their support for and ties to the regime, too. “We have seen no serious defections so far” among the country’s well-connected and powerful upper class, Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group’s Iran project director, told Vox in a November 18 email interview.<strong> </strong>Despite “the abject failures of the regime to improve the country’s economic well-being,” the highest echelons of society have, at least publicly, refused to stand up to those in power.
</p>
<h3 id="YwspuC">
These protests pose a unique challenge to the Iranian government<strong> </strong>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fBUICK">
Protest is an important, and fairly consistent, part of Iranian political life dating even before the 1979 revolution. But this year’s uprising differs from recent mass movements, like the 2009 Green Movement that called for the annulment of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election and 2019 economic protests which spiraled into a call for regime change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j7VOtN">
This time, the protests are demanding a reimagining of Iranian society; so far, the protests have seen remarkably diverse groups with their own unique sources of frustration, coming together to demand change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZQRSK7">
As with the 2019 protests, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/02/world/middleeast/iran-protests-economy.html">the dire economic circumstances of 2022</a> — the result of the US’s aggressive sanctions, a corrupt and inefficient government concerned primarily with maintaining power, and lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic — set the stage for the nationwide eruption.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V5bv5n">
In a significant show of solidarity, some<strong> </strong>businesses across the nation — including Tehran’s grand Bazaar — closed for a three-day general strike this week.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kc6Iy4">
“Historically, protest movements in Iran, going back to the 19th century, have involved workers, shopkeepers, bazaars, and the like to succeed,” Kashani-Sabet said. “Although the economic and social landscape of today’s Iran is very different from 1890, 1906, 1953, or 1979, today’s strikes and boycotts nonetheless show the widespread nature of dissent and the willing participation of important commercial sectors of society.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fWuPe2">
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on modern Iran and the Middle East, called the current movement an “extraordinary departure” in that “women are its symbol and became the initial propellors of change.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9GxznJ">
“Through these uprisings, it has become apparent that gender issues can no longer be relegated globally to tertiary political preoccupations, but rather gender concerns have become the driving force and motivators of social change,” Kashani-Sabet told Vox in an email. “For Iranian dissenters, gender issues are not their only grievances, but this fight has enabled them to connect gender violence and inequality to the regime’s other authoritarian behaviors.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8uG6oH">
Iran is “a country whose identity is shaped around ethnic diversity,” Kashani-Sabet said, and many of those ethnic groups, like Balochs and Kurds, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/ethnic-groups-swept-up-irans-nationwide-protests-2022-10-17/">are subject to additional violence</a> based on their identity. Whether that’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/world/middleeast/iran-zahedan-crackdown.html">physical violence enacted by the state</a> in the border regions many minorities call home, or the <a href="https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2020/sep/08/iran%E2%80%99s-troubled-provinces-kurdistan">denial of their right to speak their own languages</a>, such minority groups have even less of a voice in Iranian governance than ethnic Persians who speak Farsi and practice Shia Islam.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zov4NR">
“These protests are primarily driven by a broadly shared sense of nationalism, not separatism,” Vaez told Vox in a previous email interview.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tRf5hx">
As Kashani-Sabet pointed out, there are a number of “deep-rooted frustrations that many Iranian dissenters share,” primary among them, “this sense of being deprived of human rights and of the ability to participate effectively in shaping the political outlook of their country.”
</p>
<h3 id="rOZY6u">
How the Iranian government has responded, briefly explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rrv3F8">
The government’s response to the protests has been somewhat inconsistent, but primarily quite harsh. Raisi <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iranian-security-body-says-200-people-lost-lives-recent-riots-mizan-news-agency-2022-12-03/">claimed in a recent speech </a>that Iran “has the most progressive constitution in the world” and has blamed the unrest on outside influences, primarily Iran’s adversaries, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63118637">Israel</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/raisi-blames-biden-inciting-chaos-terror-iran-irna-2022-10-16/">the US</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="asgOo8">
Guidance Patrol forces have been scarce during the protests, and women and girls are out on the streets every day without head coverings despite the laws. But the government hasn’t made any official concessions or policy changes. While comments from Attorney General Mohammad-Jafar Montazeri were initially reported by the international press as an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-abolishes-morality-police-considers-changing-hijab-laws-official-says-11670165171">announcement that the government would be</a> disbanding the Guidance Patrol and changing hijab laws, it later appeared his remarks were <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/12/08/iran-morality-police-confusion/10838499002/">either misunderstood or overblown</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aLsO67">
While Moaveni did indicate in her that some politicians would be willing to loosen hijab laws — and clothing laws have been less strict under previous presidents, even the notorious <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/ahmadinejad-and-clerics-fight-over-scarves/2011/07/12/gIQAhoqJPI_story.html">Mahmoud Ahmadinejad</a>. But, Moaveni pointed out, at this point, for Raisi to allow such a change would be tantamount to “admitting that revolution secularized Iran, and […] that’s a very humiliating thing for the authorities.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xwU0le">
Meanwhile, physical violence against protesters has escalated and<strong> </strong>could get worse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U5ByGz">
To date, more than 300 people have been killed during the protests, though the actual number is likely higher, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/08/iran-first-execution-anti-government-protests/">as rights groups indicate</a>. That number includes roughly 50 children under 18, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/world/middleeast/iran-protests-children.html?searchResultPosition=1">New York Times’ Farnaz Fassihi</a> previously reported. But casualties and arrests — the latter of which the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/08/iran-first-execution-anti-government-protests/">HRANA activist news agency puts at around 18,000</a> — are difficult to track; <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/protest-social-media-and-censorship-iran">social media and internet access are severely curtailed,</a> and foreign reporters can’t access the country. Thus far, at least 12 people are set to be executed for participating in the uprising, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/08/iran-first-execution-anti-government-protests/">Washington Post</a> reported Thursday; Shekari’s death marks the first.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Dh5JBj">
Borzou Daragahi, a senior international correspondent for the Independent and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Vox in a previous phone interview. “In the mind of the regime, nothing is off limits because ‘we’re doing God’s work,’” he said.
</p>
<h3 id="Wr8XCy">
Could regime change happen?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TFil1E">
Regardless of the strength of the protests, regime change remains a very distant possibility. Authoritarian governments can have impressive longevity, as Syria, China, North Korea, and Russia show.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IqutNE">
Still, the memory of the Arab Spring invites comparison; Moaveni likened Amini<strong>’</strong>s death to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mohamed-Bouazizi">Mohamed Bouazizi</a>, the Tunisian fruit vendor who died by self-immolation in 2010 after suffering humiliation at the hands of the police and the local government, setting off the Arab Spring. That multi-nation protest movement did see regime change in places like Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. In some cases, however, the alternatives that replaced the dictatorships were perhaps not what protesters had hoped for or imagined.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pAtqJ2">
For Ali Khamenei’s theocracy to collapse would most likely require “pressure from below and divisions at the top,” <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/2022-02-16/irans-hollow-victory">Karim Sadjadpour</a> wrote for Foreign Affairs this spring. The pressure from below is certainly there, despite the increasingly high costs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K7ZrYN">
There’s not so much pressure from the top, and while there are cracks in the regime’s façade, Daragahi said, they’re small and easy to miss.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pImsf1">
“It appears that the difference is between those who support the crackdown and those who want more crackdown,” Vaez told Vox. The political fractures <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/world/middleeast/14iran.html">aren’t as extreme as they have been in past protest movements</a>, likely due to the fact that “the system purged the most pragmatic forces of Iranian politics and is now left with either ultra-hardliners or sycophants,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ATkZ7D">
Looming over Iran’s political future is the fact that the Supreme Leader is 83 years old. In the running to replace him when he dies are his second son Mojtaba and a familiar figure — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-crackdown-may-burnish-raisis-credentials-top-job-2022-10-25/">Ebrahim Raisi</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SIb0Hi">
Though there are vocal opposition groups formed by the diaspora, “any viable government for a post-Islamic Republic Iran cannot come from exile, but must emerge from the ground up,” Kashani-Sabet said. “Some individuals or groups in exile will undoubtedly be stakeholders, but it is hard to know whether the majority of the people in Iran, who are living under dire conditions every day, will want someone from the outside.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jtDiHk">
In the present, the three-day general strikes show that the protests have real support from workers, who are a critical part of any political struggle in Iran and whose decision to close their businesses in a time of economic precariousness shows great solidarity with the protesters. But as of yet, the protest movement hasn’t defined a specific vision of Iranian society — which it will need to do in order to maintain momentum and work toward a political future.
</p></li>
<li><strong>China’s alliance with Saudi Arabia signals a potential shift in the global order</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="SAUDI ARABIA-RIYADH-XI JINPING-SAUDI CROWN PRINCE-TALKS" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-s94d4nhl2xBDuAoeToiwEOygNA=/233x0:5353x3840/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71734872/1245472130.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Yue Yuewei/Xinhua via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The US’s decades-long relationship with Saudi Arabia continues to crumble.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8ZWQwK">
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, participated in a major meeting Friday, signaling increasingly close ties between the nations as US relations with both nations grow increasingly chilly.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sImqUt">
One significant result of the summit — which focused on trade agreements concerning oil, technology, infrastructure, and security — was <a href="https://www.spa.gov.sa/2407997">an agreement that the two nations would not interfere with each other’s domestic affairs</a>. Alleged human rights violations have been a serious pressure point in the once-strong US-Saudi alliance, while criticism of China’s treatment of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong and Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region have rankled the economic superpower.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sqcb4q">
The China-Saudi relationship isn’t new, but Friday’s summit outlined the terms of the two countries’ cooperation and heralds a shift in the global geopolitical order — away from the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iTT7lQ">
The US-Saudi alliance, which has endured through seven Saudi monarchs and 15 presidents, has taken a blow under US President Joe Biden, who vowed during his campaign in 2019 to make the oil-rich Gulf nation a “<a href="https://www.vox.com/22881937/biden-saudi-arabia-mbs-khashoggi-yemen-human-rights">pariah</a>” for directing the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamaal Khashoggi in 2018 and the kingdom’s role in the punishing Yemeni civil war. The tension has continued, most notably over Saudi oil production as sanctions on Russian energy help drive up fuel prices around the world.
</p>
<h3 id="zIEaoE">
What do Saudi and China get from a stronger alliance?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r8fYvj">
The Crown Prince, who is commonly known by the acronym MBS, has met with Xi before, most recently at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Though it might seem an odd pairing, the two nations actually have quite a bit in common, including autocratic leadership, serious repression of dissent, a clear need to diversify in order to maintain economic growth, and ambitious infrastructure projects.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2txKu1">
China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner, with Chinese exports to the kingdom reaching $30.3 billion in 2021 and Saudi exports totaling $57 billion in the same year, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/saudi-china-energy-trade-investment-ties-2022-12-09/#:~:text=Saudi%20Arabia%20is%20also%20China's,according%20to%20Chinese%20customs%20data.">according to Reuters</a>. Saudi oil makes up 18 percent of Beijing’s total crude oil imports — worth about $55.5 billion between January and October of this year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0TFx1n">
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has <a href="https://www.vision2030.gov.sa/thekingdom/explore/economy/">great ambitions</a> to <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/08/09/CF-Saudi-Arabia-to-grow-at-fastest-pace">diversify its economy</a>, which has for decades relied on crude oil output. But in order to do that, it needs money — oil money. That’s at least part of why Saudi Arabia <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-08/why-did-saudi-arabia-defy-biden-to-keep-oil-prices-high">limited production</a> in the midst of a global oil crisis and prices for crude oil remain high.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="va3xoq">
Both nations also tout ambitious infrastructure projects. The <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/topics/chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-bri?gclid=CjwKCAiA-dCcBhBQEiwAeWidtcmXcIuavRl9424za_pZmt8cyI05W6i12XlU5Pb3_uBPfO9pm0ZYkhoCFNYQAvD_BwE">Belt and Road initiative</a>, China’s effort to create a 21st-century Silk Road international trade route by providing the finances to develop series of ports, pipelines, railroads, bridges, and other trade infrastructure to nations across Asia and Africa, is a milestone effort for Xi. It’s also received major criticism for potentially exploiting poor nations by essentially loaning them money they can’t pay back, in some cases <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/7/9/23201747/protests-sri-lanka-leaders-president-prime-minister-resign-rajapaksa">granting China control over these critical hubs</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LKvWuS">
Xi’s presence in Saudi Arabia, both with MBS and as part of a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-host-china-arab-summit-during-xi-visit-sources-say-2022-11-30/">larger summit</a> with <a href="https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202212/t20221208_10986939.html">Arab and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations</a>, present <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/12/chinas-xi-heads-to-saudi-arabia-to-boost-beijings-influence-in-the-middle-east/">multiple opportunities to strengthen ties with a host of nations in the region</a> — and to make sure that in the global great power competition, those nations are, at least, not aligned with the US, as Shannon Tiezzi wrote in <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/12/chinas-xi-heads-to-saudi-arabia-to-boost-beijings-influence-in-the-middle-east/">The Diplomat</a> Wednesday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8Vs0tI">
Critically, Saudi Arabia knows it cannot depend on generous <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-state-dept-okays-650-million-potential-air-to-air-missile-deal-saudi-arabia-2021-11-04/">US weapons sales under Biden</a> so China is an increasingly viable alternative. In fact, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/chinas-xi-visit-saudi-arabia-attend-chinese-saudi-summit-spa-2022-12-06/">Reuters reported</a>, Riyadh is thought to have signed $30 billion in defense contracts at this summit<strong> </strong>with China.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qMTqE6">
In forging their alliance, both nations get a strong trading partner who won’t question their policies; Saudi gets a more predictable relationship in Xi than it has seen in the switch from former President Donald Trump to Biden.
</p>
<h3 id="S7vnlP">
How does this affect the US and its global position as a superpower?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R6GZSB">
The US-Saudi relationship is longstanding; it officially started toward the end of <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-saudi-arabia-relations">World War II</a>; the basic oil-for-security trade that has lasted for decades and has been increasingly important to the kingdom, between Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s and the increasing influence of regional rival Iran. Despite Saudi repression and alleged human rights abuses, Riyadh could count on US weapons, and the US could almost always count on cheap Saudi oil.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Egn4rf">
Of course, there have been tensions in the relationship before; the <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/oil-embargo">1973 oil embargo</a> in retaliation for the US decision to resupply the Israeli military during the Arab-Israeli War, as well as Saudi involvement in the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, tested the alliance, but US leadership maintained that the kingdom was a key regional partner nonetheless.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l9h3Xz">
Under Trump, the relationship between the two nations was somewhere between <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/17/23423031/why-america-cant-seem-to-quit-saudi-arabia">transactional</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-saudi-exclusive/exclusive-trump-says-standing-by-saudi-crown-prince-despite-pleas-from-senate-idUSKBN1OB01C">downright chummy</a> — Trump even reportedly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-woodward-i-saved-his-ass-mbs-khashoggi-rage-2020-9">bragged that he defended MBS against criticism from Congress over Khashoggi’s death</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tCY7Vb">
But the relationship has become the most strained it has been in recent memory due to MBS’s abuses and Biden’s criticism. In March, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a fuel shortage, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/saudis-mbs-will-eventually-take-bidens-call-2022-03-10/">MBS refused to take Biden’s calls</a> to negotiate increased oil production and help ease prices. When they<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/world/middleeast/biden-mbs-saudi-visit.html"> finally met in July</a>, Biden was extremely uncomfortable — and he left almost empty-handed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DFw9Yf">
The growing Saudi-China relationship may indicate a threat to the US’s historic position as an international leader, evidenced in <a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/middle-east-responses-ukraine-crisis">Saudi Arabia’s failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine</a> in favor of its own economic needs. This fall, after Biden asked for increased oil production to help drive down inflation in the US, Saudi Arabia and the other OPEC+ countries, including Russia, chose to continue a limited production scale — a move Washington interpreted as tacit support for Russia.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3BldkK">
MBS has done much, at least superficially, to bring Saudi Arabia into the 21st century; women are now allowed to drive, and entertainment like cinemas, concerts, and sporting events are available after decades of conservative Wahabbist culture. But he’s also <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/10/26/18000880/jamal-khashoggi-saudi-arabia-mbs-dissidents-imprisoned">committed egregious, violent acts</a> like fueling a war that’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/us/politics/saudi-yemen-war-us-weapons.html#:~:text=More%20than%20150%2C000%20people%20have,worst%20man%2Dmade%20humanitarian%20crisis.">killed an estimated 15,000 Yemeni civilians</a> and further devastated the impoverished country, as well as ordering Khashoggi — a US resident who wrote for the Washington Post — to be killed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PExp0X">
The deepening China-Saudi relationship has implications beyond just the geopolitical, though. If, as China has repeatedly requested, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations begin allowing <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/saudi-arabia-gathers-chinas-xi-with-arab-leaders-new-era-ties-2022-12-09/">China to pay for oil in its currency, the yuan</a>, as opposed to the dollar, it could have even further economic consequences for the US. Such a move, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabia-considers-accepting-yuan-instead-of-dollars-for-chinese-oil-sales-11647351541">the Wall Street Journal </a>explained in March, would devalue the dollar and erode its standing in the international financial system
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JKZDeg">
“The oil market, and by extension the entire global commodities market, is the insurance policy of the status of the dollar as reserve currency,” economist Gal Luft, co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, told the Journal at the time. “If that block is taken out of the wall, the wall will begin to collapse.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0FxyXO">
A single alliance doesn’t necessarily indicate that US primacy and hegemony is over for good — but it certainly solidifies a major repositioning of the global order. How that will unfold, and the US’s role in that order, remains unclear.
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mediocre show by school athletes underlines declining standards</strong> - State Schools meet not only failed to produce any record in track events but the timings were also poor and way behind old records</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>Sreenidhi Deccan-Aizawl match ends in 3-3 draw</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>Team MRF Tyres wins European Rally championship award</strong> - Efren Llaren and Sara Fernandez win driver and co-driver awards</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>Ind vs Aus Women’s 2nd T20I | Indian bowlers need to come up with a better show to bounce back in the series</strong> - After India’s comprehensive nine-wicket defeat, Deepti conceded India’s fielding could have been better. Nobody would argue with her on that point.</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>Warner exposed CA's tendencies for back-side protecting: Ian Chappell</strong> - Chappell became the latest to come out in support of Warner after former skipper Michael Clarke too lashed out at CA for their lopsided review of his leadership ban</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>Dindigul 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>Tirunelveli 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>Thindi beedi in new avatar: Revamp of Bengaluru’s iconic VV Puram food street with modern amenities on the cards</strong> - The BBMP has planned to redevelop the whole stretch similar to the recently renovated Commercial Street</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>Pawan Kalyan to interact with youth in Srikaulam district of Andhra Pradesh on January 12, 2023</strong> - Jana Sena Party plans ‘Yuva Shakti’, marking the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda</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>AK-47 rifles, pistols recovered by BSF along India-Pakistan border in Punjab</strong> - The recovery was made in Ferozepur district.</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: Odesa and Melitopol under attack</strong> - Russian drone attacks leave 1.5 million Ukrainians without power and Kyiv bombards occupied Melitopol.</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>Nobel Peace Prize: Russian laureate ‘told to turn down award’</strong> - Yan Rachinsky, from rights group Memorial, tells the BBC he ignored the order from the Kremlin.</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 self-proclaimed kingdom that doesn’t recognise Germany</strong> - Money, ID cards, flags, and even their own king: meet the Germans who refuse to recognise the state.</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: US says Iran now Russia’s ‘top military backer’</strong> - Washington says it has seen reports that the countries are considering jointly producing drones.</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>Paul Whelan: US and Russia to explore more prisoner swaps</strong> - President Joe Biden’s administration tells Paul Whelan, convicted of espionage, to “keep the faith”.</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>The weekend’s best deals: A bunch of Apple devices, Surface, Xbox, Meta Quest, and more</strong> - Dealmaster also has buy-two-get-one-free books, 4K TVs, and a slew of smart home devices. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901855">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aliens-inspired Returnal is coming to PC, and you should probably play it</strong> - Housemarque’s challenging masterwork is really a PC game at heart. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1903398">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Amid pathetic uptake, FDA green lights confusing COVID vaccine update for kids</strong> - Some kids can get boosters, some can get an updated series, some get nothing. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1903512">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Musk brings back Twitter Blue with new features to prevent impersonation</strong> - Reuters reviewed an email to advertisers saying Twitter Blue is back Friday. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1903477">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>RIP Passwords? Passkey support rolls out to Chrome stable</strong> - With a huge list of caveats, initial Google passkey support is here. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1903387">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>A mathematician and an engineer play a game to get laid…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
At the other end of this room,” the Game Master points out, “is a beautiful, young, naked, consenting woman. If you reach her, she will fulfill any and all of your fantasies.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The mathematician and engineer both look at each other with excitement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“The only rule is that each step you take toward the bed can only be half the size of the last step.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The mathematician studies the situation for a moment, frowns, and then remarks, “Oh forget it! I know how this one ends. I’m going home.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Engineer also studies the situation, grins, and then begins walking toward the woman.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Didn’t you hear me!” shouts the Mathematician. “It’s a mathematical certainty you’ll never reach her!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Perhaps you’re right,” he says. “But soon I’ll be close enough that for all practical purposes, it won’t matter!”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yikeswhatshappening"> /u/yikeswhatshappening </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zihbe1/a_mathematician_and_an_engineer_play_a_game_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zihbe1/a_mathematician_and_an_engineer_play_a_game_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NSFW A dog and a cat are having an argument about who is the favorite with humans. The dog says, “humans like us more; they even named a tooth after us (the canine). Naming an important body part after us proves they like dogs more.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The cat smiles and says, “Guess what? You are not going to win this one”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/bebobbaloola"> /u/bebobbaloola </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zhwv73/nsfw_a_dog_and_a_cat_are_having_an_argument_about/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zhwv73/nsfw_a_dog_and_a_cat_are_having_an_argument_about/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife is such an idiot</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
My wife is such an idiot.She went on a business trip yesterday and took a whole pack of condoms with her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She doesn’t even have a penis.
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/XarmtheinsaneX"> /u/XarmtheinsaneX </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zi0juc/my_wife_is_such_an_idiot/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zi0juc/my_wife_is_such_an_idiot/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I saw Black Panther 2 without knowing anything about it.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I had no idea Wakanda movie it was.
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CanadianAndroid"> /u/CanadianAndroid </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zi194s/i_saw_black_panther_2_without_knowing_anything/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zi194s/i_saw_black_panther_2_without_knowing_anything/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife minored in psychology. She’s always using all her amateur psychology when we argue.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
When I fired the pool boy, she said, “Well, you know, you’re only firing him because he’s so young and good looking, and you feel threatened and insecure, because it reminds you of your own mortality, and you’re projecting all these insecurities onto someone else in a very passive/aggressive way, because these feelings are just too traumatic for you to deal with.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I said, “Honey…we don’t have a pool.”
</p>
</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/LadeeAlana"> /u/LadeeAlana </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zilc42/my_wife_minored_in_psychology_shes_always_using/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zilc42/my_wife_minored_in_psychology_shes_always_using/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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