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<title>13 January, 2024</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>Neural Network-Assisted Humanization of COVID-19 Hamster scRNAseq Data Reveals Matching Severity States in Human Disease</strong> -
<div>
Translating findings from animal models to human disease is essential for dissecting disease mechanisms, developing and testing precise therapeutic strategies. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted this need, particularly for models showing disease severity-dependent immune responses. Single-cell transcriptomics (scRNAseq) is well poised to reveal similarities and differences between species at the molecular and cellular level with unprecedented resolution. However, computational methods enabling detailed matching are still scarce. Here, we provide a structured scRNAseq-based approach that we applied to scRNAseq from blood leukocytes originating from humans and hamsters affected with moderate or severe COVID-19. Integration of COVID-19 patient data with two hamster models that develop moderate (Syrian hamster, Mesocricetus auratus) or severe (Roborovski hamster, Phodopus roborovskii) disease revealed that most cellular states are shared across species. A neural network-based analysis using variational autoencoders quantified the overall transcriptomic similarity across species and severity levels, showing highest similarity between neutrophils of Roborovski hamsters and severe COVID-19 patients, while Syrian hamsters better matched patients with moderate disease, particularly in classical monocytes. We further used transcriptome-wide differential expression analysis to identify which disease stages and cell types display strongest transcriptional changes. Consistently, hamster's response to COVID-19 was most similar to humans in monocytes and neutrophils. Disease-linked pathways found in all species specifically related to interferon response or inhibition of viral replication. Analysis of candidate genes and signatures supported the results. Our structured neural network-supported workflow could be applied to other diseases, allowing better identification of suitable animal models with similar pathomechanisms across species.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.11.574849v1" target="_blank">Neural Network-Assisted Humanization of COVID-19 Hamster scRNAseq Data Reveals Matching Severity States in Human Disease</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Investigating willingness to share autonomous shuttles with strangers: The mediating effects of trust and optimism</strong> -
<div>
If autonomous vehicles are to have beneficial impacts on society, people must be willing to use them in their everyday lives. Many studies have engaged in questions regarding the technology of automation and how drivers will interact with it. However, little research has focused on the social situation arising from small shared autonomous shuttles (SASs) used in public transportation. This study aims to investigate a conceptual framework suggested by previous research and the MAVA-model. We tested a conceptual model where the background variables’ impact is mediated through trust in SASs and technology optimism. Our two dependent variables were the intention to use SASs with strangers without a steward onboard and the importance of social distance. The current article uses data collected using two identical online surveys conducted in 2020 (n=922) and 2021 (n=608). The data were collected before and after a pilot using SAS was employed in a suburban area outside Oslo. Examining the same population before and after the pilot gives us crucial insight into the development of attitudes toward automated vehicles when exposed to them in regular traffic. We find that trust in SASs and technological optimism positively predict willingness to use SAS. However, the passage of time had a negative effect on trust and tech-optimism, which in turn lowered the intentions to use. The background variables have little effect on the mediators. Contrary to previous research, we find that familiarity with the pilots predicted lower technological optimism and thus lower intentions to use. Older participants and women reported less trust in SASs and less tech-optimism compared to others. In the next step, these mediators lowered the intention to use SASs. These two groups also feel that it is more important to be able to keep social distance while riding SASs. The participants who use active transport modes think it is less important with social distance. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may also impact the results. The proposed model was less suited for predicting desire for social distance than for intentions to use. Our results suggest that future pilots should take care not to leave a negative impression by employing immature technology in neighborhoods, as this may be detrimental to the perception of SASs. Furthermore, transportation providers should take care to meet the social needs of exposed groups in the novel social context created by SASs.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/x4v3h/" target="_blank">Investigating willingness to share autonomous shuttles with strangers: The mediating effects of trust and optimism</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Proteolytic cleavage and inactivation of the TRMT1 tRNA modification enzyme by SARS-CoV-2 main protease</strong> -
<div>
Nonstructural protein 5 (Nsp5) is the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 that cleaves viral polyproteins into individual polypeptides necessary for viral replication. Here, we show that Nsp5 binds and cleaves human tRNA methyltransferase 1 (TRMT1), a host enzyme required for a prevalent post-transcriptional modification in tRNAs. Human cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 exhibit a decrease in TRMT1 protein levels and TRMT1-catalyzed tRNA modifications, consistent with TRMT1 cleavage and inactivation by Nsp5. Nsp5 cleaves TRMT1 at a specific position that matches the consensus sequence of SARS-CoV-2 polyprotein cleavage sites, and a single mutation within the sequence inhibits Nsp5-dependent proteolysis of TRMT1. The TRMT1 cleavage fragments exhibit altered RNA binding activity and are unable to rescue tRNA modification in TRMT1-deficient human cells. Compared to wildtype human cells, TRMT1- deficient human cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 exhibit reduced levels of intracellular viral RNA. These findings provide evidence that Nsp5-dependent cleavage of TRMT1 and perturbation of tRNA modification patterns contribute to the cellular pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.10.527147v3" target="_blank">Proteolytic cleavage and inactivation of the TRMT1 tRNA modification enzyme by SARS-CoV-2 main protease</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Science knowledge and trust in medicine affect individuals’ behavior in pandemic crises</strong> -
<div>
In pandemic crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals’ behavior has a strong impact on epidemiological processes. Compliance with prevention guidelines, such as social distancing, is critical to avoid further spreading an infectious disease or to slow down its spread. However, some individuals also or instead engage in panic behavior, such as hoarding. We investigate how education prepares individuals to respond adequately by modelling the path from seeking information about COVID-19 to eventual behavior. Based on a sample of N = 1,182 adult Americans, gathered at the pandemic’s onset (March 2020), we conclude that science knowledge helps individuals convert information into coronavirus knowledge. This knowledge then helps individuals avoid panic behavior. Individuals lacking coronavirus knowledge and science knowledge still comply with prevention guidelines when they have a general trust in medicine. Individuals lacking knowledge still follow prevention guidelines when they trust in medicine. Facilitating science knowledge and trust in science through education and targeted public health messaging are likely to be of fundamental importance for bringing crises such as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic under control.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/tmu8f/" target="_blank">Science knowledge and trust in medicine affect individuals’ behavior in pandemic crises</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Individual Psychological Responses to the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Different Clusters and Their Relation to Risk-Reducing Behavior</strong> -
<div>
Understanding individual difference in psychological responses toward the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) crisis is essential to the adequate handling of the current pandemic. Based on a sample of 1,182 American adult residents (stratified for age and gender; data collection March 13 to 15, 2020), we found three distinct clusters of psychological responses (i.e., informed, panic, and ignorant). Clusters differed regarding their knowledge about the virus, SARS-CoV-2-related anxiety (i.e., worry and emotionality), and evaluation of the SARS-CoV-2 crisis’s severity. Cluster membership was strongly associated with both SARS-CoV-2 risk-reducing, reasonable behavior and unreasonable behavior. Finally, clusters could be linked to systematic differences in broader personality dimensions (i.e., Dark Triad and Big Five). Our study provides and validates a set of clusters of individual psychological responses to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the resulting behavior. It functions as a pivotal starting point for longitudinal observations on the effectiveness of public health communications in this global challenge.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/k8unc/" target="_blank">Individual Psychological Responses to the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Different Clusters and Their Relation to Risk-Reducing Behavior</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>APNet, an explainable sparse deep learning model to discover differentially active drivers of severe COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
Motivation: Computational analyses of plasma proteomics provide translational insights into complex diseases such as COVID-19 by revealing molecules, cellular phenotypes, and signaling patterns that contribute to unfavorable clinical outcomes. Current in silico approaches dovetail differential expression, biostatistics, and machine learning, but often overlook nonlinear proteomic dynamics, like post-translational modifications, and provide limited biological interpretability beyond feature ranking. Results: We introduce APNet, a novel computational pipeline that combines differential activity analysis based on SJARACNe co-expression networks with PASNet, a biologically-informed sparse deep learning model to perform explainable predictions for COVID-19 severity. The APNet driver-pathway network ingests co-expression and classification weights to aid result interpretation and hypothesis generation. APNet outperforms alternative models in patient classification across three COVID-19 proteomic datasets, identifying predictive drivers and pathways, including some confirmed in single-cell omics and highlighting under-explored biomarker circuitries in COVID-19. Availability and Implementation: APNet R, Python scripts and Cytoscape methodologies are available at https://github.com/BiodataAnalysisGroup/APNet Contact: ggeorav@certh.gr Supplementary information: Supplementary information can be accessed in Zenodo (10.5281/zenodo.10438830).
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.11.575161v1" target="_blank">APNet, an explainable sparse deep learning model to discover differentially active drivers of severe COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease activates nociceptors to drive sneeze and pain</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, triggers symptoms such as sneezing, aches and pain. These symptoms are mediated by a subset of sensory neurons, known as nociceptors, that detect noxious stimuli, densely innervate the airway epithelium, and interact with airway resident epithelial and immune cells. However, the mechanisms by which viral infection activates these neurons to trigger pain and airway reflexes are unknown. Here, we show that the coronavirus papain-like protease (PLpro) directly activates airway-innervating trigeminal and vagal nociceptors in mice and human iPSC-derived nociceptors. PLpro elicits sneezing and acute pain in mice and triggers the release of neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) from airway afferents. We find that PLpro-induced sneeze and pain requires the host TRPA1 ion channel that has been previously demonstrated to mediate pain, cough, and airway inflammation. Our findings are the first demonstration of a viral product that directly activates sensory neurons to trigger pain and airway reflexes and highlight a new role for PLpro and nociceptors in COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.10.575114v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease activates nociceptors to drive sneeze and pain</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Depression and fatigue six months post-COVID-19 disease are associated with overlapping symptom constellations: A prospective, multi-centre, population-based cohort study</strong> -
<div>
Background: Depression and fatigue are commonly observed sequelae following viral diseases such as COVID-19. Identifying symptom constellations that differentially classify post-COVID depression and fatigue may be helpful to individualize treatment strategies. Here, we investigated whether self-reported post-COVID depression and post-COVID fatigue are associated with the same or different symptom constellations. Methods. To address this question, we used data from COVIDOM, a population-based cohort study conducted as part of the NAPKON-POP platform. Data was collected in three different German regions (Kiel, Berlin, Würzburg). We analyzed data from more than 2000 individuals at least six months past a PCR-confirmed COVID-19 disease, using elastic net regression and cluster analysis. The regression model was developed in the Kiel data set, and externally validated using data sets from Berlin and Würzburg. Results. Our results revealed that post-COVID depression and fatigue are associated with overlapping symptom constellations consisting of difficulties with daily activities, perceived health-related quality of life, chronic exhaustion, unrestful sleep, and impaired concentration. Confirming the overlap in symptom constellations, a follow-up cluster analysis could categorize individuals as scoring high or low on depression and fatigue but could not differentiate between both dimensions. Limitations. The data presented are cross-sectional, consisting primarily of self-reported questionnaire or medical records rather than biometrically collected data. Conclusions. In summary, our results suggest a strong link between post-COVID depression and fatigue and thus highlighting the need for integrative treatment approaches.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/bjr6n/" target="_blank">Depression and fatigue six months post-COVID-19 disease are associated with overlapping symptom constellations: A prospective, multi-centre, population-based cohort study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Case study on policies in response to COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
This report assesses the response policies pursued during the COVID-19 pandemic in six countries: Belgium, Croatia, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The analysis covers the first year of the pandemic (2020 – 2021), including 2022 when possible. Examining the impact on families, particularly in income protection, care policies, and work-life balance, the analysis focus on the unique challenges families faced during prolonged lockdowns and States of Emergency. Resilience, shaped by resources within families, communities, or national welfare systems, becomes a focal point. Whilst community cooperation was widespread, the study concentrates exclusively on national-level policy responses. The pandemic disproportionately affected vulnerable individuals and families, with pre-existing economic conditions and societal readiness at play. A crucial aspect is the potential trade-off between health protection and individual autonomy which, modulated by the welfare state, suggests a delicate balance between protection and personal freedom. In contrast to the austerity measures in 2008, governments introduced diverse mechanisms during the pandemic to protect incomes and jobs. Job Replacement Schemes prevented mass employment destruction, while social policies acted as a ‘social shield’ against poverty risks. All European states increased control over health systems, hospitals, and the economy, emphasizing the pivotal role of welfare states in interventions. The increased authority of states also led to temporary interventions fostering social policy innovation. Despite shared goals, countries adopted diverse strategies across the three policy areas in our study. Concerning income protection, those with stronger and more inclusive welfare states required fewer additional measures, illustrated by the broader relief measures implemented by the United Kingdom and Croatia. Some countries enhanced their existing minimum income programs, whereas others launched new ones, such as Spain’s national minimum income scheme. In the realm of childcare services and education closures, most countries prioritized key workers’ children during the pandemic. Sweden was the exception, keeping the centres open to all. Parental and care leaves were also crucial for managing work-family balance, with Sweden, Belgium, and Poland introducing more inclusive policies than Spain. Finally, protection measures for older individuals aimed at enhancing access to personal protective equipment, testing, and isolation measures revealed shared priorities and variations in policy execution. Our findings show that welfare states, traditionally confined by limits, stretched their protective sphere beyond usual boundaries during the pandemic, acting as crucial economic stabilizers and social cohesion devices. The report underscores the role of the welfare state as a ‘risk absorber’, highlighting that inclusive and generous welfare states provide additional protection within existing frameworks. Particularly, anti-poverty policies like minimum income schemes prove more effective in addressing pandemic-induced vulnerabilities than weaker or less-funded interventions. Central concepts of inclusivity, flexibility, and complementarity stress the importance of social policy’s adaptability and consistency across domains. Overall, social protection systems embodying these traits seem better equipped to confront unforeseen risks amid the complex and volatile nature of the pandemic times. The long-term implications for welfare state reform remain uncertain, but the pandemic showcased both the limits and the adaptive capacity of welfare states in the face of unprecedented challenges.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/z783a/" target="_blank">Case study on policies in response to COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The impact of COVID-19 on the debate on open science: An analysis of expert opinion</strong> -
<div>
This study is an analysis of the international debate on open science that took place during the pandemic. It addresses the question, how did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the debate on open science? The study takes the form of a qualitative analysis of a large corpus of key articles, editorials, blogs and thought pieces about the impact of COVID on open science, published during the pandemic in English, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. The findings show that many authors believed that it was clear that the experience of the pandemic had illustrated or strengthened the case for open science, with language such as a “stress test”, “catalyst”, “revolution” or “tipping point” frequently used. It was commonly believed that open science had played a positive role in the response to the pandemic, creating a clear ‘line of sight’ between open science and societal benefits. Whilst the arguments about open science deployed in the debate were not substantially new, the focuses of debate changed in some key respects. There was much less attention given to business models for open access and critical perspectives on open science, but open data sharing, preprinting, information quality and misinformation became most prominent in debates. There were also moves to reframe open science conceptually, particularly in connecting science with society and addressing broader questions of equity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/xy874/" target="_blank">The impact of COVID-19 on the debate on open science: An analysis of expert opinion</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Inequality and Immigration Do Not Necessarily Increase Welfare Chauvinism – A Replication of Two Influential Studies</strong> -
<div>
How do inequality and immigration affect support for redistribution? We study this question in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has elevated the salience of redistributive policies and decreased the salience of immigration. We build upon studies of Magni (2021) and Alesina, Miano and Stantcheva (2023) that showed that priming respondents on inequality or immigration can link to preferences for redistribution (the former positively, the latter negatively) and increase welfare chauvinism. We revisit these claims drawing on survey-experimental primes in a quota-representative sample of around (N=1.587) German citizens. Our findings are partly contrary to prior evidence, underlining that previous studies may be context-dependent on times of exceptionally high immigration salience.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/nt8c4/" target="_blank">Inequality and Immigration Do Not Necessarily Increase Welfare Chauvinism – A Replication of Two Influential Studies</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Transient growth factor expression via mRNA in lipid nanoparticles promotes hepatocyte cell therapy to treat murine liver diseases</strong> -
<div>
Primary human hepatocyte (PHH) transplantation is a promising alternative to liver transplantation, whereby liver function could be restored by partial repopulation of the diseased organ with healthy cells. However, currently PHH engraftment efficiency is low and benefits are not maintained long-term. Here we refine two mouse models of human chronic and acute liver diseases to recapitulate compromised hepatocyte proliferation observed in nearly all human liver diseases by overexpression of p21 in hepatocytes. In these clinically relevant contexts, we demonstrate that transient, yet robust expression of human hepatocyte growth factor and epidermal growth factor in the liver via nucleoside-modified mRNA in lipid nanoparticles, whose safety was validated with mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, drastically improves PHH engraftment, reduces disease burden, and improves overall liver function. This novel strategy may overcome the critical barriers to clinical translation of cell therapies with primary or stem cell-derived hepatocytes for the treatment of liver diseases.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.11.575286v1" target="_blank">Transient growth factor expression via mRNA in lipid nanoparticles promotes hepatocyte cell therapy to treat murine liver diseases</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Variant-specific interactions at the plasma membrane: Heparan sulfate’s impact on SARS-CoV-2 binding kinetics</strong> -
<div>
The worldwide spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been characterised by the emergence of several variants of concern (VOCs) presenting an increasing number of mutations in the viral genome. The spike glycoprotein, responsible for engaging the viral receptor ACE2, exhibits the highest density of mutations, suggesting an ongoing evolution to optimize viral entry. However, previous studies focussed on isolated molecular interactions, neglecting the intricate composition of the plasma membrane and the interplay between viral attachment factors. Our study explores the role of avidity and of the complexity of the plasma membrane composition in modulating the virus-host binding kinetics during the early stages of viral entry for the original Wuhan strain and three VOCs: Omicron BA.1, Delta, and Alpha. We employ fluorescent liposomes decorated with spike from several VOCs as virion mimics in single-particle tracking studies on native supported lipid bilayers derived from pulmonary Calu-3 cells. Our findings reveal an increase in the affinity of the multivalent bond to the cell surface for Omicron driven by an increased association rate. We show that heparan sulfate (HS), a sulfated glycosaminoglycan commonly expressed on cells’ plasma membrane, plays a central role in modulating the interaction with the cell surface and we observe a shift in its role from screening the interaction with ACE2 in early VOCs to an important binding factor for Omicron. This is caused by a ~10-fold increase in Omicron’s affinity to HS compared to the original Wuhan strain, as shown using atomic force microscopy-based single-molecule force spectroscopy. Our results show the importance of coreceptors, particularly HS, and membrane complexity in the modulation of the attachment in SARS-CoV-2 VOCs. We highlight a transition in the variants’ attachment strategy towards the use of HS as an initial docking site, which likely plays a role in shaping Omicron’s tropism towards infection of the upper airways, milder symptoms, and higher transmissibility.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.10.574981v1" target="_blank">Variant-specific interactions at the plasma membrane: Heparan sulfate’s impact on SARS-CoV-2 binding kinetics</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Neuropsychiatric sequelae in an experimental model of post-COVID syndrome in mice</strong> -
<div>
The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented, and presently, the world is facing a new challenge known as Post-COVID syndrome (PCS). Current estimates suggest that more than 65 million people are grappling with PCS, encompassing several manifestations, including pulmonary, musculoskeletal, metabolic, and neuropsychiatric sequelae (cognitive and behavioral). The mechanisms underlying PCS remain unclear. The present study aimed to: (i) comprehensively characterize the acute effects of pulmonary inoculation of the betacoronavirus MHV-A59 in immunocompetent mice at clinical, cellular, and molecular levels; (ii) examine potential acute and long-term pulmonary, musculoskeletal, and neuropsychiatric sequelae induced by the betacoronavirus MHV-A59; and to (iii) assess sex-specific differences. Male and female C57Bl/6 mice were initially inoculated with varying viral titers (3x10^3 to 3x105 PFU/30 uL) of the betacoronavirus MHV-A59 via the intranasal route to define the highest inoculum capable of inducing disease without causing mortality. Further experiments were conducted with the 3x10^4 PFU inoculum. Mice exhibited an altered neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in the blood in the 2nd and 5th day post-infection (dpi). Marked lung lesions were characterized by hyperplasia of the alveolar walls, infiltration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) and mononuclear leukocytes, hemorrhage, increased concentrations of CCL2, CCL3, CCL5, and CXCL1 chemokines, as well as high viral titers until the 5th dpi. While these lung inflammatory signs resolved, other manifestations were observed up to the 60 dpi, including mild brain lesions with gliosis and hyperemic blood vessels, neuromuscular dysfunctions, anhedonic-like behavior, deficits in spatial working memory, and short-term aversive memory. These musculoskeletal and neuropsychiatric complications were exclusive to female mice and were prevented after ovariectomy. In summary, our study describes for the first time a novel sex-dependent model of PCS focused on neuropsychiatric and musculoskeletal disorders. This model provides a unique platform for future investigations regarding the effects of acute therapeutic interventions on the long-term sequelae unleashed by betacoronavirus infection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.10.575003v1" target="_blank">Neuropsychiatric sequelae in an experimental model of post-COVID syndrome in mice</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effective assessment of CD4+ T cell Immunodominance patterns: impact of antigen processing and HLA restriction</strong> -
<div>
Identifying T cell epitopes is essential for studying and potentially tuning immune responses to pathogens. The polymorphic nature of major histocompatibility complex of class II (MHCII)-genes, and the complexity of the antigen processing mechanisms hinders the effective prediction of immunodominant patterns in humans, specially at the population level. Here, we combined the output of a reconstituted antigen processing system and of in silico prediction tools for SARS-CoV-2 antigens considering a broad-population coverage DRB1* panel to gain insights on immunodominance patterns. The two methods complement each other, and the resulting model improves upon single positive predictive values (PPV) from each of them to explain known epitopes. This model was used to design a minimalistic peptide pool (59 peptides) matching the performance reported for large overlapping peptide pools (&gt; 500 peptides). Furthermore, almost 70 % of the candidates (23 peptides) selected for a frequent HLA background (DRB1<em>03:01/</em>07:01) feature immunodominant responses ex vivo, validating our platform for accessing T cell epitopes at the population level. The analysis of the impact of processing constraints reveals distinct impact of proteolysis and solvent accessible surface area on epitope selection depending on the antigen. Thus, considering these properties for antigens in question should improve available epitope prediction tools.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.10.574975v1" target="_blank">Effective assessment of CD4+ T cell Immunodominance patterns: impact of antigen processing and HLA restriction</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sodium Citrate in Smell Retraining for People With Post-COVID-19 Olfactory Dysfunction</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long Haul COVID-19; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; Anosmia; Olfaction Disorders <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Sodium Citrate; Drug: Normal Saline; Other: Olfactory Training Kit - “The Olfactory Kit, by AdvancedRx” <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill <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>Phase II, Double Blind, Randomized Trial of CX-4945 in Viral Community Acquired Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Community-acquired Pneumonia; SARS-CoV-2 -Associated Pneumonia; Influenza With Pneumonia <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: CX-4945 (SARS-CoV-2 domain); Drug: Placebo (SARS-CoV-2 domain); Drug: CX-4945 (Influenza virus domain); Drug: Placebo (Influenza virus domain) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Senhwa Biosciences, 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>Edge AI-deployed DIGItal Twins for PREDICTing Disease Progression and Need for Early Intervention in Infectious and Cardiovascular Diseases Beyond COVID-19 - Investigation of Biomarkers in Dermal Interstitial Fluid</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Heart Failure <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Use of the PELSA System for dISF extraction <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Charite University, Berlin, Germany <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>Phase III Clinical Study Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of WPV01 in Patients With Mild/Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Mild to Moderate COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: WPV01; Drug: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Westlake Pharmaceuticals (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Integrated Mindfulness-based Health Qigong Intervention for COVID-19 Survivors and Caregivers</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Infection <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Mindfulness-based Health Qigong Intervention <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effect of Aerobic Exercises Versus Incentive Spirometer Device on Post-covid Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Lung Fibrosis Interstitial; Post-COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Aerobic Exercises; Device: Incentive Spirometer Device; Other: Traditional Chest Physiotherapy <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: McCarious Nahad Aziz Abdelshaheed Stephens; Cairo University <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>SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A/B in Point-of-Care and Non-Laboratory Settings</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: SARS-CoV-2 Infection; Influenza A; Influenza B <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Diagnostic Test: Aptitude Medical Systems Metrix COVID/Flu Test <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Aptitude Medical Systems; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority <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>Can Doctors Reduce COVID-19 Misinformation and Increase Vaccine Uptake in Ghana? A Cluster-randomised Controlled Trial</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Motivational Interviewing, AIMS; Behavioral: Facility engagement <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: London School of Economics and Political Science; Innovations for Poverty Action; Ghana Health Services <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>Long COVID Ultrasound Trial</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long Covid <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Splenic Ultrasound <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: SecondWave Systems Inc.; University of Minnesota; MCDC (United States Department of Defense) <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>Immunogenicity After COVID-19 Vaccines in Adapted Schedules</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Coronavirus Disease 2019; COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: BNT162b2 30µg; Drug: BNT162b2 20µg; Drug: BNT162b2 6µg; Drug: mRNA-1273 100µg; Drug: mRNA-1273 50µg; Drug: ChAdOx1-S [Recombinant] <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Universiteit Antwerpen <br/><b>Completed</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>Massively parallel profiling of RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas13d</strong> - CRISPR-Cas13d cleaves RNA and is used in vivo and for diagnostics. However, a systematic understanding of its RNA binding and cleavage specificity is lacking. Here, we describe an RNA Chip-Hybridized Association-Mapping Platform (RNA-CHAMP) for measuring the binding affinity for &gt; 10,000 RNAs containing structural perturbations and other alterations relative to the CRISPR RNA (crRNA). Deep profiling of Cas13d reveals that it does not require a protospacer flanking sequence but is exquisitely…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Human conjunctiva organoids to study ocular surface homeostasis and disease</strong> - The conjunctival epithelium covering the eye contains two main cell types: mucus-producing goblet cells and water-secreting keratinocytes, which present mucins on their apical surface. Here, we describe long-term expanding organoids and air-liquid interface representing mouse and human conjunctiva. A single-cell RNA expression atlas of primary and cultured human conjunctiva reveals that keratinocytes express multiple antimicrobial peptides and identifies conjunctival tuft cells. IL-4/-13…</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>Inactivation mechanism of cold plasma combined with 222 nm ultraviolet for spike protein and its application in disinfecting of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly transmissible virus that has precipitated a worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease since 2019. Developing an effective disinfection strategy is crucial to prevent the risk of surface cross-contamination by SARS-CoV-2. This study employed pseudovirus and the receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein of SARS-CoV-2 as models to investigate the spike protein inactivation process and its underlying mechanisms using a novel…</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>Role of TNF<em>-α</em> in the Pathogenesis of Migraine</strong> - CONCLUSION: To this end, TNF-α plays a critical role in chronification, and inhibiting its signaling would likely be a crucial strategy for migraine therapy.</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>TXM peptides inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection, syncytia formation, and lower inflammatory consequences</strong> - After three years of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the search and availability of relatively low-cost benchtop therapeutics for people not at high risk for a severe disease are still ongoing. Although vaccines and new SARS-CoV-2 variants reduce the death toll, the long COVID-19 along with neurologic symptoms can develop and persist even after a mild initial infection. Reinfections, which further increase the risk of sequelae in multiple organ systems as well as the risk of death, continue to require…</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>Natural flavonoid pectolinarin computationally targeted as a promising drug candidate against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic, necessitating the development of new medicines. In this investigation, we identified potential natural flavonoids and compared their inhibitory activity against spike glycoprotein, which is a target of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV. The target site for the interaction of new inhibitors for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 has 82% sequence identity and the remaining 18% dissimilarities in RBD S1-subunit, S2-subunit, and 2.5% others. Molecular…</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>Structure-based Virtual Screening from Natural Products as Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and ACE2-h Receptor Binding and their Biological Evaluation In vitro</strong> - CONCLUSION: Compound B-8 can be used as a scaffold to develop new and more efficient antiviral drugs.</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>Lipid Metabolism Modulation during SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Spotlight on Extracellular Vesicles and Therapeutic Prospects</strong> - Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have a significant impact on the pathophysiological processes associated with various diseases such as tumors, inflammation, and infection. They exhibit molecular, biochemical, and entry control characteristics similar to viral infections. Viruses, on the other hand, depend on host metabolic machineries to fulfill their biosynthetic requirements. Due to potential advantages such as biocompatibility, biodegradation, and efficient immune activation, EVs have emerged as…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong><em>FHL2</em> Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Replication by Enhancing <em>IFN-β</em> Expression through Regulating <em>IRF-3</em></strong> - SARS-CoV-2 triggered the global COVID-19 pandemic, posing a severe threat to public health worldwide. The innate immune response in cells infected by SARS-CoV-2 is primarily orchestrated by type I interferon (IFN), with IFN-β exhibiting a notable inhibitory impact on SARS-CoV-2 replication. FHL2, acting as a docking site, facilitates the assembly of multiprotein complexes and regulates the transcription of diverse genes. However, the association between SARS-CoV-2 and FHL2 remains unclear. In…</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>Comparative Analysis of Cyclization Techniques in Stapled Peptides: Structural Insights into Protein-Protein Interactions in a SARS-CoV-2 Spike RBD/hACE2 Model System</strong> - Medicinal chemistry is constantly searching for new approaches to develop more effective and targeted therapeutic molecules. The design of peptidomimetics is a promising emerging strategy that is aimed at developing peptides that mimic or modulate the biological activity of proteins. Among these, stapled peptides stand out for their unique ability to stabilize highly frequent helical motifs, but they have failed to be systematically reported. Here, we exploit chemically diverse helix-inducing i,…</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>Computer-Aided Prediction of the Interactions of Viral Proteases with Antiviral Drugs: Antiviral Potential of Broad-Spectrum Drugs</strong> - Human society is facing the threat of various viruses. Proteases are promising targets for the treatment of viral infections. In this study, we collected and profiled 170 protease sequences from 125 viruses that infect humans. Approximately 73 of them are viral 3-chymotrypsin-like proteases (3CL^(pro)), and 11 are pepsin-like aspartic proteases (PAPs). Their sequences, structures, and substrate characteristics were carefully analyzed to identify their conserved nature for proposing a…</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>Viral Targeting of Importin Alpha-Mediated Nuclear Import to Block Innate Immunity</strong> - Cellular nucleocytoplasmic trafficking is mediated by the importin family of nuclear transport proteins. The well-characterized importin alpha (IMPA) and importin beta (IMPB) nuclear import pathway plays a crucial role in the innate immune response to viral infection by mediating the nuclear import of transcription factors such as IRF3, NFκB, and STAT1. The nuclear transport of these transcription factors ultimately leads to the upregulation of a wide range of antiviral genes, including IFN and…</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>5’-cap RNA/SAM mimetic conjugates as bisubstrate inhibitors of viral RNA cap 2’-O-methyltransferases</strong> - Viral RNA cap 2’-O-methyltransferases are considered promising therapeutic targets for antiviral treatments, as they play a key role in the formation of viral RNA cap-1 structures to escape the host immune system. A better understanding of how they interact with their natural substrates (RNA and the methyl donor SAM) would enable the rational development of potent inhibitors. However, as few structures of 2’-O-MTases in complex with RNA have been described, little is known about substrate…</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>Correction to: Dihydroisocoumarins of Hydrangea macrophylla var. thunbergii inhibit binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to ACE2</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>Gut microbiota-derived butyrate promotes coronavirus TGEV infection through impairing RIG-I-triggered local type I interferon responses via class I HDAC inhibition</strong> - Swine enteric coronaviruses (SECoVs) infection in vivo alters the composition of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producing gut microbiota, but whether microbiota-derived SCFAs impact coronavirus gastrointestinal infection is largely unknown. Here, we demonstrated that SCFAs, particularly butyrate, substantially increased alphacoronavirus TGEV infection at the late stage of infection, without affecting viral attachment or internalization. Furthermore, enhancement of TGEV by butyrate depended on…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Elusive Promise of a Real 2024 Republican Race Against Donald Trump</strong> - On the Nikki Haley scenario and the eternal optimism of a New Year. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-elusive-promise-of-a-real-2024-republican-race-against-donald-trump">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How the Biden Administration Defends Its Israel Policy</strong> - Isaac Chotiner interviews John Kirby, the strategic-communications coördinator for the National Security Council, about the Biden Administration’s policy on Israel. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-the-biden-administration-defends-its-israel-policy">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Did Nikki Haley Lose Her Nerve?</strong> - The former U.N. Ambassador has been gaining ground on Donald Trump. But, at the fifth Republican debate, she remained stuck in a race for second place. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/did-nikki-haley-lose-her-nerve">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Deadly Challenges of War Coverage in Gaza</strong> - Clarissa Ward, the first Western reporter to enter Gaza without an I.D.F. escort since October 7th, has faced accusations of pro-Israel bias even as she strives to highlight Arab suffering. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-deadly-challenges-of-war-coverage-in-gaza">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Israel’s Inspection Process Is Obstructing Aid Delivery</strong> - Senator Chris Van Hollen describes what he witnessed on the Egypt-Gaza border. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-israels-inspection-process-is-obstructing-aid-delivery">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The Iowa caucuses only matter because people believe they matter</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="People in winter coats and hats gather in a school building, holding TRUMP 2024 signs and standing next to a table with more signs with political slogans." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WuVb53YcOLfsm-_a-RyFYs7ssck=/430x0:7209x5084/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73051496/GettyImages_1913101045__1_.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Supporters attend a rally for Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump at a middle school in Clinton, Iowa, on January 6, 2024. | Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
It’s a small state that can make a massive impact on the political world. Here’s how that happens.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B96uWh">
Polls show <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> as the clear favorite to win the GOP <a href="https://www.iowagop.org/2024caucus">Iowa caucuses</a> on Monday, January 15. But the true stakes of the contest are about more than just who comes in first. The political world will be watching Iowa’s results closely in an attempt to get a sense of where the GOP race is going.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x8TogE">
The caucus results will give one early indication of whether Trump really will romp to the nomination or face a closer fight than expected. They’ll basically determine whether <a href="https://www.vox.com/ron-desantis">Ron DeSantis</a> can stay in the race. Yet for <a href="https://www.vox.com/24023738/nikki-haley-new-hampshire-polls-trump-desantis-husband">Nikki Haley</a>, they may not mean all that much — expectations are low for her in Iowa, since she has a better opportunity to break through in the next contest, the New Hampshire primary on January 23.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MJrNw0">
It may seem somewhat strange that Iowa’s results would need decoding like this. But that’s key to how Iowa’s influence works. It isn’t about the paltry number of delegates at stake. Rather, Iowa matters because of how it affects the <em>perceptions</em> of the political world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mrlNii">
Media, party insiders, activists, the candidates themselves, and even voters in other states <em>think</em> the caucus results reveal a great deal about which candidates can win elsewhere. The contest for Iowa isn’t really a contest for delegates; it’s a contest to look good.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2rU3ru">
This year, all this lofty import only applies to the Republican caucuses — Democrats stripped Iowa of its first-on-the-calendar status, substituting South Carolina instead, for various reasons: a<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/4/21122221/iowa-democratic-caucus-results-democracy"> 2020 vote-counting debacle</a>, concern that Iowa is too white for a party increasingly emphasizing diversity, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>’s political interests.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gAMpIV">
But in what’s generally been a stagnant, undramatic Republican race, Iowa presents the first real opportunity for voters to weigh in, defy polls, and shake up the contest. Of course, they could — and probably will — simply affirm Trump’s overwhelming lead. But if polls were perfectly reliable, we wouldn’t need the voters at all, would we?
</p>
<h3 id="0qt50b">
What are the Iowa caucuses?
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Several people gathered in front of a large poster board divided in a grid by different presidential candidates, including Bush, Carson, and Christie. A woman writes on the poster with a marker." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pIbMefYWQ_bkadgyG9R5WKZmfIk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25220192/GettyImages_507952086.jpg"/> <cite>Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty</cite>
<figcaption>
Mariannette Miller-Meeks, center, helps to total vote numbers at Ottumwa High School for the Republican caucus on February 1, 2016, in Ottumwa, Iowa.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F4bff6">
The Iowa caucuses are the first time actual voters across any US state get up and go vote on whom they want to be president — though, this year, only Republicans will be doing that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qPBs5n">
These voters literally have to “get up and go” — to an in-person event, held at a specific time in the evening, at one of more than a thousand <a href="https://www.iowagop.org/2024_caucus_locations">precincts across the state</a>. Absentee voting is not permitted, except for a small number of military and overseas voters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dQrjkZ">
Now, you may have an image in your head of the Iowa caucuses looking like participatory democracy in action — people gathering in their local precincts, sitting or standing with a group of their presidential candidate’s supporters, and going through multiple rounds of voting where candidates are eliminated and voters can change their minds.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="02VIeZ">
None of that is true anymore.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aFRM9S">
For Republicans, that’s never how the caucuses worked. Since 1980, the first year the caucuses <a href="https://www.dmpl.org/research/local-history-genealogy/iowa-caucuses">were a big deal</a> in the presidential nomination contest, Republicans <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/09/iowa-caucus-2024-what-it-means/">have made</a> their choices through a simple secret ballot written vote. That’s how it will work this year, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4mrcA0">
Iowa Democrats had long tried to do things differently, using the lively process described above — they wanted public debate and deliberation. But over the years, criticism mounted over the caucuses’ complexity,<a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/caucus/2016/02/03/editorial-something-smells-democratic-party/79777580/"> lack of transparency</a>, and barriers to participation (the old caucus gatherings could last for hours, which can be a challenge for people who have child care or work, or don’t want to drive late at night).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kbsU8M">
Democrats’ attempts to address those criticisms with <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/1/30/21083701/iowa-caucuses-results-delegates-math">a new voting process</a> in 2020 ended in <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/in-depth/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2022/12/11/iowa-caucus-2020-chaos-biden-sanders-buttigieg-app-failure-dnc/69703352007/">a disastrously delayed and flawed</a> vote count. The Democratic National Committee then <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/2/23490726/democrats-iowa-new-hampshire">stripped Iowa</a> (and New Hampshire) of special permission to hold early contests. So this year, Iowa Democrats will vote on the presidential choice <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/heres-how-the-2024-iowa-caucus-will-work">by mail instead,</a> as just one of many states that will announce results on Super Tuesday in early March.
</p>
<h3 id="ETSIVt">
Why do the Iowa caucuses matter?
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="US President Barack Obama and former US President Jimmy Carter wave during the Let Freedom Ring commemoration event at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, August 28, 2013.&amp;nbsp;" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d1nyuYjWA-ZiHVRJX4uUA7qHoz0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25220174/Screen_Shot_2024_01_11_at_4.50.19_PM.png"/> <cite>Michael Reynolds via Bloomberg</cite>
<figcaption>
Then-President Barack Obama and former President Jimmy Carter wave at a 2013 event
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TBcKkk">
To win the nomination contest, a candidate needs to win a majority of the delegates at stake in state primaries and caucuses across the country. The day after the Iowa caucuses, hardly any of those delegates will have been locked down, and in theory the contest would still be totally wide open. Yet in practice, Iowa’s results often make a dramatic impact on the race, dooming certain candidates while boosting others.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dvvQRr">
That’s for a few reasons. It’s the first actual contest after a long year or so of campaigning. In theory, it’s a place where an underdog can make a splash — it’s a small state that purportedly privileges shoe leather and on-the-ground campaigning over big ad spending.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E31Yoz">
Plus there’s history: Iowa has been the launching pad for two men who did not initially lead national polls but went on to become president of the United States: Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. For both, the caucus results generated tons of positive media coverage and a national surge in polls (though both faced long contests ahead before locking down the nomination).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mEZVug">
Even when the Iowa winner doesn’t end up winning the nomination (as with Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Ted Cruz, the three most recent GOP winners in contested caucuses), results can shake up the race by elevating them, rather than other candidates, to prominence in the contest.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G3FJ2q">
But it’s important to understand that not every candidate is affected equally by the caucuses. Iowa matters primarily because of how it changes the <em>perceptions</em> of the political world. And candidates are, in large part, judged by whether their caucus performance meets the <em>expectations</em> of <a href="https://www.vox.com/media">the media</a> and political elites.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BYV6WE">
For instance, in the 2008 GOP caucuses, Mitt Romney came in second and John McCain came in fourth. Yet Romney was <em>portrayed</em> as a big loser, since he had been campaigning hard in Iowa and had once seemed the favorite to win. McCain, meanwhile, hadn’t really been trying to win Iowa and was focusing instead on doing well in New Hampshire, so his fourth place finish wasn’t interpreted as a stunning setback for him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RuuJsi">
“Every candidate in Iowa has the same opponent, and that opponent’s name is ‘expected,’” Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/1/25/10817088/iowa-caucus-2016-poll-trump-sanders">told me back in 2016</a>. “The caucuses are about who exceeds expectations and who fails to. And who sets expectations? You and I do.”
</p>
<h3 id="sA92GO">
But <em>how</em> does Iowa’s influence actually work?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CneEYI">
The political world is obsessed with the question of who can actually win<em> </em>in each presidential nomination race. And a large part of that world has come to believe that the caucus outcomes help shed some important light on that question.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T2n2KL">
It’s pretty weird: Essentially, the Iowa caucuses are important because the media, the candidates, and the political world more broadly treat their results as greatly important in determining who can win. And this plays out in several interacting ways:
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k88zLb">
The media hypes up the Iowa results, branding candidates as winners and losers based on how they performed there. So the winners get tons of excited coverage, but the losers become afterthoughts. And, particularly in multicandidate fields, winning media coverage is hugely important.
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bAdGYW">
Donors and activists, too, look at the Iowa results to judge whether the candidates they’re supporting are still viable. A poor Iowa performance will likely mean fewer campaign donations and endorsements, which makes it more difficult for a candidate to stay in the race. (I’m looking at you, Ron DeSantis.)
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1p3DlP">
Voters in other states — especially those trying to make sense of complex, multicandidate fields — can take the Iowa results (and the media coverage of those results) as cues about which contenders can actually win. Accordingly, poll results in other states can change quickly after the Iowa results sink in.
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fCyPuC">
The candidates naturally take all this into account, and so many of them have invested huge amounts of time and money to try to do well in Iowa. And when the results come in, candidates who do poorly often take the hint and quit the race (spurred by donors who will no longer fund their campaigns, media outlets that no longer cover them, and subsequent polls showing they’re performing poorly elsewhere). This shrinking of the field is a process known as winnowing.
</li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ps2GHF">
And all of these factors amplify each other: This behavior from candidates further assures the media that the caucus results are really important, which justifies even more coverage of Iowa.
</li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XWZYvf">
All of these dynamics, it should be noted, also apply to New Hampshire (and, to a decreasing degree, to other states as the process continues). The media, the candidates, political elites, and, to a certain extent, voters in other states all act on the signals they believe Iowa and New Hampshire are sending them. And that’s how these early state contests dramatically reshape the nomination landscape long before the vast majority of the American people get to weigh in.
</p>
<h3 id="A9oGrh">
What are the expectations for this year’s Iowa caucuses?
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Haley smiles while holding a microphone and raising a card in her right hand. She stands in front of a navy blue backdrop that reads PICK NIKKI; the words are outlined by a silhouette of Iowa’s state boundaries." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Vm5VpJcnKaj2_RnYJaFC5hZadmo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25220195/GettyImages_1925443575.jpg"/> <cite>Win McNamee/Getty</cite>
<figcaption>
Republican presidential candidate and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley holds up a commit-to-caucus card while speaking during a campaign event on January 11, 2024, in Ankeny, Iowa.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vDcPpM">
Three significant candidates — and one hanger-on — remain in the Republican race, and each faces a different set of expectations in Iowa against which their performance will be judged.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X2OfkN">
Donald Trump has long been the overwhelming frontrunner nationally and in Iowa. So the political world will be watching his Iowa results to discern if there is even the slightest indication that he is not, in fact, invincible.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m7fMWK">
Trump has been polling around 50 percent in Iowa, so if he gets about that vote share or higher, that would seemingly confirm his dominance over the party — with the caveat that everyone understands New Hampshire is next and weird things can happen there.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UF7qqM">
If Trump wins Iowa but underperforms his polls — getting significantly below 50 percent — he will look “weaker than expected” and there will be chatter about whether he is more vulnerable than commonly believed. And if he somehow loses Iowa, that would be taken as a stunning catastrophe — though it likely wouldn’t be fatal, since everyone understands it’s Iowa and weird things can also happen there.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L6k1ll">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/14/23599194/nikki-haley-donald-trump-2024-presidential-campaign">Nikki Haley</a> has been <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/republican-primary/2024/iowa-caucus">battling with DeSantis for second</a> in Iowa polls, hovering around 15 to 20 percent of the vote — but the expectations for her in the caucuses aren’t so high, since political observers agree that New Hampshire is a more promising opportunity for her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RIet4f">
If Haley dramatically underperforms her polls, eyebrows will be raised, but she’ll still get to take her shot in the Granite State. But if she over-performs and gets a strong second place (ahead of DeSantis, closer than expected to Trump), she’ll be perceived as the “true winner” of the Iowa caucuses. Even though she didn’t, you know, win them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eBLXt1">
A question of minor intrigue is whether Haley will finish second or third (behind DeSantis). I don’t think too much hinges on that, but, of course, a better finish for her would be more helpful.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ffRTD4">
Ron DeSantis has spent much of the past year <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/republican-primary/2024/national">declining in the polls</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/06/desantis-donors-florida-election-00114080">losing donors</a>, and he’s bet everything on Iowa as his one shot for a comeback. A third place finish behind Haley would almost certainly end his campaign, losing him his last remaining support from GOP donors. He could decide to push onward with a second place finish, but it’s difficult to envision what his next opportunity for success would be. To revitalize his chances in the race, DeSantis really needs to over-perform his polls quite dramatically.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZZFOAL">
Then there’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2024-elections/23720391/vivek-ramaswamy-affirmative-action-woke-capitalism-ideas">Vivek Ramaswamy</a>, who is more of a wild card. After a brief burst of attention several months ago, media and GOP voter attention have largely moved on from Ramaswamy, who’s been stuck at single digits in polls. He has been <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/vivek-ramaswamy-completes-double-tour-every-iowa-county-rcna131847">campaigning very intensely in Iowa</a>, so an unimpressive performance there would likely suggest he won’t do too well anywhere else, either. However, Ramaswamy is largely self-funding his campaign and could theoretically stay in as long as he wants, since donors won’t be able to force his hand by stopping payment of his staffers’ salaries.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SZBC10">
To summarize, here’s what it would take for each candidate to be a caucus “winner”: Trump needs a commanding first place with about 50 percent of the vote or more, Haley needs a decent second place, DeSantis needs a very strong second place, and Ramaswamy, who knows.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vZaBQ1">
Isn’t democracy beautiful?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oFahkW">
<em>Portions of this article were originally published in </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/1/25/10817088/iowa-caucus-2016-poll-trump-sanders"><em>2016</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/3/21113394/iowa-democratic-caucus-2020-explained"><em>2020</em></a><em>.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>Who is Bill Ackman and why is he so mad?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Billionaire investor Bill Ackman speaks at the New York Times DealBook Conference in 2016." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/i8ammOnRoKizqZlOJl640QMciyQ=/308x0:3508x2400/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73051417/GettyImages_622170404.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Bill Ackman is the billionaire founder of a hedge fund who has recently become a central figure in two plagiarism scandals. | Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The aggrieved billionaire is gunning for Harvard, Business Insider, and anyone who talks about his wife.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fG3wnZ">
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman has a lot of opinions, and he’s going to make sure you hear them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yuDE3F">
How Ackman came to be a main character at the center of not one but two academic plagiarism scandals is a messy tale indeed. It started with Ackman amplifying allegations of academic dishonesty leveled against Harvard University president Claudine Gay by right-wing activists; Gay <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/opinion/claudine-gay-harvard-president.html">resigned from her post</a> in early January due to the controversy. Ackman, who is Jewish, first set his sights on Gay <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/09/us/university-of-pennsylvania-president-resigns.html">after she failed</a>, in his view, to adequately condemn pro-<a href="https://www.vox.com/palestine">Palestinian</a> student protests in which chants such as “<a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/23972967/river-to-sea-palestine-israel-hamas">from the river to the sea</a>” were repeated.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WLzZaV">
But Ackman’s accusations came back to bite him after similar charges of plagiarism were made against his wife, former MIT professor Neri Oxman. Two <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-ackman-wife-neri-oxman-mit-dissertation-plagiarism-2024-1">Business Insider</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neri-oxman-plagiarize-wikipedia-mit-dissertation-2024-1">reports</a> made the claim that Oxman “stole sentences and whole paragraphs from Wikipedia, other scholars, and technical documents in her academic writing.” Oxman <a href="https://twitter.com/NeriOxman/status/1742993073078947843">wrote on X</a> that she regretted some of the errors, while saying that in other instances she couldn’t confirm Business Insider’s claims. Her husband has <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2024/01/09/ackman-escalates-attack-on-business-insider-and-musk-eggs-him-on/?sh=da46c3b27b1f">since launched a fresh offensive</a> — this time against Business Insider.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uBZJj5">
Ackman isn’t a celebrity (unless you spend too much time online), or an academic, or even someone who has shown previous zeal for the cause of rooting out plagiarism. But he is worth $4 billion, and that can buy you a lot of attention.
</p>
<h3 id="zDYpih">
Who is Bill Ackman?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6PJmS7">
Ackman was born to a wealthy family in Chappaqua, New York, and later attended Harvard University. He married Oxman (who was once <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/10/neri-oxman-never-dated-brad-pitt-but-she-trolled-the-paparazzi-anyway">rumored to be dating Brad Pitt</a>) in 2019.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JF4iPN">
Since the ’90s, the founder of famed hedge fund Pershing Square has been well-known in finance circles as an activist investor — meaning he aggressively pushes for changes at the companies he buys stakes in. Another renowned activist investor Carl Icahn once <a href="https://financialpost.com/business-insider/carl-icahn-calls-bill-ackman-a-little-cry-baby-in-live-cnbc-brawl">said of Ackman</a>, “He’s the quintessential example of if you want a friend on Wall Street, get a dog.” Talking to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/business/01nocera.html">New York Times in 2007</a>, Ackman said of himself, “If I think I’m right, I can be the most persistent and most relentless person in America.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v5i7K4">
Pershing holds stock in just <a href="http://edgar.secdatabase.com/2597/117266123004016/filing-main.htm">a handful of companies</a>; among them are <a href="https://www.vox.com/google">Google</a>, Chipotle, Hilton Hotels, Lowes, and RBI, a <a href="https://www.rbi.com/English/corporate-profile/default.aspx">fast food multinational</a> that owns popular chains like Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons. Much of Ackman’s fortune comes from a few incredibly lucrative bets, like shorting <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/business/01nocera.html">an insurer of mortgage-backed bonds</a> right around the subprime mortgage crisis, and wagering <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2020/03/25/billionaire-bill-ackman-100-fold-return-on-coronavirus-hedge-2-billion/?sh=3c49a5016fcc">tens of millions of dollars</a> that the pandemic would cause absolute market chaos.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="Kpnm0T">
<q>“If I think I’m right, I can be the most persistent and most relentless person in America”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TPfttP">
Not all of his bets have panned out. Throughout the 2010s, he <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/01/investing/herbalife-bill-ackman-carl-icahn/index.html">lost a billion dollars</a> shorting Herbalife, a <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22732586/ftc-mlm-rohit-chopra-business-opportunity-rule">multilevel marketing company</a> selling supplements and meal replacements. The billionaire also made a misstep in trying to put the juice back into <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE97P0TB/">struggling retailer J.C. Penney</a>, and took a huge loss on a pharmaceutical company called Valeant, with his fund <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2017/03/13/billionaire-bill-ackman-sells-disastrous-valeant-investment-after-nearly-4-billion-loss/?sh=fa0418974b24">losing almost $4 billion in two years</a>. In 2017, Ackman’s Pershing and Valeant reached an agreement to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/pershing-square-valeant-to-pay-290-million-to-settle-allergan-suit-1514571214">pay $290 million</a> to settle a lawsuit alleging insider trading.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dg9UKn">
The billionaire is a signatory of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/7/10/18693578/gates-buffett-giving-pledge-billionaire-philanthropy">Giving Pledge</a>, a popular promise taken up by the ultra-rich to give away at least half of their total wealth. His philanthropic foundation has doled out <a href="https://pershingsquarefoundation.org/about-us/">hundreds of millions</a> of dollars since 2006, often toward social justice issues such as poverty and <a href="https://www.vox.com/criminal-justice">criminal justice reform</a>, and also scholarship funds for immigrants.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dtt4nD">
On X, he said he had “<a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1718382920518217968?lang=en">invested millions in helping promote Palestinian economic development</a> and peaceful coexistence,” but that he would do more if only he had confidence that “the funds would be used productively.” Fran McGill, head of communications at Ackman’s hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, told Vox that Ackman declined to provide any additional comment beyond what he’s posted on X, including any details on what these pro-Palestinian investments were.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6T9GPU">
But that history of giving is at odds with Ackman’s latest activist turn, in which Ackman has emerged as a firm opponent to diversity and inclusion initiatives that he says <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1743001512064799077">he once supported</a>. He <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1742441534627184760">wrote on X</a> that he believes not just in diversity of race and <a href="https://www.vox.com/religion">religion</a> but “diversity of viewpoints” and politics. He accused DEI of being “not about diversity in its purest form” but rather a “political advocacy movement on behalf of certain groups that are deemed oppressed under DEI’s own methodology.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DbT78m">
In his view, DEI unfairly paints any “merit-based program, system, or organization” as racist because there are disproportionate outcomes. It’s worth noting that Ackman’s father got his MBA from Harvard, where applicants are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/25/us/politics/harvard-admissions-civil-rights-inquiry.html">given preference if they have alumni family members</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="SXboKn">
Billionaires are used to getting their way because of more than just money (but mostly money)
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QWTFnX">
Wading into the culture wars is new for Ackman, who mostly stayed in his finance lane before the pandemic. But like many of his ultra-rich peers, he hasn’t had much trouble commandeering attention thanks to a heady mix of wealth, connections, and access to a large social media audience — nor much hesitation in waltzing into new conversations with an air of authority. In the past week, he has been making novel-length X posts (some over <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1743792224020619450">4,000 words long</a>) interpreting the <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744830917602951407">intricacies of MIT’s plagiarism rules</a> and journalistic “<a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744336502488727688">due process</a>” with the explicit goal of discrediting the plagiarism allegations detailed in Business Insider’s reporting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1phBo1">
He insists that he’s fighting to uphold the integrity of American institutions — including whether they sufficiently respect meritocracy — not just airing his grievances. Claudine Gay, in Ackman’s view, committed plagiarism. His wife didn’t; the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-ackman-wife-neri-oxman-mit-dissertation-plagiarism-2024-1">book paragraphs</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neri-oxman-plagiarize-wikipedia-mit-dissertation-2024-1">Wikipedia pages</a> she allegedly lifted without citation were “inadvertent omissions” and “<a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744702145360720049">clerical errors of punctuation</a>.” Ackman has not explained why, exactly, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/us/claudine-gay-harvard-president-excerpts.html">the examples used against Gay</a>, which likewise involve copying phrasing and sentences without quotation marks or attribution, shouldn’t also count as a light omission. He has <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1743792224020619450">only said</a> that his real goal was “to help her address the rise of antisemitism on campus” all along and that he had trusted plagiarism experts who called Gay’s academic record into question. But when it comes to his wife (who left MIT years ago), Ackman has not only launched a furious defense of why allegedly copying language isn’t plagiarism, but has acted as though others even knowing these allegations exist causes <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744702145360720049">catastrophic emotional and reputational harm</a> and counts as a matter of public injustice.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jiF9qd">
To right this perceived wrong, Ackman has tried his best to get the Business Insider article removed, decrying it as an <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744552134706630960">example of journalistic malpractice</a>. Not long after the story was published, he <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744702145360720049">spoke privately with executives</a> at both Business Insider and its parent company Axel Springer, informing them that he was disputing the plagiarism claims and that Insider would need to “withdraw the story.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kyfNED">
After these calls, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/01/08/neri-oxman-ackman-axel-springer-business-insider/">Axel Springer said it would review</a> the “process leading up to the reporting” on Oxman, but reiterated that “the facts of the reports have not been disputed.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MMgUwx">
If the facts aren’t in dispute, it’s hard to see the move as anything but assuaging a powerful man’s displeasure — and a way to protect themselves legally against litigious, well-resourced billionaires. Gawker is a cautionary tale — a beloved outlet whose initial closure came on the heels of an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/02/hogan-thiel-gawker-trial/554132/">expensive lawsuit funded by venture capitalist Peter Thiel</a>. An Axel Springer spokesperson declined to comment further on the review of Business Insider’s reporting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9SKozH">
Ackman is far from the first rich guy to try to control the kinds of stories <a href="https://www.vox.com/media">the media</a> publishes, as well as how they’re framed. He’s joining the ranks of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/8/15/12490944/peter-thiel-journalism">Thiel</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>, who famously bought X, a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-elon-musk-contends-twitter-can-disrupt-the-media-business-9c54b67">social media site used by many journalists</a>, because he was confident he could create a better media landscape. (Musk even <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1744741822537384195">advised Ackman to sue</a> Business Insider on X, where Ackman is waging his campaign; Ackman <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744755437457543281">thanked him</a> for his support.) That’s not to mention the many billionaires who own newspapers and media empires, whether it’s the Hearsts, the Sulzbergers, or <a href="https://www.vox.com/jeff-bezos">Jeff Bezos</a>. There was even a <a href="https://www.vox.com/tv/23737708/end-of-succession-season-4-logan-roy-murdoch-series-finale-king-lear-shakespearean">critically beloved TV show</a> about it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FSDCmC">
The way Ackman’s crusades against Harvard and Business Insider have played out are almost parodic demonstrations of a billionaire’s disproportionate sway on society; they are especially difficult to square with his supposed respect for meritocracy. Both at Harvard — a school his father attended and to which he has <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/12/13/bill-ackman-harvard-donation-coupang-antisemitism-president/">donated tens of millions of dollars</a> — and Business Insider, Ackman’s money and network have given him a direct line to decision-makers that most of us don’t have access to. Ackman <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1734401275142291640">wrote</a> on December 11 that two reporters had told him that Harvard resisted firing Gay in part because “they were concerned it would look like they were kowtowing to me.” It’s not an unwarranted concern. He also has a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/bill-ackmans-friend-inside-harvards-board-99b4bb8c">friend on the Harvard board</a> — a former board director of Pershing Square Holdings — who had privately questioned whether Gay could stay on as president.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="wvobZz">
<q>Ackman’s money and network have given him a direct line to decision-makers that most of us don’t have access to</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nHCGzy">
The perks of knowing the right people can’t be overstated. Ackman has given us <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744702145360720049">an inside look</a> at how he has escalated his contention with the allegations against Oxman: He quickly got on the phone with multiple executives at Business Insider and Axel Springer, <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744702145360720049">growing irate</a> when one didn’t call him back in an hour as promised. He contacted Axel Springer’s billionaire CEO <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1744927256068166016">Mathias Döpfner</a> (you may remember him <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/10/1/23381257/elon-musk-texts-twitter-billionaires">offering to run Twitter for Elon Musk</a> when Musk was gearing up to buy it), and even <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1745251911471612175">reached out</a> to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/joseph-bae/?sh=76a43dc6540c">Joseph Bae</a>, one of the CEOs of KKR, Axel Springer’s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/kkr-sees-long-term-future-with-springer-says-investor-kravis-2023-01-24/">biggest shareholder</a>, as well as KKR co-founder and Axel board member Henry Kravis. As the days passed and the media company refused to remove the articles or say that they’d gotten the facts wrong, Ackman went even further, <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1745422423216845260">accusing the above men</a> of being “responsible and profiting from Business Insider’s illegal and unethical journalism.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PMU1br">
This isn’t the first time Ackman’s connections likely greased the wheels for him. A few years ago, Ackman became involved in the fight to pressure Pornhub to remove alleged child sexual abuse material — the story goes that he <a href="https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2bswuu1nfc040ho7ghudc/culture/bill-ackman-sent-a-text-to-the-ceo-of-mastercard-what-happened-next-is-a-parable-for-esg">sent a text to his friend</a>, the then-CEO of Mastercard, which was also a payment processor on the site. Mastercard, in turn, pressured Pornhub to remove the videos.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5bEMIh">
Nor is this the first time Ackman has used his power to protect his wife’s reputation and influence the media narrative around her. In 2019, Oxman’s research lab at MIT garnered <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/business/media/ito-mit-epstein-apology.html">press</a><a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/neri-oxman-jeffrey-epstein-13236/"> </a><a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/mit-media-lab-jeffrey-epstein-money-women.html">attention</a> for receiving $125,000 from Jeffrey Epstein after a 2015 meeting, when he was already a convicted sex offender. According to emails <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6408616/Ackman-Emails.pdf">obtained by the Boston Globe</a>, Ackman advised then-director of the MIT Media Lab Joi Ito <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/09/13/meeting-with-epstein-led-gift-and-now-regrets/0SPYm0hSg8iNh3JdDwPICP/story.html">not to mention his wife</a> in any statements to the media so that she wouldn’t have to issue her own statement on the scandal. A <a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2019/09/16/neri-oxman-mit-donations-jeffrey-epstein-news/">few days after the Globe piece</a> revealed these behind-the-scenes details, Oxman issued an apology.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gfhMXd">
The wealthy have always held this kind of quiet influence, but social media has allowed them to use that influence — or attempt to use it — explicitly in public view. Ackman has become much more active on X, which he has said is his <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1733867430345056382">only social media account</a>, in the past few years — before the outbreak of the pandemic, he tweeted sparsely. He went from 24,000 followers in January 2019 to over a million by January 2024. His recent social media activism hasn’t had much of a financial impact on his publicly traded investment fund, whose <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/PSHZF/">stock price has risen</a> since October 2023. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t pitfalls to using your influence to name yourself a commanding officer in the culture war — as Ackman and Oxman have learned.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pVNTT9">
Ackman’s fit of temper isn’t over yet. An Axel Springer spokesperson reportedly told <a href="https://twitter.com/DylanByers/status/1745242819844018177">Puck News journalist Dylan Byers</a> that “most people had underestimated the way that Bill Ackman is completely losing it.” But maybe Ackman is making a bet — something he’s very used to doing — that in this fight, too, the billionaire will come out on top.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The Supreme Court will decide what cities can do about tent encampments</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CD2mBLL9mNP_JhXJnqkH1xsOkIU=/188x0:4059x2903/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73050627/AP23145733483839.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Tents line the sidewalk on SW Clay St in Portland, Oregon. | Craig Mitchelldyer/AP Photo
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
An Oregon case will clarify whether officials can jail or fine homeless people for sleeping outside.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O4TFon">
The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/011224zr_8o6a.pdf">announced</a> on Friday it would hear a pivotal case that could transform homelessness policy in the United States. The case is the<strong> </strong>most significant legal challenge to the rights of homeless people in decades, and how the Court rules in a decision expected later this year<strong> </strong>will shape how cities respond to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/10/10/23905951/homeless-tent-encampments-grants-pass-martin-boise-unsheltered-housing">tent encampments</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LZXyO9">
Four years ago, the Court declined to hear a similar challenge.<strong> </strong>But since then, the crisis of unsheltered homelessness in America has grown more severe, municipal backlash to court rulings that have limited cities’ response to the crisis has grown more organized, and what to do about people living in tents has become one of the most urgent issues in American politics.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t1XY7u">
The case in question — <em>Grants Pass, OR v.</em> <em>Johnson, Gloria, et al — </em>is a challenge to a 2018 <a href="https://clearinghouse.net/case/43966/">federal class action lawsuit</a> filed by three people<strong> </strong>who argued that the city of Grants Pass’s laws and customs illegally punished them for being involuntarily homeless. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs <a href="https://www.streetroots.org/sites/default/files/Blake%20SJ%20Opinion.pdf">noted </a>the dearth of affordable housing and homeless shelters in the city, and blasted Grants Pass’s arguments that unhoused people could simply leave and go elsewhere.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y4tkS3">
In 2022, a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the homeless plaintiffs. This wasn’t a total surprise; the same appellate court had issued a <a href="https://www.vox.com/23748522/tent-encampments-martin-boise-homelessness-housing">landmark ruling</a> four years earlier that said people without housing can’t be punished for sleeping or camping outside on public property if there are no adequate shelter alternatives available.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XvxNnA">
That pivotal decision, <a href="https://www.vox.com/23748522/tent-encampments-martin-boise-homelessness-housing"><em>Martin v. Boise</em></a>, has fundamentally shaped cities’ response to the homelessness crisis, especially in the nine Western states under the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction, where some <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-175/280078/20230920180047655_44262%20Brief%20-%20Amici%20Curiae.pdf">42 percent</a> of the country’s <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2022-ahar-part-1.pdf">homeless population</a> now lives.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dA4U9M">
Leaders from dozens of cities and states — both liberal and conservative — have been hoping the US Supreme Court would overturn the <em>Martin </em>and <em>Grants Pass </em>decisions, which they claim were incorrectly decided and leave governments ill-equipped to safely manage their communities. Many groups representing the rights of homeless people, in turn, have said there’s no reason for the US Supreme Court to reconsider the rulings as there’s no clear disagreement among circuit courts to resolve.<strong> </strong>In the half-decade since <em>Martin </em>came down, there have been <a href="https://homelesslaw.org/martin-v-boise-impact-page/">dozens of cases</a> affirming it, including in the <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-132/manning-v-caldwell/">Fourth Circuit in Virginia</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lQCUZf">
Some in the court system, though, have also signaled they’d like to see <em>Martin</em> overruled. Last summer, when the full Ninth Circuit <a href="https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2023/07/05/20-35752.pdf">declined to review</a> the <em>Grants Pass </em>decision, 16 judges dissented, arguing<em> </em>both homeless cases were incorrectly decided. “<em>Martin</em> handcuffed local jurisdictions as they tried to respond to the homelessness crisis; <em>Grants Pass</em> now places them in a straitjacket,” one dissent read. In 2023, an Arizona state judge also <a href="https://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/CV2022-010439-926-09202023.pdf">urged</a> the Supreme Court to take up the matter, arguing <em>Martin </em>and <em>Grants Pass </em>both<em> “</em>tie the hands of cities that seek in good faith to address the growing homeless encampment epidemic.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yijUXl">
On Friday afternoon, Ed Johnson, the lead attorney for the homeless plaintiffs, issued a statement defending the <em>Grants Pass </em>decision, describing it as “narrow” and “consistent with decades of Supreme Court precedent.”
</p>
<h3 id="gT8JiP">
The Supreme Court will decide if it’s a violation of the Eighth Amendment to fine or arrest people experiencing homelessness
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vb3DKA">
The lead original plaintiff for the <em>Grants Pass </em>case was Debra Blake, who had experienced homelessness for roughly a decade and in that time<strong> </strong>racked up hundreds of dollars in fines and fees for sleeping outside and allegedly trespassing. By 2020, Blake owed over $5,000 in penalties for living outside. Blake died a year later at 62 and the case was renamed for another homeless plaintiff, Gloria Johnson.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="91fikQ">
Supporters of the <em>Grants Pass </em>decision say the Ninth Circuit merely affirmed and clarified its prior decision in <em>Martin, </em>which found that punishing homeless people with no other place to go violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. But opponents say that by describing civil penalties against unhoused people as unconstitutional, as opposed to just criminal penalties, <em>Grants Pass </em>actually<em> </em>represents a radical expansion of the <em>Martin </em>holding.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gWcOWv">
By taking this case, the US Supreme Court is likely to resolve a key question underlying this debate: Is it a violation of the Eighth Amendment to issue penalties — whether jail time or tickets and fines — against people experiencing homelessness if they have no adequate shelter alternatives?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hAZtf7">
Lawyers representing Grants Pass <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-175/275911/20230823153037814_Grants%20Pass%20v.%20Johnson_cert%20petition_corrected.pdf">say no, it’s not</a>. They argue that enforcing local regulations should simply not be considered<strong> </strong>cruel and unusual punishments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pcHBQ0">
“I think the entire idea that it could constitute cruel and unusual punishment to arrest someone for sleeping on the street is incorrect,” Timothy Sandefur, the vice president for legal affairs at the Goldwater Institute, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/10/10/23905951/homeless-tent-encampments-grants-pass-martin-boise-unsheltered-housing">told me in October</a>. The Goldwater Institute is a conservative legal advocacy group that filed <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-175/279897/20230919154157625_GP%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf">a brief</a> urging the Supreme Court to take the case. Sandefur told me that “it’s true” that arresting someone for a status like being homeless is wrong, but he argued it would be at most a violation of due process, not of the Eighth Amendment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8aVV9z">
Homeless advocates in support of both <em>Martin </em>and <em>Grants Pass </em>say ticketing, fining, and arresting unhoused people if they have nowhere else to go certainly violates the Eighth Amendment. In a <a href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/icap/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2021/06/Blake-9th-Cir.-Amicus-Brief-ECF-stamped-6-8-2021.pdf">brief filed to the Ninth Circuit </a>in support of the unhoused plaintiffs, lawyers with the <a href="https://finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/">Fines and Fees Justice Center</a> argued that civil penalties <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/42/2/e107/5510723">frequently trap unhoused people</a> in cycles of poverty and homelessness, ensnaring them in debt that prevents them from securing housing at all.
</p>
<h3 id="iBZQH4">
Overturning <em>Martin </em>and <em>Grants Pass </em>would give cities more power to clear tent encampments
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8sHdK0">
If the Supreme Court overturns these decisions, cities will have an easier time clearing tent encampments and prosecuting those who violate anti-camping laws.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HffqE8">
Proponents of overturning the decisions say they’re not endorsing the idea of simply throwing unhoused people into jail. In a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-175/280078/20230920180047655_44262%20Brief%20-%20Amici%20Curiae.pdf">Supreme Court brief</a> filed by the California State Sheriffs’ Association and the California Police Chiefs Association, the groups wrote “they, by no means, argue for the criminalization of the homeless” and are committed to “improving the outcomes” for unhoused people.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g72b2J">
But given the political pressure many leaders face to crack down on tent encampments and the slow pace at which cities are producing more affordable housing, advocates are not wrong to worry that increased criminalization could be an inevitable outcome if these cases are overturned. “If politicians were truly focused on ending homelessness, they would focus on proven solutions like housing and services,” said Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center, in a statement on Friday afternoon.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Za28qA">
Overturning the decisions may also have implications for <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23856608/portland-homeless-tent-encampments-forced-treatment-guardianships">sending homeless people involuntarily</a> to substance use or psychiatric treatment programs, by removing a legal check on governments tasked with implementing new forced treatment statutes.
</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>Sensibility, Despacito, Ms Boss, and Seeking The Stars impress</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bopanna and Ebden go down in the title clash</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>Satwik-Chirag enter men’s doubles final of Malaysia Open</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>Champions Way, Rieko, Blue God, Klimt, Seventh Samurai, Sienna Princess, and Mehra impress</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vijayveer Sidhu wins Olympic quota in rapid fire pistol</strong> -</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>Registration of 15-year-old government vehicles to be cancelled: Himachal Pradesh Deputy CM</strong> - Terming it as a “year of reforms” in the Transport Department, the Deputy Chief Minister said the fitness certificates of private vehicles would be issued through automatic testing stations.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Woman passenger dies in road mishap as private bus overturns</strong> - The bus going to Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh from Hyderabad fell on its side and caught fire on the National Highway 44</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>Vaishnaw inaugurates Gopinathpur Nilgiri-Balasore railway line, flags off MEMU train</strong> - He said Odisha is getting Mr. Modi’s special attention for development of railways.</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>Supreme Court slams Delhi government over delay in deciding remission plea of convicts</strong> - A Bench of justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan castigated States for mechanically rejecting remission plea of life convicts who have served more than 14 years in jail.</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>Farmers in Tiruvarur demand withdrawal of T.N. Land Consolidation Act</strong> - The Samyukta Kisan Morcha labelled the act “anti-agriculture”, and said it allowed corporate companies to acquire fertile land and waterbodies without the consent of farmers</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>Gabriel Attal: Youngest French PM hopes to revive Macron’s government</strong> - France’s youngest PM is already popular with the public but how long will the honeymoon period last?</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>Matteo Salvini: Italian deputy PM takes stand in migrant kidnap trial</strong> - Matteo Salvini said he acted ‘in the national interest’ by banning a rescue ship from docking in Italy.</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>Sunak vows that Ukraine will never be alone as he pledges £2.5bn package</strong> - Rishi Sunak announces the package, the largest since Russia’s invasion, on a surprise trip to Kyiv.</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>Georgian Orthodox Church calls for Stalin religious icon to be changed</strong> - The icon shows the Soviet dictator being blessed by a saint.</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>German far-right met to plan ‘mass deportations’</strong> - Far-right politicians reportedly met at a villa near a lake outside Berlin to discuss their plans.</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>Would Luddites find the gig economy familiar?</strong> - Luddites were hardly the anti-tech dullards historians have painted them to be. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1995716">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CDC reports dips in flu, COVID-19, and RSV—though levels still very high</strong> - The dips may be due to holiday lulls and CDC is monitoring for post-holiday increase. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1995823">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reddit must share IP addresses of piracy-discussing users, film studios say</strong> - Reddit says First Amendment rights protect it from having to disclose users’ info. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1995738">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Space Force is changing the way it thinks about spaceports</strong> - There’s not much available real estate to grow Cape Canaveral’s launch capacity. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1995665">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID shots protect against COVID-related strokes, heart attacks, study finds</strong> - Data provides more evidence older people should stay up to date on COVID vaccines. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1995767">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 guy is sitting at the bar…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A lady walks in and sits next to him. She orders a cosmopolitan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He takes another sip of his beer, looks over at the lady and asks,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
"Can I smell your pussy?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She is aghast and exclaims,
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"How rude! What kind of place is this? You sir, are a pervert.
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No, you cannot smell my pussy."
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Guy says, “Then, it must be your breath.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Sad-Reception-2266"> /u/Sad-Reception-2266 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/195ceny/a_guy_is_sitting_at_the_bar/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/195ceny/a_guy_is_sitting_at_the_bar/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A young man becomes a monk and is assigned to help the other monks copy the laws of the church by hand. However, he notices that all the monks are copying from copies, rather than from the original manuscript.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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The young monk goes to the leader of the monks to voice his concerns. “If someone made even the slightest mistake the first time he copied the manuscripts,” he says, “then this error would be carried on through subsequent copies, and no one would even realize it was an error.”
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“You make a good point,” said the head monk. “The original manuscripts are in a locked safe, in a cave below the monastery. I will go down and copy from these manuscripts, making extra sure not to make any errors.”
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The head monk leaves the monastery. Hours go by, but still the head monk does not come back. Worried, the young monk goes down to the cave to investigate, where he sees the head monk banging his head on the wall and shouting, “We forgot the R! We forgot the R!”
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“What’s wrong?” asks the young monk.
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His eyes welling with tears, the head monk turns to the young monk and says, “The word is ‘celebrate’!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/wimpykidfan37"> /u/wimpykidfan37 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194xys6/a_young_man_becomes_a_monk_and_is_assigned_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194xys6/a_young_man_becomes_a_monk_and_is_assigned_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Heaven can wait</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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A couple made a pact that whoever died first would communicate from beyond and describe the afterlife. The husband died first and after a couple of months made contact with his widow through a medium.
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“Bernice!”
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“Is that you, Edward?”
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“Yes. I am so happy here. I have sex. Then breakfast. Then off to plush, green rolling hills where I can drink from a cool, running stream and enjoy the magnificent scenery. Then more sex. I sunbathe. Then have sex again. Lunch in a lovely field of flowers with a female companion, where we romp around and enjoy each other’s company. Then sex all afternoon. Then supper and more sex.”
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“Oh, Edward! Heaven sounds so wonderful!” exclaims Bernice.
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“I’m not in Heaven, Bernice!” says Edward. “I’m a thoroughbred stallion put out to stud in Kentucky!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/GANDORF57"> /u/GANDORF57 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/19518rq/heaven_can_wait/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/19518rq/heaven_can_wait/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dad joke</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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As an older gentleman, I miss urinals.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/jimph"> /u/jimph </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/195als0/dad_joke/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/195als0/dad_joke/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Package Tour</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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There’s a package-tour group travelling in Europe and the Spanish Guy Santi has made friends with the Australian Guy Shane.
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So Santi is teaching Shane how to say things in Spanish. So they get to a famous landmark, and Shane asks “How do I say ‘I saw that one’?”
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Santi says “Say, ese la vi.”
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Shane’s like “Okay, got it.”
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Later on they are walking along in group and the American lady, in a short skirt, slips and falls down. The French Guy to comfort her. He says “Ah Madam. C’est la vie.”
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Shane says “Oi mate. I fucking saw it too, but I don’t say shit because I’m a gentleman.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/flodge123"> /u/flodge123 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/195jt4p/package_tour/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/195jt4p/package_tour/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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