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<title>12 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>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>
<li><strong>Inflammation-related pathology in the olfactory epithelium: its impact on the olfactory system in psychotic disorders</strong> -
<div>
Smell deficits and neurobiological changes in the olfactory bulb (OB) and olfactory epithelium (OE) have been observed in schizophrenia and related disorders. The OE is the most peripheral olfactory system located outside the cranium, and is connected with the brain via direct neuronal projections to the OB. Nevertheless, it is unknown whether and how a disturbance of the OE affects the OB in schizophrenia and related disorders. Addressing this gap would be the first step in studying the impact of OE pathology in the disease pathophysiology in the brain. In this cross-species study, we observed that chronic, local OE inflammation with a set of upregulated genes in an inducible olfactory inflammation (IOI) mouse model led to a volume reduction, layer structure changes, and alterations of neuron functionality in the OB. Furthermore, IOI model also displayed behavioral deficits relevant to negative symptoms (avolition) in parallel to smell deficits. In first episode psychosis (FEP) patients, we observed a significant alteration in immune/inflammation-related molecular signatures in olfactory neuronal cells (ONCs) enriched from biopsied OE and a significant reduction in the OB volume, compared with those of healthy controls (HC). The increased expression of immune/inflammation-related molecules in ONCs was significantly correlated to the OB volume reduction in FEP patients, but no correlation was found in HCs. Moreover, the increased expression of human orthologues of the IOI genes in ONCs was significantly correlated with the OB volume reduction in FEP, but not in HCs. Together, our study implies a potential mechanism of the OE-OB pathology in patients with psychotic disorders (schizophrenia and related disorders). We hope that this mechanism may have a cross-disease implication, including COVID-19-elicited mental conditions that include smell deficits.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.23.509224v3" target="_blank">Inflammation-related pathology in the olfactory epithelium: its impact on the olfactory system in psychotic disorders</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Measuring concentration of nanoparticles in polydisperse mixtures using interferometric nanoparticle tracking analysis (iNTA)</strong> -
<div>
Quantitative measurements of nanoparticle concentration in liquid suspensions are in high demand, for example, in the medical and food industries. Conventional methods remain unsatisfactory, especially for polydisperse samples with overlapping size ranges. Recently, we introduced interferometric nanoparticle tracking analysis (iNTA) as a new method for high-precision measurement of nanoparticle size and refractive index. Here, we show that by counting the number of trajectories that cross the focal plane, iNTA can measure concentrations of subpopulations in a polydisperse mixture in a quantitative manner and without the need for a calibration sample. We evaluate our method on both monodisperse samples and mixtures of known concentrations. Furthermore, we assess the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in supernatant samples obtained from infected cells.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.09.574819v1" target="_blank">Measuring concentration of nanoparticles in polydisperse mixtures using interferometric nanoparticle tracking analysis (iNTA)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Generation and evaluation of protease inhibitor-resistant SARS-CoV-2 strains</strong> -
<div>
Since the start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the search for antiviral therapies has been at the forefront of medical research. To date, the 3CLpro inhibitor nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid) has shown the best results in clinical trials and the greatest robustness against variants. A second SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor, ensitrelvir (Xocova), has been developed. Ensitrelvir, currently in Phase 3, was approved in Japan under the emergency regulatory approval procedure in November 2022, and is available since March 31, 2023. One of the limitations for the use of antiviral monotherapies is the emergence of resistance mutations. Here, we experimentally generated mutants resistant to nirmatrelvir and ensitrelvir in vitro following repeating passages of SARS-CoV-2 in the presence of both antivirals. For both molecules, we demonstrated a loss of sensitivity for resistance mutants in vitro. Using a Syrian golden hamster infection model, we showed that the ensitrelvir M49L mutation, in the multi-passage strain, confers a high level of in vivo resistance. Finally, we identified a recent increase in the prevalence of M49L-carrying sequences, which appears to be associated with multiple repeated emergence events in Japan and may be related to the use of Xocova in the country since November 2022. These results highlight the strategic importance of genetic monitoring of circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains to ensure that treatments administered retain their full effectiveness.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.22.568013v2" target="_blank">Generation and evaluation of protease inhibitor-resistant SARS-CoV-2 strains</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>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>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Could Wearing Face Mask Have Affected Demodex Parasite</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Pandemic, COVID-19; Demodex Infestation <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Diagnostic Test: standard superficial skin biopsy (SSSB) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Nurhan Döner Aktaş <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>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>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An investigation into the usage of black cumin derivatives against cancer and COVID-19 as the nature medicine</strong> - Black cumin has been used as a spice and food preservative for years. Thymol, thymoquinone, thymohydroquinone and dihydrothymoquinone are the most important natural agents in black cumin. In order to determine the most active compound in black cumin the theoretical calculations have been carried out in different phases by using the density functional theory (DFT). The inhibition effect of black cumin derivatives on Histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) has been determined and supported the experimental…</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>Multiple redox switches of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease in vitro provide opportunities for drug design</strong> - Besides vaccines, the development of antiviral drugs targeting SARS-CoV-2 is critical for preventing future COVID outbreaks. The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(pro)), a cysteine protease with essential functions in viral replication, has been validated as an effective drug target. Here, we show that M^(pro) is subject to redox regulation in vitro and reversibly switches between the enzymatically active dimer and the functionally dormant monomer through redox modifications of cysteine residues….</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>Antibacterial and Antiviral Activities of Silver Nanocluster/Silica Composite Coatings Deposited onto Air Filters</strong> - The indoor air quality should be better controlled and improved to avoid numerous health issues. Even if different devices are developed for air filtration, the proliferation of microorganisms under certain conditions must be controlled. For this purpose, a silver nanocluster/silica composite coating was deposited via a cosputtering technique onto fiber glass and polymeric based substrates. The aim of this work is focused on the evaluation of the antibacterial and antiviral effects of the…</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>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>Trump’s Bizarre Immunity Claims Should Serve as a Warning</strong> - What might be the most disturbing aspect of the oral arguments is how unsettled the law actually is in the area of Presidential powers and accountability. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/trumps-bizarre-immunity-claims-should-serve-as-a-warning">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The U.S. Is Reaping the Benefits of Low Unemployment</strong> - In many ways, keeping the jobless rate low and the labor markets tight is the most effective and cost-efficient welfare policy there is. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-us-is-reaping-the-benefits-of-low-unemployment">link</a></p></li>
<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>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>It’s a movie! Now it’s a musical! Now it’s a movie musical!</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Three teens peer through some bushes." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eZ1vK1XyeLJiGbvQ3wyRBwRpHfQ=/126x0:1903x1333/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73048176/image7.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) with Damien (Jaquel Spivey) and Janis (Auli’i Cravalho). | Paramount
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Color Purple and Mean Girls make the trip from the silver screen to the stage and back.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kc0tMp">
For a long while, it seemed as though the <a href="https://www.vox.com/theater">Broadway</a>-to-Hollywood pipeline, with a few exceptions, flowed one way. A musical would debut on the stage and then eventually make its way to film. It’s what happened with the Rodgers and Hammerstein classics of the mid-century like <em>Carousel </em>and <em>South Pacific </em>and eventually Best Picture winner <em>The Sound of Music</em>. <em>My Fair Lady </em>ditched Julie Andrews for Audrey Hepburn and won the Oscar in 1965. Bob Fosse reimagined <em>Cabaret </em>for the cinema in 1972, and his version with Liza Minnelli became in many ways the definitive interpretation of Kander and Ebb’s show, also winning the Academy Award.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sug3fY">
But the movie musical waned in popularity and the pipeline started flowing in the other direction. Broadway became overloaded with musicals based on <a href="https://www.vox.com/movies">movies</a>: <em>Legally Blonde</em> and <em>Groundhog Day</em>, <em>Grey Gardens </em>and <em>Mrs. Doubtfire</em>, <em>Kinky Boots </em>and <em>The Full Monty</em>. It almost felt like an epidemic for theater fans. Regardless of the quality — and they varied widely in quality — the musicals based on movies had the sheen of desperation. <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/24010951/sondheim-broadway-musical-theatre-future-jukebox-musicals-mean-girls-hamilton-rent">Please come to the theater</a>, they seemed to shout, it’s just like that thing you like but with songs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="phqvT7">
And thus begets another phenomenon: the movie musical based on a musical based on a movie. It happened with Mel Brooks’s 1967 <em>The Producers</em>, which was turned into a beloved Tony-winning musical and then a panned 2005 movie musical. Now, however, we have gotten two of these in rapid succession: <em>The Color Purple</em>, which hit theaters on Christmas, and Tina Fey’s <em>Mean Girls</em>, which debuts on January 12. Confusingly, both of these films are titled the same as their cinematic predecessors, but make no mistake, they are packed with singing and dancing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CqmliD">
On paper, <em>The Color Purple</em> and <em>Mean Girls </em>couldn’t be more different, regardless of their Broadway roots. One, based on the Alice Walker novel, is the story of Celie (Fantasia Barrino-Taylor in the 2024 film), a Black woman at the turn of the 20th century in Georgia who suffers abuse at the hands of her father and husband, but over decades comes into her own. The other is about a nasty clique at a high school in Illinois. (Do I really need to explain the plot of <em>Mean Girls</em> to you?) But coming out so close together, they show the limits of transferring stories between mediums.
</p>
<h3 id="SXfqoT">
Stripping <em>The Color Purple </em>down and building it back up
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XJ7BGi">
You can make the argument that the musical version of <em>The Color Purple </em>— with a book by Marsha Norman and songs by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray — is less an adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s 1985 movie version than an adaptation of the original text by Walker, but that’s something of a stretch as they are deeply indebted to one another.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F8j86o">
There was a direct throughline between the first film and the show. The Broadway production was produced by Quincy Jones, who produced and scored the Spielberg iteration, and Oprah Winfrey, who starred in the original film as Sofia, now played by Danielle Brooks. Now, Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment produces the movie musical along with Winfrey and Jones. Winfrey explained at the premiere that the latest incarnation only went ahead <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/12/the-color-purple-premiere-oprah-winfrey-steven-spielberg-1235657824/">with Spielberg’s blessing</a>: “This film couldn’t have happened without the original, and couldn’t have happened without Steven Spielberg allowing it to happen.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sezHh1">
Indeed, in reviewing the first Broadway production, the New York Times’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/02/theater/02purp.html">Ben Brantley wrote</a> that it “does bring to mind the enjoyably hokey cinematic ravishments of Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film version.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dTqfm4">
I never saw that production, which was met with tepid response, but I did see the acclaimed one that followed in 2015, which toned down the spectacle for a stripped-down aesthetic that relied largely on a towering performance from Cynthia Erivo as Celie. The nearly bare stage allowed Erivo’s raw emotion and astounding voice to fill the room. With few other distractions, you could focus on how she transformed herself as Celie’s understanding of herself developed.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two teen black girls in 19th-century dresses sitting in a tree." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oLylS1xHZqZyJOHJVl3QLm8aWQw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25215232/the_color_purple_zz_231018_01_14d998.jpeg"/> <cite>Warner Bros.</cite>
<figcaption>
Young Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and Nettiw (Halle Bailey).
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NSQvDR">
For the screen, director Blitz Bazawule goes in the opposite direction. Instead of taking cues from the small scale of the Erivo version, Bazawule, whose credits include Beyoncé’s <em>Black Is King</em>, goes all out for what almost amounts to a brightly colored musical extravaganza. Nearly every song is accompanied by a chorus of dancers in exuberant costumes doing elaborate choreography.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9eJbJX">
Some of these choices work better than others. The opening sequence “Mysterious Ways” is a blast of joyous gospel energy. The riotous juke joint performance by torch singer Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) is galvanizing. However, I was frustrated to find that “What About Love?” — Celie’s love ballad with Shug — takes place in the world of a vintage movie musical. Specifically, according to a recent story in the New York Times, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/movies/the-color-purple-black-musicals.html"><em>Stormy Weather </em>starring Lena Horne</a> from 1943. It’s sumptuous, but you can argue it also does a disservice to the love story the song is telling. It made their romantic connection somehow feel less tangible, more the stuff of fantasy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wHdTUT">
But that’s the ultimate pitfall of taking things from the stage to the screen. On the stage, the heightened experience of watching someone belt with all their might can enhance a story’s power. Hearing the sounds of voices live can be shatteringly effective. You can hear the pain or elation in the vibrato. On screen, if staged ineffectively, the singing can make the moments feel somehow less true. It’s unnatural for people to break into song and you have to find the right balance to make it feel transcendent. This is why the likes of <em>Cabaret </em>and 2002’s <em>Chicago</em> remove the songs from the diegetic action of the movie, instead letting them live in a sort of theatrical limbo.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ds0TmJ">
The movie-to-musical-to-movie-musical path makes achieving that extra difficult. We’ve seen successful versions of both: How do you meld them together?
</p>
<h3 id="P2vabq">
A re-creation with songs? Or something entirely new?<strong> </strong>
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dF0Aar">
While there is some evocation of Spielberg’s 1985 film in <em>The Color Purple</em>, it’s indisputable that Bazawule is trying to honor what it means to be a big-screen musical in his ambitious if at times overwrought staging. Not that the trailer advertised that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L81Mx2">
The trailers for both <em>The Color Purple</em> and <em>Mean Girls </em>hide the fact that they are musicals. The only clue you would have that something is up with <em>Mean Girls </em>is a musical note in the logo. But, make no mistake, <em>Mean Girls </em>is a musical. So much so that I think some audiences are going to be shocked when it opens with outcasts Janis (Auliʻi Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), framed in a smartphone screen, singing about what’s to come.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GTEkPb">
<em>Mean Girls </em>was met on Broadway with a solid if not overwhelming reception, with critics largely <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2018/04/on-wednesdays-we-do-two-shows-mean-girls-awarely-onstage.html">highlighting</a> the <a href="https://deadline.com/2018/04/mean-girls-broadway-review-tina-fey-musical-honor-roll-1202359804/">humor</a> over the songs from composer Jeff Richmond (Fey’s husband) and lyricist Nell Benjamin. The stage production updated some of the material but for the most part wanted to hit the same beats to appease the audience.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Three teen girls in a classroom." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fSLysuojW1zvfqWh_8ZrKFlF_VU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25215231/image6.jpg"/> <cite>Paramount</cite>
<figcaption>
Regina George (Renee Rapp) and the Plastics.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bav4pr">
Would that mean, in movie form, the musical would just read as an unnecessary remake of the still-beloved original? The trailer made it seem that way. Weirdly, though, the musical numbers bloom on screen in this version directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr in a way they couldn’t on stage. In the original production, which I saw, <em>Mean Girls: The Musical</em> sometimes felt like a bootleg, cobbled-together version of the 2004 film. So why is that?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ytcl6T">
To again say something extremely obvious, unlike <em>The Color Purple</em>, no version of <em>Mean Girls</em> has hewed that close to reality, what with the original’s fantasy sequences of teens acting like animals in the mall as if it were their watering hole. The silliness allows the directors to take more goofy risks with the musical sequences, and it makes sense that these songs would exist in the minds of these hormonal, scheming kids.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zkj4iQ">
Yes, <em>Mean Girls </em>has some points to make about high school, but it’s all in service of the jokes, which means the movie musical format actually fits it shockingly well. On stage, you can’t land a visual gag the way you can in a movie, which means, if there was ever going to be a <em>Mean Girls </em>musical, perhaps the screen was the best option. Sure, there are some added jokes, but the musical aspect is what makes it feel fresh and what gives the great new cast something to make their own.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ql0gsa">
And yet the transferring of the material still feels a little, well, exhausting. After all, Fey’s <a href="https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/dff9756c-939c-4cd0-abac-a8a73cd518f5"><em>30 Rock </em>once</a> had a joke about a character winning best actress “in a movie based on a musical based on a movie.” It’s a mouthful just saying it.
</p></li>
<li><strong>What Democrats’ panic over young voters misses</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A line of people on a bright blue path wait to vote at a voting booth. Some are just silhouettes with static. A glitching screen is in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/98Li0TidG0fbcsBnVdaCb8MZ3Rg=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73048093/CPaz_JoanWong_1_11.0.png"/>
<figcaption>
Vox/Joan Wong; Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
If a spate of surveys over the last four months are to be believed, young voters aren’t just dissatisfied with Joe Biden — they’re switching to supporting Donald Trump.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4Z76uP">
Is <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> on track to win an unprecedented share of the youth vote?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bnGlhI">
Months of polling, and thousands of words of political writing based on that polling, seem to suggest just that. If those polls are to be believed, <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a> isn’t just in trouble with dissatisfied young voters. He’s facing the possibility Trump could do better with young voters than any other Republican candidate of the modern era.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="meigVq">
A recent warning sign came from <a href="https://www.suffolk.edu/-/media/suffolk/documents/academics/research-at-suffolk/suprc/polls/national/2024/1_9_2024_national_tables_final.pdf?la=en&amp;hash=489554858C5A75CD47BED6731F9FC04C23ECC679">USA Today/Suffolk University’s poll</a> of registered voters on the first of the month: “A fraying coalition: Black, Hispanic, young voters abandon Biden as election year begins,” <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/01/biden-trump-poll-odds-black-hispanic-young-voters/72072111007/">read the headline</a> of the accompanying piece. Under the hood, the numbers look dire: “Among voters under 35, a generation largely at odds with the GOP on issues such as abortion access and climate change, Trump now leads 37%-33%,” USA Today notes. The poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted in the last week of the year, December 26–29.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aYumkZ">
That finding echoes the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/05/us/politics/young-voters-biden-trump-2024.html">December results</a> from the New York Times/Siena College poll that also triggered a fierce debate among political strategists, pundits, and pollsters over just how much to believe the poll’s findings among subsets of American voters, like Black, Latino, and young voters. In that December survey, the weak support for Biden from young people registered as a Trump lead. Among registered voters between the ages of 18–29, Trump actually <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/19/us/elections/times-siena-poll-registered-voter-crosstabs.html">led Biden 49 to 43 percent</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LSG5ai">
As Nate Cohn, the Times’s chief political analyst, explained, a near-even split between Trump and Biden among young voters has been the “basic story about young voters … in nearly every major survey” by the end of 2023. The Times’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/07/us/elections/times-siena-battlegrounds-registered-voters.html?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email">poll of battleground states</a> from earlier in the year showed a similar conclusion: Biden was up just 1 point over Trump (47 to 46 percent) among 18- to 29-year-old registered voters. And more recently, <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/pa/pa01102024_pidf24.pdf">a Quinnipiac poll</a> of registered voters in Pennsylvania found Biden up 5 points over Trump with voters under 35; compare that to the <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/pa/pa10292020_crosstabs_bgth12.pdf">16-point advantage</a> Biden had on the eve of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election">2020 election</a> in Quinnipiac’s own polling.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5UjsLG">
These numbers mark a shocking shift from 2020, when Biden handily defeated Trump among young voters, according to various exit polls and post-election verified voter surveys. AP VoteCast, for example, found Biden holding a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/11/03/929478378/understanding-the-2020-electorate-ap-votecast-survey">25-point advantage</a> over Trump among young voters; Pew’s survey, the Catalist research firm’s estimates, and national exit polls, meanwhile, <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16D9GSxqF5LFIRTcoVJlvWWefU_h-ZMzlomghgbvYRaM/edit?pli=1#gid=315848542">all reported a 24-point </a>win. That lead among young voters was crucial to Biden’s victory. Unprecedented young voter turnout in 2020 helped offset Trump’s slight advantages among voters over the age of 50.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FPkrNb">
The youth defections have only amped Democratic anxiety ahead of a likely Biden-Trump rematch in 2024, but the shift is so large, and shocking, that some are exploring alternative explanations. After all, a Republican hasn’t won a majority of the youth cohort since <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/elections/2008/results/president/national-exit-polls.html?module=inline">the era of Ronald Reagan</a>. And Biden’s numbers look like they are in freefall: How could Biden go from beating Trump by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/18/upshot/times-siena-poll-registered-voters-crosstabs.html">21 points</a> before the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23357154/2022-midterm-elections-guide">2022 midterms</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/01/us/elections/times-siena-poll-registered-voters-crosstabs.html">10 points</a> during summer 2023 to losing young people to Trump now?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5o0YM8">
Something seems amiss. In an effort to break through the topline numbers, I talked to a range of pollsters from across the political spectrum to come up with a few theories that explain these drastic (and varying shifts). They largely described three theories.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="86jzyK">
<strong>The polls are right:</strong> Biden has a major problem that could turn catastrophic. Young people are pissed at him for his approach to <a href="https://www.vox.com/israel">Israel</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a>, down on the state of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a> and the country more generally, and concerned about his age. And no amount of nuance or cope can wish away the fact that young voters are dropping Biden for Trump and other third-party candidates.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FUtCmS">
<strong>The polls are noisy:</strong> Biden faces a problem, but not one that should send Democrats into a tailspin. The campaigns haven’t really swung into action, polls this far out are noisy, and third-party support is always overestimated in the polls.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ur02iZ">
<strong>The polls are missing something:</strong> This is a complex case for scrutiny that holds the polls <em>are</em> capturing some dissatisfaction with Biden, but they are overstating Trump’s edge because of how polls are conducted now. It’s harder for polls and pollsters to reach young people specifically and to accurately capture their sentiments. And the respondents feeding these polls are even less likely to be representative of the rest of their cohort than of other generations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XASbfj">
No theory alone explains these Biden numbers fully. But together they suggest caution at drawing sweeping conclusions about young people — and at sensationalized poll-driven media coverage.
</p>
<h3 id="cI02O7">
<ol type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">The polls are right
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dN7gOk">
This is the case for Democrats to panic. Under this theory, the big, high-quality national polls are capturing large defections from Biden over the last few months, picking up after the October 7 <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/10/10/23911661/hamas-israel-war-gaza-palestine-explainer">Hamas</a> attack on Israel and Israel’s military response in <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080046/gaza-palestine-israel">Gaza</a>. In turn, the polls are showing big swings toward Trump and third-party candidates, showing not just frustration, but anger at Biden.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R3gvJS">
It’s no surprise that Biden’s support would have declined since 2020. He was never young people’s preferred candidate in the <a href="https://iop.harvard.edu/news/18-29-year-olds-likely-democratic-primary-voters-prefer-sanders-biden-orourke-harvard-iop">2020 primaries</a>; young Americans were <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/18/21184884/democrats-biden-young-voters-turnout-sanders">reluctant</a> to support him; and though 2020 saw a record number of young people turn out, they <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/21/914989655/poll-most-young-americans-prefer-biden-but-trump-backers-are-more-enthusiastic">still tended</a> to be voting <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/11/gen-z-vote-2020-trump-biden-424571"><em>against</em> Trump</a>, rather than <em>for</em> Biden, in the general election. Even before Israel’s war in Gaza, Biden’s low approval numbers from younger Americans were frequently making headlines (<a href="https://www.vox.com/23042037/joe-biden-young-voters-disapprove-progressive-gen-z">including here at Vox</a>). In the minds of many young Americans (and interest groups), he wasn’t progressive enough, including by not acting boldly enough on <a href="https://www.vox.com/student-loan-debt">student loan</a> cancellation, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/18/1200068222/climate-change-young-voters-biden-trump-economy">climate change</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23513464/young-voters-gen-z-turnout-midterm-democrats-progressive">other priorities</a> for the political left.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CIXjNg">
This decline accelerated after the Hamas war’s escalation. Cohn, at the Times, notes this in explaining the December poll’s findings: “The young Biden [2020] voters with anti-Israel views are the likeliest to report switching to Mr. Trump … It’s possible that the kinds of young voters opposed to Israel already opposed Mr. Biden back before the war. That can’t be ruled out. But it’s still evidence that opposition to the war itself is probably contributing to Mr. Biden’s unusual weakness among young voters.”
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Several young people hold a giant banner which reads “President Biden: Keep Your Climate Promises.” Smaller signs in the background read “Stop Willow.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bGhg3jszc7pvHr1lDbi2937Abgk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25219868/GettyImages_1442291666.jpg"/> <cite>Jemal Countess / Getty Images for Sunrise AU</cite>
<figcaption>
Climate activists held a demonstration to urge President Biden to reject the Willow Project at the US Department of Interior on November 17, 2022, in Washington, DC.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="The protester holds a sign that says “Come November we’ll remember” with a picture of Biden beneath." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MvA3r8hAvcwBH2bamXxthFCwDog=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25219284/1834240061.jpg"/> <cite>David McNew / Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A pro-Palestinian protestor holds a sign warning of the November 2024 election during a December protest in Los Angeles.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ivWdTB">
Combined with the still sour mood many Americans, including younger ones, feel about the economy, and general frustrations with Biden’s age, these factors offer a simple explanation. “One of the reasons you’re seeing Biden’s numbers be so low, particularly with younger voters and with minorities, is he’s got a policy problem with them,” Republican pollster <a href="https://wpaintel.com/our-teams/amanda-iovino/">Amanda Iovino</a> told me. The simplest explanation is often the closest to the truth, she said.<strong> </strong>“Sometimes we get a little bit too in the weeds on ‘is our methodology right’ to confirm our suspicions that these folks will eventually go back to voting Democrat when faced with a choice.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LLW44Q">
Under the theory, Biden either needs to enact immediate big changes in his platform and his campaign or face losing young voters en masse.
</p>
<h3 id="s4D8do">
<ol start="2" type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">The polls are noisy
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WQcEng">
This is the case for patience. Using this lens, pollsters caution it’s still way too early for polls to be predictive of the final vote choices, that the campaigns have barely started to rev up, that voters are still not really thinking about the election, and that the poll numbers showing advantage to Trump and swings to third-party candidates should be reasons to scrutinize narratives built around those results.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RRZu0J">
“The most important thing to remember is that we are still 10 months out from the election, and people who don’t live and breathe politics are really not thinking that much about it,” <a href="https://www.gqrr.com/team/natalie-jackson/">Natalie Jackson,</a> a longtime pollster and the vice president of the public opinion research firm GQR, told me. “Voters are kind of mad and cranky about pretty much everything right now, and we’re seeing that across all the data. That extends to the current administration.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RnyP48">
Jackson said that the most obvious explanation of the polls right now is that asking people to decide between Trump and Biden is not being interpreted as a choice between the two, but as a gauge of satisfaction with the country’s state. And those most likely to answer in that way are low-information and low-propensity voters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2h9tT0">
“These low-information people are always the last to consolidate and decide who they’re going to vote for,” she said. “And young people are very frequently low-information voters. They turn out less often. They’re less likely to pay attention. It’s easy to forget that because we see so much coverage of young people protesting and bringing up certain issues. But by and large, they are a low-information group that is not going to solidify until much, much closer to the election.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gYx7Gs">
There’s also the issue of young people just not really being as engaged in national political news as they have historically been. <a href="https://www.aei.org/profile/daniel-a-cox/">Daniel Cox</a>, a pollster at the American Enterprise Institute and the director of the AEI Survey Center on American Life, <a href="https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/are-the-kids-alright?r=1fe9k7&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web">cautioned about this phenomenon</a> when the first wave of young voter polling discourse was picking up in November. Young people already tend to not follow the news as closely as older Americans. But <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/513128/attention-political-news-slips-back-typical-levels.aspx?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email">according to Gallup’s research</a>, 2023 marked a unique time of youth disengagement. Only 9 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds were following <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics">national politics</a> very closely, down from the average of 16 percent of them over the last 22 years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7CxG6F">
“People are historically disengaged, and that raises two questions. One is ‘okay, if they feel this way now, how will they feel after the campaign is going in earnest and Trump’s craziness in some of his speeches is brought to the forefront as the campaigns go to great lengths to differentiate the candidates from each other?’” Cox told me.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VIiqr3">
Cox’s other question: “Is it going to impact people who are more marginally paying attention more than other folks? We may have a snapshot of what’s happening now, but it’s very likely that this group who’s sort of paying less attention will shift more than other folks.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F0AqgV">
And finally, the performance of third-party candidates in these polls should also be cause for caution. Every pollster I spoke to told me that pre-election polls tend to overestimate the effect and support of third-party candidates. “I have no doubt that that will be the case. These candidates are not young, and they are also kind of fringy in their own ways,” Cox said. “The other thing is people recognize that these candidates don’t have a shot, and so you’re kind of throwing your vote away.”
</p>
<h3 id="t1naux">
<ol start="3" type="1">
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">The polls are missing — or misreading — something
</li></ol></h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IXa1ix">
The third theory for understanding these polls is also the most complicated one. Looking under the hood at <em>who</em> is getting polled, <em>how</em> they are being polled, and <em>how many</em> <em>people</em> are being surveyed reveals a much less dramatic shift in the way young people are feeling.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YOgQp8">
The simplest case against sensationalism comes from understanding the sample sizes of many of these polls. Jackson and Cox are quick to point out that many of the headlines <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2024/01/progressive-young-people-democratic-party-assumptions.html">hyping up</a> the discontent of young voters are reporting on numbers in the crosstabs of polls, which usually represent a smaller number of respondents with larger room for error. The USA Today/Suffolk poll, for example, was of 1,000 registered voters; the conclusion about Trump leading Biden was drawn from the responses of <a href="https://www.suffolk.edu/-/media/suffolk/documents/academics/research-at-suffolk/suprc/polls/national/2024/1_9_2024_national_tables_final.pdf?la=en&amp;hash=489554858C5A75CD47BED6731F9FC04C23ECC679">238 people under the age of 35</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KQuZ8r">
“We’re often talking about 150 people, maybe 200 people, in some of these surveys. And so the margin of error is quite large in the samples,” Cox said. “We should expect greater fluctuation when we’re looking at relatively small subgroups. And so, pollsters should make note of that when they’re reporting this, and political journalists, as well, should say, ‘Well, we know these are relatively small samples and we expect there to be some fluctuation.’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cbX7DM">
Then it’s important to understand who is being reached in the polls: Are they registered voters or likely voters? Are they adults between the ages of 18 and 29, or the larger 18 to 34 demographic? Differences emerge depending on which definition of young voter a pollster uses, and whether they are registered voters or likely voters, Adam Carlson, a former Democratic political pollster, told me. The Trump/Biden split is much closer if looking at registered voters and those under the age of 35; Biden does much better if you look at likely voters and those under the age of 30.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4vi_u6ChT_Xox5xMsHDS1iA2hlw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25219314/1249444368.jpg"/> <cite>Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Young supporters of former President Donald Trump hold “Trump 2024” signs at a 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, in March 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N66iAb">
This far out from the race, it’s also possible that the kind of young people giving their responses to pollsters are simply more amped up about how they feel about Biden specifically. Sometimes called “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/25/politics/partisanship-polls-americans-economy/index.html">expressive responding</a>,” this theory proposes that the kind of people responding to surveys may be trying to communicate an ideological or partisan loyalty in their survey response. For disengaged young voters, responding to polls functions as a way of expressing their frustration with the incumbent, Biden, rather than thinking about a binary choice, Carlson said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B4PS5D">
And adding to this lens is a final problem from the way the polls are being conducted. In November, the Financial Times data reporter John Burn-Murdoch <a href="https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1726668541678817390">analyzed a series of polls</a> to compare the way voters across age cohorts feel about Trump versus Biden depending on if they were polled via an online poll or a telephone survey. Breaking out the results by method reveals that the huge decline in young voters’ support for Biden shows up exclusively in telephone polls. Online polls, meanwhile, show little change compared to the way young people voted in 2020. “The age-group swings we’re currently seeing in telephone polling would be completely unprecedented,” Burn-Murdoch concludes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0evJKk">
Asking other pollsters about this phenomenon yielded a mixed bag of responses. No one dismissed these concerns — but they specified that it doesn’t tell the whole story. Carlson’s own analysis of these swings leads him to believe that there is a reason for caution because of the effect of non-response bias. “The phone polling is where we’re seeing the biggest jumps right now from 2020 results,” Carlson said. “They are seeing way bigger swings toward Trump from Biden than online polls.” He cited results from YouGov’s polls with <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/biden-threatened-by-generation-gap-on-israel-among-democrats-yahoo-newsyougov-poll-finds-214207467.html">Yahoo News</a> and <a href="https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/cbsnews_20231105_battleground_1.pdf">CBS News</a> as examples of online polls that aren’t showing a drastic swing toward Trump.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YE96mL">
Jackson also added a bit of caution to just restricting this scrutiny to a phone versus online poll dynamic. She noted that firms make different decisions about how to pick their samples: picking from a registered voter pool first or matching up respondents to the registered voter list after running a poll; trying to update your sample as you get more responses or letting a poll just run with the original sample you chose. “We’re at a place in surveying where really, the advantages of one mode versus the other, have, for accuracy, disappeared. They all have their biases. What we really have to focus on is reaching people where they are, where they’re most likely to answer,” Jackson said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FPQPdi">
And at the same time, another caveat: Almost all public polls right now, including the much-discussed New York Times and USA Today polls, are showing results from all adults or all registered voters. Few firms are trying to say whether these are people who are likely to vote. “And since young people are one of the least likely groups to turn out, they’re going to be really heavily affected by not screening on being likely to vote,” Jackson said.
</p></li>
<li><strong>South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="South African President Ramaphosa Meets With Organisations Supporting The Liberation Of Palestine" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/D_LTzaCyf0RPkSa7eyDgbg-RI2I=/391x0:5768x4033/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/assets.sbnation.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73012522/1861251469.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
President Cyril Ramaphosa with the delegates of Organisations supporting the Liberation of Palestine at Chief Albert Luthuli House on December 18, 2023, in Johannesburg, South Africa. | Luba Lesolle/Gallo Images via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Friday’s action reflects South Africa’s solidarity with the Palestinian cause — and its domestic and foreign interests.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ad2EP3">
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began hearing arguments in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel Thursday, setting off the most significant international challenge yet to Israel’s war in Gaza.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mIGyD9">
Under international humanitarian law, proving allegations of genocide is incredibly difficult. And even if South Africa does prove that Israel is committing genocide — or that it is failing to prosecute incitement to genocide or prevent genocide from occurring — ICJ decisions aren’t necessarily easy to enforce. But these initial arguments aren’t yet entering that complicated territory.<strong> </strong>Instead, they’re about whether the ICJ will issue a preliminary order for Israel to stop its onslaught in Gaza immediately; the court will rule on that issue after hearing arguments from South Africa and Israel Thursday and Friday. Though Israel could ignore that ruling if it’s issued, it could make Israel’s allies less inclined to support the war.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gQbapv">
“This case will provide other states with a basis for pressuring Israel to stop its campaign — it creates a firm and objective historical record which is important in a situation like this where political tensions are so high,” Juliette McIntyre, a lecturer in law at the University of Southern Australia, told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5B2a9E">
South Africa’s <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf">84-page application</a> states that “The acts and omissions by Israel complained of by South Africa are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group,” in violation of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e3tcBS">
“Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention,” Adila Hassim, one of the attorneys arguing South Africa’s case, told the judges and crowd assembled at the Peace Palace in the Hague Thursday.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FeUYyZ">
Israel has stridently <a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-israel-un-court-palestinians-genocide-ffe672c4eb3e14a30128542eaa537b21">rejected</a> the filing,<strong> </strong>calling it a “blood libel” — a reference to a false accusation that originated in the Middle Ages that Jewish people would murder Christians and use their blood in rituals, and which was used as a justification for oppression of Jewish communities. On Friday, Israel, which has chosen Holocaust survivor and former chief justice of its Supreme Court Aharon Barak to sit in on the judicial panel, will have the chance to respond to South Africa’s arguments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OydQYz">
In the meantime, Israel’s war in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas, continues. The war began on October 7 when<strong> </strong>Hamas and fighters from Palestine Islamic Jihad killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, many of whom have been released. Since then, Israel has killed more than <a href="https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-87">23,000</a> 21,000 people <a href="https://www.savethechildren.net/news/gaza-10000-children-killed-nearly-100-days-war#:~:text=RAMALLAH%2C%2011%20January%202023%20%E2%80%93%20More,rubble%2C%20Save%20the%20Children%20said.">including more than 10,000 children,</a> according to Gaza’s ministry of health; internally displaced <a href="https://www.nrc.no/news/2023/december/gaza-displacement/#:~:text=A%20staggering%201.9%20million%20Palestinians,additional%2050%2C000%20units%20completely%20destroyed.">1.9 million</a>; and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/gaza-destruction-bombing-israel-aa528542">damaged or destroyed</a> nearly 70 percent of the homes and 50 percent of the buildings in the region.
</p>
<h3 id="C01gTw">
Why is South Africa bringing charges against Israel?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tlvQ2H">
While South Africa’s filing may not affect the outcome of the war in any meaningful way, it does draw on longstanding ties between Black South Africans’ liberation struggle and that of the Palestinian people. It also signals the country’s desire to challenge the US-dominated international order that it sees as unfair to African and non-Western interests, and does so using an internationally respected body.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jZkphi">
It’s significant that South Africa chose to bring charges before the ICJ, especially given the International Criminal Court (ICC) is already investigating alleged war crimes committed by both Israel and <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/10/10/23911661/hamas-israel-war-gaza-palestine-explainer">Hamas</a> stemming from the October 7 attacks. While the ICC was set up to investigate and prosecute individuals at the highest levels who are accused of planning and directing war crimes, the ICJ exists to <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/index.php/history">peacefully settle disputes between nations</a>. Now, the ICJ proceedings allow South Africa<strong> </strong>to make a clear statement in an official venue about Israel’s actions in Gaza: that there is international support for Palestinians and that the past three months of relentless bombardments, as well as the denial of access to the necessities of life, is an urgent matter of international concern.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u7Zn6Y">
Under the Genocide Convention, any country can bring charges of genocide against another at the ICJ, regardless of whether they are party to the conflict; in 2019, Gambia brought a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/12/05/questions-and-answers-gambias-genocide-case-against-myanmar-international-court">genocide case</a> against Myanmar due to its crimes against the Rohingya ethnic group, and the ICJ upheld the right of a third, uninvolved state to bring such cases in 2022.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NnkKbH">
That it’s South Africa — a country with a recent history of racist colonial violence and apartheid — bringing the charges rather than another nation only adds to the gravity of the proceedings.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EhuOBJ">
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has deep ties to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), stretching back to its former leader and South Africa’s first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela. The ANC aligned itself with the PLO and other revolutionary causes while Mandela was in prison; after his release, Mandela was a vocal supporter of the PLO and its leader Yasser Arafat, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/12/5/unpack-the-past-mandela-the-keffiyeh-and-south-africas-palestine-embrace">saying in 1990 that</a> “we identify with the PLO because, just like ourselves, they are fighting for the right of self-determination.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s8HIHp">
Decades later, that sentiment remains in the South African government, and for many ordinary South Africans who see their struggle against colonialism and apartheid in the Palestinians’ plight and decades-long struggle for self-determination.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uV7Yml">
“There’s huge historical precedent for it, both in a domestic political context and in a moral [and] legalistic context,” Michael Walsh, visiting scholar at the University of California Berkeley, told Vox. “South Africa has been engaged on the Palestinian issue since really the end of apartheid and the founding of the state. It’s been a prominent issue in South African politics and among South African leaders.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CB8leg">
The ICJ referral is not the first step South Africa has taken to hold Israel to account for its attacks on Gaza; the country has repeatedly condemned Israel’s actions against Palestinians. The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-israel-ambassador-recall-gaza-bb30d780d0d33f2220dc08bf032a5738">parliament also voted to close the Israeli embassy</a> and withdrew its diplomatic staff from Israel, while the foreign ministry <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2023-11/ICC-Referral-Palestine-Final-17-November-2023.pdf">delivered a referral to the International Criminal Court</a> to investigate alleged crimes, including the crime of genocide, in the Palestinian territories in November.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uK4TYl">
Though South African solidarity with the Palestinian cause is a crucial part of its condemnation of Israel, there are domestic and foreign policy reasons to try to hold Israel to account on an international stage — one of those reasons being “legitimacy in the international system and being perceived as a major player,” Walsh said. “I think there’s a perception that South Africa has really fallen in its stature on the international stage.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U084Nq">
That perception is at least partly due to South Africa’s refusal to arrest Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2015, when the ousted leader traveled to the country for a meeting of the African Union. The ICC had<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/07/13/sudan-icc-warrant-al-bashir-genocide?gad_source=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAv8SsBhC7ARIsALIkVT0f8orfxJ0KoCOnHB_uU-kY-wfd54jx0D-Djhw0Ubl0WtitCQtr42QaAqWMEALw_wcB"> issued warrants for Bashir’s arrest</a> on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2009, and on genocide charges in 2010; South Africa, as a party to the ICC, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/world/africa/icc-south-africa-sudan-bashir.html">was obligated to arrest Bashir and turn him over to the court for prosecution</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="71yOFT">
“There’s been lots of pressure put on South Africa over the last couple of years to deal with individuals who have been accused of war crimes but who are clearly not on the Western side of the international political divide,” Walsh said. With the ICJ case, South Africa is able to assert itself as a player on the international stage, express longstanding solidarity with the Palestinian cause, address domestic political sentiments, and point out the imbalance of international bodies when it comes to prosecuting war crimes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Avv4pd">
South Africa has a “deep-seated belief that Israel is committing war crimes, and that there’s an important need to hold accountable any state that commits war crimes,” Walsh said. “And I think that they see a tremendous hypocrisy in how war crimes are prosecuted around the world. And so they’ve made this a cause.”
</p>
<h3 id="KqstZK">
Will the ICJ decision affect the war in Gaza?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="29K439">
It could be months or even years before the ICJ delivers a ruling in the case. And even if the court rules in favor of South Africa, it has little ability to put consequences behind its decisions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hxihjP">
The <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/how-the-court-works#:~:text=Judges%20consider%20all%20evidence%2C%20then,Defence%20and%20by%20the%20Prosecutor.">ICC can prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression</a> — for example, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And it has the ability to hold people in detention in the Hague until they can serve out their sentence in one of the countries that have agreed to carry out those sentences. The ICJ can’t do any of that. It is primarily a venue for disagreements between states over <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/list-of-all-cases">resources and borders</a>, but there is precedent for hearing genocide cases.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ox3rDR">
The UN has extremely weak mechanisms for carrying out ICJ rulings; though its decisions are legally binding, countries do disregard them.<strong> </strong>For example, the ICJ ruled that Russia should immediately end its hostilities in Ukraine; that war is getting ready to enter its third year. The <a href="https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/repertoire/relations-other-un-organs#:~:text=Relations%20with%20the%20International%20Court%20of%20Justice,-1.&amp;text=Article%2094%20(2)%20of%20the,the%20judgment%20rendered%20by%20ICJ.">UN Security Council</a> theoretically enforces consequences should a party to the case fail to comply, but one of the five permanent members of that council “can veto any action” the body makes, McIntyre said. The US, which is one of the five permanent members, is a staunch ally of Israel and is unlikely to support a ruling against it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FI0EV8">
But the preliminary ruling could also provide a strong diplomatic basis for nations — including the US — to exert pressure on<strong> </strong>Israel to stop or at least limit the hostilities, McIntyre said. “We have seen some diplomatic language from the US asking Israel to basically tone it down on the military front — this decision could well offer cover and a reason for doing so that is not perceived as backing down against Hamas.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ph7Wr5">
All that assumes, of course, that the court finds that Israel has to stop fighting as proceedings continue and that it ultimately finds Israel committed genocide. Neither finding is a sure thing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tKTgiu">
“The Court could go a lot of different ways in terms of the ordering of provisional measures if they decide to do so,” Zinaida Miller, professor of law and international affairs at Northeastern University, told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uz28Kj">
South Africa made the case in its December filing “for broad and urgent measures to be ordered by the Court, including halting military operations and any and all actions that fall within the bounds of the Genocide Convention as well preventing further forced displacement, deprivation of basic necessities like food, water, and medicine, and lack of access to humanitarian aid,” Miller said.<strong> </strong>That means the ICJ doesn’t have to go as far as calling for a ceasefire; instead, there could be an order for both sides to <a href="https://twitter.com/AdHaque110/status/1743988369292476849">negotiate a ceasefire</a>, among <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf">other alternatives</a>, including approving the remainder of South Africa’s provisional requests: ensuring the prevention of genocide, preventing the destruction of evidence, and allowing adequate humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y6eVPX">
Accusations of genocide are difficult to prove because they involve not just a state’s actions <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/11/13/23954731/genocide-israel-gaza-palestine">but intention</a>. Throughout the conflict, pro-Palestinian activists, scholars on the subject, and politicians have accused Israel of genocide — an accusation that’s particularly fraught since Israel was founded in the wake of the Holocaust. But there have been successful prosecutions of genocide<strong> </strong>— albeit against individuals and not countries — in the 20th century, in <a href="https://unictr.irmct.org/en/cases/key-figures-cases">Rwanda</a> and <a href="https://www.icty.org/en/outreach/bridging-the-gap-with-local-communities/srebrenica">Bosnia</a>, via international criminal tribunals set up through the UN.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r5PUwM">
“The challenge for South Africa will be to demonstrate genocidal intent. Based on the ICJ’s own case law, this is very difficult to establish,” Michael Becker, an assistant professor of international human rights law at Trinity College Dublin, told Vox.<strong> </strong>“In this case — quite unusually — South Africa will not be limited to reliance on circumstantial or contextual evidence alone. It can also point to a significant number of statements by Israeli government and military officials that arguably provide direct evidence of genocidal intent, although the real meaning and legal significance of these statements will be fiercely contested.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AVEzbl">
Another challenge will be determining attribution — what or who represents the state — since the ICJ case is against the state of Israel rather than individuals, as they would be at international tribunals or the ICC.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sVHxJd">
This case will take months or even years to resolve, but it has already encouraged debate about the role of international law, as well as potentially shifting diplomatic relations and challenging Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the historical record. But ultimately, though it is an important case, that doesn’t mean an end to the war in Gaza is any closer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xzWFef">
<em><strong>Update, January 11, 5:30 pm ET:</strong></em><em> This piece, originally published on December 31, 2023, has been updated to reflect the start of the proceedings and to expand upon the challenges South Africa may face during the trial. </em>
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India start as clear underdogs against formidable Australia in AFC Asian Cup opener</strong> - Eliminated in the group stage in their last two appearances in 2011 and 2019, India face an uphill task this time also, as they have been clubbed with Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria in Group 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>NZ vs PAK first T20I | Mitchell, Williamson, Southee propel New Zealand’s win over Pakistan</strong> - Chasing a target of 227, Pakistan were restricted for 180 in 18 overs. Tim Southee becomes first bowler to take 150 wickets in T20 internationals.</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>When cricket became a topic for lively discussion at Kerala Literature Festival</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>Morning Digest | Ensure ‘spotless’ election, CEC tells State officials; U.S. against giving case material to Nikhil Gupta in Pannun case, and more</strong> - Here is a select list of stories to start the day</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>Sumit Nagal one match away from making Australian Open main draw</strong> - Nagal beat Australian Edward Winter, a wild card, in the second qualifying match 6-3, 6-2 that lasted one hour and four minutes at the KIA Arena.</p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Those Games turns crappy mobile game ads into actually good puzzles</strong> - It’s pin-pulling, color-pouring, fake-but-real fun, and you only pay once. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1995453">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Report: Deepfake porn consistently found atop Google, Bing search results</strong> - Google vows to create more safeguards to protect victims of deepfake porn. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1995499">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Astronomers found ultra-hot, Earth-sized exoplanet with a lava hemisphere</strong> - Also: A separate team found a small, cold exoplanet with a massive outer companion. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1995339">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden administration awards $632M for EV charging in new funding round</strong> - The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act set aside $2.5 billion for underserved and rural areas. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1995441">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>On a windy day, a man sees an elderly rabbi get his hat blown off…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man chases after the hat and manages to retrieve it. The rabbi is very grateful, and he hands him a $20 bill and says “God bless you, young man!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Later, the man goes to the racetrack, and he sees that one of the horses in the first race is named “Top Hat.” He thinks to himself “This must be a sign! The rabbi gave me a blessing!” So he bets $20 on Top Hat, and the horse comes in first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On the next race, he bets $100 on a horse named Stetson, and the odds are even longer, but it comes in first as well. Now he’s really sure of himself, and on the next race, he bets all his winnings on a horse named Chateau, at 100-1 odds. But to his shock, the horse comes in dead last.
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Dejected, the man goes home to his wife and explains what happened.
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“You idiot!” says his wife. “Chateau is a house, <em>chapeau</em> is a hat! We could have been rich!”
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“It wouldn’t have mattered,” says the man. “The winner was some Japanese horse named Yarmulke.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Aegeus"> /u/Aegeus </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194f1c6/on_a_windy_day_a_man_sees_an_elderly_rabbi_get/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194f1c6/on_a_windy_day_a_man_sees_an_elderly_rabbi_get/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I got a circumcision for no charge</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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So I left a tip!
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MajorLifeNoob"> /u/MajorLifeNoob </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194qzxp/i_got_a_circumcision_for_no_charge/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194qzxp/i_got_a_circumcision_for_no_charge/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My sewing instructor just told me that I’m the worst student she has ever seen.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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Oops.. wrong thread.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/porichoygupto"> /u/porichoygupto </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194j8ny/my_sewing_instructor_just_told_me_that_im_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194j8ny/my_sewing_instructor_just_told_me_that_im_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Some dark jokes :)</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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How many emo girls does it take to change a lightbulb? None, they just sit in the dark and cry.
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What do you call a bus load of 3rd graders driving off a cliff? Peace and quiet.
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A kid decided to burn his house down. His dad watched with tears in his eyes. He put his arm around the mom and said, “That’s arson.”
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Today, I asked my phone “Siri, why am I still single?” and it activated the front camera.
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My parents raised me as an only child, which really pissed off my sister.
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They laughed at my crayon drawing. I laughed at their chalk outline.
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I made a website for orphans. It doesn’t have a home page.
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“I’m sorry” and “I apologize” mean the same thing. Except at a funeral.
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Never break someone’s heart, they only have one of those. Break their bones instead, they have 206 of them.
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Dark humor is like food. Not everyone gets it.
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How do you ask out an emo girl? Ask if she wants to hang
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What’s more fun than throwing babies off a cliff? Catching them with a pitchfork
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Why can’t there be a chess match between Britain and America? Britain lost their queen, and America lost both towers
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When ordering food at a restaurant, I asked the waiter how they prepare their chicken. “Nothing special,” he explained. “We just tell them they’re going to die.”
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When I see the names of lovers engraved on a tree, I don’t find it cute or romantic. I find it weird how many people take knives with them on dates.
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Want to know how you make any salad into a caesar salad? Stab it 23 times.
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The doctor gave me one year to live, so I shot him with my gun. The judge gave me 15 years. Problem solved.
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What’s the difference between me and cancer? My dad didn’t beat cancer.
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Give a man a plane ticket and he flies for the day. Push him out of the plane at 3,000 feet and he’ll fly for the rest of his life.
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An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Or at least it does if you throw it hard enough.
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I started crying when Dad was cutting onions. Onions was such a good dog.
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Even people who are good for nothing have the capacity to bring a smile to your face, like when you push them down the stairs.
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My grandfather said my generation relies too much on the latest technology. So I unplugged his life support.
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What’s the difference between a box and a dead body? I don’t have hundreds of useless boxes in my basement.
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What’s the quickest way to get to the hospital? Easy, just stand in the middle of a busy road.
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Why are friends a lot like snow? If you set them on fire, they disappear.
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Why is it that if you donate a kidney, people love you. But if you donate five kidneys, they call the police.
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Dark humour is like a child with cancer; it never gets old.
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I thought opening the door for a lady was being a gentleman, but she just screamed and went flying out of the plane.
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When I die, I want to go how my grandfather died, peacefully in his sleep—not screaming like the passengers in his car.
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Every time I work late at the hospital, I help the patients sleep. There isn’t a snooze button on the beeping things, so I unplug them.
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My therapist said I should write letters to people who’ve wronged me and burn them. Done, but what do I do with the letters?
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Why are Christmas trees banned in mental hospitals? Because the ornaments wouldn’t be the only things hanging.
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I never understood school shooting jokes. They must be aimed at younger audiences.
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I hate double standards. Burn a body at a crematorium, you’re “being a respectful friend.” Do it at home and you’re “destroying evidence.”
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We shouldn’t make jokes about women. Period.
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If online bullying has taught us anything. It’s that some kids would rather kill themselves than lose a bit of weight.
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I called the Suicide hotline today They left me hanging
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A leaf and a emo fall of a tree, Guess who hits ground first? The leaf, the rope stopped the emo.
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Whats the difference between an emo kid and an onion? You cry when you cut an onion.
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When does an emo kid get jealous?When its phone dies.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/PossesionOfAFireArm"> /u/PossesionOfAFireArm </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194p2zn/some_dark_jokes/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194p2zn/some_dark_jokes/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Three little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Mama called the doctor and the doctor said . . .</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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That’ll be $4,750 + your $2,000 deductible.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/brother_p"> /u/brother_p </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194e6lh/three_little_monkeys_jumping_on_the_bed_one_fell/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/194e6lh/three_little_monkeys_jumping_on_the_bed_one_fell/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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