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<title>23 June, 2023</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>A benchmark study of data normalisation methods for PTR-TOF-MS exhaled breath metabolomics</strong> -
<div>
Background: Volatilomics is the branch of metabolomics dedicated to the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath for medical diagnostic or therapeutic monitoring purposes. Real-time mass spectrometry technologies such as proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) are commonly used, and data normalisation is an important step to discard unwanted variation from non-biological sources, as batch effects and loss of sensitivity over time may be observed. As normalisation methods for real-time breath analysis have been poorly investigated, we aimed to benchmark known metabolomic data normalisation methods and apply them to PTR-MS data analysis. Methods: We compared seven normalisation methods, five statistically based and two using multiple standard metabolites, on two datasets from clinical trials for COVID-19 diagnosis in patients from the emergency department or intensive care unit. We evaluated different means of feature selection to select the standard metabolites, as well as the use of multiple repeat measurements of ambient air to train the normalisation methods. Results: We show that the normalisation tools can correct for time-dependent drift. The methods that provided the best corrections for both cohorts were Probabilistic Quotient Normalisation and Normalisation using Optimal Selection of Multiple Internal Standards. Normalisation also improved the diagnostic performance of the machine learning models, significantly increasing sensitivity, specificity and area under the ROC curve for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Conclusions: Our results highlight the importance of adding an appropriate normalisation step during the processing of PTR-MS data, which allows significant improvements in the predictive performance of statistical models.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.22.546053v1" target="_blank">A benchmark study of data normalisation methods for PTR-TOF-MS exhaled breath metabolomics</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effective vaccination strategies to control COVID-19 outbreak: A modeling study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
OBJECTIVES Three years following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global health emergency of international concern. As immunity levels in the population acquired through past infections and vaccinations have been decreasing, booster vaccinations have become necessary to control new outbreaks. This study aimed to determine the most suitable vaccination strategy to control the COVID-19 surge. METHODS A mathematical model was developed to simultaneously consider the immunity levels induced by vaccines and infections, and employed to analyze the possibility of future resurgence and control using vaccines and antivirals. RESULTS As of May 11, 2023, a peak in resurgence is predicted to occur around mid-October of the same year if the current epidemic trend continues without additional vaccinations. In the best scenario, the peak number of severely hospitalized patients can be reduced by 43% (480) compared to the scenario without vaccine intervention (849). Depending on the outbreak trends and vaccination strategies, the best timing for vaccination in terms of minimizing the said peak varies from May to August 2023. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that if the epidemic continues, the best timing for vaccinations must be earlier than specified by the current plan in Korea. Further monitoring of outbreak trends is crucial for determining the optimal timing of vaccinations to manage future surges.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.18.23291573v2" target="_blank">Effective vaccination strategies to control COVID-19 outbreak: A modeling study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Discovering Social Determinants of Health from Case Reports using Natural Language Processing: Algorithmic Development and Validation</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Social determinants of health are non-medical factors that influence health outcomes (SDOH). There is a wealth of SDOH information available via electronic health records, clinical reports, and social media, usually in free text format, which poses a significant challenge and necessitates the use of natural language processing (NLP) techniques to extract key information. Objective: The objective of this research is to advance the automatic extraction of SDOH from clinical texts. Setting and Data: The case reports of COVID-19 patients from the published literature are curated to create a corpus. A portion of the data is annotated by experts to create gold labels, and active learning is used for corpus re-annotation. Methods: A named entity recognition (NER) framework is developed and tested to extract SDOH along with a few prominent clinical entities (diseases, treatments, diagnosis) from the free texts. Results: The proposed NER implementation achieves an accuracy (F1-score) of 92.98% on our test set and generalizes well on benchmark data. A careful analysis of case examples demonstrates the superiority of the proposed approach in correctly classifying the named entities. Conclusions: NLP can be used to extract key information, such as SDOH from free texts. A more accurate understanding of SDOH is needed to further improve healthcare outcomes.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.30.22282946v5" target="_blank">Discovering Social Determinants of Health from Case Reports using Natural Language Processing: Algorithmic Development and Validation</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Enhanced real-time mass spectrometry breath analysis for the diagnosis of COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Although rapid screening for and diagnosis of COVID-19 are still urgently needed, most current testing methods are either long, costly, and/or poorly specific. The objective of the present study was to determine whether or not artificial-intelligence-enhanced real-time MS breath analysis is a reliable, safe, rapid means of screening ambulatory patients for COVID-19. Methods: In two prospective, open, interventional studies in a single university hospital, we used real-time, proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry to perform a metabolomic analysis of exhaled breath from adults requiring screening for COVID-19. Artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques were used to build mathematical models based on breath analysis data either alone or combined with patient metadata. Results: We obtained breath samples from 173 participants, of whom 67 had proven COVID-19. After using machine learning algorithms to process breath analysis data and further enhancing the model using patient metadata, our method was able to differentiate between COVID-19-positive and -negative participants with a sensitivity of 98%, a specificity of 74%, a negative predictive value of 98%, a positive predictive value of 72%, and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.961. The predictive performance was similar for asymptomatic, weakly symptomatic and symptomatic participants and was not biased by the COVID-19 vaccination status. Conclusions: Real-time, non-invasive, artificial-intelligence-enhanced mass spectrometry breath analysis might be a reliable, safe, rapid, cost-effective, high-throughput method for COVID-19 screening.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.21.23291712v1" target="_blank">Enhanced real-time mass spectrometry breath analysis for the diagnosis of COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Association between post-infection COVID-19 vaccination and symptom severity of post COVID-19 condition among patients on Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands: a retrospective cohort study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objectives: In this retrospective cohort study, we aimed to investigate symptom severity change following COVID-19 vaccination among post COVID-19 condition (PCC) patients on Bonaire. Methods: Symptomatic cases who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between the start of the pandemic and 1 October 2021, were unrecovered on the interview day, and unvaccinated prior to infection were identified from the national case registry. Patients were interviewed by telephone between 15 November and 4 December 2021 about sociodemographic factors, pre-pandemic health, COVID-19 symptoms and vaccination status. We compared symptom severity change between the acute and post-acute disease phase (&gt;4 weeks after disease onset) of 14 symptoms on a five-point Likert scale for 36 PCC patients having received at least one dose of the BNT162 (BioNTech/Pfizer) vaccine and 11 patients who remained unvaccinated, using separate multiple linear regression models. Results: Most common post-acute symptoms included fatigue (81%), reduced physical endurance (79%), and reduced muscle strength (64%). Post-infection vaccination was significantly associated with reduced severity of heart palpitations, after adjusting for acute phase severity and duration of illness (β 0.60, 95% CI 0.18, 1.02). We did not find a statistically significant association with symptom severity change for other, more prevalent symptoms. Conclusions: Larger prospective studies are needed to confirm our observation in a small study population that post-infection COVID-19 vaccination was associated with reduced severity of heart palpitations among those with this symptom self-attributed to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.20.23291649v1" target="_blank">Association between post-infection COVID-19 vaccination and symptom severity of post COVID-19 condition among patients on Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands: a retrospective cohort study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluating the buffering role of perceived social support and coping resources against the adult mental health impacts of COVID-19 psychosocial stress: a cross-sectional study in South Africa</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objectives: Growing evidence has highlighted the global mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, particularly in societies with pre-existing socioeconomic adversities and public health concerns. Despite the sudden and prolonged nature of many psychosocial stressors during the pandemic, recent studies have shown that communities utilized several coping mechanisms to buffer the mental health consequences of COVID-related stress. This paper examines the extent to which coping resources and social support buffered against the mental health effects of COVID-19 psychosocial stress among adults in South Africa. Materials &amp; Methods: Adult participants (n=117) completed an online survey during the second and third waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa (January-July 2021), which assessed experiences of stress, coping resources, social support, and four mental health outcomes: depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and bipolar disorder. Moderation analyses examined the potential buffering role of coping resources and social support against the mental health effects of COVID-19 stress. Results: Adults reported elevated rates of psychiatric symptoms. Coping resources buffered against the poor mental health effects of COVID-19 psychosocial stress, whereas perceived social support did not significantly moderate the association between COVID-19 stress and adult mental health. Discussion: These results suggest that adults in our sample utilized a variety of coping resources to protect their mental health against psychosocial stress experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown and pandemic in South Africa. Additionally, existing mental health conditions and strained social relationships may have attenuated the potential stress-buffering effect of perceived social support on adult mental health.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.20.23291688v1" target="_blank">Evaluating the buffering role of perceived social support and coping resources against the adult mental health impacts of COVID-19 psychosocial stress: a cross-sectional study in South Africa</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Covid-19 Excess Mortality in China: A Regional Comparison</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Estimates of Covid-19 excess mortality are often considered to reflect the true death toll of the pandemic. As such, information on excess mortality is urgently needed to better understand the impact of the pandemic and prepare for future crises. This study estimated Covid-19 excess mortality at the provincial, regional, and national levels in China and investigated its associated regional disparities. The analyses were based on population and death rates data published by the national and provincial bureaus of statistics in China. The results suggest that excess deaths in China were over 1 million during each year of the pandemic, totaling to over 4 million by the end of 2022, at an excess death rate of 15.4%. This rate was likely comparable to that of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but higher than the US rate. Striking disparities were discovered among the 31 provinces with excess death rates ranging from negative rates in two eastern provinces to over 30% in three inland provinces. Rates in western China were over twice as high as those in eastern China. Variations with each individual regions were the largest in the central region and the smallest in the Northeast, which was the hardest hit with excess death rate of over 23%. The regional disparities in excess mortality rates seem to reflect pre-existing regional inequalities in socio-economic development in China. Such findings suggest that China has far to go to mitigate regional inequalities, achieve sustainability, and prepare for the next major crises.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.15.23291443v2" target="_blank">Covid-19 Excess Mortality in China: A Regional Comparison</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Lived Experiences of Post-Pandemic Working Students on Face-to-Face Learning Modality</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruptions in educational institutions, presenting a challenging routine for working students who juggle employment and academic pursuits. This study aims to uncover the lived experiences of post-pandemic working students in the context of face-to-face learning. A descriptive phenomenological approach was employed to explore and capture their experiences. Purposive sampling was utilized to collect data from seven working students who met the inclusion criteria. The data analysis followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006) method, involving the extraction of codes, categories, and themes from the responses obtained through semi-structured interviews. As a result of the analysis, six major themes emerged: (1) financial struggles, (2) personal objectives, (3) time and schedule adjustments, (4) struggles with utilizing physical and social skills, (5) paying off debt, and (6) futurism. The findings indicate that working students require time to adapt and overcome the challenges and difficulties presented in the post-pandemic period. Therefore, it is crucial to provide them with support and measures to ensure that their studies and employment are not compromised.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://edarxiv.org/p23s5/" target="_blank">The Lived Experiences of Post-Pandemic Working Students on Face-to-Face Learning Modality</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Combination therapy with oral antiviral and anti-inflammatory drugs improves the efficacy of delayed treatment in severe COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
Pulmonary infection with SARS-CoV-2 stimulates host immune responses and can also result in the progression of dysregulated and critical inflammation. Throughout the pandemic, the management and treatment of COVID-19 has been continuously updated with a range of antiviral drugs and immunomodulators. Monotherapy with oral antivirals has proven to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19. However, the treatment should be initiated in the early stages of infection to ensure beneficial therapeutic outcomes, and there is still room for further consideration on therapeutic strategies using antivirals. Here, we show that the oral antiviral ensitrelvir combined with the anti-inflammatory corticosteroid methylprednisolone has higher therapeutic effects and better outcomes in a delayed dosing model of SARS-CoV-2 infected hamsters compared to the monotherapy with ensitrelvir or methylprednisolone alone. Combination therapy with these drugs improved respiratory conditions and the development of pneumonia in hamsters even when the treatment was started after 2 days post infection. The combination therapy led to a differential histological and transcriptomic pattern in comparison to either of the monotherapies, with reduced lung damage and down-regulated expressions of genes involved in inflammatory response. Furthermore, we found that the combination treatment is effective in infection with both highly pathogenic delta and circulating omicron variants. Our results demonstrate the advantage of combination therapy with antiviral and corticosteroid drugs in COVID-19 treatment. Since both drugs are available as oral medications, this combination therapy could provide a clinical and potent therapeutic option for COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.20.545832v1" target="_blank">Combination therapy with oral antiviral and anti-inflammatory drugs improves the efficacy of delayed treatment in severe COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The role of personality, conspiracy mentality, REBT irrational beliefs, and adult attachment in COVID-19 related health behaviors</strong> -
<div>
There is evidence that different types of irrational thinking and beliefs are significant predictors of questionable and maladaptive COVID-19 related health practices. In this study, we investigated the role of two under-researched types of irrational thinking, more typical for a clinical setting: irrational beliefs defined in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and attachment anxiety and avoidance. We investigated whether REBT irrational beliefs, attachment dimensions, and conspiracy mentality mediated the relationship between personality traits, on the one side, and COVID-19 health behaviors, on the other. We proposed that HEXACO personality traits, and especially Disintegration (proneness to psychotic-like experiences) predicted irrational thinking and beliefs, which in turn predicted higher susceptibility to questionable health practices. Structural equation modeling on a sample of 287 participants from the general population, showed that Disintegration was related to REBT irrational beliefs, attachment dimensions, and conspiracy mentality, highlighting the important effect of Disintegration on irrational thinking and beliefs. Conspiracy mentality mediated the effects of Disintegration to low adherence to recommended health behaviors - RHB , and greater use of pseudoscientific practices - PSP . Attachment anxiety mediated the relationship between high Disintegration, high Emotionality (E), and low Honesty (H), and lower adherence to RHB. REBT irrational beliefs and attachment avoidance did not mediate the relationship between personality traits and COVID-19 health behaviors.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/q2nye/" target="_blank">The role of personality, conspiracy mentality, REBT irrational beliefs, and adult attachment in COVID-19 related health behaviors</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Covid-19-related stressors and mental disorders and distress: A cross-sectional, nationally-representative, face-to-face survey in Serbia</strong> -
<div>
Aim. The Covid-19 pandemic may be associated with an increase in mental disorders and mental distress. However, there are no representative studies testing the impact of stressors directly related to Covid-19. We aimed to determine whether Covid-19 related stressors were associated with mental disorders and mental distress in the second year of the pandemic. Method. This cross-sectional observational epidemiological survey was conducted from June to October 2021. We interviewed a representative sample of the adult population in Serbia (18-65 years) in the second year of the pandemic, at a time when large parts of the population had been affected by the pandemic in different ways. Multistage probabilistic household sampling of the adult population in 60 municipalities was used. Mental disorders were assessed by in-person interviews using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and depression and anxiety symptoms were self-rated on the PHQ-9 and GAD-7. Covid-19 related stressors i.e., infection, self-isolation, infection of a close relative, and lack of protective equipment at work, as well as stressors during the pandemic that were not directly Covid-19 related were measured. Associations of potential predictor variables with mental disorders and mental distress were explored through univariable and multivariable regression analyses. Results. In total, 1023 individuals (mean age 43.7±13.6 years, 48.7% male) were interviewed. Most respondents (67.8%) of the sample had already experienced Covid-19 related stressors (20.1% had Covid-19 infection; 43.2% had a close relative member who had Covid-19; 28.1% had to work without appropriate protection; 27.5% had been in quarantine themselves) and about 50% had already been vaccinated. The prevalence of any mental disorder was 15.2% (95% CI 13.2–17.2): mood disorders 4.6%, anxiety disorders 4.3% and substance use disorders 8.0%. Mean levels of distress were: PHQ-9=3.2±3.8; GAD-7=2.1±3.1. A lack of protective equipment was associated with higher levels of any disorder, anxiety disorders, and anxiety symptoms. No other Covid-19 related stressor predicted mental disorders or mental distress. Conclusions. In this study, lack of personal protective equipment for Covid-19 when it would have been appropriate was associated with higher levels of anxiety and a greater frequency of anxiety disorders. Provision of the appropriate equipment at workplaces is likely to prevent lasting increased levels of anxiety. There is no evidence that the prevalence of mental disorders in the second year was elevated.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/j3ac8/" target="_blank">Covid-19-related stressors and mental disorders and distress: A cross-sectional, nationally-representative, face-to-face survey in Serbia</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Are COVID-19 conspiracies a threat to public health? Psychological characteristics and health protective behaviours of believers</strong> -
<div>
The fast-changing COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to many conspiracy theories, and these have the potential to undermine public health measures and safeguarding behaviours. We conducted three studies before and during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom (UK) (n = 302, 404 and 399) to (i) identify the prevalence of COVID-19 conspiracy theories in the UK, (ii) map their socio-psychological predictors, and (iii) investigate their association with health safeguarding behaviours. We found COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs were prevalent (25% of participants endorsed at least one) and predicted by beliefs in unrelated conspiracies, a conspiracy mind-set, distrust in governmental authorities, education, and cognitive reflection. Unexpectedly, COVID-19 conspiracy believers adhered to basic health guidelines both before and after the lockdown as strictly as non-believers (e.g., washing hands, social distancing) and adopted more advanced health protective behaviours not (yet) officially recommended in the UK (e.g., wearing a mask, washing groceries with soap). Conspiracy believers were also more reluctant to install the contact-tracing app, get tested for and vaccinated against COVID-19 because of the perceived risks associated with these procedures. We discuss psychological characteristics that explain the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and people’s behaviours and intentions, and suggest practical recommendations for public health initiatives.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/au8j2/" target="_blank">Are COVID-19 conspiracies a threat to public health? Psychological characteristics and health protective behaviours of believers</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>What drives us to be (ir)responsible for our health during the COVID-19 pandemic? The role of personality, thinking styles and conspiracy mentality</strong> -
<div>
Abstract The study aimed to investigate the role of personality, thinking styles, and conspiracy mentality in health-related behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., recommended health behaviors according to COVID-19 guidelines and engagement in pseudoscientific practices related to COVID-19. Basic personality space was defined by the HEXACO model complemented by Disintegration, which represents psychotic-like experiences and behaviors reconceptualized as a personality trait. Mediation analyses conducted on a convenient sample from the general population recruited via social media and by snowballing (N=417) showed that engagement in pseudoscientific behaviors was predicted by high Disintegration. However, this relationship was entirely mediated by high experiential and low rational thinking styles. Adherence to health practices recommended by COVID-19 guidelines was predicted by high Honesty traits, while low Disintegration had both direct and indirect effects through conspiracy mentality.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/cgeuv/" target="_blank">What drives us to be (ir)responsible for our health during the COVID-19 pandemic? The role of personality, thinking styles and conspiracy mentality</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The anatomy of Covid-19 related conspiracy beliefs: exploring their nomological network on a nationally representative sample</strong> -
<div>
Background: The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic was followed by the widespread proliferation of conspiracy beliefs (CBs) regarding the origin and harmfulness of the virus and a high level of hesitancy and resistance to vaccination. We aimed to test a series of hypotheses on the correlates of CBs and vaccination. Methods: The sample (N=1203), was based on a multistage probabilistic household sampling designed to represent the general population of Serbia. We investigated correlates of CBs and vaccination, including socio-demographic factors, personality (HEXACO + Disintegration trait), somatic health, stressful experiences during pandemics (i.e. Covid-19 related and other threatening events), and psychological distress. The subjects were randomly split into two approximately equal subgroups, enabling cross-validation of the findings. Based on the significant regression predictors found in the exploratory, the SEM model was tested in the confirmatory subsample. Results: The SEM model based on the finding in the first subgroup had excellent Goodness-of-Fit indices. The most important correlates of CBs were Disintegration (proneness to psychotic-like experiences), low Openness, lower education, Extraversion, living in a smaller settlement, and being employed. The correlates of vaccination were older age, CBs, and larger places of living. Evidence on the role of both stressful experiences and psychological distress in CBs and vaccination was not found. Conclusions: The findings of moderately strong and robust (cross-validated) paths, leading from Disintegration to CBs and from CBs to vaccination were the most important ones. Our findings seem to emphasize the role of cognitive/perceptual processes in CBs and vaccination.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/6wgqt/" target="_blank">The anatomy of Covid-19 related conspiracy beliefs: exploring their nomological network on a nationally representative sample</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Urinary peptides predict future death</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background There is evidence of pre-established vulnerability in individuals that increases the risk of their progression to severe disease or death, though the mechanisms that cause this are still not fully understood. Previous research has demonstrated that a urinary peptide classifier (COV50) predicts disease progression and death from SARS-CoV-2 at an early stage, indicating that the outcome prediction may be partly due to already present vulnerabilities. The aim of this study is to examine the ability of COV50 to predict future non-COVID-19-related mortality, and evaluate whether the pre-established vulnerability can be generic and explained on a molecular level by urinary peptides. Methods Urinary proteomic data from 9193 patients (1719 patients sampled at intensive care unit (ICU) admission and 7474 patients with other diseases (non-ICU)) were extracted from the Human Urinary Proteome Database. The previously developed COV50 classifier, a urinary proteomics biomarker panel consisting of 50 peptides, was applied to all datasets. The association of COV50 scoring with mortality was evaluated. Results In the ICU group, an increase in the COV50 score of one unit resulted in a 20% higher relative risk of death (adj. HR 1.2 [95% CI 1.17-1.24]). The same increase in COV50 in non-ICU patients resulted in a higher relative risk of 61% (adj. HR 1.61 [95% CI 1.47-1.76]), in line with adjusted meta-analytic HR estimate of 1.55. The most notable and significant changes associated with future fatal events were reductions of specific collagen fragments, most of collagen alpha I(I). Conclusion The COV50 classifier is predictive of death in the absence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting that it detects pre-existing vulnerability. Prediction is based mainly on collagen fragments, possibly reflecting disturbances in the integrity of the extracellular matrix. These data may serve as basis for proteomics guided intervention aiming towards manipulating/improving collagen turnover, thereby reducing the risk of death.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.28.23289257v2" target="_blank">Urinary peptides predict future death</a>
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</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Probiotic and Colchicine in COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Colchicine 0.5 MG;   Dietary Supplement: Probiotic Formula;   Other: Standard protocol<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Ain Shams University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Influence of Manual Diaphragm Release on Pulmonary Functions in Women With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: manual therapy;   Other: breathing exercise and prone position alone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study Evaluating SHEN26 Capsule in Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: SHEN26 capsule;   Drug: SHEN26 placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Shenzhen Kexing Pharmaceutical 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>A Clinical Trial of Recombinant COVID-19 Bivalent (XBB+Prototype) Protein Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) in Booster Vaccination</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 Bivalent (XBB+Prototype) Protein Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) (WSK-V101C);   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 vaccine(Sf9 Cell) (WSK-V101)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Phase Ⅲ Clinical Trial of Recombinant COVID-19 Trivalent (XBB+BA.5+Delta) Protein Vaccine (Sf9 Cell) in Booster Vaccination</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: High dose of Recombinant COVID-19 Trivalent (XBB+BA.5+Delta) Protein Vaccine (Sf9 Cell);   Biological: Low dose of Recombinant COVID-19 Trivalent (XBB+BA.5+Delta) Protein Vaccine (Sf9 Cell);   Biological: control group;   Biological: Placebo group<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   WestVac Biopharma Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Impact Of Sensory Re-Education Paradigm On Sensation And Quality Of Life In Patients Post-Covid 19 Polyneuropathy</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: sensory re-education training;   Other: traditional treatment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<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>A Study to Investigate the Safety, Immunogenicity of a Bivalent mRNA Vaccine RQ3025 as a Booster Dose in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: RQ3013;   Biological: RQ3025<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Affiliated Hospital of Yunnan University;   Yunnan University;   Kunming Medical 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>A Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP) Transfusion to Prevent COVID-19 in Adult Recipients Following Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: COVID Convalescent Plasma<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Institute of Hematology &amp; Blood Diseases Hospital<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cupping Therapy on Immune System in Post Covid -19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid-19 Patients<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Combination Product: Cupping therapy with convential medical treatment;   Drug: Convential medical treatment<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Evaluating the Efficacy of Remdesivir for Long COVID Following a Confirmed COVID-19 Infection.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Remdesivir<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Derby;   University of Exeter;   Peninsula Clinical Trials Unit;   University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust<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>Immunogenicity and Safety Study of SARS-CoV-2 DNA Vaccine (ICCOV)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 DNA Vaccine (ICCOV)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Immuno Cure 3 Limited;   The University of Hong Kong<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase 3 Study of S-217622 in Prevention of Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: S-217622;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Shionogi<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>LIAISON NES Flu A/B &amp; COVID-19 Clinical Agreement</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Influenza A;   Influenza Type B;   Coronavirus Disease 2019<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: LIAISON NES FLU A/B &amp; COVID-19<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   DiaSorin Molecular LLC<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>NC Testing in LC &amp; POTS: A Pilot Study</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome;   Post Acute Sequelae of SARS CoV 2 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: IV normal saline (1 Litre)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Calgary<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>To Investigate Efficacy, Pharmacodynamics, and Safety of BC 007 in Participants With Long COVID</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Long Covid<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: BC 007 or matching placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Berlin Cures GmbH<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reconsideration of interferon treatment for viral diseases: Lessons from SARS, MERS, and COVID-19</strong> - Periodic pandemics of coronavirus (CoV)-related pneumonia have been a major challenging issue since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012. The ongoing pandemic of CoV disease (COVID-19) poses a substantial threat to public health. As for the treatment options, only limited antiviral agents have been approved hitherto, and clinicians mainly focus on currently available drugs including the conventional antiviral…</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>Two Novel Adenovirus Vectors Mediated Differential Antibody Responses via Interferon-α and Natural Killer Cells</strong> - Recombinant adenovirus vectors have been widely used in vaccine development. To overcome the preexisting immunity of human adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) in populations, a range of chimpanzee or rare human adenovirus vectors have been generated. However, these novel adenovirus vectors mediate the diverse immune responses in the hosts. In this study, we explored the immune mechanism of differential antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 S protein in mice immunized by our previously developed two novel simian…</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 nsp13 Restricts Episomal DNA Transcription without Affecting Chromosomal DNA</strong> - Nonstructural protein 13 (nsp13), the helicase of SARS-CoV-2, has been shown to possess multiple functions that are essential for viral replication, and is considered an attractive target for the development of novel antivirals. We were initially interested in the interplay between nsp13 and interferon (IFN) signaling, and found that nsp13 inhibited reporter signal in an IFN-β promoter assay. Surprisingly, the ectopic expression of different components of the RIG-I/MDA5 pathway, which were used…</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 hijacks p38β/MAPK11 to promote virus replication</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, drastically modifies infected cells to optimize virus replication. One such modification is the activation of the host p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, which plays a major role in inflammatory cytokine production, a hallmark of severe COVID-19. We previously demonstrated that inhibition of p38/MAPK activity in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells reduced…</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>Accelerating drug target inhibitor discovery with a deep generative foundation model</strong> - Inhibitor discovery for emerging drug-target proteins is challenging, especially when target structure or active molecules are unknown. Here, we experimentally validate the broad utility of a deep generative framework trained at-scale on protein sequences, small molecules, and their mutual interactions-unbiased toward any specific target. We performed a protein sequence-conditioned sampling on the generative foundation model to design small-molecule inhibitors for two dissimilar targets: the…</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>ARF6 is a host factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection <em>in vitro</em></strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a newly emerged beta-coronavirus that enter cells via two routes, direct fusion at the plasma membrane or endocytosis followed by fusion with the late endosome/lysosome. While the viral receptor, ACE2, multiple entry factors and the mechanism of fusion of the virus at the plasma membrane have been investigated extensively, viral entry via the endocytic pathway is less understood. By using a human hepatocarcinoma cell line, Huh-7,…</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>Irreversible Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 by Lectin Engagement with Two Glycan Clusters on the Spike Protein</strong> - Host cell infection by SARS-CoV-2, similar to that by HIV-1, is driven by a conformationally metastable and highly glycosylated surface entry protein complex, and infection by these viruses has been shown to be inhibited by the mannose-specific lectins cyanovirin-N (CV-N) and griffithsin (GRFT). We discovered in this study that CV-N not only inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection but also leads to irreversibly inactivated pseudovirus particles. The irreversibility effect was revealed by the observation…</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 evasion of the interferon response at a glance</strong> - Re-emerging and new viral pathogens have caused significant morbidity and mortality around the world, as evidenced by the recent monkeypox, Ebola and Zika virus outbreaks and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Successful viral infection relies on tactical viral strategies to derail or antagonize host innate immune defenses, in particular the production of type I interferons (IFNs) by infected cells. Viruses can thwart intracellular sensing systems that elicit IFN gene expression (that is, RIG-I-like…</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>Preventing Occludin Tight-Junction Disruption via Inhibition of microRNA-193b-5p Attenuates Viral Load and Influenza-induced Lung Injury</strong> - Virus-induced lung injury is associated with loss of pulmonary epithelial-endothelial tight junction integrity. While the alveolar-capillary membrane may be an indirect target of injury; viruses may interact directly and/or indirectly with miRs to augment their replication potential and evade the host antiviral defense system. Here we expose how the influenza virus (H1N1) capitalizes on host-derived interferon-induced, microRNA (miR)-193b-5p to target occludin and compromise antiviral defenses….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The impact of COVID-19 on the intention of third-child in China: an empirical analysis based on survey data</strong> - BACKGROUND: Against the grim background of declining intention to have children, the ravages of COVID-19 have pushed China and the world into a more complex social environment. To adapt to the new situation, the Chinese government implemented the three-child policy in 2021.</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>Activity of nsp14 Exonuclease from SARS-CoV-2 towards RNAs with Modified 3’-Termini</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the urgent need for new treatments for coronavirus infections. Nucleoside analogs were successfully used to inhibit replication of some viruses through the incorporation into the growing DNA or RNA chain. However, the replicative machinery of coronaviruses contains nsp14, a non-structural protein with a 3’→5’-exonuclease activity that removes misincorporated and modified nucleotides from the 3’ end of the growing RNA chain. Here, we studied the efficiency of…</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>Effective inhibition of HCoV-OC43 and SARS-CoV-2 by phytochemicals in vitro and in vivo</strong> - Several coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) can cause respiratory infections in humans. To address the need for reliable anti-coronavirus therapeutics, we screened 16 active phytochemicals selected from medicinal plants used in traditional applications for respiratory-related illnesses. An initial screen was completed using HCoV-OC43. The phytochemicals lycorine (LYC), capsaicin (CAP), rottlerin (RTL),…</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>Generation of host-directed and virus-specific antivirals using targeted protein degradation promoted by small molecules and viral RNA mimics</strong> - Targeted protein degradation (TPD), as exemplified by proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC), is an emerging drug discovery platform. PROTAC molecules, which typically contain a target protein ligand linked to an E3 ligase ligand, recruit a target protein to the E3 ligase to induce its ubiquitination and degradation. Here, we applied PROTAC approaches to develop broad-spectrum antivirals targeting key host factors for many viruses and virus-specific antivirals targeting unique viral proteins….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A broad-spectrum macrocyclic peptide inhibitor of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein</strong> - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had great societal and health consequences. Despite the availability of vaccines, infection rates remain high due to immune evasive Omicron sublineages. Broad-spectrum antivirals are needed to safeguard against emerging variants and future pandemics. We used messenger RNA (mRNA) display under a reprogrammed genetic code to find a spike-targeting macrocyclic peptide that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) Wuhan strain infection…</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>Specific nasopharyngeal Corynebacterium strains serve as gatekeepers against SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 virus is still causing a worldwide problem. The virus settles primarily on the nasal mucosa, and the infection and its course depend on individual susceptibility. Our aim was to investigate the nasopharynx composition’s role in the individual susceptibility. During the first phase of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, nasopharyngeal microbiome samples of close contact unvaccinated patients were investigated by 16S rRNA analysis and by culturing. The whole genome of cultured Corynebacteria was…</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>What Justice John Paul Stevens’s Papers Reveal About Affirmative Action</strong> - Twenty years ago, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote, in a draft opinion, that white applicants could not be favored over Asian Americans. Why did she delete those lines—and why did Justice Clarence Thomas adopt them in his own opinion? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-justice-john-paul-stevenss-papers-reveal-about-affirmative-action">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Trump Compares with Presidents Who Burned Their Papers</strong> - The Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore sees historic parallels—as well as willful and unprecedented behavior by the freshly indicted ex-President. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-trump-compares-with-presidents-who-burned-their-papers">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Can Joe Biden Do About Benjamin Netanyahu?</strong> - The President is clearly displeased by the Prime Minister’s anti-democratic turn but seems wary of testing his influence. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-can-joe-biden-do-about-benjamin-netanyahu">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Joe Biden Didn’t Say to Narendra Modi</strong> - Whether “hypocritical pivot” or pure pragmatism, the President had more than one reason to skip the lectures on democracy. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/what-joe-biden-didnt-say-to-narendra-modi">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French Parents Don’t Know What They’re Doing, Either</strong> - An ongoing debate in France complicates the notion that there is an overarching secret to raising kids à la française. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-europe/french-parents-dont-know-what-theyre-doing-either">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Black Mirror’s big AI episode has the wrong villain</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An adult woman in a cheerleading outfit sitting on a couch." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LYeoKbe7Bycdz5uAfXZsPPvD7PU=/616x0:8296x5760/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72395419/Joan_Is_Awful.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Joan (Annie Murphy) isn’t nearly as awful as a computer that steals lives. | Nick Wall/Netflix
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
You’re okay, Computer — it’s the corporations that aren’t.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TYujP9">
<em>Black Mirror</em>, TV’s best-crafted tech-dystopian anthology series, is back with a sixth season, just in time for a new wave of horrifying real-world concerns: crypto crashes, data breaches, and, most urgently, a horde of capitalists foaming at the mouth to replace human labor with <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/4/28/23702644/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-technology">generative AI</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6LMm3r">
The first episode of the season, “Joan Is Awful,” takes on this trend toward automation within the entertainment industry in particular, a concern the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) have been <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23700519/writers-strike-ai-2023-wga">protesting through their ongoing strike</a>, with the Stage Actors’ Guild (SAG-AFTRA) <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23746816/strike-wga-dga-sag-hollywood">poised to join them</a>. Over the last decade, streamers have tilted industry development and payment standards toward unsustainable volumes of content for watchers and unsustainably low wages for writers. Now industry executives are staking claim to <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d37za/voice-actors-sign-away-rights-to-artificial-intelligence">actors’ voices</a>, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/is-ai-art-stealing-from-artists">writers’ stories</a>, and <a href="https://hbr.org/2022/11/how-generative-ai-is-changing-creative-work">user data</a> for future automated entertainment too. <a href="https://www.vox.com/netflix">Netflix</a>, the industry-defining streaming service that airs <em>Black Mirror</em> (and <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/miptv-why-black-mirror-deal-881421/">outbid the network that originated the series</a> for that right), is one of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/11/business/media/netflix-writers-strike.html">biggest targets</a> of the strike — and <em>Black Mirror</em>’s latest season takes aim at the streamer, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fhBHIY">
<em>Black Mirror</em> lobs sideways shots at Netflix in a few episodes, but the target in “Joan Is Awful” is direct and timely; a distinctively red logo-ed service called Streamberry uses a glittering quantum computer to transform a generative AI thought experiment into TV programming, ruining lives along the way. But while the episode does a humorously vivid (and star-studded) job of imagining a future where anyone’s life could become IP for prestige TV, and any actor’s face (and less ready-for-primetime parts) could be contracted as digital puppetry, the show’s usually incisive arrow ultimately misses the heart of the issue. Streamberry’s “Quamputer,” as the AI machine is named, holds the blame for the episode’s disasters, and destroying its magic light show yields a happy ending. In the real AI story, however, the villains are human, not miraculous machinery — which is exactly why so many writers and actors are counting on collective action to make a difference.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k1S5VG">
The episode, written by <em>Black Mirror </em>creator Charlie Brooker, sidesteps the fact that it’s tech, media, and entertainment industry executives who are choosing a <em>Black Mirror</em>-esque future for us all, not some faceless computer. Any satisfying conclusion to this concern will be the result of human, not technological, transformation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NIYB0g">
In “Joan Is Awful,” Joan (<em>Schitt’s Creek</em>’s Annie Murphy) discovers she’s become the main character of the day writ large: Streamberry has created a show based on her life, starring an AI-generated Salma Hayek (played by the real Hayek), whose likeness the company has contracted from the actress. Each episode airs shortly after Joan’s real day, turning her secrets into plot points and her screw-ups into laugh lines. As a result, Joan’s life falls apart and she attempts to gain Hayek’s attention so they can leverage the star’s power to shut down the series.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d3VGhH">
It works, to a point: After Joan makes a disgusting scene that Hayek’s digital version is compelled to repeat, Hayek commands her lawyer to get her out of the Streamberry contract. But the star’s agreement is ironclad (page 39, paragraph 8 includes all acts up to and “beyond defecation”), as are the user terms and conditions that allowed Streamberry to make content out of Joan’s life events in the first place. If this story is a whodunnit, the company’s lawyers and executives have blood on their hands — but they remain offscreen. There’s nothing cutting-edge about a deal with the devil. (In fact, the last episode in the season, “Demon 79,” set in the late 1970s, begins with just that biblical contract.) <em>Black Mirror</em> gets that part right.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two people standing in front of a screen displaying a streaming service chyron for a show called “Joan Is Awful”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PWyH7fH19d8P8DmgZ0Cmahrk1ts=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24745884/JoanIsAwful_EP5_NETFLIX_1146_RT.jpg"/> <cite>Nick Wall/Netflix</cite>
<figcaption>
At Streamberry’s headquarters, things are not quite as they seem.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wg2d9P">
When Joan and Salma Hayek arrive at Streamberry headquarters, they find their way into the computer room, where a beautifully Apple-styled and sized “Quamputer,” or quantum computer, is running the show. Joan grabs a handy ax to smash the computer, and turtlenecked Streamberry CEO Mona Javadi (Leila Farzad) begs for mercy for the artificial lives and shows that would evaporate without the machine’s fairy dust. (“We don’t know how it works!” she screams. “It’s basically magic!”) Joan destroys the machine anyway, freeing herself and all the generated Joans contained within.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mrHipe">
Skipping a couple of twists, the episode ends with Joan in a new job and a new life, content to figure out how to be the protagonist of a much smaller story. It’s a hopeful conclusion and a human one, in line with the rest of the new season of <em>Black Mirror</em>, which offers the unmistakable impression that Charlie Brooker is as sick of writing about tech’s dark reflection as the rest of us are of living in it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4gM4U9">
But what about that Streamberry CEO? What about the system that compelled her to delegate creativity to ones and zeros? In the episode, Javadi tells a cowed reporter that the machine prefers negative storylines to positive ones for higher engagement. But who pressed the button to operationalize that strategy in “Joan Is Awful”? (We know who made an eerily similar choice in the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/viralpolitics">real world</a>: Facebook’s and Twitter’s executives.) Brooker has said that when it comes to AI, “<a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/film-tv/article/60123/1/charlie-brooker-black-mirror-and-the-powerful-advantages-of-ai-chatgpt">you can’t put the genie back into the bottle.</a>” In “Joan Is Awful,” smashing one glass iBottle seems to fix the problem. Won’t the fictional CEO and others like her rebuild the same tech with the same goals for the same paying customers? AI is made of people. So why are the people in power let off the narrative hook?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bfYCPj">
In real life, the move toward AI wasn’t triggered by a serendipitous technological discovery like a “Quamputer,” and it hasn’t been deterred by a single point of failure, either. Corporations and research institutions have been working on machine learning and large language models for <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbots-emily-m-bender.html">decades</a>, and the decision to pour more money into AI development is a business one. The bet is that AI will increase productivity, scale markets, and decrease costs enough to justify an estimated <a href="https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS50454123">$154 billion</a> in global spending on AI by the end of 2023. Prominent AI researcher Timnit Gebru has called the current AI craze a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/22/there-was-all-sorts-of-toxic-behaviour-timnit-gebru-on-her-sacking-by-google-ais-dangers-and-big-techs-biases">gold rush</a>” and argued that the industry needs better regulation to escape the controlling “profit motive” powering development. A machine that can generate personalized content for every person on the planet is not magic; it’s what happens when tech advancement meets late-stage capitalism. But <em>Black Mirror</em>’s “Joan Is Awful” is uncharacteristically silent on that distinction.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Knx7bI">
Of course, Charlie Brooker can’t solve capitalism. A high-budget show paid for and hosted by the <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/12/prime-video-replaces-netflix-streaming-parks-associates-1235187438/">second-largest</a> streaming service in the US cannot bring down generative AI or deliver a win to entertainment industry unions. But popular art does play an essential role in the cultural conversation about technology and its all-too-human puppet masters. For over a decade, <em>Black Mirror</em> has been one of our sharpest critics of the dark side of innovation, sparking discussions around technology’s influence on politics, creative industries, personal privacy, and society’s shifting moral lines. Through <em>Black Mirror</em>’s sensitively drawn portraits of people and relationships trapped in crises of faith, the show’s title — a reference to the way a screen, be it smartphone, tablet, computer, or <a href="https://www.vox.com/tv">television</a>, looks in the off position — has even become cultural shorthand for the unsettling sensation of living in a future not quite designed for the more complex realities of the human condition.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VF9ulw">
Since the show first aired in 2011, the tech industry has only grown in power and influence, as companies embed technology even more profoundly into our culture and economy. (For context, Uber launched in 2011, Zoom in 2012, Doordash in 2013. Apple released the iPad in 2015, and Google put out the Google Home in 2016.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cUwNWF">
Today, AI might be the most pressing industry concern — but not because the singularity is on its way, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/technology/ai-threat-warning.html">as many AI thought leaders warn</a>. Murphy, who portrays Joan in “Joan Is Awful,” <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/black-mirror-annie-murphy-joan-is-awful-director-interview-1235518988/">recently said</a> it “hurts her guts” that “we are alive in a time when people are having to ask and beg for their jobs … not to be replaced by computers.” It’s the begging that’s gut-twisting, not the computers. And it’s the humans hearing those pleas who are turning the knife. That’s a <em>Black Mirror</em> tale if I ever heard one.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dKblxf">
</p></li>
<li><strong>Why the US is selling India so many weapons</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pmYAoTaQBZZO7jnscmk_JW3j24U=/514x0:4630x3087/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72395352/1500616119.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Arms deals have been a big feature of the state visit between US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Prime Minister Modi visits the White House, and arms deals follow.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1f4Jxx">
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington for a state visit this week. Beyond the black-tie dinner at the White House and a speech to Congress, there have been a lot of arms deals.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bstu0L">
Jets, drones, cyber capabilities, and more.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0fF6Zd">
It’s a significant list, and builds on an expanding military<strong> </strong>partnership. The US has partnered with India more and more in response to China’s rise, seeing New Delhi as a valuable counterweight. This is happening as India advances <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/6/21/23683842/india-democracy-narendra-modi-us-biden-china">grievous human rights abuses</a> against minorities, against journalists, and against political critics — all in contradiction of America’s <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/narendra-modi-biden-visit-diaspora-far-right/">stated values</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RcREcb">
And yet this week, the White House is <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/06/22/joint-statement-from-the-united-states-and-india/">promoting</a> a “next generation defense partnership” with India. This includes the co-production of cutting-edge technologies like <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/defence-critical-tech-agenda-indias-modi-heads-us-landmark-visit-2023-06-19/">jet engines</a> and <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/electronics/micron-nears-1-billion-investment-in-india-chip-packaging-plant/articleshow/101037713.cms?from=mdr">semiconductors</a>, the prospect of new arms sales, and agreements that would allow the US to have its navy ships repaired in India. The country will also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/india-approves-procurement-us-mq-9b-seaguardian-drones-sources-2023-06-15/">purchase</a> 31 advanced drones from General Atomics in a deal that will cost some $3 billion. And the Pentagon and the Indian Ministry of Defense have established a new military-tech incubator called <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3434923/launch-of-the-india-us-defense-acceleration-ecosystem-indus-x/">INDUS-X</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="84PNmI">
Experts point out that India under Modi increasingly does not share American values, and some of the advanced military technologies that the US is providing the country could be used against dissidents or journalists.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bV0u89">
“If we’re just going to go full-on countering China with India as a realist approach to things, that can come back and bite us,” says Derek Grossman, a defense analyst at the RAND Corporation. “Because, as we saw during the Cold War, a lot of the dictators or semi-authoritarian regimes that we cozied up with, they were not our friends in the long run.”
</p>
<h3 id="s0aqi8">
US-India defense cooperation, very briefly explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kY9xRT">
India built a relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and to this day, most of the Indian military’s weapons come <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64899489">from Russia</a>. It wasn’t until the mid-2000s that India started buying arms from the United States, growing from around nothing in 2008 to $8 billion of US sales to the country <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-india-weapons/u-s-aims-to-expand-india-arms-trade-by-billions-of-dollars-idINDEE93H0F220130419">by 2013</a>, and to $20 billion <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-india/">in 2020</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d0IuIR">
Now, the new agreements will help create capacities for India as an arms producer. The Pentagon’s top Asia official, Ely Ratner, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWsgvEi6Iak">says</a> the US was helping modernize the Indian military. The US Embassy in New Delhi <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-india-conclude-roadmap-defence-industrial-cooperation-2023-06-05/">described</a> an initiative to “fast-track technology cooperation and co-production in areas such as air combat and land mobility systems, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, munitions, and the undersea domain.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="75YdZR">
India wants to manufacture military and aerospace products. In this respect, the prospective General Electric engine deal represents a major change. Export controls and trade regulations have previously been a challenge for forging advanced production lines in India. “Engine technology is pretty sensitive,” says Vikram Singh of the United States Institute of Peace and the consulting firm WestExec Advisors. “This is a big, ambitious agenda.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CEKkt0">
Both countries are eyeing China’s growing military and technological prowess, and the US is particularly concerned about the perceived threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hMbbQM">
But Grossman, who previously spent a decade working on China policy at the Pentagon, says that the US goal of bolstering India’s defense is less about creating a partner who would actively participate in any US-China confrontation and actually more about India providing safe harbor on the continent. “What the United States is really looking for is access to India, in the case of a conflict against China,” he told me. “But the hope is that over time, as we continue our security cooperation, India will kind of bend a little bit, to be more flexible and maybe allow us access at certain times to certain places that can help us conduct operations.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C7SRDO">
The US Navy established ship repair agreements with India that would enable the US to service its boats in Indian shipyards, with more agreements forthcoming, according to the White House. Grossman also emphasized that, in 2020, US Navy aircraft <a href="https://www.dla.mil/About-DLA/News/News-Article-View/Article/2397837/us-aircraft-inaugural-refueling-in-india/">refueled</a> on India’s base in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. “They’re letting us do that in peacetime; why wouldn’t they let us do that when the stakes are much higher?” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wEyjVI">
But even beyond the democratic issues, there are limits to how close this partnership could get in the near term. India remains non-aligned: It <a href="https://www.vox.com/23156512/russia-ukraine-war-global-south-nonaligned-movement">hasn’t taken a side</a> in the Ukraine war, nor signed on to the sanctions against Russia. While India is a member of the “<a href="https://www.vox.com/22325328/biden-quad-japan-australia-india-vaccine-rare-earth">Quad</a>,” an informal partnership with the US, Japan, and Australia, it is not a treaty ally of the United States. Grossman said that many in the Defense Department would like to see the US move toward a formal alliance with India.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6PxOP4">
That would be messy, notably because Pakistan is India’s prime rival and Pakistan is a close partner of the United States. Both countries have nuclear weapons, so if the US were to establish a treaty with India, the dynamics of a potential India-Pakistan conflict would be staggeringly complex for the US and dangerous for the world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jbEwrf">
Nevertheless, the US military partnership with India has become a pillar of the Biden administration’s policy toward Asia. Interestingly, the US goes out of its way to not say it has anything to do with China, although analysts uniformly agree that it’s all about China. “The strategic environment that we’re facing in the Indo-Pacific challenges to peace and stability, I think those have animated a sense of Indian purpose more generally,” a senior US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="miszCo">
The defense sector, unsurprisingly, is thrilled. Just ask the Asia Group, a consulting firm that advises <a href="https://www.pogo.org/investigation/2021/04/the-troubling-business-connections-of-bidens-asia-advisor-kurt-campbell">clients</a> like General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon and was founded by Kurt Campbell, who’s now the Biden White House’s point person on Asia policy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g0z7Lw">
Campbell’s former firm<strong> </strong>says the time is now to invest in India. “Companies that postpone entry or expansion in India might miss opportunities to maximize their long-term returns,” Gopal Nadadur, an Asia Group executive based in India, <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Companies-waiting-for-India-to-complete-reforms-will-miss-out">wrote</a> recently. “Defense and aerospace companies like Airbus, Boeing, Dassault, General Electric, General Atomics, Raytheon Technologies and Pratt &amp; Whitney have boosted their engineering and manufacturing operations in India.”
</p>
<h3 id="tgEz4y">
Will defense innovation make Asia safer?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="txD1Yz">
Bringing in military-tech startups and investment firms has been a core strategy of the Pentagon in recent years, and that’s also now going to play a part in the US-India relationship. On Wednesday, the Chamber of Commerce hosted what it called an “innovation bridge” — the INDUS-X event.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bE9xFb">
US and Indian startups that focus on the military, aerospace, and satellites attended, alongside venture capital firms and major defense contractors like Raytheon and Boeing. The proceedings were sponsored by General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and one of the big Indian companies, Mahindra Defence. The INDUS-X joint initiative will be “a catalyst for India to achieve its target of $5 billion in defense exports by 2025 and for India to diversify its defense supply chain,” <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3433245/us-india-rapidly-expand-their-military-cooperation/">according</a> to the Chamber.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BIkrkP">
One of the keynote speakers, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, told attendees that he expected “huge growth,” in the two countries’ defense partnership, “the hockey stick curve that all entrepreneurs dream of.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="agzD0X">
Participants did not directly discuss China, according to Pushan Das of the US-India Business Council, but it was the impetus for the gathering. “The reason why we’re doing all of this — the reason why there is the US-India defense-industry road map — it is because both countries have a common threat. They face a common challenge,” he told me. “And that’s pushing the defense relationship forward.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nUFffg">
But the focus on business interests has often meant that less attention has been paid in the commercial community to how increased military production and surveillance technologies in India could embolden Modi.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rdXv8U">
Modi is a Hindu nationalist leader who journalist Fareed Zakaria says is responsible for the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-is-president-biden-hosting-narendra-modi">decay of Indian democracy</a>. His attacks on <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/6/21/23683842/india-democracy-narendra-modi-us-biden-china">political rivals, the press, and minorities</a> call into question the strategic benefits of growing military cooperation with the country. To cite a recent example, India <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2023/06/22/white-house-mum-on-jailed-defense-news-correspondent/">arrested</a> Vivek Raghuvanshi, a contributor to the US-based outlet Defense Times, in May.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="40Tct9">
Senior Biden administration officials told a press conference that raising human rights concerns would be part of President Biden’s private conversations with Modi, but declined to provide specificity. Human rights concerns did not come up in the conversations at INDUS-X, according to Das, and Air Force Secretary Kendall did not raise them in his remarks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5vS0Ln">
Singh, who worked in the Obama Pentagon, says that pragmatism is necessary to counter China. “We look at Prime Minister Modi, like a lot of other complicated partners, be it in Southeast Asia, like Vietnam or Thailand, or in Europe, like Poland, or Hungary, or Turkey,” he told me. “But I think we’ve reached a point where American leaders are able to talk to Indian leaders about these sorts of concerns.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9TOssl">
There’s also another risk of flooding India with arms that Campbell, who served in the Obama State Department, warned of in his 2016 book <em>The Pivot: The Future of American Statecraft in Asia</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bqQ2ft">
“China and India both remain under 2 percent of GDP for defense spending, while, for comparison, between 2009 and 2013, US Defense spending averaged 4.4 percent of GDP,” he wrote. “If Asian powers were to devote the same proportion to defense spending as the United States, the region would quickly become even more dangerous.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>The new reality about Latino voters that Democrats must accept</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tL8GdzvJdVngNwgC5-7Cuw55wLg=/696x0:7259x4922/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72395287/1244186691.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A man wearing a “Latinos for America First” T-shirt at a campaign event for congressional candidate Monica De La Cruz on October 10, 2022, in McAllen, Texas. | Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Latino surge for Republicans in the Trump era is real. Democrats need to adjust.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RpmMlT">
Among the questions that stumped strategists, journalists, and pundits in the aftermath of the 2022 midterm elections — one in which Democrats surprisingly overperformed — was one big mystery: What happened to the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/11/hispanic-voters-fleeing-democratic-party/671851/">much-hyped</a> “red wave” of Latino Republican voters that was supposed to realign American politics?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fOXw5S">
In the wake of Donald Trump’s success with Latino voters in 2020, analysts expected a continuation of the same in 2022. But early clues suggested a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/10/23451639/midterm-latino-vote-takes-2022">more complicated picture</a>. Republicans won Latino voters for the first time in 15 years in Florida; close races in the Southwest ended up tipping toward Democrats; and most of Texas’s majority Mexican American border districts did not flip.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="612pO7">
Half a year later, we have even more answers — and they confirm something that some establishment Democrats and many party operatives need to wrestle with: Republicans did make gains in 2020 with Latino voters, those gains did<em> </em>stick in 2022, and they could still grow in 2024.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SR5lN8">
In other words, Democrats did better than expected in 2022 despite<em> </em>signs that their Latino support could continue to erode — signs they can’t afford to ignore heading into an election year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kTSid7">
Last week, Equis, a progressive research organization focused on understanding Latino voting trends, released <a href="https://weareequis.us/api/docs/qV8T7OpIWxw54fYWr9F0M/d1ecc7309b286d6b7db60d7f140f3b4f/2022_Post-Mortem_June_14.pdf">a 130-page midterm postmortem </a>analyzing the “Trump-era shift” of Latinos to the right in battleground states like Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Wisconsin.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pHdDe3">
What they found: Republicans held on to the gains they made since 2016 (the recent low point of GOP Latino support) but did not exceed their 2020 high point (aside from Florida, which stands out as the national exception in all of this analysis). Democrats, meanwhile, didn’t do worse than they did in 2020 (and managed to improve in places like Arizona and Pennsylvania).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BECZKT">
It’s a nuanced portrait but one in which Democrats may have more to be worried about. The hangover of the 2020 rise in Latino support for the GOP even after the Trump years still haunts many Democratic Party officials, strategists, candidates, and campaigns. Some seem unwilling to accept that a new Latino political landscape has emerged, one that requires a different campaign strategy and platform from <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/4/23708278/joe-biden-kamala-harris-2024-election-latino-voters-julie-chavez-rodriguez">what we saw in the last presidential election</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ysGJR4">
Equis’s report shows that despite the unique political environment of 2022 (high inflation, gas price shocks, and an unpopular president), Democrats were able to out-campaign and outspend Republicans to win competitive elections — but still weren’t able to push beyond the new baseline of Republican Latino support (about 40 percent). Meanwhile, Republicans failed to turn out Latino voters who sided with them on the issues. It’s those nonvoters that should worry Democrats looking ahead.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U5kn9y">
“Those who didn’t vote in 2022 are the biggest wildcard this next cycle,” Equis’s team writes. “Swing Latinos still seem to default to [Democrats] but are open to individual Republicans, with greater support possible when there is a major shift in the issue environment, imbalanced campaigning, or a weakening of identity bonds.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pubKvW">
These findings are important for the parties, their candidates, and their supporters to understand just how much the electorate and political environment have changed since the start of the Trump years. Some in the Democratic apparatus have questioned how real the Latino shift is and how much of Democrats’ losses can be <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23329139/latino-voters-misinformation-2022">ascribed</a> to “<a href="https://www.slowboring.com/p/misinformation">misinformation</a>” (spoiler alert: not much). A better picture of just how fluid these voters are can help Democrats fashion a new playbook — one that sees a much bigger role for persuasion than past campaigns.
</p>
<h3 id="yv0AJm">
How Latinos voted in 2022
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S9uuzA">
The Equis postmortem is the third analysis of its kind that the progressive research firm has published to try to explain how Latino voters behaved in major elections. The first two, released in <a href="https://equisresearch.medium.com/2020-post-mortem-part-one-16221adbd2f3">spring</a> and <a href="https://equisresearch.medium.com/post-mortem-part-two-the-american-dream-voter-66dd6f673d1e">winter</a> of 2021 respectively, confirmed the rightward shift of Latino voters after the 2020 election, despite debate over where those shifts happened and how big they were.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QFTquP">
The new report confirms much of what the <a href="https://catalist.us/whathappened2022/">Democratic data firm Catalist</a>, another reputable source for election analysis, found earlier this year, and it matches the trends reported in exit polling from last year.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1PCPdy">
Equis’s report breaks down three ways to understand what happened with Latino voters in battleground states last year: the issues dominating the national conversation (inflation, abortion, immigration, democracy), the way candidates campaigned, and the brand strength of the two political parties going into and emerging from Election Day.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xMkYJE">
It also identifies what might be the two<strong> </strong>most important types of Latino voters for campaigns to think of going into 2024: the swingy, “highly conflicted” voter, who supports Democrats on some issues and Republicans on others; and the non-voter, who might have only voted in 2020 or who voted in 2020 and the 2018 midterms but sat 2022 out.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MqPIue">
Those first three factors — issue environment, campaign efforts, and party brand —<strong> </strong>explain why the support for both parties remained stable from 2020 to 2022. Republicans may have had an edge on inflation and the economy, but they failed to turn it into actual votes. Meanwhile, Democrats managed to not just turn out those voters who trusted Democrats with the economy, but also convince those who were divided in their trust to pick Democrats at the voting booth.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RGSw6F">
Democrats also won big with voters primarily concerned with abortion and the future of democracy. And, outside of Florida, Democrats also won more swing Latino voters: those “highly conflicted” voters who are less engaged with politics, less ideological, and have low allegiance to either party.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8QJVZi">
This all happened as Democrats outspent and out-campaigned Republicans (again, everywhere except for Florida), and as Democrats continued to be seen as the party that “cares about people like you” and was “better for Hispanics.” Issue selection and candidate quality mattered hugely. In Arizona, Sen. Mark Kelly won over a significant number of conservative and moderate Latinos, while his rival <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/16/23458896/republicans-senate-candidate-quality-trump">Blake Masters just got more unpopular</a> as he became better known.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ICA6fm">
In Nevada, meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto outspent her Republican opponent Adam Laxalt, despite his significant investments in Spanish-language media throughout most of the campaign, and picked the more effective<strong> </strong>issues to highlight (gas prices and health care costs over Laxalt’s focus on crime).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DPByay">
“What sticks out among conflicted voters is what sticks out across every kind of ‘swing’ voter,” the report reads. “The enduring sense that Democrats care more and are better for [Hispanics/Latinos] … [seems] to win out even as Republicans gain ground on other dimensions.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SwSJNf">
This Democratic brand proved resilient everywhere except Florida — and this data point is emblematic of just how difficult it will be for statewide Democrats to be competitive in a state that feels less like a true battleground with each passing year. Among all kinds of Florida’s<strong> </strong>Latino voters in 2022, but especially among non-Cuban Americans and Puerto Rican Latinos, Democrats were viewed less favorably than they were<strong> </strong>outside of the state. That negative brand should give national Democrats pause when deciding just how hard they should try to contest the state in 2024.
</p>
<h3 id="sNOhSA">
The 2022 lessons for 2024? Persuasion matters.
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HWUOf7">
But amid the good news for Democrats holding their own in 2022 (beyond Florida) are warning signs about what looms in 2024 and potential clues as to how the party should approach that election.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IyHbuN">
Those voters who sat out 2022 will be among the majority-makers for 2024. They hold mixed values (likely to trust Republicans on inflation but perceive the party negatively on abortion and as favoring the rich), and may now be tilting toward Republicans. Equis’s post-election polling shows Republicans have a big advantage with 2020 voters who sat out the midterms, and plenty of room to grow with GOP candidates who aren’t Donald Trump.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jg7t5t">
Should those 2020 voters who sat out 2022 vote in 2024, they would break for a Republican 54 percent and 34 percent for Biden, according to Equis. Adding to these early warning signs is a recent Axios-Ipsos/Telemundo poll <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/06/22/latino-drift-democrats-poll">further showing erosion</a> in the positive branding and allegiance Democrats have enjoyed from most Latinos, driven mostly by economic and public safety concerns. This all means that even if Trump is the nominee, he could still improve on his 2020 showing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4VfW30">
This analysis is only the latest contribution in a long-running debate in Democratic politics: whether turnout or persuasion will win elections. The turnout camp suggests that there’s an untapped well of voters out there; Democrats just need to find them and get them to the polls. The persuasion side argues that Democrats need to convince uncommitted voters and those loosely affiliated with the GOP to cast a ballot for them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hCKGCd">
The Equis report notes both are important, but comes down firmly on the latter side. Those 2022 non-voters and the “highly conflicted” swing voters who ended up backing Democrats are persuadable voters who need to be engaged early on and who might not hold the same views on key issues that Democrats might assume from their generic base of voters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dlBeT0">
For Equis, that means 2024 might create different imperatives for presidential and down-ballot races — but both kinds will have to put a bigger emphasis on persuasion.
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Chelsea’s owners agree to buy stake in French Ligue 1 club Strasbourg</strong> - The BlueCo consortium, which purchased Premier League club Chelsea in May 2022, are to become new shareholders of Strasbourg “subject to a consultation process”</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>India head coach Stimac to serve just one-match ban, to return at helm against Kuwait in SAFF Championships</strong> - Mahesh Gawli will take charge of the Indian team against Nepal on Saturday before Stimac returns for the last group match against Kuwait.</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>Liverpool, Bayern Munich, and other European clubs to be a part of the inaugural Singapore Festival of Football</strong> - The football festival, also featuring AS Roma, Tottenham Hotspur, and Leicester City, will be held from July 26 to August 2</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>India’s tour of West Indies | Possible end of road for Pujara, India picks Jaiswal and Gaikwad</strong> - The selectors also announced a 17-member team under Rohit Sharma for the ODIs</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>Edgbaston track was like my kryptonite, I’m done in the Ashes if all pitches are like that, says Anderson</strong> - Ahead of the series, England skipper Ben Stokes said England wanted fast flat pitches to help execute their attacking style of play.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Hindu RoofandFloor.com property show in Hyderabad on June 24 and 25</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>Armed men fire at villages in Manipur</strong> - Security forces columns, which were immediately deployed in these “vacant” villages, responded cautiously to avoid any collateral damage</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>Kollam city police get body-worn cameras</strong> - Cameras attached to the uniforms of law enforcers on duty will be monitoring the surroundings and the crimes captured by the camera can be used as digital evidence before the court.</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>NSS presents ₹144.25-crore Budget with focus on health services, colleges</strong> - Allocations towards distribution of grants, including scholarships for students and treatment assistance, increased in Budget</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>What about other martyrs’ families, asks BJP</strong> -</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Living without water in a town devastated by dam breach</strong> - Residents of a Ukrainian town devastated by floods when a dam collapsed describe life without water.</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>Hundreds of migrants rescued off Canary Islands</strong> - At least 227 migrants were saved on Thursday, Spain’s officials say, a day after a deadly shipwreck.</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>France’s Wembanyama chosen as first pick in NBA draft</strong> - Victor Wembanyama targets winning an NBA championship ring after the San Antonio Spurs choose him as the number one overall pick in the 2023 draft.</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>Russian diplomat squats near Australia parliament in embassy lease row</strong> - Australia has withdrawn the lease on the site for a new embassy near the parliament for fear of spying.</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>Why is it so rare to hear about Western cyber-attacks?</strong> - Could a cyber-attack on a Russian technology company provide a rare insight into a Western hack?</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Electron scoops up Virgin launch, ULA flies first 2023 mission</strong> - “In microlaunchers that balance is on a knife’s edge.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1949468">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Stars collided in galactic “demolition derby,” produced oddball gamma-ray burst</strong> - Such oddball events tell astronomers a lot about spectacular diversity of cosmic explosions. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1949504">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>US might finally force cable-TV firms to advertise their actual prices</strong> - Biden angry about cable firms’ hidden “Broadcast TV” and “Regional Sports” fees. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1949540">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Twitter CEO starts fighting Musk’s battles, paying Musk’s overdue bills</strong> - Australia ordered Twitter to combat hate or risk maximum fines up to $700K daily. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1949525">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Liquid metal could turn everyday things like paper into smart objects</strong> - This futuristic new liquid-metal coating can make ordinary objects extraordinary. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1949507">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>Reddit is killing third-party applications (and itself). Read more in the comments.</strong> - submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/JokeSentinel"> /u/JokeSentinel </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://i.redd.it/1j5nee06kx5b1.png">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1490rmv/reddit_is_killing_thirdparty_applications_and/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A woman decides to have a face lift for her 50th birthday. She spends $15,000 and looks sensational. On her way home, she stops at a news stand to buy a newspaper. Before leaving, she says to the clerk, ‘I hope you don’t mind my asking, but how old do you think I am?”.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
’About 32,’ is the reply.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘Nope! I’m exactly 50,’ the woman says happily.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A little while later she goes into McDonald’s and asks the counter girl the very same question.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The girl replies, ‘I’d guess about 29.’ The woman replies with a big smile, ‘Nope, I’m 50.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Now she’s feeling really good about herself. She stops at a candy shop on her way down the street.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She goes up to the counter to get some mints and asks the assistant the same burning question.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The clerk responds, ‘Oh, I’d say 30.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Again she proudly responds, ‘I’m 50, but thank you!’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
While waiting for the bus to go home, she asks an old man waiting next to her the same question.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He replies, ‘Lady, I’m 78 and my eyesight is going. Although, when I was young there was a sure-fire way to tell how old a woman was. It sounds very forward, but it requires you to let me put my hands under your bra Then, and only then I can tell you EXACTLY how old you are.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
They wait in silence on the empty street until her curiosity gets the better of her. She finally blurts out, ‘What the hell, go ahead.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He slips both of his hands under her blouse and begins to feel around very slowly and carefully. He bounces and weighs each breast and he gently pinches each nipple. He pushes her breasts together and rubs them against each other.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After a couple of minutes of this, she says, ‘Okay, okay…..How old am I?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He completes one last squeeze of her breasts, removes his hands, and says, ‘Madam, you are 50.’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Stunned and amazed, the woman says, ‘That was incredible, how could you tell?’
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
‘I was behind you at McDonalds’.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/LaryBarkins"> /u/LaryBarkins </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14gm91r/a_woman_decides_to_have_a_face_lift_for_her_50th/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14gm91r/a_woman_decides_to_have_a_face_lift_for_her_50th/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A policeman was interrogating 3 guys who were training to become detectives. To test their skills in recognizing a suspect, he shows the first guys a picture for 5 seconds and then hides it. “This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The first guy answers, “That’s easy, we’ll catch him fast because he only has one eye!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The policeman says, “Well…uh…that’s because the picture I showed is his side profile.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Slightly flustered by this ridiculous response, he flashes the picture for 5 seconds at the second guy and asks him, “This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The second guy smiles, flips his hair and says, “Ha! He’d be too easy to catch because he only has one ear!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The policeman angrily responds, “What’s the matter with you two?!!? Of course only one eye and one ear are showing because it’s a picture of his side profile! Is that the best answer you can come up with?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Extremely frustrated at this point, he shows the picture to the third guy and in a very testy voice asks, "This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He quickly adds, “Think hard before giving me a stupid answer.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The third guy looks at the picture intently for a moment and says, “The suspect wears contact lenses.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The policeman is surprised and speechless because he really doesn’t know himself if the suspect wears contacts or not.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Well, that’s an interesting answer. Wait here for a few minutes while I check his file and I’ll get back to you on that.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He leaves the room and goes to his office, checks the suspect’s file on his computer and comes back with a beaming smile on his face.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Wow! I can’t believe it. It’s TRUE! The suspect does, in fact, wear contact lenses. Good work! How were you able to make such an astute observation?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“That’s easy…” the third guy replied. “He can’t wear regular glasses because he only has one eye and one ear.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/madazzahatter"> /u/madazzahatter </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14gvfg3/a_policeman_was_interrogating_3_guys_who_were/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14gvfg3/a_policeman_was_interrogating_3_guys_who_were/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How do you make your partner scream during sex?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Call them and tell them about it.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Different-Tie-1085"> /u/Different-Tie-1085 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14gluh2/how_do_you_make_your_partner_scream_during_sex/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14gluh2/how_do_you_make_your_partner_scream_during_sex/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>One sinking sub is called The Titan, what do you call a fleet of sinking subs?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Reddit.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Rogne98"> /u/Rogne98 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14fyxfi/one_sinking_sub_is_called_the_titan_what_do_you/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14fyxfi/one_sinking_sub_is_called_the_titan_what_do_you/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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