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<title>18 January, 2024</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Discrete and conserved inflammatory signatures drive thrombosis in different organs after Salmonella infection</strong> -
<div>
Inflammation-induced thrombosis is a common consequence of bacterial and viral infections, such as those caused by Salmonella Typhimurium (STm) and SARS-CoV-2. The identification of multi-organ thrombosis and the chronological differences in its induction and resolution raise significant challenges for successfully targeting multi-organ infection-associated thrombosis. Here, we identified specific pathways and effector cells driving thrombosis in the spleen and liver following STm infection. Thrombosis in the spleen is independent of IFN-{gamma} or the platelet C-type lectin-like receptor CLEC-2, while both molecules were previously identified as key drivers of thrombosis in the liver. Furthermore, we identified platelets, monocytes, and neutrophils as core constituents of thrombi in both organs. Depleting neutrophils or monocytic cells independently abrogated thrombus formation. Nevertheless, blocking TNF, which is expressed by both myeloid cell types, diminished both thrombosis and inflammation which correlates with reduced endothelial expression of E-selectin and leukocyte infiltration. Moreover, tissue factor and P-selectin glycoprotein ligand 1 inhibition impairs thrombosis in both spleen and liver, identifying multiple common checkpoints to target multi-organ thrombosis. Therefore, organ-specific, and broad mechanisms driving thrombosis potentially allow tailored treatments based on the clinical need and to define the most adequate strategy to target both thrombosis and inflammation associated with systemic infections.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.16.575813v1" target="_blank">Discrete and conserved inflammatory signatures drive thrombosis in different organs after Salmonella infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Impact of SARS-CoV-2 spike efficacy on tolerability of spike-based Covid-19 Vaccinations</strong> -
<div>
Abstract: Knowledge about the efficacy of vaccine spikes has multiplied in recent years. The purpose of this review is to update the key findings from the scientific literature that provide explanations for many of the reported and analysed adverse effects associated with the spike-based Covid-19 vaccination. Principle results: An overwhelming body of evidence supports the main mode of action of spike-based Covid-19 vaccines, namely the downregulation of ACE2 by spikes. Direct spike effects, synergisms and RAAS-independent responses complement and multiply the already deleterious effects on tolerability. It has been repeatedly confirmed that the SARS-CoV spike protein alone is not only able to downregulate ACE2, but also to induce cell fusion, activation of TLR4, of co-receptors and gastrointestinal responses. The systemic and long-lasting detection of spikes after vaccination disproves the claimed regionally limited and short-lasting spike production and efficacy. The production volume of spikes, their dependencies and the non-neutralised spike proportion have so far remained unknown for unknown reasons. Conclusions: The exceptionally broad spectrum, frequency and severity of the reported side effects associated with spike-based Covid-19 vaccination exceed the known level of conventional vaccinations. According to my side effect analyses, the spike-based vaccines possess an unacceptable class-specific, unique side effect profile. From a pharmacological point of view, spikes are highly active substances, but not tolerable simple antigens. For this reason, they are not suitable for preventive immunisation to avoid comparatively harmless infections.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/pw8zr/" target="_blank">Impact of SARS-CoV-2 spike efficacy on tolerability of spike-based Covid-19 Vaccinations</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Discovery and Characterization of a Pan-betacoronavirus S2-binding antibody</strong> -
<div>
Three coronaviruses have spilled over from animal reservoirs into the human population and caused deadly epidemics or pandemics. The continued emergence of coronaviruses highlights the need for pan-coronavirus interventions for effective pandemic preparedness. Here, using LIBRA-seq, we report a panel of 50 coronavirus antibodies isolated from human B cells. Of these antibodies, 54043-5 was shown to bind the S2 subunit of spike proteins from alpha-, beta-, and deltacoronaviruses. A cryo-EM structure of 54043-5 bound to the pre-fusion S2 subunit of the SARS-CoV-2 spike defined an epitope at the apex of S2 that is highly conserved among betacoronaviruses. Although non-neutralizing, 54043-5 induced Fc-dependent antiviral responses, including ADCC and ADCP. In murine SARS-CoV-2 challenge studies, protection against disease was observed after introduction of Leu234Ala, Leu235Ala, and Pro329Gly (LALA-PG) substitutions in the Fc region of 54043-5. Together, these data provide new insights into the protective mechanisms of non-neutralizing antibodies and define a broadly conserved epitope within the S2 subunit.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.15.575741v1" target="_blank">Discovery and Characterization of a Pan-betacoronavirus S2-binding antibody</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Adsorption-driven deformation and landing-footprints of the RBD proteins in SARS-CoV-2 variants onto biological and inanimate surfaces</strong> -
<div>
Respiratory viruses, carried through airborne microdroplets, frequently adhere to surfaces, including plastics and metals. However, our understanding of the interactions between viruses and materials remains limited, particularly in scenarios involving polarizable surfaces. Here, we investigate the role of receptor-binding domain (RBD) mutations on the adsorption of SARS-CoV-2 to hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces employing molecular simulations. To contextualize our findings, we contrast the interactions on inanimate surfaces with those on native-biological interfaces, specifically the ACE2 receptor. Notably, we identify a twofold increase in structural deformations for the protein's receptor binding motif onto the inanimate surfaces, indicative of enhanced shock-absorbing mechanisms. Furthermore, the distribution of amino acids (landing-footprints) on the inanimate surface reveals a distinct regional asymmetry relative to the biological interface. In spite of the H-bonds formed at the hydrophilic substrate, the simulations consistently show a higher number of contacts and interfacial area with the hydrophobic surface, with the WT RBD adsorbed more strongly to than the delta or omicron RBDs. In contrast, the adsorption of delta and omicron to hydrophilic surfaces was characterized by a distinctive hopping-pattern. The novel shock-absorbing mechanisms identified in the virus adsorption on inanimate surfaces could lead current experimental efforts in the design of virucidal surfaces.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.15.575706v1" target="_blank">Adsorption-driven deformation and landing-footprints of the RBD proteins in SARS-CoV-2 variants onto biological and inanimate surfaces</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Reference materials for SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnostic quality control: validation of encapsulated synthetic RNAs for room temperature storage and shipping</strong> -
<div>
The Coronavirus pandemic unveiled the unprecedented need for diagnostic tests to rapidly detect the presence of pathogens in the population. Real-time RT-PCR and other nucleic acid amplification techniques are accurate and sensitive molecular techniques that necessitate positive controls. To meet this need, Twist Bioscience has developed and released synthetic RNA controls. However, RNA is an inherently unstable molecule needing cold storage, costly shipping, and resource-intensive logistics. Imagene provides a solution to this problem by encapsulating dehydrated RNA inside metallic capsules filled with anhydrous argon, allowing room temperature and eco-friendly storage and shipping. Here, RNA controls produced by Twist were encapsulated (RNAshells) and distributed to several laboratories that used them for COVID-19 detection tests by amplification. One RT-LAMP procedure, four different RT-PCR devices and 6 different PCR kits were used. The amplification targets were genes E, N; RdRp, Sarbeco-E and Orf1a/b. RNA retrieval was satisfactory, and the detection was reproducible. RNA stability was checked by accelerated aging. The results for a 10-year equivalent storage time at 25 {degrees}C were not significantly different from those for unaged samples. This room temperature RNA stability allows the preparation and distribution of large strategic batches which can be stored for a long time and used for standardization processes between detection sites. Moreover, it makes it also possible to use these controls for single use and in the field where large temperature differences can occur. Consequently, this type of encapsulated RNA controls, processed at room temperature, can be used as reference materials for the SARS-Cov-2 virus as well as for other pathogens detection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.28.555008v3" target="_blank">Reference materials for SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnostic quality control: validation of encapsulated synthetic RNAs for room temperature storage and shipping</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Lineage frequency time series reveal elevated levels of genetic drift in SARS-CoV-2 transmission in England</strong> -
<div>
Genetic drift in infectious disease transmission results from randomness of transmission and host recovery or death. The strength of genetic drift for SARS-CoV-2 transmission is expected to be high due to high levels of superspreading, and this is expected to substantially impact disease epidemiology and evolution. However, we don’t yet have an understanding of how genetic drift changes over time or across locations. Furthermore, noise that results from data collection can potentially confound estimates of genetic drift. To address this challenge, we develop and validate a method to jointly infer genetic drift and measurement noise from time-series lineage frequency data. Our method is highly scalable to increasingly large genomic datasets, which overcomes a limitation in commonly used phylogenetic methods. We apply this method to over 490,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences from England collected between March 2020 and December 2021 by the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium and separately infer the strength of genetic drift for pre-B.1.177, B.1.177, Alpha, and Delta. We find that even after correcting for measurement noise, the strength of genetic drift is consistently, throughout time, higher than that expected from the observed number of COVID-19 positive individuals in England by 1 to 3 orders of magnitude, which cannot be explained by literature values of superspreading. Our estimates of genetic drift will be informative for parameterizing evolutionary models and studying potential mechanisms for increased drift.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.21.517390v3" target="_blank">Lineage frequency time series reveal elevated levels of genetic drift in SARS-CoV-2 transmission in England</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>De novo-designed minibinders expand the synthetic biology sensing repertoire</strong> -
<div>
Synthetic and chimeric receptors capable of recognizing and responding to user-defined antigens have enabled "smart" therapeutics based on engineered cells. These cell engineering tools depend on antigen sensors which are most often derived from antibodies. Advances in the de novo design of proteins have enabled the design of protein binders with the potential to target epitopes with unique properties and faster production timelines compared to antibodies. Building upon our previous work combining a de novo-designed minibinder of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 with the synthetic receptor synNotch (SARSNotch), we investigated whether minibinders can be readily adapted to a diversity of cell engineering tools. We show that the Spike minibinder LCB1 easily generalizes to a next-generation proteolytic receptor SNIPR that performs similarly to our previously reported SARSNotch. LCB1-SNIPR successfully enables the detection of live SARS-CoV-2, an improvement over SARSNotch which can only detect cell-expressed Spike. To test the generalizability of minibinders to diverse applications, we tested LCB1 as an antigen sensor for a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). LCB1-CAR enabled CD8+ T cells to cytotoxically target Spike-expressing cells. Our findings suggest that minibinders represent a novel class of antigen sensors that have the potential to dramatically expand the sensing repertoire of cell engineering tools.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.12.575267v1" target="_blank">De novo-designed minibinders expand the synthetic biology sensing repertoire</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>mRNA-LNP COVID-19 vaccine lipids induce low level complement activation and production of proinflammatory cytokines: Mechanisms, effects of complement inhibitors, and relevance to adverse reactions</strong> -
<div>
Messenger RNA-containing lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs) enabled widespread COVID-19 vaccination with a small fraction of vaccine recipients displaying acute or sub-acute inflammatory symptoms. The molecular mechanism of these adverse events (AEs) remains undetermined. Here we report that the mRNA-LNP vaccine, Comirnaty, triggers low-level complement (C) activation and production of inflammatory cytokines, which may be key underlying processes of inflammatory AEs. In serum, Comirnaty and the control PEGylated liposome (Doxebo) caused different rises of C split products, C5a, sC5b-9, Bb and C4d, indicating stimulation of the classical pathway of C activation mainly by the liposomes, while a stronger stimulation of the alternative pathway was equal with the vaccine and the liposomes. Spikevax had similar C activation as Comirnaty, but viral or synthetic mRNAs had no such effect. In autologous serum-supplemented peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cultures, Comirnaty caused increases in the levels of sC5b-9 and proinflammatory cytokines in the following order: IL-1 &lt; IFN-{gamma} &lt; IL-1{beta} &lt; TNF- &lt; IL-6 &lt; IL-8, whereas heat-inactivation of serum prevented the rises of IL-1, IL-1{beta}, and TNF-. Clinical C inhibitors, Soliris and Berinert, suppressed vaccine-induced C activation in serum but did not affect cytokine production when applied individually. These findings suggest that the PEGylated lipid coating of mRNA-LNP nanoparticles can trigger C activation mainly via the alternative pathway, which may be causally related to the induction of some, but not all inflammatory cytokines. While innate immune stimulation is essential for the vaccine's efficacy, concurrent production of C- and PBMC-derived inflammatory mediators may contribute to some of the AEs. Pharmacological attenuation of harmful cytokine production using C inhibitors likely requires blocking the C cascade at multiple points.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.12.575122v1" target="_blank">mRNA-LNP COVID-19 vaccine lipids induce low level complement activation and production of proinflammatory cytokines: Mechanisms, effects of complement inhibitors, and relevance to adverse reactions</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Primate-specific BTN3A2 protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection by interacting with and reducing ACE2</strong> -
<div>
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an immune-related disorder caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 invades cells via the entry receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). While several attachment factors and co-receptors for SARS-CoV-2 have been identified, the complete pathogenesis of the virus remains to be determined. Unraveling the molecular mechanisms governing SARS-CoV-2 interactions with host cells is crucial for the formulation of effective prophylactic measures and the advancement of COVID-19 therapeutics. Here, we identified butyrophilin subfamily 3 member A2 (BTN3A2) as a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The mRNA level of BTN3A2 was correlated with COVID-19 severity. Upon re-analysis of a human lung single-cell RNA sequencing dataset, BTN3A2 expression was predominantly identified in epithelial cells. Moreover, this expression was elevated in pathological epithelial cells from COVID-19 patients and co-occurred with ACE2 expression in the same cellular subtypes in the lung. Additionally, BTN3A2 primarily targeted the early stage of the viral life cycle by inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 attachment through direct interactions with the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Spike protein and ACE2. Furthermore, BTN3A2 inhibited ACE2-mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection by reducing ACE2 in vitro and in a BTN3A2 transgenic mouse model. These results reveal a key role of BTN3A2 in the fight against COVID-19 and broaden our understanding of the pathobiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Identifying potential monoclonal antibodies that target BTN3A2 may facilitate disruption of SARS-CoV-2 infection, providing a therapeutic avenue for COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.13.575537v1" target="_blank">Primate-specific BTN3A2 protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection by interacting with and reducing ACE2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Intestinal helminth infection impairs vaccine-induced T cell responses and protection against SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
Although vaccines have reduced COVID-19 disease burden, their efficacy in helminth infection endemic areas is not well characterized. We evaluated the impact of infection by Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri (Hpb), a murine intestinal hookworm, on the efficacy of an mRNA vaccine targeting the Wuhan-1 spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. Although immunization generated similar B cell responses in Hpb-infected and uninfected mice, polyfunctional CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses were markedly reduced in Hpb-infected mice. Hpb-infected and mRNA vaccinated mice were protected against the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain WA1/2020, but control of lung infection was diminished against an Omicron variant compared to animals immunized without Hpb infection. Helminth mediated suppression of spike-specific CD8+ T cell responses occurred independently of STAT6 signaling, whereas blockade of IL-10 rescued vaccine-induced CD8+ T cell responses. In mice, intestinal helminth infection impairs vaccine induced T cell responses via an IL-10 pathway and compromises protection against antigenically shifted SARS-CoV-2 variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.14.575588v1" target="_blank">Intestinal helminth infection impairs vaccine-induced T cell responses and protection against SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Different vaccine platforms result in distinct antibody responses to the same antigen in haemodialysis patients</strong> -
<div>
Generalised immune dysfunction in chronic kidney disease, especially in patients requiring haemodialysis (HD), significantly enhances the risk of severe infections. Moreover, vaccine-induced immunity is typically reduced in HD populations, but the full mechanisms behind this remain unclear. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic provided an opportunity to examine the magnitude and functionality of antibody responses in HD patients to a previously unencountered antigen, Spike (S)-glycoprotein, after vaccination with different vaccine platforms (viral vector (VV); mRNA (mRV)). Here, we compared total and functional anti-S antibody responses (cross-variant neutralisation and complement binding) in 187 HD patients and 43 healthy controls 21-28 days after serial immunisation. After 2 doses of the same vaccine, HD patients had anti-S antibody levels and complement binding capacity comparable to controls. However, 2 doses of mRV induced greater polyfunctional antibody responses than VV, yet previous SARS-CoV-2 infection or an mRV boost after 2 doses of VV significantly enhanced antibody functionality in HD patients. Therefore, HD patients can generate near-normal, functional antigen-specific antibody responses following serial vaccination to a novel antigen, suggesting largely intact B cell memory. Encouragingly, exploiting immunological memory by using mRNA vaccines and boosting may improve the success of vaccination strategies in this vulnerable patient population.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.14.575569v1" target="_blank">Different vaccine platforms result in distinct antibody responses to the same antigen in haemodialysis patients</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Lipid nanoparticle composition for adjuvant formulation modulates disease after influenza virus infection in QIV vaccinated mice.</strong> -
<div>
Adjuvants can enhance vaccine effectiveness of currently licensed influenza vaccines. We tested influenza vaccination in a mouse model with two adjuvants: Sendai virus derived defective interfering (SDI) RNA, a RIG-I agonist, and an amphiphilic imidazoquinoline (IMDQ-PEG-Chol), TLR7/8 adjuvant. The negatively charged SDI RNA was formulated into lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) facilitating the direct delivery of a RIG-I agonist to the cytosol. We have previously tested SDI and IMDQ-PEG-Chol as standalone and combination adjuvants for influenza and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Here we tested two different ionizable lipids, K-Ac7-Dsa and S-Ac7-Dog, for LNP formulations. The adjuvanticity of IMDQ-PEG-Chol with and without empty or SDI-loaded LNPs was validated in a licensed vaccine setting (quadrivalent influenza vaccine or QIV) against H1N1 influenza virus, showing robust induction of antibody titres and T cell responses. Depending on the adjuvant combination and LNP lipid composition (K-Ac7-Dsa or S-Ac7-Dog lipids), humoral and cellular vaccine responses could be tailored towards type 1 or type 2 host responses with specific cytokine profiles that correlated with protection during viral infection. The extent of protection conferred by different vaccine/LNP/adjuvant combinations was examined against challenge with the vaccine-matching strain of H1N1 influenza A virus. Groups that received either LNP formulated with SDI, IMDQ-PEG-Chol or both showed very low levels of viral replication in their lungs at five days post virus infection. LNP ionizable lipid composition as well as loading (empty versus SDI) also skewed host responses to infection, as reflected in the cytokine and chemokine levels in lungs of vaccinated animals upon infection. These studies show the potential of LNPs as adjuvant delivery vehicles for licensed vaccines and illustrate the importance of LNP composition for subsequent host responses to infection, an important point of consideration for vaccine safety.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.14.575599v1" target="_blank">Lipid nanoparticle composition for adjuvant formulation modulates disease after influenza virus infection in QIV vaccinated mice.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Eliminating the missing cone challenge through innovative approaches</strong> -
<div>
Microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) has emerged as a powerful technique for unraveling molecular structures from microcrystals too small for X-ray diffraction. However, a significant hurdle arises with plate-like crystals that consistently orient themselves flat on the electron microscopy grid. If, as is typically the case, the normal of the plate correlates with the axes of the crystal lattice, the crystal orientations accessible for measurement are restricted because the grid cannot be arbitrarily rotated. This limits the information that can be acquired, resulting in a missing cone of information. We recently introduced a novel crystallization strategy called suspended drop crystallization and proposed that this method could effectively address the challenge of preferred crystal orientation. Here we demonstrate the success of the suspended drop crystallization approach in eliminating the missing cone in two samples that crystallize as thin plates: bovine liver catalase and the COVID-19 main protease (Mpro). This innovative solution proves indispensable for crystals exhibiting preferred orientations, unlocking new possibilities for structure determination by MicroED.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.11.575283v1" target="_blank">Eliminating the missing cone challenge through innovative approaches</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Human mobility patterns to inform sampling sites for early pathogen detection and routes of spread: a network modeling and validation study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Detecting and foreseeing pathogen dispersion is crucial in preventing widespread disease transmission. Human mobility is a critical issue in human transmission of infectious agents. Through a mobility data-driven approach, we determined municipalities in Brazil that could make up an advanced sentinel network, allowing for early detection of circulating pathogens and their associated transmission routes. Methods: We compiled a comprehensive dataset on intercity mobility spanning air, road, and waterway transport, and constructed a graph-based representation of Brazil9s mobility network. The Ford-Fulkerson algorithm, coupled with centrality measures, were employed to rank cities according to their suitability as sentinel hubs. Findings: Our results disentangle the complex transportation network of Brazil, with flights alone transporting 79.9 million (CI 58.3 to 10.1 million) passengers annually during 2017-22, seasonal peaks occurring in late spring and summer, and roadways with a maximum capacity of 78.3 million passengers weekly. We ranked the 5,570 Brazilian cities to offer flexibility in prioritizing locations for early pathogen detection through clinical sample collection. Our findings are validated by epidemiological and genetic data independently collected during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic period. The mobility-based spread model defined here was able to recapitulate the actual dissemination patterns observed during the pandemic. By providing essential clues for effective pathogen surveillance, our results have the potential to inform public health policy and improve future pandemic response efforts. Interpretation: Our results unlock the potential of designing country-wide clinical sample collection networks using data-informed approaches, an innovative practice that can improve current surveillance systems.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.12.24301207v1" target="_blank">Human mobility patterns to inform sampling sites for early pathogen detection and routes of spread: a network modeling and validation study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Critically-ill COVID-19 susceptibility gene CCR3 shows natural selection in sub-Saharan Africans</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The prevalence of COVID-19 critical illness varies across ethnicities, with recent studies suggesting that genetic factors may contribute to this variation. The aim of this study was to investigate natural selection signals of genes associated with critically-ill COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africans. Severe COVID-19 SNPs were obtained from the HGI website. Selection signals were assessed in 661 sub-Sahara Africans from 1000 Genomes Project using integrated haplotype score (iHS), cross-population extended haplotype homozygosity (xpEHH), and fixation index (Fst). Allele frequency trajectory analysis of ancient DNA samples were used to validate the existing of selection in sub-Sahara Africans. We also used Mendelian randomization to decipher the correlation between natural selection and critically-ill COVID-19. We identified that CCR3 exhibited significant natural selection signals in sub-Sahara Africans. Within the CCR3 gene, rs17217831-A showed both high iHS (Standardized iHS = 2) and high XP-EHH (Standardized XP-EHH = 2.5) in sub-Sahara Africans. Allele frequency trajectory of CCR3 rs17217831-A revealed natural selection occurring in the recent 1,500 years. Natural selection resulted in increased CCR3 expression in sub-Sahara Africans. Mendelian Randomization provided evidence that increased blood CCR3 expression and eosinophil counts lowered the risk of critically ill COVID-19. Our findings suggest that sub-Saharan Africans are less vulnerable to critically ill COVID-19 due to natural selection and identify CCR3 as a potential novel therapeutic target.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.12.24301202v1" target="_blank">Critically-ill COVID-19 susceptibility gene CCR3 shows natural selection in sub-Saharan Africans</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Treatment of Persistent Post-Covid-19 Smell and Taste Disorders</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-covid-19 Persistent Smell and Taste Disorders <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Cerebrolysin; Other: olfactory and gustatory trainings <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Sherifa Ahmed Hamed <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>Chronic-disease Self-management Program in Patients Living With Long-COVID in Puerto Rico</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long Covid19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: “Tomando control de su salud” (Spanish Chronic Disease Self-Management) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Puerto Rico; National Institutes of Health (NIH) <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 Evealuate Safety, Reactogenicity, and Immunogenicity of TI-0010 Vaccine in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; COVID-19 Immunisation <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: TI-0010; Biological: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: National Drug Clinical Trial Institute of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College; Therorna <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>Sodium Citrate in Smell Retraining for People With Post-COVID-19 Olfactory Dysfunction</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long Haul COVID-19; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; Anosmia; Olfaction Disorders <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Sodium Citrate; Drug: Normal Saline; Other: Olfactory Training Kit - “The Olfactory Kit, by AdvancedRx” <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase II, Double Blind, Randomized Trial of CX-4945 in Viral Community Acquired Pneumonia</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Community-acquired Pneumonia; SARS-CoV-2 -Associated Pneumonia; Influenza With Pneumonia <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: CX-4945 (SARS-CoV-2 domain); Drug: Placebo (SARS-CoV-2 domain); Drug: CX-4945 (Influenza virus domain); Drug: Placebo (Influenza virus domain) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Senhwa Biosciences, Inc. <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Edge AI-deployed DIGItal Twins for PREDICTing Disease Progression and Need for Early Intervention in Infectious and Cardiovascular Diseases Beyond COVID-19 - Investigation of Biomarkers in Dermal Interstitial Fluid</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Heart Failure <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Use of the PELSA System for dISF extraction <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Charite University, Berlin, Germany <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase III Clinical Study Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of WPV01 in Patients With Mild/Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Mild to Moderate COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: WPV01; Drug: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Westlake Pharmaceuticals (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Integrated Mindfulness-based Health Qigong Intervention for COVID-19 Survivors and Caregivers</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Infection <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Mindfulness-based Health Qigong Intervention <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A/B in Point-of-Care and Non-Laboratory Settings</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: SARS-CoV-2 Infection; Influenza A; Influenza B <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Diagnostic Test: Aptitude Medical Systems Metrix COVID/Flu Test <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Aptitude Medical Systems; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effect of Aerobic Exercises Versus Incentive Spirometer Device on Post-covid Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Lung Fibrosis Interstitial; Post-COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Aerobic Exercises; Device: Incentive Spirometer Device; Other: Traditional Chest Physiotherapy <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: McCarious Nahad Aziz Abdelshaheed Stephens; Cairo University <br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Can Doctors Reduce COVID-19 Misinformation and Increase Vaccine Uptake in Ghana? A Cluster-randomised Controlled Trial</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Motivational Interviewing, AIMS; Behavioral: Facility engagement <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: London School of Economics and Political Science; Innovations for Poverty Action; Ghana Health Services <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Donald Trump Doom Loop</strong> - Sitting in a courtroom, feet away from the woman he sexually assaulted, the ex-President keeps trying to outrun the consequences of his own bad acts. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-donald-trump-doom-loop">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Ten Middle East Conflicts Are Converging Into One Big War</strong> - The U.S. is enmeshed in wars among disparate players in Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-ten-middle-east-conflicts-are-converging-into-one-big-war">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>For Iowa Voters, the Endless Caucuses Ended Too Soon</strong> - After months of G.O.P. candidates being photographed holding babies, eating ice cream, and gazing into hog pens, Donald Trump won the state with little effort. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/for-iowa-voters-the-endless-caucuses-ended-too-soon">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trump’s Courtroom Campaign Is Overshadowing the G.O.P. Primary</strong> - At a rally in New Hampshire, the former President said that he has “been indicted more than Alphonse Capone,” but, for once, he also conceded that his legal troubles have helped him politically. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/trumps-courtroom-campaign-is-overshadowing-the-gop-primary">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Donald Trump Coasts to Victory in the Iowa Republican Caucuses</strong> - About half of the state’s caucus-goers went for the former President, leaving his closest challengers—Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis—in a desperate race for a distant second place. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/donald-trump-coasts-to-victory-in-the-iowa-republican-caucuses">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>How copyright lawsuits could kill OpenAI</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Police officers stand in front of the headquarters of the New York Times, which is suing OpenAI over copyright violations. Pedestrians with umbrellas walk by." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HHlmf_y0nte8si8DfqB8esASbwA=/404x0:6219x4361/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73064807/GettyImages_986450132.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The New York Times v. OpenAI, explained.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="an6z1x">
If you’re old enough to remember watching <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1508wboZXk">the hit kid’s show <em>Animaniacs</em></a>, you probably remember Napster, too. The peer-to-peer file-sharing site, which made it easy to download music for free in an era before <a href="https://www.vox.com/spotify">Spotify</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/apple">Apple</a> Music, took college campuses by storm in the late 1990s. This did not escape the notice of the record companies, and in 2001, a federal court <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/13/business/napster-decision-overview-appellate-judges-back-limitations-copying-music.html">ruled</a> that Napster was liable for copyright infringement. The content producers fought back against the technology platform and won.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ltKapL">
But that was 2001 — before the iPhone, before <a href="https://www.vox.com/youtube">YouTube</a>, and before <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/4/28/23702644/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-technology">generative AI</a>. This generation’s big copyright battle is pitting journalists against artificially intelligent software that has learned from and can regurgitate their reporting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="98sopg">
Late last year, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/business/media/new-york-times-open-ai-microsoft-lawsuit.html">sued OpenAI and Microsoft</a>, alleging that the companies are stealing its copyrighted content to train their large language models and then profiting off of it. <a href="https://openai.com/blog/openai-and-journalism">In a point-by-point rebuttal</a> to the lawsuit’s accusations, OpenAI claimed no wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and Law <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/oversight-of-ai-the-future-of-journalism">held a hearing</a> in which news executives implored lawmakers to force AI companies to pay publishers for using their content.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ykYYo3">
Depending on who you ask, what’s at stake is either the future of the news business, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/22/who-owns-this-sentence-a-history-of-copyrights-and-wrongs-david-bellos-alexandre-montagu-book-review">the future of copyright law</a>, the future of innovation, or, specifically, the future of OpenAI and other generative AI companies. Or all of the above.
</p>
<aside id="n5estQ">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XruYyb">
Ideally, <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> would step in to settle the debate, but as James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell Law School, told me: “Congress does not like to legislate on copyright unless there’s a consensus of most of the players in the room — and there’s not anything resembling that consensus right now. So Congress may hold hearings and talk about it, but we’re really far from any legislative action.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dEQEII">
So which is it? Advocates of technological innovation would say that AI technology is full of promise and we’d better not stifle that while it’s in the early days of development. Media companies would say that even exciting technology companies need to pay when they use copyrighted content, and if we give AI a free pass, journalism as we know it could eventually cease to exist.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DBOTK1">
The consensus of <a href="https://benn.substack.com/p/how-much-is-the-news-worth">casual</a> <a href="https://stratechery.com/2024/the-new-york-times-ai-opportunity/">observers</a> and <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-new-york-times-v-openai-the-biggest-5149037/">legal experts alike</a> is that this New York Times lawsuit is a big deal. Not only does the Times appear to have a solid case, but OpenAI <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/01/15/business/openai-in-tough-spot-with-news-groups-as-it-faces-copyright-lawsuits-experts/">has a lot to lose</a> — <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/openai-faces-existential-threat-in-new-york-times-copyright-suit">perhaps its very existence</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="cLbhpH">
The case against OpenAI, briefly explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jjT3WE">
If you ask ChatGPT a question about, say, the fall of the Berlin Wall, there’s a good chance some of the information in the answer has been culled from New York Times articles. That’s because the large language model, or LLM, that powers ChatGPT has been trained on over 500 gigabytes of data, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/20/artificial-intelligence-battle-online-data/">including newspaper archives</a>. Generative AI tools only work because this training data helps them know how to effectively respond to prompts. In other words, copyrighted data, in part, is what makes this new technology powerful and what makes OpenAI such a <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/12/23/openai-valuation-100-billion-funding-round/">valuable company</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tV9nx1">
The New York Times claims that OpenAI trained its model with copyrighted Times content and did not pay proper licensing fees. That, <a href="https://nytco-assets.nytimes.com/2023/12/NYT_Complaint_Dec2023.pdf">the lawsuit says</a>, enables OpenAI to “compete with and closely mimic” the New York Times, perhaps by summing up a news story based on Times reporting or summing up a product recommendation based on Wirecutter reviews.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7BwOxV">
Even worse is what the lawsuit calls “regurgitation,” which is when OpenAI spits out text that matches Times articles verbatim. The Times provides 100 examples of such “regurgitation” in the lawsuit. In its rebuttal, OpenAI said that regurgitation is a “rare bug” that the company is “working to drive to zero.” It also claims that the Times “intentionally manipulated prompts” to get this to happen and “cherry-picked their examples from many attempts.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NE9q5r">
But at the end of the day, the New York Times argues that OpenAI is making money off of content and costing the newspaper “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages.” <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-new-york-times-v-openai-the-biggest-5149037/">By one estimate</a>, given the millions of articles potentially implicated and the cost per instance of copying, the New York Times might be looking for $450 billion in damages.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gvxm9y">
OpenAI has a clear solution to this conflict: Pay the copyright owners upfront. The company has already announced licensing deals with folks <a href="https://apnews.com/article/openai-chatgpt-associated-press-ap-f86f84c5bcc2f3b98074b38521f5f75a">like the Associated Press</a> and <a href="https://openai.com/blog/axel-springer-partnership">Axel Springer</a>. OpenAI also claims that it was negotiating a deal with the New York Times right before the newspaper filed its lawsuit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bPejgh">
Just how much OpenAI is willing to pay news outlets is unclear. A January 4 report <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-offers-publishers-as-little-as-1-million-a-year?rc=eh9iin">in the Information</a> said that OpenAI has offered some media firms “as little as between $1 million and $5 million to license their articles for use in training its large language models,” which seems like a small amount of money to OpenAI, currently aiming for a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-talks-raise-new-funding-100-bln-valuation-bloomberg-news-2023-12-22/">valuation</a> as high as $100 billion. But the mounting lawsuits, should they go against the company, could be far more expensive than paying heftier licensing fees.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gbeo1J">
The New York Times is also not the only party suing OpenAI and other tech companies over copyright infringement. A growing list of authors and entertainers have been filing lawsuits <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23580554/generative-ai-chatgpt-openai-stable-diffusion-legal-battles-napster-copyright-peter-kafka-column">since ChatGPT made its splashy debut in the fall of 2022</a>, accusing these companies of copying their works in order to train their models. The copyright holders filing these lawsuits extend well beyond writers, too. Developers have sued OpenAI and <a href="https://www.vox.com/microsoft">Microsoft</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/openai-microsoft-want-court-toss-lawsuit-accusing-them-abusing-open-source-code-2023-01-27/">for allegedly stealing software code</a>, while Getty Images is embroiled in a lawsuit against Stability AI, the makers of image-generating model Stable Diffusion, over its copyrighted photos.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xaCmGa">
“When you’re talking about copyright and you get statutory damages,” said <a href="https://www.eff.org/about/staff/corynne-mcsherry">Corynne McSherry</a>, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “if you lose, the downside and the financial risk is massive.”
</p>
<h3 id="e8SYXV">
The case for innovation
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SlYJ6h">
While <a href="https://calacanis.substack.com/p/openais-napstergoogle-moment">it’s easy</a> to compare the Times case to the Napster one, the better precedent involves the VCR, according to McSherry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1GtM1J">
In 1984, a years-long copyright case between Sony and Universal Studios over the practice of using VCRs to record TV shows <a href="https://osc.hul.harvard.edu/assets/files/FairUseComic2019.pdf">made it all the way to the United States Supreme Court</a>. The studio alleged that Sony’s Betamax video tapes could be used for copyright infringement, while Sony’s lawyers argued that taping shows was <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/#:~:text=Fair%20use%20is%20a%20legal,protected%20works%20in%20certain%20circumstances.">fair use</a>, which is the doctrine that allows copyrighted material to be reused without permission or payment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cZZumW">
Sony won. The judge’s decision, which has never been overturned, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/464/417">said that</a> if machines, including the VCR, have non-infringing uses then the company that makes them can’t be held liable if customers use them to infringe upon copyrights.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A7I2uV">
The entertainment industry <a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lc8vAAAAIBAJ&amp;sjid=1Y0DAAAAIBAJ&amp;pg=5630%2C870934">was forever changed</a> by this case. The VCR let people watch whatever was broadcast on TV whenever they wanted, and in just a few years, Hollywood studios actually ended up <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-19-tm-1667-story.html">seeing their profits grow</a> in the VCR era. The machine got people more excited about watching <a href="https://www.vox.com/movies">movies</a>, and they watched more of them, both at home and in theaters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OEH9zM">
“If you have to go to copyright owners for permission for technological innovation, you’re going to get a lot less innovation,” McSherry told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4ttXJl">
That in mind, there’s one more copyright lawsuit worth looking at: <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/what-ever-happened-to-google-books">the Google Books case</a>. In 2004, <a href="https://www.vox.com/google">Google</a> started scanning books, including copyrighted works, so that “snippets” of their text would show up in search results. It partnered with libraries at places like Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Michigan, <a href="https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/search-and-find-magazines-on-google.html">as well as magazines</a>, like New York<em> </em>Magazine<em> </em>and<em> </em>Popular Mechanics, that wanted their archives digitized.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QDbGbn">
Then came the lawsuits, including a 2005 class action suit from the Authors Guild. The authors cried copyright infringement, and Google claimed that making books searchable <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/business/media/judge-sides-with-google-on-book-scanning-suit.html">amounted to fair use</a>. As Judge Denny Chin <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/business/media/judge-sides-with-google-on-book-scanning-suit.html">said</a> in a 2013 decision dismissing the authors’ lawsuit, Google Books is transformative because, thanks to the tool, “words in books are being used in a way they have not been used before.” It took about a decade, but Google eventually won, and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/fair-use-transformative-leval-google-books/411058/">Google Books is now legal</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P43Nlp">
Like Sony and Napster before it, the Google Books case is ultimately about the battle between new technology platforms and copyright holders. It also raises the question of innovation. Is it possible that giving copyright holders too much power could stifle technological progress?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nUtwfO">
In that 2013 decision, Judge Chin said its technology “advances the progress of the arts and sciences, while maintaining respectful consideration for the rights of authors and other creative individuals, and without adversely impacting the rights of copyright holders.” And a 2023 economics <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20210702">study of the effects of Google Books</a> found that “digitization significantly boosts the demand for physical versions” and “allows independent publishers to introduce new editions for existing books, further increasing sales.” So consider that another point in favor of giving tech platforms room to innovate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z9CFNF">
Few would disagree that technological progress has shaped <a href="https://www.vox.com/media">the media</a> business since the invention of the printing press. That’s basically why the <a href="https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2766&amp;context=cklawreview&amp;httpsredir=1&amp;referer=">earliest copyright laws</a> were written over 300 years ago: Technology made copying easier, and authors needed some way to protect their intellectual property.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8jZu0R">
But AI is a bigger leap forward, technologically speaking, than the VCR, Napster, and Google Books combined. We don’t know yet, but AI seems destined to transform our understanding of copyright and how content creators get paid for their work. It will take a while, too. A ruling in the New York Times’s case against OpenAI will take years, and even then, questions will remain.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sGpGPJ">
“I think generative AI could be as transformational for copyright as the printing press,” said Grimmelmann, the Cornell law professor. “But that will probably take a little bit longer to play out.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z8TgZf">
<em>A version of this story was also published in the Vox Technology newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/newsletters"><em><strong>Sign up here</strong></em></a><em> so you don’t miss the next one!</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>How cyberscams are drawing China into Myanmar’s civil war</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A photo illustration of a hand reaching out from a cell phone. Behind it are collaged elements including: a roulette wheel, a floral textile and armed men." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qN2YGDYXNHy1kqNOs6Vgy-ZO260=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73064720/Vox_JaredBartman.0.png"/>
<figcaption>
Jared Bartman for Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The surprising connection among cybercrime, human trafficking, and a raging guerrilla war.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n8DnSc">
Last fall, a coalition of rebel groups known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance launched a rapid-fire offensive across Myanmar’s northern Shan state, <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/11/myanmars-junta-losing-control-its-border-china">quickly overrunning</a> more than 100 military outposts and seizing several key towns along the country’s border with <a href="https://www.vox.com/china">China</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MYa9IA">
This in itself was not unusual. Myanmar’s military government has faced insurgencies from ethnic and political militias for decades, and there’s been a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-civil-war-in-myanmar-no-end-in-sight/">major uptick</a> in rebel activity since the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22260076/myanmar-coup-military-suu-kyi-explain">2021 coup</a>, which brought the country’s current military junta to power, ending a short period of representative government. Over the past few months, the government has been rapidly losing ground to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/myanmar-military-losing-ground-coordinated-attacks-rcna127547">rebel forces in several regions of the country</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T5MLeq">
But what made “Operation 1027,” named after the date it began, so notable was the declared goals of the rebel groups that carried it out. In addition to their long-term aim of overthrowing the military government, one they share with a variety of other groups throughout the country, the Three Brotherhood Alliance <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/china/myanmar-conflict-china-scam-centers-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html">also vowed</a> to “eradicate telecom fraud, scam dens and their patrons nationwide, including in areas along the China-Myanmar border.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OGjX99">
This might sound more like a piece of Sen. <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/12/06/bernie-sanders-calls-break-up-telecom-companies-support-municipal-internet/4352226002/">Bernie Sanders’s platform</a> than a goal for a rebel group fighting a civil war. But the statement was a testament to both the rapid rise in Southeast Asia of a novel form of criminal enterprise — abducting people across national borders and forcing them to carry out internet scams — and how this practice has drawn China’s government to become ever more enmeshed in the dizzyingly complex and increasingly bloody war in neighboring Myanmar.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3XJOLn">
The explosion of such scam centers is a reminder that even crimes carried out in the virtual world need physical infrastructure in the real world. And just like more established criminal enterprises that range from <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/collection/nonstate-armed-actors-and-illicit-economies-in-2024/">drugs to conflict minerals</a>, the perpetrators of cyberscams have taken root in a zone of armed conflict and disputed political control — a reminder that a world that is less secure is also one where such crime can flourish.
</p>
<h3 id="g3OHzX">
The “pig butchering” cyberscam, explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cfiTI8">
If you’re reading this, you’re a person with access to the internet, which means that chances are, you’ve already been targeted by one of these scams. Here’s how it works: You get a conversational text or a message on a service like <a href="https://www.vox.com/whatsapp">WhatsApp</a> that appears to be a wrong number. The seemingly innocent texts may lead to a conversation that could involve the promise of an exciting love affair or a valuable business opportunity. But these messages are, in fact, written by people forced into service thousands of miles away, and they are actually the first step in a scam that can end with the victim wiring large amounts of money into the scammers’ accounts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XrHU1r">
The practice is known as “<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/whats-a-pig-butchering-scam-heres-how-to-avoid-falling-victim-to-one">pig butchering</a>” — as in, the victims are gradually “fattened up” for the slaughter — and it’s a booming industry. In 2022 alone, Americans lost more than $2.6 billion to such pig butchering scams, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/fintech-crypto-fraud-thailand/#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%20alone,year%2C%20according%20to%20the%20FBI.">according to the FBI</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FbK4hx">
Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, are this illicit industry’s ground zero. The scam centers evolved out of a lucrative casino business along these countries’ borders with China and Thailand, which once catered to junkets of Chinese high-rollers. Many of these casinos operate in “special economic zones,” where lax regulation and tax incentives are meant to attract international investment, but which in practice often become the bases of organized crime. The Southeast Asian gambling business was helped along by the Chinese government’s <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-23/china-s-casino-crackdown-part-of-bigger-quest-to-transform-macau?sref=C3P1bRLC">crackdown on the casino industry</a> in Macau, long considered the Las Vegas of Asia.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5TGNXe">
The Covid-19 pandemic was a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/few-tourists-deserted-streets-casino-hub-macau-after-reopening-2022-12-30/">major blow to the casino business</a>, putting an end to lucrative Chinese gambling junkets as Beijing shut the country’s borders. This led organized crime groups to search for new sources of revenue. With people around the world spending <a href="https://internetretailing.net/time-spent-online-falls-to-pre-pandemic-levels-while-social-media-use-grows/">far more time online during the pandemic</a> and cryptocurrencies exploding in popularity, cyberscams were an obvious choice.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4ZaOHm">
But finding people to operate the scam centers required another scam altogether. Criminal groups began luring young, tech-savvy workers from around the world with the promise of tech jobs, then holding those workers against their will in tightly controlled compounds. “People really believe that they’re applying for legitimate jobs. The companies seem legitimate, they often go through a process of multiple interviews,” said Rebecca Miller, regional program director for human trafficking at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Bangkok.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cwcYuY">
This practice — while still awful — is somewhat different from the normal image of human trafficking. “It’s a white-collar crime,” Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Vox. “You need an office block with reliable electricity, a good internet connection, and your workers, even if they’re enslaved, have to be kind of fairly well-educated, technically literate people.”
</p>
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As a <a href="https://www.unodc.org/roseap/uploads/documents/Publications/2023/TiP_for_FC_Policy_Report.pdf">recent UNODC report describes</a>, during the pandemic, “organized crime groups managed to quickly turn casino complexes into large-scale online scam and fraud compounds. Dormitory style bedrooms were constructed in the complexes; scammer training manuals were created; enforcers were hired to control trafficking victims; and the mass recruitment of trafficking victims began.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LFzxRk">
Once taken to the scam compounds, victims are often told they have to work off a debt before they can be released. There are frequent reports of beatings and electrocution for those who disobey. According to accounts collected in the report, women are often threatened with sexual violence or being sold into prostitution and some victims have even been threatened with having their organs removed and sold.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HqaPhZ">
There are also a significant number of people working in these compounds willingly, but victims interviewed by the UNODC say the scam operators prefer trafficked workers, who are easier to control. The upshot is that “pig butchering” is a crime with two sets of victims: the scammed and the scammers themselves.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8dfYtX">
Initially, many of the trafficking victims came from countries like India, Malaysia, and Thailand. This changed once China loosened Covid restrictions at the end of 2022.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mOOg9A">
“Once the borders opened, young Chinese started streaming across the border to man the scams,” said Priscilla Clapp, a former charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Myanmar now at the US Institute of Peace. Chinese workers were targeted for their language skills — they were better able to scam their countrymen in Mandarin — and poor economic conditions in China coming out of the pandemic made them easier to recruit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="snIogc">
“There’s been a real employment problem for young people in China,” said Clapp. “Well-educated college graduates can’t find work, so they’re the ones who are responding [to the fraudulent ads].”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ep7iqO">
While total numbers are difficult to come by, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/08/hundreds-thousands-trafficked-work-online-scammers-se-asia-says-un-report">the UN has estimated</a> there may be as many as 100,000 people held in scam centers in Cambodia and 120,000 in Myanmar, making it one of the largest coordinated trafficking operations in history.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3N3Ex7">
“I’ve worked in this space for over 20 years and to be honest, we’ve never seen anything like what we’re seeing now in Southeast Asia in terms of the sheer numbers of people,” the UNODC’s Miller told Vox.
</p>
<h3 id="MNFur7">
How Myanmar became a cyberscam hotspot
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xxhMt2">
While several countries host scam centers, the UN says Myanmar has become an increasingly popular location, thanks to the political chaos in the war-torn country. Many of the scam centers are located in areas along the country’s borders that are not under the direct control of the government, but have been essentially farmed out to Border Guard Forces (BGFs), which rule on the military’s behalf.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yn3TYQ">
The BGFs are often led by former members of the very ethnic rebel groups fighting the government, and many have alleged links to transnational crime. “On paper, these Border Guard Forces are part of the chain of command of the military, and they have some Myanmar military officers sort of seconded to them,” said Crisis Group’s Horsey. “But in practice, they’re a lot more independent than that and they make an awful lot of money.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Boqxmu">
Areas of ambiguous and overlapping authority like these are perfect for black-market enterprises. According to the UNODC’s report, the criminal groups in these regions often use the same smuggling routes for human trafficking that they use for drugs and <a href="https://asiapacific.panda.org/?372899/going-viral-report#:~:text=The%20report%2C%20'Going%20viral%3A,parts%20%2D%20rose%20by%20241%25.">illegally traded wildlife</a>. They also make it all the more difficult for victims to get out, since there’s no government in these regions for authorities to negotiate with.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r9iNd1">
Horsey says that while the military regime is not formally deriving revenues from the scams, “there’s plenty of money going into people’s back pockets and being distributed around patronage networks. There are lots of ways that everyone is being kept happy.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0sUnFQ">
With Myanmar’s economy under <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-slap-new-sanctions-myanmar-state-owned-banks-sources-2023-06-21/">heavy international sanctions since the coup</a>, illegal activities like cyberscams have only grown.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ype4M3">
“Until the situation returns to stability, the scam centers will continue to grow, because the economy needs money,” said Amara Thiha, a conflict researcher in Myanmar with Peace Research Institute Oslo.
</p>
<h3 id="JHkF1T">
China steps in
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uSf6q0">
China has often turned a blind eye to the growing gambling centers on its borders, some of which even pitched themselves as part of the <a href="https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/20200727-sr_471-myanmars_casino_cities_the_role_of_china_and_transnational_criminal_networks-sr.pdf">Belt and Road Initiative</a>, a massive global program of Chinese infrastructure investments. China — which is Myanmar’s <a href="https://wits.worldbank.org/CountrySnapshot/en/MMR">largest trading partner</a> — also has longstanding political ties and economic interests in Myanmar. It did not join Western countries in sanctioning the junta after the 2021 coup, which Beijing euphemistically described as a “<a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/12/19/china-is-backing-opposing-sides-in-myanmars-civil-war">major cabinet reshuffle</a>” and has continued selling the government weapons. “China’s main goal is just to have a stable Myanmar state,” said Thiha.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mOQAvP">
But as the war rages, the junta has been increasingly unable to provide that stability. Beijing is clearly losing patience with the chaos on its borders and in particular with the scam centers targeting Chinese citizens as both scam victims and trafficking victims. It has repeatedly urged the Myanmar government to do more to crack down on the centers, albeit with little result.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tM4Zwv">
So last September China <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/11/myanmars-junta-losing-control-its-border-china">began cracking down</a> on its own, issuing arrest warrants for government-linked militia officials in Myanmar’s northeastern Wa state, on the Chinese border, accusing them of being “kingpins” in the scams. That prompted a crackdown that resulted in thousands of people being returned to China from scam compounds in the state. The government also arrested 11 officials with ties to pro-government militias in Kokang state after luring them across the <a href="https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/china-detains-myanmar-kokang-group-including-high-profile-figures.html">border to a folk festival</a> in early October.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xwc5zy">
China also launched a PR campaign last fall with what appeared to be the coordinated release of several hit movies about the dangers of southeast Asian scam centers. The most popular of these, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4x7bVqclYY&amp;ab_channel=TGVCinemas"><em>No More Bets</em></a>, tells the story of a computer programmer and model who are lured abroad by a job offer and forced into scamming through imprisonment and torture. The film, <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/no-more-bets-u-k-and-hong-kong-releases-china-box-office-hit-1235717294/">which made $500 million</a> at the Chinese box office, does not name the Southeast Asian country where it takes place, but its release prompted diplomatic protests from both <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2023/09/cambodia-to-block-release-of-chinese-cyber-scam-film/">Cambodia</a> and <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/myanmar-junta-angry-at-china-over-crime-blockbuster-no-more-bets">Myanmar</a>, suggesting both thought it could plausibly be about them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tPfgkK">
The situation further deteriorated on October 20 with a reported massacre at a scam center in Shan state. While details are still scant, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/myanmar-rebel-offensive-helps-china-s-cybercrime-crackdown/7362836.html">local media and an independent expert quoted by Voice of America suggest 60 to 100 people</a>, many of them Chinese, may have been killed by the local Border Guard Force in an escape attempt.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vx2lyz">
A week later, the Three Brotherhood Alliance launched its campaign to eradicate the scam centers. China’s exact role in the rebel group’s Operation 1027 is a bit murky. One of the main groups in the alliance, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, is composed of ethnic Chinese fighters in Myanmar and <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/12/19/china-is-backing-opposing-sides-in-myanmars-civil-war">reportedly has links to Chinese security services</a>. While it’s unlikely they were acting as direct proxies, Scot Marciel, a former US ambassador to Myanmar, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/rebel-fire-chinas-ire-inside-myanmars-anti-junta-offensive-2023-12-15/">told Reuters</a> “the Chinese weren’t troubled that they did it.” At the very least, the alliance’s outspoken anti-scam message was a clear bid for Chinese support.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="clW3Kh">
Initially pro-junta media outlets accused China of backing the rebels and the regime-backed nationals held <a href="https://www.irrawaddy.com/specials/myanmar-china-watch/myanmar-regime-backed-rallies-denounce-china-accusing-it-of-backing-anti-junta-alliance.html">protests at the Chinese embassy in Yangon</a>. But, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing also belatedly agreed to Chinese demands for a specific timeline for cracking down on the scam centers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8skM7X">
All this has <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/01/09/myanmar-china-border-offensive-cyberscams-three-brotherhood-alliance/">led to suggestions</a> that China is now playing both sides in Myanmar’s civil war — or at least hedging its bets.
</p>
<h3 id="dg5kz2">
The scams are just starting
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mMR1nc">
Operation 1027 was certainly a blow to the scam centers in Shan state. Three weeks after the operation began, <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/12/chinas-influence-increases-amid-myanmars-instability">some 7,000 people have escaped to China</a>. But USIP’s Clapp is skeptical it will deal a long-term blow to this illicit industry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SKAMAP">
“The people running them have moved south and they’ve set up new compounds in Karen state along the Thai border,” she said. “They’ve probably also moved into Cambodia and Laos, because they already had a foothold in those places.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OG2yN8">
The practices of the scammers seem set to change as well. Scammers may increasingly rely on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/4/28/23702644/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-technology">artificial intelligence</a> tools and translation tools to communicate with victims. The UNODC warns this doesn’t necessarily mean trafficked workers won’t still be used, just that their profile may change, with IT skills taking precedence over language skills. According to the agency’s report, while most identified trafficking victims in the early days came from Southeast and East Asian countries, recently more victims have been identified from Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, suggesting a widening scope of targets.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OWYCJU">
UNODC’s Miller says the complexity of the crime makes it a particularly vexing problem for law enforcement. “We’re really talking about a form of transnational crime that involves fraud, cybercrime, human trafficking, money laundering, corruption,” she said. “If we don’t address all of these facets, the criminal groups are just going to continue to flourish.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zKW79U">
The conflict in Myanmar also shows no sign of abating, and continues to be a problem from China. During the first week of January, stray shells from fighting in Shan state <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/05/china/myanmar-china-artillery-shells-protest-intl-hnk/index.html#:~:text=China%20has%20protested%20to%20Myanmar,Ministry%20spokesperson%20said%20on%20Thursday.">fell across the border in neighboring Yunnan province</a>, causing several injuries and prompting official protests from Beijing. China <a href="https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-china-ceasefire-guerrillas-b60aa673a2fc38cd04e7dd781e3625c5">mediated a ceasefire</a> between the military government and the Three Brotherhood Alliance in mid-January.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hFV3QB">
In some ways, this is an old story. Ungoverned spaces and isolated, heavily sanctioned regimes are always fertile ground for illegal activity, from <a href="https://www.vox.com/north-korea">North Korea</a>’s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/counterfeit-supernote-found-in-south-korea-2017-12">counterfeiting</a> to the Syrian <a href="https://themessenger.com/grid/a-new-narcostate-in-the-middle-east-inside-the-multibillion-dollar-captagon-trade-funding-assad">regime’s links to the illegal drug trade</a>. And from Lebanon’s <a href="https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/hezbollahs-narco-empire/645e5ab34fa56d36a45ac413">Hezbollah</a> to Colombia’s <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-farc-and-colombias-illegal-drug-trade">FARC</a> to Congo’s <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/m23-rebels-making-millions-through-gold-smuggling-eastern-congo">M23</a>, there can often be a thin line separating politically motivated rebels from profit-motivated criminal syndicates.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8cBMqz">
Myanmar’s recent experience suggests that as crime moves online, its links to real-world armed conflict aren’t going anywhere.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="86RyoX">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QBAR62">
</p></li>
<li><strong>The Biden administration’s plan to slash bank overdraft fees, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A person carrying a backpack stands at a Bank of America ATM." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KnRmLSst8FhFBYyVyMCLmfhChW0=/818x0:7362x4908/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73063603/1670370337.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Bank of America has already slashed its overdraft fee from $35 to $10. | Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Nobody likes overdrafting their bank account. Biden wants to make it less painful.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eJ0SQF">
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Biden administration</a> has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/17/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-cfpbs-proposed-rule-to-curb-overdraft-fees/">proposed</a> a new rule that would curb <a href="https://www.vox.com/22733050/overdraft-fees-bank-not-enough-money-why">overdraft fees</a> incurred when consumers withdraw more than the available funds in their bank account.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9UaQN4">
Banks currently collect about $9 billion annually in overdraft fees, and people who pay overdraft fees pay about $150 on average every year on them, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22969273/bank-fees-overdraft-atm-postal-banking">Emily Stewart has written for Vox</a>, overdraft fees are just one of the many ways “banks have … of extracting funds out of consumers.” The new proposal from the Biden administration would slash those fees by about $3.5 million a year overall, according to the White House.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LkxmpA">
The proposal still has to go through a normal regulatory approval process (more on that later) but would take effect in October 2025 if approved. It would apply to banks and credit <a href="https://www.vox.com/unions">unions</a> with more than $10 billion in assets, and would essentially treat overdraft programs as credit programs. That means that these overdraft programs would have to abide by the same requirements that apply to credit cards, such as disclosure of annual interest rates, fee limits in the first year, and reasonable penalty fees. The rule would also limit fees for overdraft services to just cover the institutions’ costs — somewhere between $3 and $14, instead of the $35 some banks charge now
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BrWJ4k">
“These fees push people out of bank accounts and deprive them of access to financial services,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. “This proposed rule will level the playing field, promote fair competition, and benefit both responsible banks and consumers.”
</p>
<h3 id="g8chkG">
Why is the Biden administration doing this?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3ZwpgX">
The people who are hit hardest by overdraft fees are some of the most financially vulnerable.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6YyXNz">
Three-quarters of bank revenue from overdraft fees comes from just <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bank-overdraft-fees-cfpb-joe-biden/">8 percent of their customers</a>. Among frequent overdrafters, <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/overdraft-fees-can-price-people-out-of-banking/#:~:text=CFPB%20research%20has%20found%20that,overdraft%20fees%20during%20the%20year.">90 percent </a>had a daily balance of no more than a few hundred dollars, and among households that made $30,000 or less, more than a third said they had been charged an overdraft fee <a href="https://money.com/overdraft-nsf-fees-low-income-americans/">six or more times</a> in 2022. Banks can levy these fees multiple times a day, despite the low cost of executing the transaction.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yMhK1q">
“Banks call it a service — I call it exploitation,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zBQjkC">
Biden has shined in tackling these kinds of small economic injustices shouldered by regular Americans. He’s also been going after <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/15/23599953/biden-junk-fee-protection-act-white-house-ticketmaster-resort">junk fees </a>more broadly: hidden fees that make everything from airline bookings to concert tickets more expensive than their sticker price, but also just feel like shady corporate attempts to get the better of consumers. It’s an initiative that has <a href="https://pro.morningconsult.com/instant-intel/biden-junk-fees-plan-has-bipartisan-support">overwhelming bipartisan backing</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZrXNOn">
It might not fix America’s bigger perceived economic problems: Even though forecasters are <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/01/16/recession-signs-soft-landing-forecasts/72209418007/">optimistic </a>about the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">US economy</a> avoiding a recession in 2024, most people said in a December CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-inflation-impact-living-standards-opportunity-2023-12-10/">poll</a> that the economy is bad, that their income isn’t keeping up with inflation, and that only the few at the top have an opportunity to get ahead. But if these proposed regulatory changes take effect, at least they might not have to drown in fees.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6ReirZ">
“This is just one part of my administration’s broader plan to lower costs for hardworking families,” Biden said in the statement. “We’re going to continue doing everything in our power to bring down costs and grow our economy from the middle out and bottom up, while standing up to extreme Republican attempts to provide more giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations and undermine competition.”
</p>
<h3 id="DXptAs">
Will it actually happen?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cqXXbx">
The proposed rule is the result of <a href="https://www.vox.com/trump-investigations">longtime efforts</a> to crack down on abusive overdraft fees. David M. Silberman — former associate director for the then-CFPB Division of Research, Markets, and Regulations and now a senior fellow at the Center for Responsible Lending — said a rule that bears a strong resemblance to the current proposal is likely to be adopted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qtM4BA">
First, though, it will have to undergo a lengthy rulemaking process that involves soliciting public feedback and adopting changes accordingly. That process likely wouldn’t gut the rule entirely, but it could change it in meaningful ways. Silberman said he’ll be looking closely at how the proposal draws the line in terms of the size of financial institutions covered and how it defines a courtesy overdraft program.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JmgZO0">
And the rule is likely to face legal challenges from banks, which are already organizing in opposition to it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="csUlPy">
“The proposal would make it significantly harder for banks to offer overdraft protection to customers, including those who have few, if any, other means to access needed liquidity,” the American Bankers Association, an industry trade group, said in a statement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HO1HKk">
Still, Silberman thinks the CFPB has “offered a strong legal basis for what it’s doing,” which is really just repealing an exemption adopted by the Federal Reserve Board in 1969 that allowed overdraft programs not to be treated as a form of credit. As my colleague Li Zhou <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/8/2/17640068/cory-booker-bank-overdraft-fees">writes</a>, overdraft fees were initially conceived as a “penalty primarily associated with checks” so that customers could be spared the inconvenience of having a check bounce. But in the late ’90s, banks started introducing them to debit cards, which then suddenly became a vehicle through which people could accumulate debt.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cPaYqr">
There’s also a question as to how banks will change their policies if the rule is adopted. It’s possible that banks might just increase fees in other areas of their business, essentially passing along the costs of the rule to the consumer. In practice, though, that’s not what has happened so far, Silberman said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MPDPOp">
Some banks have already made voluntary changes to their overdraft fee policies: Capital One eliminated them entirely, and Bank of America <a href="https://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/content/newsroom/press-releases/2022/01/bank-of-america-announces-sweeping-changes-to-overdraft-services.html">slashed its overdraft fee from $35 to $10</a>. In a <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/research-reports/data-spotlight-overdraft-nsf-revenue-in-q4-2022-down-nearly-50-versus-pre-pandemic-levels/full-report/">May 2023 report</a>, the CFPB did not find any clear correlation between declines in banks’ overdraft fee revenue and increases in other listed fee revenue, such as service fees on checking accounts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xh7U9D">
Saunders says this shows that “it is possible to be profitable without engaging in abusive overdraft fee practices.”
</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>Ranji Trophy | Kerala faces stern test against inform Mumbai</strong> - The visitor is coming off dominant victories, both with bonus points; the home outfit will be banking on its seasoned campaigners to come good</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>Hallucinate, Marquita, Green Reef, and Despacito work well</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>Delhi HC asks registry to inform cricketer Dhoni of defamation suit against him by ex-business partners</strong> - Justice Prathiba M. Singh, before whom the plaint came up for hearing, was informed that Mr. Dhoni has not been served with the plea by the plaintiffs</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>Nice to see we have some options ahead T20 World Cup: Dravid</strong> - The only concern for Dravid was the lack of team-time ahead of the showpiece to be held in the West Indies and the USA</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>Top-ranked Swiatek escapes with a narrow win over 2022 runner-up Collins at Australian Open</strong> - The four-time major winner next faces No. 50-ranked Linda Noskova</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>Telangana pursuing plans for 3 new airports, revival of 3 facilities: Roads &amp; Buildings Minister</strong> - The new airports are planned at Bhadradri Kothagudem; Jakranpally in Nizamabad district; and Mahabubnagar (Gudibanda village in Adakkal Mandal)</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>Former Minister B. Shivaramu alleges ‘unethical people’ joining the Congress eyeing the party ticket</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>India needs 2,840 new aircraft, 41,000 pilots in next 20 years: Airbus forecast</strong> - “India is a force that will power global aviation over the next decades,” Airbus MD said.</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>Poll violations | Election Commission of India recommends suspension of IAS officer, 5 others</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>UoH researcher studies how our brains focus in a distracted world</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>Torrid lives at the bottom of people-smugglers’ pyramid</strong> - The Balkan migrant route is growing in prominence and local smugglers take high risks for little money.</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>Grzegorz Braun: Polish MP who doused Hanukkah candles loses immunity</strong> - Grzegorz Braun used a fire extinguisher to douse the candles of a Hanukkah menorah in parliament.</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>Russia protest: Crowds clash with riot police as activist jailed</strong> - Riot police clash with protesters in small town in the Urals after Fail Alsynov was jailed.</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>Frederik X: Danish king’s surprise book set to become bestseller</strong> - In his book Frederik X discusses Denmark’s place in world and his relationship with his wife.</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 Macron shifts to right on schools and birth rate</strong> - The French president promotes school uniforms, a drug gang crackdown and raising the low birth rate.</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>How a 27-year-old busted the myth of Bitcoin’s anonymity</strong> - Once, drug dealers and money launderers saw cryptocurrency as perfectly untraceable. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1996584">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hospitals owned by private equity are harming patients, reports find</strong> - Hospital ratings dive and medical errors rise when private equity firms are in charge. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1996901">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Researcher uncovers one of the biggest password dumps in recent history</strong> - Roughly 25 million of the passwords have never been seen before by widely used service. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1996879">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple lets devs use alternate in-app payment options, still takes commissions</strong> - Devs must ask permission to use 3rd-party payments, and Apple still wants a cut. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1996686">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Teen sued Utah over social media law requiring curfew for minors</strong> - Platforms found harming Utah kids will face “crushing” fines starting March 1. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1996850">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>An 8-year-old girl went to her dad, who was working in the yard.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She asked him, “Daddy, what is sex?” The father was surprised that she would ask such a question, but decides that if she is old enough to ask the question, then she is old enough to get a straight answer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He proceeded to tell her. When he finished explaining, the little girl was looking at him with her mouth hanging open. The father asked her, "Why did you ask
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
this question?"
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The little girl replied, “Mom told me to tell you that dinner would be ready in just a couple of secs.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheQuietKid22"> /u/TheQuietKid22 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/199jro8/an_8yearold_girl_went_to_her_dad_who_was_working/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/199jro8/an_8yearold_girl_went_to_her_dad_who_was_working/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A teacher walks up to the blackboard and writes DEFINITELY She turns to the class and says, “Today we’ll be looking at the word ‘definitely’. Definitely is when something is assured and there is no chance of doubt. Now, I want some volunteers to use definitely in a statement.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Little Suzy raises her hand and says, “I am definitely going to the park after school today.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“No, I would think there’s a good chance you’ll go to the park but it might rain so it’s not definitely.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Little Billy raises his hand and says, “My team are definitely going to win the game this Saturday.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“No, I know you really want your team to win the game this Saturday but wanting is not enough to make it definitely.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Little Johnny raises his hand and says, “Miss, is there such a thing as a lumpy fart?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“No.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Then I definitely just shat myself.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/199ctmw/a_teacher_walks_up_to_the_blackboard_and_writes/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/199ctmw/a_teacher_walks_up_to_the_blackboard_and_writes/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New Covid Variant Test.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
1: Open a can of beer and try to smell it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
2: If you can smell the beer, drink it to see if you can taste it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
3: If you can taste it and smell it, this confirms you don’t have Covid.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Last night, I did the test 15 times and all were negative. Tonight I am going to do the test again because this morning I woke up with a headache and feeling like I am coming down with something.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I am so nervous.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/199ba6c/new_covid_variant_test/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/199ba6c/new_covid_variant_test/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Milking it</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A woman and a baby were in the doctor’s examining room, waiting for the doctor to come in.<br/> The doctor arrived, examined the baby, checked his weight and found it somewhat below normal. The doctor asked if the baby was breast fed or bottle fed.<br/> “Breast fed,” the woman replied.<br/> “Well, strip down to your waist,” the doctor asked. She did. He pressed, kneaded, rolled, cupped, and pinched both breasts in a detailed, rigorously thorough examination.<br/> Motioning for her to get dressed he said, “No wonder this baby is under weight! You don’t have any milk.”<br/> “I know,” she said, “I’m his grandmother, but I’m glad I came.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/cereb3rus"> /u/cereb3rus </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1996xyv/milking_it/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1996xyv/milking_it/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man was driving down a highway…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
… when all of a sudden he sees a sign on the side of the road, “Nun’s Brothel 5 miles”. Nun’s brothel? He thinks to himself. He chuckles at the oddity. The man continues driving when he sees another sign, “Nun’s Brothel 1 mile”. Realising that the first sign wasn’t a joke, he contemplates what sexual acts occurred in such a place. This piqued his interest and when he saw the sign for the Nun’s Brothel turn off he drives in and parks in the carpark.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He steps out his car and sees the sign on the door, sure enough it said exactly what you think - Nun’s Brothel. He knocks on the door and a rather attractive nun in full habit and gown answers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Um, hi,” the man says, “is this a nun’s brothel?” He asks. “Why yes, the price is $100.” “$100?” “Yes,” she replies, and watches the man reach for the wallet in his pocket. He hands her the money, which she takes happily and stuffs it in her pocket. She moves from the doorway and gestures him through, “Just follow the hallway all the way down and go through the door.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man does as she says and walks the hallway all the way to the door. He fixes his hair and opens the door and steps back out into the carpark. Confused, he looks around until he sees another sign, stating clearly “You’ve just been fucked by the nuns”.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Just_Sarah82"> /u/Just_Sarah82 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/199lryj/a_man_was_driving_down_a_highway/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/199lryj/a_man_was_driving_down_a_highway/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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