Coronavirus News (175)

Coronavirus herd immunity may be 'unachievable' after study suggests antibodies disappear after weeks in some people

Republicans warn of ‘grim’ outlook for Trump in Florida US president loses ground in must-win swing state that has emerged as new coronavirus hotspot  

Anthony Fauci: ‘We are living in the perfect storm’   The straight-talking scientist on keeping the peace with Trump and the hunt for a Covid-19 vaccine ........  a leading public health scientist in a world growing suspicious of expertise; an affable self-described humanist in a society where soundbites get more play than sound advice ..........  he is facing a challenge that eclipses even the epidemics he has previously battled — Aids and Sars. ........ Now, Fauci reports to his sixth president: Donald Trump. The president flouts his advice — refusing to wear a mask and holding rallies — and, Fauci tells me, hasn’t even met him for more than a month. .......  Overflowing hospitals in Houston are beginning to look like New York’s in April, while areas of states including Texas, California, Arizona and Florida are starting to shut back down. ........   He warned Congress late last month that the number of new cases could rise to 100,000 a day. “What worries me is the slope of the curve,” he explains, using his fingers to draw a chart in the air. “It still looks like it’s exponential.” ............  Fauci does not normally have lunch, lasting through his 17- or 18-hour workdays on breakfast alone, before returning home for dinner. ........ the citizenry didn’t listen to the guidelines and they decided they were going to stay in bars and go to congregations of crowds and celebrations.” ........  The US has always valued individual rights, he says, but warns that this could make it hard to tackle the pandemic, even when we have a vaccine. “Our forefathers . . . had the guts to come by boat from Europe and wherever else. That’s the general spirit: you don’t always trust authority,” he says. Now it has been taken to an “extreme”, with a movement against science and authority helping to form “the foundation for the anti-vaccine movement, that we don’t trust what the government is telling us. That is very, very problematic right now.” ...........  On July 4, the president declared that 99 per cent of Covid-19 cases were “harmless”. ............... “I have never seen a virus or any pathogen that has such a broad range of manifestations,” he says. “Even if it doesn’t kill you, even if it doesn’t put you in the hospital, it can make you seriously ill.” ...........  Coughing at an inopportune moment, he jests: “That’s not Covid, that’s my sandwich.” ........  Trump’s wild suggestion that injecting disinfectant could help to treat Covid-19 appears to have affected public health. A survey from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevent­ion found that about one in three have been using it unsafely to try to protect against Covid-19, including ingesting it or applying it on their skin. ............   Classics helped him understand “the human species”, he says. ..........   Fauci’s “day job” is leading the $6bn institute searching for a vaccine that could end the pandemic. I ask him for a realistic timeline for a vaccine. He says he believes that “barring any glitches, bumps in the road or potholes”, one could be ready by the end of the year. ............    Last week, Gilead priced its Covid-19 drug remdesivir at $2,340 for a course of treatment in a developed country. Wall Street analysts were surprised that Gilead priced it so low — and activists were shocked that it was priced so high. .........  I sip my iced tea and try to forget that I’m talking to a scientific luminary from my bedroom. ......   large swaths of the country do not want to hear the truth. Some regional and local public health officials have resigned after threats of violence from opponents who view themselves as freedom fighters, resisting rules about mask-wearing and social distancing. ..............   Covid-19 has the worst elements of previous epidemics combined. “You have a random virus jump species from an animal to a human that is spectacularly efficient in spreading from human to human, and has a high degree, relatively speaking, of morbidity and mortality,” he says. “We are living in the perfect storm right now.”

Coronavirus News (174)

अपहेलित नागरिकता, बेसारे राष्ट्रवाद

It’s Time to Get Billionaires Off of Welfare 

A National Mask Mandate Could Save The U.S. Economy $1 Trillion, Goldman Sachs Says

Coronavirus: Worst could be yet to come, WHO warns

Dr. Anthony Fauci says U.S. coronavirus outbreak is ‘going to be very disturbing,’ could top 100,000 new cases a day

COVID-19: 'Nowhere Near the End of the Mitigation Phase' — Former CDC head warns senators that pandemic is not in the past yet

In Japan, even fans of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe want him to step down His approval ratings have been shrinking, amid political scandals and perceptions of the government’s poor response to the coronavirus pandemic For some of his own supporters, it is simply time for a change after a record seven years and six months with Abe at the helm

Beijing suffers light casualties in China-India border skirmish but keeps quiet to avoid conflict escalation Chinese soldiers reported to have light injuries from June 15 border fighting in which 20 Indian soldiers died Both countries claim deadly clash took place on their side of Line of Actual Control and accuse each other of breaking agreement

Coronavirus: will vaccine deals lead to poorer countries missing out? World leaders have called for vaccines to be a public good, but many countries are striking exclusive agreements with pharmaceutical firms The ‘first thing to avoid … is the so-called vaccine nationalism’, GAVI director Zhang Li says

Fauci worries U.S. covid-19 cases could climb to 100,000 daily

National mask mandate could save 5 percent of GDP, economists say The requirement could protect the public while avoiding some of the pain of an economic shutdown, Goldman Sachs research finds

New evidence that Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic is pushing his support lower About a sixth of those who approved of the president in March no longer do. More than two-fifths of them live in places hit hardest by the pandemic.

Dying Alone During COVID; The Trauma of This Moment — Also, a lottery system for allocating scarce resources?

California’s slide from coronavirus success to danger zone began Memorial Day  The seeds of the latest surge in coronavirus cases in California appear to have been planted around Memorial Day. People had been pent up in their homes; businesses shuttered for months amid the stay-at-home order began to open. And as the reopening accelerated, a lot of people were ready to get out. ............   it’s now clear that Memorial Day was the beginning of California’s turn from coronavirus success story to cautionary tale. ........ But the behavior that is causing the rapid spread is continuing. Businesses haven’t been adhering to health orders to wear masks in public and stay away from crowded situations. About half of the restaurants and bars visited by Los Angeles County inspectors over the weekend were not complying with the new mask rules, and officials have seen examples of overcrowding in public spaces. ..........  “It’s a luxury to shelter in place” ..........  there are three protagonists — individuals, businesses and county governments — who each need to do their part to limit the spread of the disease. .........  business owners need to keep their establishments from getting crowded and regularly disinfect high-touch surfaces. .........  “For a lot of the things that really work to reduce transmission — like contact tracing and even masks — depend on your starting at a low [disease] control level,” Yang said. “It’s back to the fire analogy: If the fire isn’t down to just smoldering embers, but if there’s still active pockets of fire, then backing off will let stuff flare up very quickly.” 

This coronavirus mutation has taken over the world. Scientists are trying to understand why.  

With Trump leading the way, America’s coronavirus failures exposed by record surge in new infections

Covid-19 sickens seniors differently. Here’s why.

The Global Death Toll Now Tops 500,000

43% of U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Are Linked to Nursing Homes

Restructure Your Organization to Actually Advance Racial Justice   For Black people, the injustice we feel around the murder of another unarmed Black person is not new — but the scale of recognition of systemic racism and the allyship we are feeling from others is. ...........  For diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practitioners like me, the influx of interest we’re seeing from organizations that want to both support their Black employees and upskill their workforce around racism, bias, and inclusivity is unprecedented. .......   meaningful and long-lasting action to create an anti-racist workplace requires strategic vision and intent. ..........  educating white Americans about history and about Black Americans’ current experiences increases awareness of bias and support for anti-racist policies. .........  Unconscious bias training is another tool to have in the organizational toolbox. Designed effectively, unconscious bias training can equip people with skills for reducing the role of bias in their everyday decisions and interactions. ...........     conversations about race-related topics are notoriously anxiety-provoking .........    While figuring out how to get Black employees in the door of your organization is important, focusing on how to keep them there and grow them into leadership roles is even more important.  ........    Two examples are particularly salient right now: assigning work and performance management. ........   While some of these changes may seem incremental, educating employees on concepts like allyship and justice, embracing authentic communication and connection, and re-designing systems and processes to reduce racial disparities are still radical changes for most organizations. And this is just the beginning of re-envisioning how to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace that truly supports Black employees. ............       Those that are truly moved by the injustices that have been laid bare will not only support protestors and stand with the Black community — they will also take concrete and swift action to advance justice in their own companies.

Bill Nye’s viral TikTok experiment demonstrates exactly how masks save lives

Posted by NowThis on Friday, July 10, 2020

“It took the US 99 days to reach one million cases, 43 days to get to 2 million and 28 days to add another million.” https://t.co/UeavnHwXoi

— Andrew Yang🧢🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) July 10, 2020

Coronavirus News (173)

Coronavirus News (172)

Videos show massive flooding in S. China, Three Gorges Dam next Three Gorges Dam faces serious test as Chongqing hit by worst flooding in 80 years 

  

COVID-19: Nepal in Crisis The coronavirus crisis has brought to the fore — and exacerbated — a number of the Nepali state’s long-standing weaknesses. ..........  The country went into relatively strict lockdown on March 24 and cases remained under 1,000 up until May 28. .........  The coronavirus crisis has brought to the fore — and exacerbated — a number of the Nepali state’s long-standing weaknesses like corruption, poor service delivery, and a failure to provide employment opportunities for millions of citizens who instead migrate to the Middle East, Malaysia, and elsewhere for labor jobs — and who now, unemployed, are beginning to return home in droves. ........ The health minister and several senior advisers in Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli’s coterie were accused of taking kickbacks while purchasing Chinese personal protective equipment (PPE) and other equipment, resulting in delays and the delivery of testing machines that did not even work. Two separate investigations are underway. ........  Even during normal times, the public healthcare system is understaffed and under-resourced. .......   Healthcare structural weaknesses have manifested in the government’s chaotic rollout of COVID quarantine centers and isolation centers throughout the country. Due to a lack of primary care facilities, thousands of infected migrant returnees were put in ad hoc isolation centers, often set up in schools that lacked cooking and bathing facilities and where detainees slept on the floor or on students’ benches. Many lack trained medical personnel or ambulances to take patients to a hospital if needed. Due to public outcry over the facilities, in which several people died, the government has recently begun allowing migrant returnees to undergo home-based quarantine and isolation. ..............    Amid COVID, the federal government has designed most of the policies and guidelines but it has charged provincial and local governments with most of the implementation. Local officials have complained to the provinces and the federal government about a lack of material and financial support, and they have traded barbs over who is responsible for shortcomings. ...........   The pandemic has also highlighted Nepal’s failure to provide opportunity and protection for migrant workers, up to a million of whom are now seeking to return to Nepal after losing jobs in foreign countries. Labor migration exploded during Nepal’s civil war from 1996-2006. ...........   Nepal is the fifth-most remittance-dependent economy in the world, with millions of Nepalis working in India, the Middle East, Malaysia, and elsewhere. ........   As of June 25, less than 7,000 have returned from the Gulf and Malaysia, while the government estimates that between 400,000 and 1 million need to return. .........  The Supreme Court recently ordered the government to pay for tickets by mobilizing a special welfare fund into which all migrants deposit money before departing, but the government has been reluctant to spend this money. .........  chartered flights have prioritized passengers with political connections over those most in need, further fueling frustration with the government’s handling of the migrant crisis. ........   Meanwhile, the NCP government has shown a reluctance to bear criticism. During recent weeks the police have dispersed protests with tear gas and water cannons, and the government has sought to silence prominent critics within the bureaucracy. This comes along with an ongoing effort, which began before the pandemic, to pass new laws that could undermine freedom of expression and the free press. ............     Nepal’s coronavirus crisis is poised to worsen in the coming weeks. As the country reopens and allows in more migrant returnees, the infection rate is likely to skyrocket. The Health Ministry recently projected 40,000 cases by mid-July, with 2,000 patients requiring intensive care — numbers the current healthcare system is poorly equipped to handle. As of June 29, under 216,000 PCR tests have been performed, which experts say is far less than necessary as Nepal continues the reopening process. Meanwhile, Oli has begun downplaying the severity of the virus in public remarks. As the health crisis worsens, long-standing governance problems will continue to become more pronounced — and frustration will likely continue to grow.

Stocks Rise After Trump Reaffirms China Trade Deal: Live Updates

E.U. May Bar American Travelers as It Reopens Borders, Citing Failures on Virus European Union officials are racing to agree on who can visit the bloc as of July 1 based on how countries of origin are faring with new coronavirus cases. Americans, so far, are excluded 

A Multibillion-Dollar Opportunity: Virus-Proofing the New Office Tech, catering and design companies are rushing to sell employers on fever scanners, box lunches and office floor-planning apps for social distancing. But it’s too soon to tell if they will work.   

 

Now I'm wondering if the above tweets amount to fueling anyone's hatred against any governments. Scared.

— Stuart Lau (@stuartlauscmp) June 30, 2020

Coronavirus News (171)

Why Bitcoin Will Be Crucial in Our Cashless Future  People pay with cash just 20 percent of the time in Sweden and only 14 percent of the time in South Korea. ........   the end of cash might carry unanticipated costs too. Today, cash is the easiest way to buy things anonymously, whereas most digital transactions are tracked by some middle man. With no digital cash equivalent, then, a cashless society is a society in which we’ve traded financial privacy for convenience. 

The Pandemic’s Mental Toll: More Ripple Than Tsunami Some health officials have forecast a steep rise in new mental health disorders. But the impact isn’t likely to last. ..........  “a massive increase in mental health conditions in the coming months,” wrought by anxiety and isolation. .........  Psychiatrists and therapists who work with people in the wake of earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters noted that surges in anxiety and helplessness were natural reactions that seldom become traumatic or chronic. ..........  “Very few people understand how resilient they really are until faced with extraordinary circumstances. In fact, one of our first jobs in these situations is to call attention to just that.” .........   “The acute shock and fear of the events of September 11 were not accompanied by a commensurate increase in the use of psychotropic medications” .........  Post-traumatic stress requires, first, experiencing a life-threatening event, either personally; through a loved one; or up close, like witnessing deaths in an intensive care unit. Nightmares and other reverberations of the trauma are common, but these typically must persist for at least three months to qualify for the full diagnosis of a chronic condition. ..............  Living through a pandemic is nothing like surviving a natural catastrophe such as those: it’s less visible, less predictable, a creeping threat rather than flying debris — a marathon, psychologically, rather than a sprint to safety. A wave of new mental health disorders may indeed be on the way, especially if Covid-19 cases explode again late in the year, or the economic downturn deepens.

WITH NO PATIENTS AT HOME, CHINA OUTSOURCES COVID VACCINE TRIALS CHINESE RESEARCHERS ARE HOLDING A PHASE THREE CLINICAL TRIAL IN THE UAE INSTEAD...........   A couple other experimental vaccines, like those developed by Moderna Inc, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, have also reached phase three. But so far, none of the clinical trials have actually begun.   

FOR THE FIRST TIME, UN WARNS OF “CLIMATE-RELATED” REFUGEES  “interplay between climate, conflict, hunger, poverty, and persecution creates increasingly complex emergencies.” .......  Doing so clarifies that they are unable to return home later, not unlike refugees escaping long-term political or religious persecution. 

Coronavirus News (170)

Trump's lies and incompetence have cost us lives.

America's coronavirus cases are skyrocketing even as other major countries have controlled its spread.

Congress must step up. We need to act urgently to guarantee robust testing, tracing, masks, and medical treatment for all. pic.twitter.com/DtQLpJUaOy

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 29, 2020

 

Coronavirus and floods destroy China’s Dragon Boat Festival holiday plans Tourism revenues down nearly 70 per cent with only half of last year’s number of trips taken during three-day break New wave of infections in Beijing, severe flooding in southern provinces and sluggish income growth combine to keep people at home ............   “When I thought about the procedure – from making a test appointment to get tested and waiting for the test result for days and possible mistreatment at the destination – I felt anxious,” he said. “In the end, I decided to just stay at home, going nowhere, and sleep 10 hours a day.” ........  Weeks of torrential rain and heavy flooding have affected 14 million people across the country, including in Guangxi, Guizhou, Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi. 

THE US MIGHT NOT HAVE ENOUGH GLASS VIALS TO DISTRIBUTE THE CORONAVIRUS VACCINES THE COVID-19 VACCINATION PLAN MAY HIT A SERIOUS SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUE. .........   making up the deficit on such a short time frame would vastly exceed what manufacturers are currently capable of doing. .........  Medical glass needs to be made from a particular kind of sand — its jagged edges make vials that are resilient against both physical damage and temperature changes, all while not interacting with the sensitive chemicals stored inside. Wired reports that this particular sand is in high demand, as it’s also used in things like concrete and solar panels, so the pharmaceutical industry may not be able to scrape together enough to send out a vaccine.   

CHINA IS PROVIDING A CONTROVERSIAL COVID-19 VACCINE TO ITS MILITARY "THEIR BET IS THAT EVEN A PARTIALLY PROTECTIVE COVID VACCINE IS GOING TO BE SUFFICIENT TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE AND RESTART ECONOMIC ACTIVITY."  ...... Chinese officials are officially planning to give an early COVID-19 candidate called CanSino to China’s military ......  The drug, called Ad5-nCoV, is one of eight Chinese vaccines approved for human trials. ........ starting to hand out such a vaccine is “a huge risk given the unknowns about not just efficacy, but safety.”

PROFESSOR: LOOMING COVID SURGE ON “VERGE OF BEING APOCALYPTIC” THIS IS DARK.  .........  Unfortunate news for those hoping the coronavirus pandemic was fading away: models suggest that an “apocalyptic” resurgence could be coming in the near future. ..........  Houston is on track to be the most coronavirus-ravaged city in the U.S. — but that other Texas cities aren’t far behind. .......   The three states hitting record numbers right now are also the most populous in the country. Combined, their new surges put more than 27 percent of the U.S. population at risk ........ “You get to the point where you overwhelm ICUs and that’s when the mortality goes up.” 

New-Onset Brain Complications in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients — Altered mental states more common in young patients than expected ............  Brain complications of hospitalized COVID-19 patients included both neurologic and psychiatric conditions ..........  Among 125 hospitalized coronavirus patients selected by specialist physicians in the U.K., complications ranged from stroke (77 people) to altered mental states including brain inflammation, psychosis, and dementia-like symptoms (39 people) ............  "About 26% of patients with new-onset neuropsychiatric causes of altered mental status were in their 20s, 30s, and 40s" ...............  Researchers classified broad clinical syndromes as cerebrovascular events (acute ischemic, hemorrhagic, or thrombotic vascular event involving the brain parenchyma or subarachnoid space), altered mental status (an acute alteration in personality, behavior, cognition, or consciousness), peripheral neurology (involving nerve roots, peripheral nerves, neuromuscular junction, or muscle), or other.  

Your Personal Data Is Worth Money. Andrew Yang Wants to Get You Paid  what many of us seemed to forget during conversations about contact tracing is that we’re already living under a digital microscope, with multiple companies following and recording our every move.   ..........  just going about our daily routines can generate hundreds of data points, from where we went to how much time we spent there to what we bought, ate, or drank. Essentially, we’re freely giving away all kinds of data to companies that analyze, package, sell, and profit from it—not just every day, but every hour.  ......... Yang’s ultimate goal is for Americans to be able to claim their data as a property right and get paid for it if they choose to share it. ......  data brokering is a $200 billion industry. “We are completely outgunned by tech companies” ....... A philosophy called dataism, first described in 2013, takes the opposite stance: dataists advocate for handing over as much information and power as possible to data-driven algorithms, thus allowing the free flow of data to unlock unprecedented innovation and progress. .......... “psychometric profiles” exist for you, me, and all of our friends. The data collected from our use of digital services can be packaged in a way that gives companies insight into our habits, preferences, and even our personalities. With this information, they can do anything from show us an ad for a pair of shoes we’ll probably like to try to change our minds about which candidate to vote for in an election. ......... we have a long, increasingly automated and digitized future ahead of us, and data is only going to become more important, valuable, and powerful with time. There’s a line (which some would say we’ve already crossed) beyond which the amount of data companies have access to and the way they can manipulate it for their benefit will become eerie and even dystopian.

Coronavirus News (169)

US out, China in as EU looks to reopen external borders Brussels wants to restart limited global travel from July 1 Diplomats agree one of the main criteria should be an incidence rate close to or below that across the EU

In the US, China-bashing is rooted in myths of Western superiority Across the centuries, Europe propagated anti-Chinese stereotypes as a response to the perceived threats to European might In the US today, dehumanising myths about Chinese continue to drive the cultural belief that China is the enemy  ....... In the United States, if the right and left agree upon anything, it is that China is the enemy, at a deep, cultural level. ..........  dehumanising myths used to justify racist bullying: Chinese people have a collectivist mentality; are blindly obedient, and so on. ...............  European explorers saw themselves as superior to everyone they encountered, but in China they found a populous nation with prosperous cities and a society so tolerant that religious wars were unknown. ............ “We could not believe that beyond so many half-barbarous nations, and at the extremity of Asia, a powerful nation was to be found scarce inferior to any of the best governed states of Europe.” .......... global demand for Chinese commodities such as tea, porcelain and silk had created trade deficits all over Europe. ..........  Louis le Comte openly admired China’s meritocratic society; his book was burned. In a Europe torn by religious wars, Christian Wolff admired China’s secular morality. He was ordered to leave town in 24 hours or be hanged. .........  Another threat was China’s post-aristocratic society. Anonymous civil service exams reduced social class, religion or ethnicity as factors in official selection. This made participation in government more egalitarian than in Europe. ......... Dutch, French and English reformers seized on this to attack aristocratic privilege, arguing that China’s economic success was a product of its meritocratic system. .......... Our textbooks tell us the Baron was a champion of “liberty”, but fail to mention that “liberties” back then meant aristocratic privileges. We also learn he was opposed to “despotism”, but are not informed that “despotism” referred to stripping the nobility of their “liberties”. ..............  Genuine reformers like Abbe Raynal continued to promote China-style equality right up to the American and French Revolutions .........   What was deliberately and usefully forgotten in England over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was the contemporaneity of global history, specifically that of the dauntingly advanced civilisation at the far end of the Eurasian landmass”. ..........   In China, anonymised civil service exams privileged individual talent, yet Hegel claimed the Chinese lacked individuality. China enjoyed a long tradition of political dissent, yet Hegel claimed the Chinese were mindlessly obedient, and sneaky as well. He could not read Chinese, and the record contradicts his claims, but his stereotypes persist.a ........... Just recently, mainstream media (Time) informed readers that people in Asia do not wear masks from a sense of public responsibility; it is merely that personal identity is not as important for them as for us, a classic Hegelian smear. ...........  For centuries, China’s threat to the myth of Western superiority has made it an easy target for race-baiting. Now, its embrace of green energy once again threatens American face, not to mention petro-profits. ............ the greater risk may lie in overreacting to China’s success, yet the administration’s response has been to intensify the attacks. ..........  Blaming alien races is a core strategy in the White Nationalist playbook, and if Trump had blamed African-Americans or Muslims, liberals would have seen through the ruse. .........    With China, Hegel’s stereotypes continue to pass for insider knowledge. ............. China’s tech industry may be crucial for controlling climate change. ........ China once provided Western liberals with a model of a less stratified society fostering rational policies for the public benefit.

US anxiety over China’s Huawei a sequel of the Yellow Peril In the years leading up to the end of the cold war, opinion polls revealed more Americans feared the ascendant economy of Japan – their ally – than the Soviet Union The same is happening now to Huawei as its products become superior. But the biggest difference between Japan then and China now: the US was able to put Japan back in its box. That is not happening this time ...........   When it comes to the “yellow peril”, Democrats and Republicans are united. ........  Walter Mondale, Jimmy Carter’s vice-president who ran against Ronald Reagan in the 1984 election, took some swings at Japan that were just as good as Reagan’s. Interestingly, Mondale used very Trumpian lines about Japan stealing the jobs of good middle-class Americans. Bill Clinton later made Mondale the US ambassador to Japan. ........  It was heresy to bring up the fact that Japan’s automotive and electronics manufacturers had out-engineered and out-designed Americans and reached levels of quality control that the US industry could only dream of. No, it was the cheap yen causing all the problems. ............  The same is happening now to Huawei as its products become superior. The irony is that the Japanese are now on the side of the Americans. ........ Remember Toshiba when Huawei is accused of being a security risk, even though in the more genteel 1980s, the two sides did not take hostages. ...........  the leader of the free world is freaking out because it is being challenged technologically by a nation that was dirt poor a generation ago. After all, in 1987, China’s gross domestic product was smaller than Spain’s. .........  For the first time in centuries, the West, led by the US, is being challenged by others who, a mere generation ago, were viewed as backward and inferior. .................    Anyone in tech will tell you that visiting China is sobering. The leaps being made in areas like machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, agricultural technology and 5G are stunning. ..........  Industrial espionage is as old as the hills. Is it the primary reason for China’s success? Nonsense. .......... The bully has met its match, and the bully is very uncomfortable. 

‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden is one of the few US politicians who’s wide awake about China When the Obama-era vice-president said China was ‘not competition’ for the US, the backlash was enough to make him walk back his comments But the challenges facing President Xi Jinping, from the economy to wrangling the country’s bureaucrats, are vast  ........  China’s economy has grown to be the world’s second largest, and Beijing has launched the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, which promised trillions of US dollars in infrastructure investments to boost connectivity from Asia to Europe and Africa. At first glance, China may shape up to be a serious competitor to the US – but in reality, this competition is much less potent than what it is perceived to be, both in the short and long term. .........  After 40 years of rapid economic growth fuelled by low costs and cheap labour, China is going through a painful transition to a market economy driven by consumption and innovation as the old model is no longer sustainable. As the Chinese economy slows down, the government is struggling to create 13 million new jobs each year to accommodate fresh graduates, as well as migrant workers made redundant from factory closures. .........  the overall level of the country’s high-end manufacturing industries is at least 30 years behind that of the US. .........  Politically, Xi may consolidate his power through his anti-corruption campaign and become the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. But he faces a tough job to get the bureaucracy to do his bidding, as the bureaucrats sing his praises on one hand but often obfuscate his commands. That explains why the authorities have now listed bureaucratic lethargy as a new form of corruption to crack down on in the ongoing anti-corruption drive.  

Coronavirus News (169) https://t.co/6R5SMNMhZe #China #chinaindiaborder #UnitedStates #XiJinping #coronavirus #CoronavirusOutbreak #CoronaVirusSA #lockdown #pandemic #COVID19 #COVID__19

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 24, 2020