Shi Zhengli: Evil Scientist Created The Corona Virus?

 (Based on Shi Zhengli's GOF experiment article from the NATURE on 09 October 2015.)

Shi Zhengli was born in May 1964 in Xixia County, Henan, China. She graduated from Wuhan University in 1987. She received her master's degree from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1990 and her Ph.D. from Montpellier  University in France in 2000.

In 2005, a team led by Shi Zhengli found that the SARS virus originated in bats. The results were published in Science in 2005 and Journal of General Virology in 2006.

In 2015, Shi Zhengli was involved in an investigation of bat coronaviruses, specifically gain of function experiments involving both the SARS and bat coronaviruses, a joint research of University of North Carolina and Wuhan Institute of Virology, with Ralph S. Baric as principal investigator. 

The 2015 Gain-of-Function experiment by Shi and others was famously known to have created a so-called Chimeric or Hybrid Virus and a version of which was believed to have been leaked (either accidentally or deliberately) from Shi's main lab the Wuhan Institute of Virology in late 2019. That lethal and extremely contagious virus is now called COVID-19 a.k.a. Wuhan Corona Virus.

Interest Rates Are Negative & Free Money For Aussies

(Peter Martin’s article from the ABC NEWS Australia on 29 December 2020)

Interest rates are negative now in Australia: On December 10, it finally happened. Instead of demanding an interest payment from the Government in return for lending it money, a group of investors offered to pay the Government in order to lend it money.

Naturally enough, the offer was accepted. The Australian Government needed $1.5 billion, which it promised to repay on March 26. It sought tenders. What was the lowest return an investor would accept to lend it the money?

It wasn't short of offers. It fended off $8.2 billion of bids, and some of them were prepared to accept very low returns indeed. The lowest was -0.01 per cent. The minus sign indicates that, instead of the Government paying the lender a return for lending to it, the lender would pay the Government a return for the privilege of lending to it — a perfectly legal backhander if you like.

City Blackouts: China’s Aussie Coal Ban Backfires

(Rohan Smith’s article from the NEWS.COM Australia on 23 December 2020)

China’s ban on Australian exports backfires as city blackouts ordered: The decision by China to banish Australia and blockade crucial exports is having real-world consequences in cities around the country.

The provincial capital of Hunan and home to more than 7 million people is without street lights, too. Lifts have been switched off, forcing workers to scale dozens of flights of stairs to the office in the bitter cold. In Yiwu, a city of 1.2 million in China’s fareast, factories have slashed working hours by up to 80 per cent. When workers leave at night, the streets are dark.

The problem is two-fold. The first part of the problem is that China has emerged from the worst of COVID-19 relying heavily on electricity to fuel work through the winter which, in many parts, features temperatures below zero. The second part of the problem is that China banned Australian coal.

Chairman Xi Causing Blackouts By Banning Aussie Coal

(Staff article from the ABC NEWS Australia on 19 December 2020)

China's power supply is struggling as winter temperatures plunge. Is the ban on Australian coal to blame? On a blue day, you view a snow-covered empty plot of land between high-rises with a chimney in the distance spewing white smoke. As China's winter temperatures plummet, the country's electricity grid has faced considerable strain.

In China, the prospect of resource scarcity is largely thought to be a thing of the past. But this month, power outages have returned to some parts of the country, conjuring memories of China's old command economy, where resource rationing was a part of daily life.

Chinese social media has seen tens of thousands of posts complaining about the new electricity restrictions in the country's central and eastern provinces of Hunan and Zhejiang, which have been viewed more than 150 million times on the platform Weibo. News of the restrictions comes amid a burgeoning trade spat between Australia and China, in which Australian coal appears to have effectively been barred from Chinese ports.

COVID-19: Dangerous Mutation in Every Part of UK

(Staff article from the SKY NEWS Australia on 20 December 2020)

COVID-19: New mutation in every part of UK except Northern Ireland, says expert: The strain, known as VUI-202012/01, may be up to 70% more transmissible - and has a "very clear genetic make up".

A new variant of COVID-19 which is up to 70% more transmissible has been found in every part of the UK except Northern Ireland, an expert has told Sky News. Dr Susan Hopkins, from Public Health England (PHE), said the strain is predominantly in London and southeast England.

But it has also been discovered in every region of England, in Wales and in Scotland, albeit in "very small numbers". The variant - named VUI-202012/01 - has a "very clear genetic make up that we can follow", Dr Hopkins said. It can be detected via whole genome sequencing, which takes two to three weeks.

Other nations are also being affected. "Similar strains have been detected in Denmark and Australia, and there are other variants that look very similar to this that have been detected in South Africa, in the Netherlands and other countries," Dr Hopkins said.

China's 'dark' fishing fleets plundering the world's oceans

(Sean Mantesso’s article from the ABC NEWS Australia on 19 December 2020)

When a vast Chinese armada appeared outside the Galapagos Marine Reserve in South America earlier this year, Ecuador's Government sounded the alarm. They called in the big guns, asking the United States Coast Guard to help keep an eye on the enormous number of fishing vessels.

The sheer size of the fleet fuelled Ecuador's urgency: more than 350 Chinese fishing boats were detected, outnumbering its own navy and those of Peru and Chile combined. Lieutenant-Commander Christa Caldwell of the US Coast Guard, which sent a vessel down to the region to provide surveillance on the fleet, said the magnitude of fishing activity was unprecedented.

The flotilla was plundering waters that are among the most biodiverse in the world: the Galapagos Marine Reserve is home to the greatest biomass of sharks on the planet. Satellite tracking data showed the boats forming a near-perfect line along the boundary of Ecuador's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) — however the US Coast guard did not detect any of the Chinese boats cross over into Ecuadorian waters.

First Miracle By Jeffery Archer (1980)

        (Jeffery Archer's famous children story of the very first Christmas Eve in Year Zero.)

Tomorrow it would be A.D. 1, but nobody had told him. If anyone had, he wouldn’t have understood, because he thought it was the forty-third year of the reign of the emperor. And in any case, he had more important things on his mind.

His mother was still angry with him, and he had to admit that he’d been naughty that day, even by the standards of a normal thirteen-year-old. He hadn’t meant to drop the pitcher when she had sent him to the well for water. He had tried to explain to her that it wasn’t his fault he had tripped over a stone—that bit at least was true. What he hadn’t told her was that he had been chasing a stray dog at the time. And then there was that pomegranate: How was he to know that it was the last one, and that his father had taken a liking to them?

The young Roman was now dreading his father’s return and the possibility that he might be given another leathering. He could still recall the last one: He hadn’t been able to sit down for two days without being reminded of the pain, and the thin red scars hadn’t completely disappeared for three weeks.

He sat on the window ledge in a shaded corner of his room, trying to think of some way he could redeem himself in his mother’s eyes. He had spilled cooking oil all over his tunic and she had thrown him out of the kitchen. “Go and play outside,” she had snapped, but playing outside wasn’t much fun if you were only allowed to play by yourself. Pater had forbidden him to mix with the local boys.

China Using Microwave Weapons On Indian Troops

(Tim Stickings's article from the DAILY MAIL UK on 17 November 2020.)

China 'used secret microwave pulse weapon to cook Indian soldiers alive' and force them into retreat in Himalayan border battle: Chinese troops used 'microwave' weapons to force Indian soldiers to retreat by making them violently sick during a Himalayan stand-off, a professor has claimed. 

The electromagnetic weapons which cook the human tissue of enemy troops 'turned the mountain tops into a microwave oven' and made the Indian soldiers vomit, international studies expert Jin Canrong told his students in Beijing. 

The microwave weapons heat water molecules in the same way as the kitchen appliance, targeting water under the skin and causing increasing amounts of pain to the target from ranges of up to 0.6 miles away. 

Joshua Wong Jailed By China For HK Protests

(Helen Davidson's article from the GUARDIAN UK on 02 December 2020.)

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed for 13 and a half months over protest, and Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam also sentenced over pro-democracy protest at police HQ last year: The high-profile Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong will spend more than a year in jail over an unauthorised protest outside police headquarters in June last year, a court in the city has ruled.

Fellow activists Agnes Chow, 23, and Ivan Lam, 26, were sentenced to 10 months and seven months respectively. Wong said last week he expected to be jailed after admitting organising the event early on in Hong Kong’s recent protest movement, which began with millions marching against an extradition bill before growing into a broader pro-democracy push.

At the West Kowloon magistrates court on Wednesday, the 24-year-old was sentenced to a total of 13 and a half months in jail for organising and inciting others to attend an unlawful assembly outside the police headquarters in June 2019.

"Rung" Thai: Royalists Chopped Her Hair & Dyed It Black

(Staff articles from the ABC NEWS on 22 November 2020.)

Panusaya Sithijirawattankul, known as "Rung", has become the face of Thailand's youth protest movement. With tens of thousands of protesters cheering her on, Panusaya Sithijirawattankul stepped on to a stage near Bangkok's ceremonial Grand Palace and confidently did what most Thais would not dare to do. She spoke out against the country's monarchy.

The 21-year-old university student, who is known by her nickname "Rung", has become one of the faces of Thailand's growing student-led protest movement. In front of a big screen projecting her image to the crowd, the third-year sociology student addressed the biggest anti-establishment rally since the 2014 coup which saw military General Prayuth Chan-ocha seize power.

"[We have] the same ideology, the same intention, the same goals: to end the Prayuth regime and to reform the monarchy, isn't that right?" she said to loud cheers and applause. Rung says she is not trying to topple the monarchy, but believes it should be reformed.

China Can't Stop Buying Aussie Iron Ore

(Huileng Tan's article from the CNBC on 11 June 2020.)

China may punish Australia with trade curbs — but it can’t stop buying iron ore from Down Under: Relations between China and Australia have been on a downward spiral in recent months, triggered by Canberra’s call for an international probe into the origins of the coronavirus, which was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

In what is seen as retaliation against Australia’s stance, Beijing suspended some beef imports, slapped hefty tariffs on barley and is reportedly considering more actions on products from wine to fruits.

On Thursday, Australia’s prime minister said he would not be intimidated by “coercion” after the moves from Beijing. “We are an open-trading nation, mate, but I’m never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it comes,” Scott Morrison told local media on Thursday, according to a Reuters report.

ASSK's NLD Wins Burma's 2020 General Election

(Mazoe Ford's article from the ABC NEWS on 13 November 2020.)

Aung San Suu Kyi's party wins enough seats to form Myanmar's next government: The ruling party of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won enough parliamentary seats to form the next government, according to official general election results.

The latest batch of results from Sunday's vote, local time, confirmed Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) had secured the 322 seats in the bicameral legislature needed to form a government. The NLD has taken 368 seats of the 434 seats that have been declared, with results from 42 more yet to be announced.

NLD spokesman Monywa Aung Shin said the "landslide" win showed that the people still had faith in Ms Suu Kyi's leadership. "However, we have to work on forming a national unity government," Mr Aung Shin said, noting how the NLD had invited 39 ethnic minority parties to work with it.

OPPO: The Fastest-growing Smartphone Brand

(Matt Hamblem's  article from the COMPUTER WORLD on 30 July 2016.)

Meet OPPO, the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the world: Apple has its eye on OPPO and other low-cost Asian smartphone makers. The fastest-growing smartphone maker globally — by far — is a little-known electronics company based in China called OPPO.

OPPO grew by 137% in the second quarter of 2016, compared to a year ago, according to market research firm IDC. The company finished fourth overall, behind Samsung, Apple and Huawei, in that order. OPPO shipped 22.6 million smartphones in the second quarter and grabbed 6.6% of the market, well behind the 77 million shipped by Samsung and the 40.4 million from Apple, according to IDC.

With its fantastic pace of growth, OPPO is expected to continue to put pressure on high-end phone makers like Apple and Samsung. That's because OPPO's smartphones have attractive, high-end features at lower cost.

OPPO doesn't sell directly in the U.S., but its newest F1 Plus, a stylish Android 5.1 (Lollipop) phone with a 5.5-in. display, can be purchased online starting at $434. (With a SIM card inserted, it could be made to work on T-Mobile and AT&T, IDC said.) The F1 Plus is the equivalent of the R9 smartphone launched in Beijing in March.

China Punishes Australia by Halting Key Imports

(Staff article from the BLOOMBERG NEWS on 03 November 2020.)

(Bloomberg) China to Halt Key Australian Imports in Sweeping Retaliation -- China has ordered traders to stop purchasing at least seven categories of Australian commodities, ratcheting up tensions with a key trading partner in its most sweeping retaliation yet.

Commodities traders in China won’t be able to import products including coal, barley, copper ore and concentrate, sugar, timber, wine and lobster, according to people familiar with the situation. The government has ordered the halt to begin on Friday, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is sensitive.

The notice was verbally relayed to major traders in meetings in recent weeks, one of the people said. Iron ore, Australia’s biggest export to China, won’t be included in the halt, the people said. The order represents a dramatic deterioration in ties, which have been strained since Australia barred Huawei Technologies Co. from building its 5G network in 2018 on national security grounds.

Why I Hope To Die At 75: Ezekiel Emanuel

(Ezekiel Emanuel's article from the ATLANTIC, October 2014 issue.)

Seventy-five. That’s how long I want to live: 75 years. This preference drives my daughters crazy. It drives my brothers crazy. My loving friends think I am crazy. They think that I can’t mean what I say; that I haven’t thought clearly about this, because there is so much in the world to see and do.

To convince me of my errors, they enumerate the myriad people I know who are over 75 and doing quite well. They are certain that as I get closer to 75, I will push the desired age back to 80, then 85, maybe even 90. I am sure of my position. Doubtless, death is a loss. It deprives us of experiences and milestones, of time spent with our spouse and children. In short, it deprives us of all the things we value.

But here is a simple truth that many of us seem to resist: living too long is also a loss. It renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining, a state that may not be worse than death but is nonetheless deprived. It robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world. It transforms how people experience us, relate to us, and, most important, remember us. We are no longer remembered as vibrant and engaged but as feeble, ineffectual, even pathetic.

Lese-majeste: How Thailand Forbids Insult Of Royals

(Staff articles from the BBC NEWS in October 2017.)

Lese-majeste explained: How Thailand forbids insult of its royalty. Thailand's lese-majeste law, which forbids the insult of the monarchy, is among the strictest in the world. It has been increasingly enforced ever since the Thai military took power in 2014 in a coup, and many people have been punished with harsh jail sentences.

Critics say the military-backed government uses the law to clamp down on free speech, and the United Nations has repeatedly called on Thailand to amend it. But the government says the law is necessary to protect the monarchy, which is widely revered in Thailand.

What exactly is this law? Article 112 of Thailand's criminal code says anyone who "defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent" will be punished with a jail term between three and 15 years. This law has remained virtually unchanged since the creation of the country's first criminal code in 1908, although the penalty was toughened in 1976.

Anti-Monarchy Protests In Bangkok, Thailand

(Staff article from the ABC NEWS Australia on 16 October 2020.)

Bangkok anti-government protests see riot police use water cannon and shields: Electric blue water with tear gas shot from a water cannon flies over demonstrators during a Bangkok protest. The UN has voiced concern over Thai authorities' harsh response to pro-democracy protests.

Thai police used water cannons and pushed forward with riot shields and batons in an attempt to disperse thousands of protesters who defied a ban on demonstrations for a second day. The protesters had gathered in monsoonal rains to push their core demands, including that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha leave office, the constitution be amended and the nation's monarchy undergo reform.

Protesters pushed back, some using umbrellas, while a few threw plastic bottles at police in full riot gear. "The dictatorial government is using violence to disperse the people's movement," said Tattep Ruangprapaikitseree, one of the protest leaders.

Smoking-gun Email Reveals Biden Family Corruption

(Emma-Jo Morris's article from The NEW YORK POST on 14 October 2020.)

Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad: Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company, according to emails obtained by The Post.

The never-before-revealed meeting is mentioned in a message of appreciation that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma, allegedly sent Hunter Biden on April 17, 2015, about a year after Hunter joined the Burisma board at a reported salary of up to $50,000 a month.

“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,” the email reads. An earlier email from May 2014 also shows Pozharskyi, reportedly Burisma’s No. 3 exec, asking Hunter for “advice on how you could use your influence” on the company’s behalf.

Joe Biden: Finger Rapist and Next US President?

                          (Staff articles from The FOX NEWS & NEW YORK TIMES in April 2020.)

The allegations were leveled earlier this week by a woman named Tara Reade, an apparent supporter of Biden’s primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who said she was a staff assistant for Biden in 1993 when he was in the Senate.

Reade has come forward before—last year, when multiple women emerged claiming inappropriate touching by Biden. Reade, at the time, claimed Biden put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed his fingers up and down her neck, but was unable to gain traction on her story aside from an article in a local newspaper.

But this week, Reade told a far more graphic account, with different and more serious details, raising the allegation to the level of sexual assault. Reade’s story first resurfaced in an article in The Intercept. She then was interviewed by podcast host Katie Halper. There, Reade claimed that in 1993, she was asked by a more senior member of Biden’s staff to bring the then-senator his gym bag near the Capitol building, which led to the encounter in question.

Tony Abbott: Lockdowns Are Health Dictatorship

(Staff article from The ABC NEWS on 01 September 2020.)

Tony Abbott urges against coronavirus restrictions, argues 'uncomfortable questions' need to be asked: Tony Abbott says media has spread "virus hysteria" and people should be allowed to make their own decisions.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has called for COVID-19 restrictions to be relaxed, arguing officials have become trapped in "crisis mode" and that governments need to consider "uncomfortable questions" about the number of deaths they are prepared to live with.

Mr Abbott said governments have approached the pandemic like "trauma doctors instead of thinking like health economists". He accused Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews of wanting to extend a "health dictatorship" by pushing for an extension of state of emergency powers. He said the media had spread "virus hysteria" and people should be allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to their own lives.

Flow Of Illicit Chinese Guns To Myanmar Insurgents

(Staff article from The EFSAS on 24 July 2020.)

Chinese rifles in the hands of AA insurgents.

The easy flow of illicit Chinese weapons into Myanmar poses threats to regional security and stability, according to The European Foundation for South Asian Studies - EFSAS). Reports on the independent Myanmar-centric news website The Irrawaddy recently brought to light the seizure on 23 June of a large consignment of Chinese-made weapons in Mae Sot district on the Thai side of the Myanmar-Thailand border.

While preliminary investigations have suggested that the weapons may have been destined for insurgent groups in Myanmar, the development has nonetheless raised antennae within security circles in New Delhi. It has also reignited the serious questions that had existed for long about the scope and depth of China’s support to terrorist groups in the region in pursuit of its policy of what a Thailand-based organization termed “diplo-terrorism”.

A joint task force of the Thai military and police carried out a raid on a house in Mae Tao in Mae Sot district, which in recent years has emerged as a hotbed of insurgents of all ideological persuasions and a preferred staging area for the transportation of arms and ammunition, and uncovered a large cache of Chinese-made weapons.

Stranded Burmese Crew of Bulk-carrier Unison Jasper

(Staff article from The ABC NEWS on 31 July 2020.)

Crew members of ship detained in Newcastle complain of mistreatment, underpayment: The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has detained a ship in the Port of Newcastle after seafarers complained about being mistreated, fatigued and underpaid.

Eleven crew from Myanmar have been taken off the ship and transferred to Sydney, after Australian Border Force and NSW Police were called to Kooragang Island where the Unison Jasper is docked. With their suitcases packed and masks on, the crew members waited several hours while police coordinated exemptions so they could be transferred to a hotel for quarantine and then eventually flown home.

According to the International Transport Workers' Federation, the crew members were desperate to return home. When the ship arrived in Newcastle this week, union representatives boarded and said they found documents showing the seafarers were in some cases only being paid a quarter of what they were due.

Australia Forcing Google To Pay Failing Newspapers

(Staff articles from The BLOOMBERG NEWS & FOX BUSINESS on 30 July 2020.)

Australia to force Facebook, Google to pay media companies for content: U.S. social media and search giants would be required to negotiate with Australian media companies to use their content. Australia will force Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to pay Australian media outlets for news content, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Friday.

Frydenberg said the mandatory code of conduct, which will be legislated into law this year, is needed to ensure the viability of Australian media companies. "It's about a fair go for Australian news media businesses. It's about ensuring that we have increased competition, increased consumer protection, and a sustainable media landscape," Frydenberg told reporters in Melbourne.

Under Australia's proposal, the U.S. social media and search giants would be required to negotiate with Australian media companies to use their content. Australia will become the first country to require Facebook and Google to pay for news content. Both companies have spent years fending off demands for payment from news publishers worldwide.

ASEAN East-West Economic Corridor Railway

(James Clark's article from The LIVING IN ASIA on 21 April 2020.)

The East–West Economic Corridor Railway from Myanmar to Vietnam: The East–West Economic Corridor is an economic development program spanning across mainland Southeast Asia, covering Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, with Cambodia also included.

The corridor was envisaged as a land bridge connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans, saving the sea route via the Malacca Strait. The road route connects the port cities of Mawlamyine in the west, to Da Nang in the east.

The EWEC also calls for the development of a railway that would connect the two ports. The railway would then serve cargo and passenger trains. Work on the EWEC has focused on improving highways, building new bridges, and streamlining cross-border transport agreements. Unfortunately, not a single kilometre of new railway has been added.

Kamala Harris Is Not A Natural-Born Citizen?

(Dr. John Eastman's article from The NEWSWEEK on 12 August 2020.)

The fact that Senator Kamala Harris has just been named the vice presidential running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has some questioning her eligibility for the position.

The 12th Amendment provides that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." And Article II of the Constitution specifies that "[n]o person except a natural born citizen...shall be eligible to the office of President."

Her father was (and is) a Jamaican national, her mother was from India, and neither was a naturalized U.S. citizen at the time of Harris' birth in 1964. That, according to these commentators, makes her not a "natural born citizen"—and therefore ineligible for the office of the president and, hence, ineligible for the office of the vice president.

"Nonsense," runs the counter-commentary. Indeed, PolitiFact rated the claim of ineligibility as "Pants on Fire" false, Snopes rated it simply "False," and from the other side of the political spectrum, Conservative Daily News likewise rated it "False."

The Horror of Political Violence In Burma

The indescribable horror of political violence in Burma reached its ugliest peak in 1988. Newspaper frontpage pictures of disgusting rows of decapitated heads being displayed on a crude table on the streets of one of Rangoon’s poorest townships shocked the world.

But for an average Burmese the atrocities committed by all the parties involved weren’t that shocking at all. We were well accustomed or rather climatised to the extreme violence most people in highly civilised societies would cringe just by thinking of it.

One well-documented case happened not far from where our house was. It was a chaotic time and people just took over their neighbourhoods, as there was absolutely no law and order. The army was safely hidden in their barracks and the police just simply disappeared.

One early morning a group of young men caught a man allegedly from the Military Intelligence and they just simply decided to kill him on the spot right there. The spot was not far from the local wet market and a large crowd immediately formed around them to enjoy the imminent execution. To some peoples’ surprise, the vigilante group offered the killing task to any volunteer from the crowd.

Shi Zhengli: Evil Scientist Created The Corona Virus?

(Based on Shi Zhengli's GOF experiment article from the NATURE on 09 October 2015.)

Shi Zhengli was born in May 1964 in Xixia County, Henan, China. She graduated from Wuhan University in 1987. She received her master's degree from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1990 and her Ph.D. from Montpellier  University in France in 2000.

In 2005, a team led by Shi Zhengli found that the SARS virus originated in bats. The results were published in Science in 2005 and Journal of General Virology in 2006.

In 2015, Shi Zhengli was involved in an investigation of bat coronaviruses, specifically gain of function experiments involving both the SARS and bat coronaviruses, a joint research of University of North Carolina and Wuhan Institute of Virology, with Ralph S. Baric as principal investigator. 

The 2015 Gain-of-Function experiment by Shi and others was famously known to have created a so-called Chimeric or Hybrid Virus and a version of which was believed to have been leaked (either accidentally or deliberately) from Shi's main lab the Wuhan Institute of Virology in late 2019. That lethal and extremely contagious virus is now called COVID-19 a.k.a. Wuhan Corona Virus.

US Land Bank, Railway Bonds, and Burma’s Land Reform

Winding Ledo Road.

It was one pale-dawn in mid or late 1973 when our platoon entered a friendly Kachin village about 5 miles far-south-west of the winding stretch of Ledo Road about 15 miles from Myitkyina. Our company forward outpost then was right on the Ledo Road at 8 miles Post from Myitkyinar.

Just the night before, our company was told of the battalion’s radio-intercept report of that resettlement village defended by a 20 strong people-militia unit was being raided by a roaming KIA unit and our platoon was sent straight away there that night to aid the village.

We have no motorized-transport and so we walked about 15 miles on the jungle paths intentionally avoiding unsealed Ledo Road to avoid possible KIA ambushes as some times KIA attack on a village was just to draw the reinforcing army-column into their ambush.

Blood Bath in a Kachin Resettlement Village

The village was one of those nameless government villages with just a number. All these villages are called Pa-la-na (1),  Pa-la-na (2),  Pa-la-na (3), etc and we didn’t even know how many of these Pa-la-na villages were in that vast remote area as there were so many of them along the famous old Ledo Road from Myitkyinar all the way to Hugaung Valley.

Taming "Hlaing Tharyar" Rangoon's Wild-west Township

(Hein Thar's article from The FRONTIER MYANMAR on 06 November 2019.)

Government seeks to tame Hlaing Tharyar, Yangon’s wild west: The government is dividing Hlaing Tharyar into two townships, in a desperate bid to bring order to an industrial suburb beset by criminal gangs, shoddy infrastructure and over-population.

IT'S 5 pm and the area around Hlaing Tharyar Township’s Bogyoke bus stop is deceptively quiet. The small food stalls on No. 5 Main Road are mostly empty, and knots of motorbike taxi drivers wait for customers to spill out of the nearby factories.

Among them is Chit Ko, sitting astride his motorbike as he chews a quid of betel and occasionally spits a streak of red juice on the road. “Wait and see, brother!” he says. “In half an hour you won’t be able to move because of the crowd.”

Tulsa Race Riots, Oklahoma (1921)

(Staff article from The HISTORY.COM on 08 March 2018.)

During the Tulsa Race Massacre (also known as the Tulsa Race Riot), which occurred over 18 hours on May 31-June 1, 1921, a white mob attacked residents, homes and businesses in the predominantly black Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The event remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, and one of the least-known: News reports were largely squelched, despite the fact that hundreds of people were killed and thousands left homeless.

In much of the country, the years following World War I saw a spike in racial tensions, including the resurgence of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan, numerous lynchings and other acts of racially motivated violence, as well as efforts by African Americans to prevent such attacks on their communities.

Racist Obama Fuelled, Aided, and Abetted Antifa

(Staff article from The SKY NEWS AUS on 11 June 2020.)

President Obama ‘fuelled, aided, and abetted’ anti-cop movement in US: Sky News contributor Cory Bernardi says the legislators around the world have gone missing by not “defending the role of police and the rightful authority they have in maintaining law and order”.

The New York Police Benevolent Association President Mike O’Meara who stood in front of fellow NYPD members his police force “roundly reject what (the Minneapolis police officer) did as disgusting,” but said from the original crime against George Floyd, “our legislators abandoned us, the press is vilifying us”.

Mr Bernardi told Sky News host Peta Credlin the “genesis” of the anti-police movement was “fueled, aided, and abetted by Barack Obama”. He also claimed President Obama “misrepresented a whole range of things” which happened in America to create, within the nation, a “race baiting culture”.

U Thant Uprising in Rangoon, Burma (1974)

Believe it or not, our small group of about 50 students from the RIT’s First Year Section-D unknowingly started the 1974 student uprising. Beginning of the so-called "U Thant Uprising" was the day I will never forget even though, nowadays, I can't really recall the exact date.

Then in 1974, I was a first year engineering student at the famous Soviet-built Rangoon Institute of Technology. (Bastard generals changed her name to some Yangon Technical University or some idiotic name later just to break her rebellious tradition.)

We, the whole class of First Year Section-D, were in the lecture hall 1-3-16 or 1-3-18, I don’t really remember now, without even noticing the secret preparation for the uprising, seriously following the lecture as usual.

Suddenly a couple of senior students rudely busted into the lecture theater and simply told us to get out and into the waiting buses just outside on the campus ground.

Defund The Police? Detroit Did & Children are Dying

(Charlie LeDuff's article from The DEADLINE DETROIT on 11 June 2020.)

Defund The Police? Detroit Did That. Now Children Are Dying. I know a mother on the east side of Detroit who would like police protesters to come picket in her neighborhood.

It's not so much that she agrees with their demands for better treatment at the hands law enforcement – which she does. It's more the fact that there are fewer cops than ever in her rough-and-tumble neighborhood since special operations officers have been reassigned to keep order downtown.

“We don't have enough police as it is,” says Rochelle Jones, a working mother of two. “People are acting the fool out here, and now you know the police aren't going to be coming around this summer with all that's going on. So what are the children supposed to do.”

Started By Marxists-Anarchists, Warlord Rules CHAZ

(Staff article from The CLARION PROJECT on 14 June 2020.)

Seattle ‘Autonomous’ Zone Now Ruled By ‘Warlord’: Now that the six-block area known as Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) has captured the nation’s attention, everyone’s wondering exactly what’s going on inside the territory.

Although the zone was declared a police-free area last week, those pronouncements were apparently precipitously made as CHAZ quickly fell under the watchful eye of Raz Simone. Raz is a rapper and an AirBnB ‘superhost’ who describes himself as someone who enjoys art, mentoring youth and philanthropy. He was also one of the only armed men in the territory.

Raz earned the title of the “warlord of CHAZ” after patrolling the area with an AK-47 and a band of armed men who declared, “We are the police now.”

Christopher F. Rufo tweeted, " The #SeattleAutonomousZone is devolving into warlordism. Rapper Raz Simone, who has been patrolling the barricades with an AK-47 and a handgun, has begun assaulting residents who disobey him. "We are the police now," says his crew. "We are the leaders."

Sawant: The Indian Marxist Bitch Behind The CHAZ

(Staff article from The KOMO NEWS on 12 June 2020.)

Councilwoman Sawant says 'CHAZ' should be permanently in community control: As the Seattle Police Department works to broker a deal with protesters occupying an autonomous zone in the heart of Capitol Hill, a Seattle City Councilmember said the area known as "CHAZ" should remain in community control permanently.

The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, known as "CHAZ," has been in community control since Tuesday, when Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best decreased the officers' presence in the East Precinct to allow for peaceful protests.

India-born Seattle Councilwoman Kshama Sawant called the "CHAZ" movement a major victory. She said the area should be turned over permanently into community control, instead of back in the hands of the Seattle Police Department.

Sawant said she plans to create legislation to turn the East Precinct into a community center for restorative justice. The councilwoman wants to discuss the legislation with people involved in CHAZ, black community organizations, restorative justice, faith, anti-racist, renter orgns, land trusts, groups, labor unions that have a proven record of fighting racism.