Austria Suspends Vaccine Batch After Death

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Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on Sunday.

“The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) has received two reports in a temporal connection with a vaccination from the same batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the district clinic of Zwettl” in Lower Austria province, it said.

One 49-year-old woman died as a result of severe coagulation disorders, while a 35-year-old woman developed a pulmonary embolism and is recovering, it said. A pulmonary embolism is an acute lung disease caused by a dislodged blood clot. . .

Austrian newspaper Niederoesterreichische Nachrichten as well as broadcaster ORF and the APA news agency reported that the women were both nurses who worked at the Zwettl clinic.

BASG said blood clotting was not among the known side effects of the vaccine. It was pursuing its investigation vigorously to completely rule out any possible link. (Read more from “Austria Suspends Vaccine Batch After Death” HERE)

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Pope Francis Holds Historic Meeting With Powerful Shia Cleric in Iraq

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Pope Francis held an historic meeting with one of Shia Islam’s most powerful figures and visited the birthplace of the biblical prophet Abraham in Iraq on Saturday during his first international trip since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

The 84-year-old leader of the Catholic Church held a 45-minute meeting with the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the reclusive and legendary Shiite cleric, at his modest home in the holy city of Najaf in central Iraq.

“The Holy Father stressed the importance of collaboration and friendship between religious communities,” according to a Vatican statement released after the historic meeting with the 90-year-old Muslim cleric, a powerful spiritual leader who urged his millions of followers in the Shiite majority country to take up arms against ISIS fighters in 2014. (Read more from “Pope Francis Holds Historic Meeting With Powerful Shia Cleric in Iraq” HERE)

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The Chinese Communist Party Reveals a New Demand for Biden

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The Chinese Communist Party is demanding President Joe Biden roll back former President Donald Trump’s policy of supporting Taiwan, a democratic island China claims as their own. According to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Trump’s support of Taiwan is a “dangerous practice” that the United States must move away from.

The fight between Taiwan and China goes back to the 1940s. Taiwan broke from mainland China in 1949 and established a democratic society. The Chinese Communist Party, however, still attempts to impose rules and regulations on the island.

During a press conference on Sunday, Wang said China’s claim on Taiwan is an “insurmountable red line” that the Chinese government refuses to back away from, the Associated Press reported.

“The Chinese government has no room for compromise,” Wang said. “We urge the new U.S. administration to fully understand the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue” and “completely change the previous administration’s dangerous practices of ‘crossing the line’ and ‘playing with fire.”

China is continuing to assert its dominance over other territories. Their fight to keep Taiwan under their thumb comes after Hong Kongers demanded their autonomy and civil liberties be respected. (Read more from “The Chinese Communist Party Reveals a New Demand for Biden” HERE)

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China Court Ruling: Homosexuality Can Be Deemed ‘Mental Disorder’

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After the Chinese Communist government previously decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and removed it from the country’s official list of things deemed mental disorders in 2001, a major court decision in China this week has “shocked” various rights monitors by once again classifying homosexuality as among “common psychosexual disorders.”

According to South China Morning Post, this latest ruling began with a legal dispute over a higher education textbook, namely the 2013 edition of Mental Health Education for College Students, published by Jinan University Press. A lawsuit filed by a student challenged the book given that it—

…listed homosexuality under “common psychosexual disorders” – along with cross-dressing and fetishism. It stated that homosexuality “was believed to be a disruption of love and sex or perversion of the sex partner”.

On Tuesday the Suqian Intermediate People’s Court in the eastern province of Jiangsu upheld a ruling by a lower court that agreed with the textbook’s classification, allowing the book to remain in multiple university programs. The court dubbed it a legitimate “academic view” as part of the ruling.

It ends a years’ long legal saga the result of which is sure to come under fire from the World Health Organization – not to mention also some of the same progressives in the West who are often heard to defend China and the CCP on a range of issues. (Read more from “China Court Ruling: Homosexuality Can Be Deemed ‘Mental Disorder'” HERE)

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China Makes COVID-19 Anal Swabs Mandatory for Foreigners

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China has made anal COVID-19 swabs mandatory for all foreign travelers arriving in the country, a report said Wednesday.

The government has claimed that such tests provides a higher degree of accuracy than other screening methods for the virus, the Times UK reported.

As part of the new travel requirement, there will be testing hubs in Beijing and Shanghai airports, the outlet reported.

Li Tongzeng, a respiratory disease medic, said that the anal swabs are better because virus traces stay longer in fecal samples than they do in the nose or throat, state media reported. (Read more from “China Makes COVID-19 Anal Swabs Mandatory for Foreigners” HERE)

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White House Set to Impose Sanctions on Russia

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The Biden administration will slap sanctions on Russian officials and businesses on Tuesday after the US intelligence community concluded that opposition leader Alexei Navalny had been nearly killed by a nerve-agent poisoning attack carried out by a Russian spy agency.

The sanctions will be imposed under the US Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act for 14 businesses.

Administration officials did not identify the Russian officials who would be targeted by the sanctions – the first against Moscow by President Biden.

The action was taken in coordination with the European Union, which has already hit some Russian officials with sanctions over Navalny, a top rival of President Vladimir Putin. (Read more from “White House Set to Impose Sanctions on Russia” HERE)

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UK Government Urging People to Wear Three Layer Masks

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Susan Hopkins, a specialist in infectious diseases at Public Health England, said that Britons should wear masks made with at least two, or even three, layers, and left open the possibility that the UK might follow the U.S.’s lead and recommend double masking.

The British government made wearing masks, or any kind of face covering, in shops mandatory in July 2020, with the government advising they be made with at least two layers of fabric.

Responding to a question on U.S. President Joe Biden ‘double masking’, Dr Hopkins said during a Downing Street press briefing on Monday: “The more layers you have, the better.”

“What we recommend is at least two layers and ideally three layers in a mask. That is really important to reduce the virus transmission both from you to others and others to you,” Hopkins added, according to The Times.

She then appeared to suggest that double masking could be coming to the United Kingdom, describing discussions about mask regulations as “ongoing”: “We have got a facemasks and face coverings advisory group who meet on a regular basis and look at new and emerging evidence. The U.S. has looked at some of that evidence as well. (Read more from “UK Government Urging People to Wear Three Layer Masks” HERE)

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Biden State Department Nominee Is a Defender of China Propaganda Program

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A top State Department nominee is a defender of the Confucius Institute, a Chinese government program that disseminates pro-Beijing propaganda on American college campuses.

Victoria Nuland, President Biden’s choice for undersecretary of state for political affairs, voiced support for the expansion of the Chinese government-funded Confucius Institute at American universities in a 2012 press conference. Nuland, then an Obama administration spokeswoman, praised the campus institutes as a crucial part of “people-to-people exchange” between the two superpowers, dismissing concerns about Chinese ambition.

A reporter asked Nuland if the Obama administration was concerned about “the Confucius Institute’s expansion in the U.S. as the strongest Chinese soft power?”

“No,” Nuland responded. “This [Confucius Institute] is something that we support. It’s part of the people-to-people understanding.”

The Confucius Institute quickly expanded its influence during the Obama era, establishing itself at more than 100 American universities and colleges during its peak in 2017, despite warnings about the Chinese Communist Party’s influence. Several government reports found the Chinese government exercised high degrees of control over campus institutes, barring their instructors from teaching taboo topics such as Tibet or Hong Kong. Frequently, instructors were contractually obligated to follow Chinese law even when teaching on American soil. (Read more from “Biden State Department Nominee Is a Defender of China Propaganda Program” HERE)

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Canada PM Gives up on Keystone XL Pipeline, Says Biden ‘Administration Has Made Its Decision’

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday that he won’t be fighting to restart the Keystone XL pipeline because the Biden administration “has made its decision on that.”

Trudeau was asked by NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, “Are are you going to stop advocating for it here? Do you feel as though the Keystone pipeline is now dead?”

“I think it’s fairly clear that the U.S. administration has made its decision on that,” Trudeau responded. “We’re much more interested in ensuring that we’re moving forward in ways that are good for both of our countries. I think there’s so much we can do together that I don’t spend too much time worrying about the tension points.”

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order cancelling a federal permit that was crucial to the Keystone XL pipeline’s completion. The pipeline was designed to transport crude oil from Alberta to U.S. refineries. Scrapping the pipeline immediately eliminated thousands of high-paying jobs on both sides of the border. (Read more from “Canada PM Gives up on Keystone XL Pipeline, Says Biden ‘Administration Has Made Its Decision'” HERE)

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U.S. Strikes Facilities in Syria Used by Iran-Backed Militia in Retaliatory Action

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The United States launched airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by militia groups backed by the Iranian regime. The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.

The airstrike was the first military action undertaken by the Biden administration, which in its first weeks has emphasized its intent to put more focus on the challenges posed by China’s communist party.

“This proportionate military response was conducted together with diplomatic measures, including consultation with coalition partners,” the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, John Kirby, said in announcing the strikes.

“The operation sends an unambiguous message: President Biden will act to protect American and coalition personnel. At the same time, we have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to deescalate the overall situation in eastern Syria and Iraq.”

Kirby said the U.S. airstrikes “destroyed multiple facilities at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups.” (Read more from “U.S. Strikes Facilities in Syria Used by Iran-Backed Militia in Retaliatory Action” HERE)

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