Russia: Putin Approves Coronavirus Vaccine, Claims Daughter Took It

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President Vladimir Putin claimed on Tuesday that he approved Russia’s experimental Chinese coronavirus vaccine and the nation was readying mass distribution, alleging that his daughter was one of the test subjects and is feeling well since taking it.

An official claimed that the vaccine still needed to clear Phase Three testing, however, which would place its development behind the leading American-made vaccine. . .

Russia is one of a number of rogue states — including China itself, Iran, and North Korea — claiming to be developing a vaccine against the Chinese coronavirus. No vaccine currently exists for any known coronavirus, including those responsible for the SARS and MERS outbreaks in the past two decades.

“As far as I know, this morning for the first time in the world a vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection was registered,” Putin proclaimed on Tuesday, according to the Russian news agency TASS. Putin claimed that some who have taken the vaccine “do not have any symptoms at all” and that his daughter was among the experimental patients.

“I know this very well, because one of my daughters got vaccinated, so in this sense, she took part in testing,” he claimed, stating that she developed a fever after both doses of the vaccine, but “after the second shot, she had a slight fever again, and then everything was fine, she is feeling well and has a high [antibody] count.” (Read more from “Russia: Putin Approves Coronavirus Vaccine, Claims Daughter Took It” HERE)

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China Stands Accused of Manufacturing the COVID-19 Virus

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From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus identified as the causative agent, SARS-CoV-2, has been consistently described as “novel” because of its unique structural features.

Also since the onset of the pandemic, the conventional wisdom concerning the origin of SARS-CoV-2 has been that it was a naturally-occurring outbreak, acquired by humans after exposure to infected animals, a conclusion aggressively promoted by the Chinese Communist Party, supported by some Western scientists and endlessly regurgitated by the left-leaning global media.

That narrative is not only unproven, but much of the scientific data being used to buttress it are faulty, perhaps even fabricated.

China has claimed that a bat coronavirus named RaTG13 is the closest relative to SARS-CoV-2 and upon which the global search for the natural origin of the COVID-19 pandemic has been largely based.

According to China’s narrative, in 2013, Zheng-Li Shi, the “bat woman,” and her team from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were asked to investigate the virus profile of a mine shaft in Yunnan Province after six miners contracted pneumonia with symptoms similar to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), although it was subsequently shown to have been a fungus infection.

After sampling the mine shaft for a year, the researchers identified a diverse group of bat coronaviruses from bat fecal samples, one of which was designated RaBtCoV/4991 (GenBank KP876546) and partially sequenced.

Despite being unique enough to be considered a new strain and associated with a human SARS-like outbreak as a Potential Pandemic Pathogen, thereafter, RaBtCoV/4991, de facto, disappeared from the scientific literature.

That is, until 2020.

In the February 3, 2020 Nature article, scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, led by Zheng-Li Shi, stated that the coronavirus RaTG13, known previously as RaBtCoV/4991, showed a 96.2% sequence identity with SARS-CoV-2 and, therefore, “RaTG13 is the closest relative” forming a distinct lineage from other coronaviruses and supporting China’s claim that SARS-CoV-2 is naturally-occurring.

As a result, the conventional wisdom that the COVID-19 was a naturally-occurring outbreak arose, nearly all of it based on a single scientific publication, one of whose authors had earlier received a medal from the Chinese government in January, 2020.

Unfortunately, RaTG13 is not actually a virus because no biological samples exist, but a sequence of a virus for which there are now serious questions about its accuracy, based on the collection methods and sequence gaps, identified in an August 8, 2020 study, and RaTG13’s structure in comparison to SARS-CoV-2, published already on March 15, 2020.

As Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a Chinese virologist and whistleblower, implies in a detailed interview, RaTG13 may have been used to divert the world’s attention away from the true source of the COVID-19 pandemic, a novel coronavirus that originated in military laboratories overseen by China’s People’s Liberation Army.

SARS-CoV-2 has two unique features contained in the S1 section of the spike glycoprotein:

(1) a receptor-binding domain (RBD), which appears “pre-adapted” for human infection, but is structurally similar to the RBD of pangolins (scaly anteaters) and

(2) a furin polybasic cleavage site (amino acid sequence proline-arginine-arginine-alanine or PRRA), a distinctive feature that facilitates membrane fusion between the virus and the human cell and widely known for its ability to enhance pathogenicity and transmissibility, but not present in any closely related bat or pangolin coronaviruses.

A scientific study published on July 1, 2020 states that, while SARS-CoV-2 sequences share the greatest overall genetic similarity with bat coronaviruses, it is not the case for the RBD, which is “nearly identical” to that of two pangolin coronaviruses.

Those authors suggest that a cross-species recombination event between bat and pangolin coronaviruses had occurred.

Yet, there is no evidence supporting a natural viral recombination between bat and pangolin coronaviruses resulting in such an outcome.

When asked about that possibility of pangolins being the SARS-CoV-2 host, Dr. Ralph Baric, a coronavirus expert from the University of North Carolina, in a March 15, 2020 interview, stated that pangolins could not be the source:

“Pangolins have over 3,000 nucleotide changes – no way they are the reservoir species [for SARS-CoV-2], absolutely no chance.”

A scientific article published on August 5, 2020, “COVID-19: Time to exonerate the pangolin from the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans,” totally dismisses the notion that pangolins could have acted as a natural intermediate host for a human infection.

Given the overwhelming scientific evidence, the only recombination event possible for the appearance of a pangolin-like RBD in SARS-CoV-2 would be one occurring artificially in a laboratory.

Much has been made in the media about a newly reported bat coronavirus, RmYN02, also found in Yunnan Province by China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, which shares 93.3% nucleotide identity with SARS-CoV-2.

RmYN02 also has a proline-alanine-alanine (PAA) sequence, which has been used as evidence that the unique PRRA sequence found in SARS-CoCV-2 could have evolved naturally.

What is not highlighted is that the RBD of RmYN02 showed only a 61.3% sequence identity with SARS-CoV-2, meaning that RmYN02 could not bind to human cells.

In addition, the probably out-of-alignment amino acid sequence PAA is chemically neutral, totally unlike SARS-CoV-2’s polybasic PRRA cleavage site, giving PAA no ability to cleave anything.

What can be linked to SARS-CoV-2’s PRRA furin polybasic cleavage site is the extensive research being conducted on such cleavage sites and their pathological effects on humans by the Second Military Medical University in Shanghai, China, examples found here and here.

The science is unequivocal. As hard as China and the other proponents of the naturally-occurring narrative have tried, SARS-CoV-2 has features that cannot be explained by a natural evolutionary process. (For more from the author of “China Stands Accused of Manufacturing the COVID-19 Virus” please click HERE)

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Lawrence Sellin, PhD is a retired US Army Reserve colonel. He has previously worked at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and conducted basic and clinical research in the pharmaceutical industry. His email address is [email protected].

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Hong Kong Media Tycoon Arrested Under New Security Law

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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was arrested Monday on suspicion of collusion with foreign powers, his aide said, in the highest-profile use yet of the new national security law Beijing imposed on the city after protests last year. . .

Lai, who owns popular tabloid Apple Daily, is an outspoken pro-democracy figure in Hong Kong and regularly criticizes China’s authoritarian rule.

The national security law came into effect June 30 and is widely seen as a means to curb dissent after anti-government protests rocked Hong Kong last year. . .

The security law outlaws secessionist, subversive and terrorist acts, as well as collusion with foreign forces in the city’s internal affairs. The maximum punishment for serious offenders is life imprisonment. (Read more from “Hong Kong Media Tycoon Arrested Under New Security Law” HERE)

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Russia Sends Former Marine to Prison Established ‘as Part of the Gulag Under Stalin’

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Russian authorities have sent imprisoned Michigan native Paul Whelan to “a strict regimen camp” established “as part of the gulag under Stalin,” according to the former Marine’s twin brother. . .

Whelan has been sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment on charges of espionage based on allegations that his family says were trumped up by Russian security services with the assistance of a supposed friend who owed him money. His family believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government wants to swap Paul Whelan in a prospective deal involving high-profile Russian criminals in American prisons, but U.S. officials have dismissed the idea of a trade.

“We seem to be at sort of an impasse where if there are discussions going on, it’s not clear they’re going on,” David Whelan said. “And in fact, Paul being sent out to the labor camp suggests that there aren’t any activities going on between the two countries.”

The lack of communication was evident on Monday, when State Department officials made a routine inquiry about Paul Whelan’s status at Lefortovo Prison only to learn that he “wasn’t there anymore.” Prison authorities declined to provide any information about his whereabouts to the U.S. government, his brother said, but they told British officials on Tuesday that he had been sent by train to a camp in Mordovia.

“It is no surprise that once again the Russian authorities violated Russian law, by failing to notify our family about Paul’s whereabouts,” David Whelan wrote in an email to journalists and supporters. “It also shows how easily American citizens held in Russia can disappear from view, as consular access is now even more curtailed than it has been since Paul was first wrongly detained.” (Read more from “Russia Sends Former Marine to Prison Established ‘as Part of the Gulag Under Stalin'” HERE)

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India Bans More Chinese Smartphone Apps

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India banned an uncertain number of Chinese smartphone apps Tuesday, adding to the 59 banned at the end of June and 47 more, mostly clones and alternate versions of the original 59, in July.

One of the newly blacklisted apps is Mi Browser Pro, another version of a popular web browser that was preinstalled on many Chinese phones sold in India until the “Boycott China” initiative began.

Both banned versions of Mi Browser are products of the Chinese company Xiaomi, which said this week it was “working towards understanding the development” and would “adhere to all data privacy and security requirements under the Indian law.”

Voice of America News (VOA) noted that fully banning the Mi Browser could potentially halt the sale of Xiaomi smartphones, and others that normally preinstall the app, unless the phone makers agree to stop installing it on phones sold in India.

The updated blacklist includes browser plugins from Chinese mega-corporation Baidu, video editing tools, email services, and possibly the popular Chinese social media platform Weibo — effectively a substitute for Twitter, which China has banned citizens from using. IndiaTV quoted reports on Thursday that said the Weibo app does not appear on software download sites in India, including the Google Play Store. (Read more from “India Bans More Chinese Smartphone Apps” HERE)

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New North Korea Report Suggests Pyongyang Can Hit U.S. With Nukes

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North Korea likely already has the ability to mount nuclear warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to a United Nations report acquired by Reuters. The news has deepened concerns that major American cities are in range of Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal, despite the efforts of President Donald Trump’s administration to disarm Kim Jong Un.

The confidential UN report shows that several unnamed nations agree that North Korea has “probably developed miniaturized nuclear devices to fit into the warheads of its ballistic missiles.”

The interim report was submitted to the 15-member UN Security Council North Korea sanctions committee Monday, Reuters said, and also noted that Pyongyang is still violating international sanctions and engaging in lucrative cyberattacks to secure much-needed funds.

“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is continuing its nuclear program, including the production of highly enriched uranium and construction of an experimental light water reactor,” the report said. “A Member State assessed that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is continuing production of nuclear weapons.” (Read more from “New North Korea Report Suggests Pyongyang Can Hit U.S. With Nukes” HERE)

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WATCH: Massive Explosion Shakes Lebanon’s Capital, Dozens of Deaths Reported

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A massive explosion shook Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least 25 people and leaving dozens of others injured amid the widespread damage spread across Lebanon’s capital. . .

The health minister said more than 25 people were killed and over 2,500 injured.

Lebanese Red Cross official Georges Kettaneh said the injured were being taken to hospitals outside the capital because facilities there were at capacity. He put the number of casualties in the hundreds but said he did not have exact figures on dead or injured.

The afternoon blast shook several parts of the capital and thick smoke billowed from the city center. Residents reported windows being blown out, and balconies and ceilings collapsing. The explosion appeared to be centered around Beirut’s port and caused wide-scale destruction and shattered windows miles away.

A civil defense official on the scene of the blast said his men had evacuated dozens to hospitals and that there were still bodies inside the port, many of them under debris.

(Read more from “Massive Explosion Shakes Lebanon’s Capital, Dozens of Deaths Reported” HERE)

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Iran Cover-Up of COVID-19 Deaths Revealed by Data Leak

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The number of deaths from coronavirus in Iran is nearly triple what Iran’s government claims, a BBC Persian service investigation has found.

The government’s own records appear to show almost 42,000 people died with COVID-19 symptoms up to 20 July, versus 14,405 reported by its health ministry.

The number of people known to be infected is also almost double official figures: 451,024 as opposed to 278,827. . .

There have been irregularities in data between national and regional levels, which some local authorities have spoken out about, and statisticians have tried to give alternative estimates.

A level of undercounting, largely due to testing capacity, is seen across the world, but the information leaked to the BBC reveals Iranian authorities have reported significantly lower daily numbers despite having a record of all deaths – suggesting they were deliberately suppressed. (Read more from “Iran Cover-Up of COVID-19 Deaths Revealed by Data Leak” HERE)

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Sweden’s No-Lockdown COVID Numbers Are Even Better Than They Look

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In case you hadn’t heard, Sweden is one of the very few western nations that didn’t respond to COVID-19 by imposing any lockdowns.

Given the obvious hardship, misery, and death lockdowns bring, Sweden’s leaders decided it made more sense to just isolate the sick and elderly. They let the infection burn through the strong and healthy members of their population at its normal rate instead of trying to slow it down and thereby delaying herd immunity. . .

It turns out their COVID numbers are incredibly good even independently of the fact that they seem to be avoiding the recent spike in cases that lockdown nations are experiencing. . .

To start by considering Sweden’s numbers in isolation, their COVID fatalities were almost entirely restricted to the elderly. 88% were over 70 and 75% were in nursing homes or elder care. Only 4.5% of fatalities were under 60.

Sweden had less than 500 reported COVID fatalities under 70, just 12% of the total.

(Read more from “Sweden’s No-Lockdown COVID Numbers Are Even Better Than They Look” HERE)

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Iran Threatens ‘Crushing’ Retaliation as Pompeo Lauds U.S. Pressure Campaign; Iran Uses First Military Satellite to Map, Publish U.S. Base in Qatar

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By Newsweek. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened a “crushing” response to any perceived U.S. aggression, following the conclusion of large military exercises that prompted a high alert at two regional U.S. bases.

The IRGC issued a statement Thursday claiming to have sent a potent message to the U.S. with the combined armed drills, which included ballistic missile launches and an attack on a mock U.S. aircraft carrier. U.S. troops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were temporarily put on high alert during the missile launches.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never started a war, but in case of any aggression against Iran, IRGC and other powerful defenders of the country will give a decisive and crushing response,” the elite force—designated a terrorist organization by President Donald Trump’s administration—said, according to the Mehr News Agency. . .

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday that the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy on Iran was working and stressed that the White House would continue pushing Tehran. (Read more from “Iran Threatens ‘Crushing’ Retaliation as Pompeo Lauds U.S. Pressure Campaign” HERE)

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Iran Uses First Military Satellite to Map, Publish U.S. Base in Qatar

By Newsweek. Iran claims to have used its first military satellite—the launch of which was condemned by President Donald Trump’s administration—to publish detailed images of a U.S. air base in Qatar, according to state media.

The state-backed Press TV channel reported Wednesday that Iran’s Nour-1 satellite—operated by the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRCG)—took photos of the Al Udeid air base in Qatar, which hosts the forward headquarters of U.S. Central Command and the headquarters of U.S. Air Forces Central Command.

Press TV said the images covered the “full expanse” of the base, which it said hosts some 13,000 “terrorist” troops. Tehran has classified all U.S. forces as terrorists in retaliation for the Trump administration designating the IRGC a terrorist organization last year. (Read more from “Iran Uses First Military Satellite to Map, Publish U.S. Base in Qatar” HERE)

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