Report: China Jails Christian Teenager for Practicing Banned Religion

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Police in southwestern China this summer sentenced a Christian teenager to three years in prison for practicing her faith, human rights magazine Bitter Winter revealed on Tuesday.

In Yunnan province, which borders Vietnam, the People’s Court of Jianshui county sentenced 19-year-old Jiang Guangmei to three years in prison on June 29.

“She was charged with ‘using a xie jiao [cult] organization to undermine law enforcement’ and also fined 3,000 RMB (about $430),’” according to the magazine. Police first arrested Jiang in September 2018 when she was 17 for writing articles about her religious experience as a member of the Church of Almighty God (CAG).

“[A]ccording to the [CAG’s] official history, the denomination whose Chinese name translates as ‘Eastern Lightning’ was founded in the belief that Christ is born again and back on Earth in the guise of a mysterious leader of the faith — a woman who may now be living in the New York metropolitan area,” the Daily Beast wrote of CAG in February. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has branded CAG a cult, or xie jiao in Mandarin, and banned the church in China.

Jiang’s crime of “writing articles about her religious experience” in CAG is an action targeted by the CCP as “a common pretext to jail members of China’s banned religious groups,” according to the report. According to Jiang’s verdict, she received her three-year prison sentence because she would not admit that practicing her faith was a crime. (Read more from “Report: China Jails Christian Teenager for Practicing Banned Religion” HERE)

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Hunter Biden’s Chinese Firm Helped Buy Out American Company to Create Jobs Overseas

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Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden delivered a speech in Macomb County, Michigan, on Wednesday, slamming the practice of outsourcing. Unmentioned was his son Hunter’s ties to a Chinese government acquisition of a Michigan company that is delivering jobs to China, Mexico, Europe, and South America. . .

Biden’s pitch, though, is muffled by his son Hunter’s ties to the Chinese government.

First detailed in Peter Schweizer’s, president of the Government Accountability Institute and senior contributor at Breitbart News, 2018 New York Times bestseller Secret Empires, Hunter Biden sat on the board of directors of Bohai Harvest RST (BHR), a private equity firm he founded that was funded with $1.5 billion from the Chinese government via the Bank of China.

The dealings of BHR, from which Hunter Biden stepped down in October 2019, were most recently noted in Schweizer’s Profiles in Corruption.

Specifically, Hunter Biden sat on the board of BHR while the firm jointly acquired Michigan-based Henniges Automotive with the Chinese government-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) for $600 million. . .

While the deal was finalized and afterward, executives at Henniges announced manufacturing expansions in China, Mexico, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and South America. (Read more from “Hunter Biden’s Chinese Firm Helped Buy Out American Company to Create Jobs Overseas” HERE)

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Country That Refused to Lockdown Now Among World’s Safest From Virus

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After widespread criticism for its decision not to implement comprehensive lockdowns or mask requirements, Sweden now has one of the lowest coronavirus infection rates in the world.

“Sweden has gone from being the country with the most infections in Europe to the safest one,” said the country’s senior epidemiologist, Dr. Anders Tegnell, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the Gateway Pundit reported.

“What we see now is that the sustainable policy might be slower in getting results, but it will get results eventually,” Tegnell said. “And then we also hope that the result will be more stable.”

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control last week said Sweden’s infection rate is about 12 cases per million, compared to 18 in Denmark and 14 in Norway.

Of 2,500 randomly selected and tested Swedes, zero tested positive, compared to 0.9% positive in April and 0.3% in May, the center said. (Read more from “Country That Refused to Lockdown Now Among World’s Safest From Virus” HERE)

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Serious Problem Identified: Chinese ‘Infection’ of U.S. Power Grid

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China and “probably one or two other” countries can shut down the U.S. power grid through a cyberattack. This disturbing revelation was made by Admiral Michael Rogers, former head of the National Security Agency, to Congress – in November 2014.

China has also become the world’s leading supplier of transformers – the “spine” of electricity grids — according to a 2014 U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) report. This also presents significant challenges to U.S. grid security.

For economic and security reasons, the United States should no longer purchase transformers and other electric grid equipment manufactured in China. It is important to end relationships that U.S. utilities have directly with Chinese businesses and multi-national companies manufacturing transformers in China.

These actions are envisioned under a May 1 Executive Order President Trump issued on protecting the bulk-power grid. Chinese power equipment provided to the U.S. can be embedded with software and hardware to remotely commit mischief from Beijing, enhancing its ability to commit cyberattacks. . .

Meanwhile, Chinese transformer manufacturers are thriving. On its website, JiangSu HuaPeng Transformer Co. (JSHP Transformer) boasts that it has recently completed projects for customers in Houston, Las Vegas, and New Jersey. On August 5, Baobian Electric shipped the first of three phase reactors to the New Mexico Public Utilities Service Company. (Read more from “Serious Problem Identified: Chinese ‘Infection’ of U.S. Power Grid” HERE)

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Disney Under Fire for Filming ‘Mulan’ in Chinese City With Concentration Camps

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Disney has drawn a backlash for its indifference to religious freedom and human rights, cozying up to the Chinese Communist Party and filming parts of its new live action blockbuster Mulan in a city that incarcerates Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

In March, 2016, Disney threatened to boycott the state of Georgia over a religious freedom bill that guaranteed faith-based organizations and individuals the right to abstain from activities violating their “sincerely held religious beliefs.” . . .

While Disney saw fit to punish Georgia for its zealous dedication to religious freedom, now the company has rewarded the Chinese Communist Party for its egregious violations of human rights and religious freedom.

Disney’s elected to film its live-action remake of Mulan in China’s Xinjiang province, the very site of China’s documented widespread human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. China has interned at least one million Muslims in Xinjiang extrajudicial concentration camps and officials have reportedly subjected Uyghur women to hard labor and torture as well as forced sterilizations and abortions.

In the final credits of the film, Disney offers “special thanks” to eight government entities in Xinjiang, including the public security bureau in Turpan, a city in eastern Xinjiang where several re-education camps are located. (Read more from “Disney Under Fire for Filming ‘Mulan’ in Chinese City With Concentration Camps” HERE)

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Pentagon: Chinese Air Force Fast-Becoming MASSIVE Threat

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New attack drones, 5th-generation stealth fighter jets, reconfigured cargo planes and Russian-built air defenses are making China’s Air Force even deadlier. In fact, all of these advances present a great concern to U.S. war planners.

The size of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force is reported to include a total of 2,500 aircraft, making it the third-largest in the world, according to the Pentagon’s 2020 China Military Power report.

U.S. threat assessors are not merely concerned about the size of the Chinese Air Force but the increasing technical sophistication and multi-mission tactics with which it operates. For instance, as part of its discussion of Chinese airpower, the report notes that China operates highly advanced, Russian-built S-400 and S-500 air defenses.

These systems, among the best in the world, increasingly use networked digital processors, faster computer speeds and a wider range of frequencies to detect aircraft. Russian media reports have claimed that their air defenses can even track stealth aircraft, a claim that has yet to be formally verified.

Yet another concern with China’s air power is its fast-increasing attack range. The Chinese Y-20 cargo plane, for instance, is likely being configured into a tanker aircraft to nearly double the attack range of Chinese fighter jets. Technically speaking, while the U.S. Air Force’s KC-46 tanker is certainly different from its C-130s, it would not be at all technically difficult to convert a large Y-20 into a tanker configuration. (Read more from “Pentagon: Chinese Air Force Fast-Becoming Massive Threat” HERE)

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Russia Convinced It Has ‘Best Vaccine in the World’ After Promising Study Results

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A COVID-19 vaccine developed and tested in Russia successfully generated an antibody response and showed no serious adverse effects, according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet on Friday.

The peer-reviewed data could put Russia at the top of its race with the U.S., Europe, and China for developing a successful vaccine against the virus. Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive officer of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, told Bloomberg on Friday that the country believes that their development is the “best in the world.”

“Russia has answered the questions that have been asked about it,” he said. “And we are convinced that we have the best vaccine in the world.” (Read more from “Russia Convinced It Has ‘Best Vaccine in the World’ After New Study Results” HERE)

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China: ‘Radical’ Trump Administration Building ‘New Iron Curtain’

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President Trump’s administration is a “radical” group bent on provoking “a second Cold War” with Beijing, a senior Chinese diplomat argued while attempting to woo European powers.

“In modern history, the progress of human civilization has been halted several times by radical forces,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the French Institute of International Relations in Paris. “What we are seeing now is that some are again maneuvering to draw a new Iron Curtain, erect another Berlin Wall, and start a second Cold War. The China-U.S. relationship is in its most testing time since the establishment of diplomatic relations.”

The Chinese envoy offered that denunciation to cap a week of overtures to European nations, a diplomatic swing that came on the heels of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s most recent round of warnings about the threats posed by Chinese espionage and economic influence. Wang called attention to disputes between U.S. and European officials, especially around climate change policy and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, while urging the French audience to overlook the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian nature.

“Despite the difference in social systems, China and the EU are meant to be comprehensive strategic partners, not systemic rivals,” he said, referring to the European Union’s landmark 2019 warning about China. (Read more from “China: ‘Radical’ Trump Administration Building ‘New Iron Curtain’” HERE)

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China Suppresses Catholics Under COVID-19 Cover

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Hundreds of underground Catholics in mainland China were stopped from celebrating the Feast of the Assumption on Aug. 15 in the latest example of communists suppressing Christians under cover of Covid-19.

Although most public places, including movie halls, remain open, churches are yet to function in most parts of China. The Marian feast is a day of obligation for Catholics when they are required to take part in Eucharistic liturgy.

Traditionally, the Feast of the Assumption is considered one of the major Catholic celebrations in China along with Christmas and Easter, when hundreds gather in their parish churches for solemn liturgical celebrations and exchange greetings.

However, this year most churches of the underground communities in Shenyang, Liaoning province, were closed. Officials presented it as a step to avoid large gatherings to check the spread of Covid-19.

A few churches were opened but police beefed up patrols to restrict the number of people gathering in them, local Catholics told UCA News. (Read more from “China Suppresses Catholics Under COVID-19 Cover” HERE)

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A Naturally-Occurring COVID-19 Is the Real Conspiracy Theory

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There are new indications that China manufactured the novel coronavirus.

The unique structural features of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, produce an extremely high infection rate and multi-organ secondary infections making this virus more dangerous and challenging for therapeutic interventions.

Although sharing the same human angiotensin converting enzyme-2 receptor, SARS-CoV-2 is more selective for the human receptor and is, overall, far more infectious than SARS-CoV-1, the coronavirus responsible for the 2002-2003 pandemic, which also originated in China.

One of those unique features of SARS-CoV-2 is a furin polybasic cleavage site that facilitates membrane fusion between the virus and the human cell and is widely known for its ability to enhance pathogenicity and transmissibility, but is not present in any closely related bat coronaviruses.

The enhanced ability for membrane fusion may be a cause for the multi-organ infection observed in SARS-CoV-2 patients.

A new scientific study published on August 19, 2020 suggests that other structures in SARS-CoV-2, similar to those found in Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), may also contribute to that alternate infection process.

The MERS-CoV 2012 pandemic produced a total of 2519 cases and 866 deaths, an extraordinary 34% mortality rate.

Like SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV is believed to have originated in bats of the beta-coronavirus lineage, but may have passed through camels as an intermediate host before infecting humans.

Unlike SARS-CoV-2, which uses the angiotensin converting enzyme-2 receptor for human infection, MERS-CoV uses a different receptor, Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4), and its overall structure is only 40% similar SARS-CoV-2, meaning one could not have evolved from the other.

Yet, SARS-CoV-2 appears to possess a dual receptor strategy for the infection of human cells, similar to MERS-CoV.

In a comparative sequence analysis of the N-terminal domain of the spike protein that drives the binding and fusion process, the authors identified three extended “loop” regions in SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV, but not in SARS-CoV-1, which may give SARS-CoV-2 additional capability to bind to and enter a variety of human cells.

Taken together the unique structural features of SARS-CoV-2 suggest a coronavirus that was highly adapted for human infection.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous unsuccessful attempts have been made to provide conclusive evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is naturally occurring.

A recent non-peer reviewed article “A Proposed Origin for SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 Pandemic,” written by Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson and published on their own website has garnered some interest in the non-scientific media as a possible explanation for the natural origin of SARS-CoV-2.

This elegantly-written and well-documented review, which provides a unique and valuable translation of a Chinese clinical study, is nevertheless marred by offering an untenable theory of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 based on the serendipitous linking of a series of undocumented assumptions.

Although not concisely stated, the Latham-Wilson theory seems to suggest that SARS-CoV-2 originated as respiratory infections in miners working in a cave in Mojiang, Yunnan Province China in 2012, who were infected by a coronavirus while working among bat feces, presumably by RaTG13, SARS-CoV-2’s alleged closest relative,

Over time, RaTG13 rapidly evolved inside at least one of the miners to create SARS-CoV-2. Biological samples from that miner eventually found their way to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where unfrozen samples of the fully human-adapted SARS-CoV-2 infected a laboratory worker and began the COVID-19 pandemic.

First of all, the extent of viral evolution in a single patient that would be required to go from RaTG13 to SARS-CoV-2, about 1,200 nucleotides, is unprecedented in the annals of scientific inquiry.

Latham and Wilson attribute the adaptation to the viral load within a large lung surface area and, in particular, a lengthy infection lasting over four months.

Yet, despite the presence of an active infection of a coronavirus highly adapted for human infection, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, even though the Chinese clinical study provides no indication of special quarantine efforts and a therapeutic regime resembling that for ordinary respiratory infections, including fungal infections.

Although it seems likely that the miners experienced an initial viral respiratory infection and secondary, probably bacterial infections, tests for viral infections, including SARS-CoV-1, were negative during the course of hospitalisation.

It was only afterwards, that the Chinese clinical study mentions a positive test for an unidentified virus, one possibility being henipa-like virus, which was also discovered in the same cave along with numerous types of bat coronaviruses.

Strangely, the Wuhan Institute of Virology was experimenting with RaTG13 during 2017 and 2018, while SARS-CoV-2 was supposedly tucked away in a freezer, the Chinese scientists never making the connection between RaTG13 and the miners’ infection.

Finally, although not conclusive in itself, it seems that such a unique, direct bat-to-human natural coronavirus infection would have been big news in the virology community in 2012, yet it went practically unnoticed.

If the Latham and Wilson theory proves anything, it demonstrates the lengths one must go in evidence-stretching to show that SARS-CoV-2 is naturally-occurring, when one begins by precluding the possibility that it was manufactured in a laboratory. (For more from the author of “A Naturally-Occurring COVID-19 Is the Real Conspiracy Theory” 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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