Trump attorney fed statement to publicist for Russians about Trump Tower meeting

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Senate Judiciary Committee released 2,500 pages of testimony with Trump’s son and others who met with Russian attorney at Trump Tower

The Trump Organization fed a prepared statement to a publicist for Russians involved in the notorious 2016 meeting at Trump Tower on what to tell the press about what was discussed, it emerged on Wednesday.

An attorney for the Trump family’s company urged the publicist to endorse Donald Trump Jr’s version of events and said it “would be our preference” if the representative did not say anything else in response to inquiries about the meeting.

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Stan Lee sues former company for $1bn in damages

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The 95-year-old comic-book creator claims POW! Entertainment executives brokered a ‘sham deal’ with a Chinese company that stole rights to his name

Famed Marvel superhero creator Stan Lee is seeking more than $1bn (£740m) in damages from his former company POW! Entertainment, alleging that he was tricked into signing a document giving away rights to use his name and likeness.

The comic-book legend, who is 95, is suing POW!, its co-founder Gill Champion and CEO Shane Duffy, alleging they brokered a “sham deal” to sell POW! to a China-based company, Camsing. Duffy is also the vice president of Camsing Entertainment.

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Trump discloses he reimbursed Michael Cohen for up to $250,000 in 2017

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Footnote buried in financial records confirms Trump paid Cohen for ‘expenses’, worth between $100,000 and $250,000

Donald Trump has officially disclosed – via a footnote in tiny print buried in his newly released financial records – that he reimbursed his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for up to $250,000 in 2017.

The exact reason for the payment is not given, beyond being stated as covering “expenses”, but came in the aftermath of Cohen paying $130,000 to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Trump a decade before he became president.

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As a proud Israeli I want peace. Killing Gazans won’t bring that | Maya Ilany | Opinion | The Guardian

Israel’s rightwing politicians claim to be the only ones who can be trusted with the country’s security, yet they show a reckless disregard for the dangerous consequences of their policies. Though Netanyahu’s government only has a majority of six seats, in the absence of a well-functioning opposition, he is still seen by Israelis to be the only leader who can provide them with security. The chair of the Knesset defence committee, Avi Dichter, said he isn’t worried about the prospect of a border breach because “the IDF has enough bullets for everyone”. The deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, said that the events in Gaza have nothing to do with the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem.

As a proud Israeli who wants my homeland to be safe and secure, these hollow and simplistic statements just won’t do. The Israeli government, which leads a state founded by Jewish refugees from all over the world 70 years ago who chose to take their fate into their own hands, is saying that the status quo is the only option. Meanwhile Palestinians are paying for the lack of brave leadership with their blood. Even if – for the sake of argument – all those who were killed on Monday had been terrorists, and the soldiers had no other choice, what next? What is the Israeli and Palestinian leadership doing to avoid the next round of violence and avoid further loss of life? If our leaders have no answers to these questions, then we need new leaders. • Maya Ilany is the deputy director of Yachad, and spent three years in the Israeli Defence Force

Source: As a proud Israeli I want peace. Killing Gazans won’t bring that | Maya Ilany | Opinion | The Guardian

In Rebuke of Trump, Tillerson Says Lies Are a Threat to Democracy – The New York Times

“If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom,” he said in a commencement address at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. Even small falsehoods and exaggerations are problematic, Mr. Tillerson said. (Mr. Trump is prone to both.) “When we as people, a free people, go wobbly on the truth even on what may seem the most trivial matters, we go wobbly on America,” Mr. Tillerson said.

Canada says it will cover losses in bid to finish Trans Mountain oil pipeline

Pipeline to endtime for panet!

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Pipeline builder had threatened to cancel the project as British Columbia blocks expansion on environmental grounds

Related: Canada quarrel pits British Columbia against Alberta in battle of oil and wine

Canada’s federal government will cover financial losses a pipeline builder might suffer if British Columbia’s provincial government continues to obstruct the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion said Bill Morneau, the country’s finance minister, on Wednesday.

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Mysterious rise in banned ozone-destroying chemical shocks scientists

Oops! Holy Ozone!

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CFCs have been outlawed for years but researchers have detected new production somewhere in east Asia

A sharp and mysterious rise in emissions of a key ozone-destroying chemical has been detected by scientists, despite its production being banned around the world.

Unless the culprit is found and stopped, the recovery of the ozone layer, which protects life on Earth from damaging UV radiation, could be delayed by a decade. The source of the new emissions has been tracked to east Asia, but finding a more precise location requires further investigation.

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Canada: Doug Ford rebuked after supporter chanted ‘lock her up’

Just what Canada does not need a clown posing as a political leader!

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Frontrunner for Ontario premier, the brother of former Toronto mayor Rob, has frequently rejected comparisons with Donald Trump

Doug Ford, the populist frontrunner in the race to become leader of Canada’s most populous province, has been accused of promoting “irresponsible rhetoric” after a supporter chanted “lock her up” about his rival at a campaign rally.

Related: Doug Ford supporters at Ontario debate revealed to be paid actors

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Emerg. Infect. & Microbes: Novel Triple-Reassortant influenza Viruses In Pigs, Guangxi, China

Yikes!

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As pork production rises around the world – particularly in countries where there is poor biosecurity and little surveillance – the risks of seeing another novel swine flu virus emerge as a pandemic threat continues to grow. 

While we watch avian H5 & H7 flu viruses with particular concern – mainly due to their high mortality rates in humans – swine, or swine-avian-human triple reassortant viruses – are perhaps even more likely to emerge as a pandemic threat.

Two and a half years ago, Chen Hualan – director of China’s National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory – gave an interview to Xinhua where she pegged the EA (Eurasian Avian-like) H1N1 swine virus (EAH1N1) as having perhaps the greatest pandemic potential of any of the novel viruses in circulation.

Avian-like H1N1 swine flu may “pose highest pandemic threat”: study

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) — The Eurasian avian-like H1N1 (EAH1N1) swine flu viruses, which have circulated in pigs since 1979, have obtained the ability to infect humans and may “pose the highest pandemic threat” among the flu viruses currently circulating in animals, Chinese researchers said Monday.

“Pigs are considered important intermediate hosts for flu viruses,” Chen Hualan, director of China’s National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory, who led the study, said in an written interview with Xinhua.

“Based on scientific analysis and comprehensive comparison of the main animal flu viruses: H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, H7N9, H9N2 and EAH1N1, we found the EAH1N1 is the one most likely to cause next human flu pandemic. We should attach great importance to the EAH1N1.”

(Continue . . . )

And indeed, we’ve been following the evolution of EAH1N1, along with other novel swine-origin viruses in China, with considerable interest.  A few recent blogs include:

Emerg. Microbes & Infect.: Effect Of D701N Substitution In PB2 Of EAH1N1 Swine Flu Viruses

J. Virology: A Single Amino Acid Change Alters Transmissability Of EAH1N1 In Guinea Pigs

Emerg. Microbes & Inf.: Pathogenicity & Transmission Of A Swine Influenza A(H6N6) Virus – China

Lest anyone think this is strictly a Chinese problem, we’ve also spent considerable time looking at the evolution and emergence of North American, European, and South American swine flu viruses as well.  Regions not mentioned are likely to have little or no surveillance and reporting.

I&ORV: Triple-Reassortant Novel H3 Virus of Human/Swine Origin Established In Danish Pigs

EID Journal: Characterization of a Novel Human Influenza A(H1N2) Virus Variant, Brazil

MMWR: Investigation Into H3N2v Outbreak In Ohio & Michigan – Summer 2016

J. Virol: Novel Reassortant Human-like H3N2 & H3N1 Influenza A Viruses In Pigs

And as we discussed yesterday (see PNAS: Broad Receptor Engagement of PDCoV May Potentiate Its Cross-Species Transmissibility), influenza isn’t the only zoonotic disease concern when it comes to pigs.

Nature’s Scientific Reports carries two related studies (albeit by different authors) on influenza in China’s commercial swine production industry.  The first, which is linked below with a short quote, is an article on surveillance.

Prospective surveillance for influenza. virus in Chinese swine farms

Benjamin D. Anderson, Mai-Juan Ma, Guo-Lin Wang, Zhen-Qiang Bi, Bing Lu, Xian-Jun Wang, Chuang-Xin Wang, Shan-Hui Chen, Yan-Hua Qian, Shao-Xia Song, Min Li, Teng Zhao, Meng-Na Wu, Laura K. Borkenhagen, Wu-Chun Cao & Gregory C. Gray

Excerpt

Overall, these first year data suggest that IAV is quite ubiquitous in the swine production environment and demonstrate an association between the different types of environmental sampling used. Given the mounting evidence that some of these viruses freely move between pigs and swine workers, and that mixing of these viruses can yield progeny viruses with pandemic potential, it seems imperative that routine surveillance for novel IAVs be conducted in commercial swine farms.

The second study (below) tells us a lot more about the growing number of novel triple reassortant swine-origin flu viruses circulating in Guangxi, China over the past few years.

Out of 15 isolates selected, researchers found 10 novel reassortant viruses (see chart below), all hybrids of EAH1N1, H1N1/09, CS H1N1, and HL H3N2, and all reportedly replicated in mice without adaptation, with several proving to be lethal. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41426-018-0088-z

Being a snapshot in time, and taken from a single Chinese province (ranked 11th in population), this likely only reveals a fraction of the viral diversity on Chinese pig farms.

I’ve only posted the link, abstract, and as short excerpt from the discussion. Follow the link below to read it in its entirety.

Novel triple-reassortant influenza viruses in pigs, Guangxi, China 

Ping He, Guojun Wang, Yanning Mo, Qingxiong Yu, Xiong Xiao, Wenjuan Yang,
Weifeng Zhao, Xuan Guo, Qiong Chen, Jianqiao He, Mingli Liang, Jian Zhu, Yangbao Ding, Zuzhang Wei, Kang Ouyang, Fang Liu, Hui Jian, Weijian Huang,
Adolfo García-Sastre & Ying Chen

Emerging Microbes & Infections volume 7, Article number: 85 (2018)
doi:10.1038/s41426-018-0088-z


Published:16 May 2018

Abstract

Considered a “mixing vessel” for influenza viruses, pigs can give rise to new influenza virus reassortants that can threaten humans. During our surveillance of pigs in Guangxi, China from 2013 to 2015, we isolated 11 H1N1 and three H3N2 influenza A viruses of swine origin (IAVs-S). 

Out of the 14, we detected ten novel triple-reassortant viruses, which contained surface genes (hemagglutinin and neuraminidase) from Eurasian avian-like (EA) H1N1 or seasonal human-like H3N2, matrix (M) genes from H1N1/2009 pandemic or EA H1N1, nonstructural (NS) genes from classical swine, and the remaining genes from H1N1/2009 pandemic. 

Mouse studies indicate that these IAVs-S replicate efficiently without prior adaptation, with some isolates demonstrating lethality. Notably, the reassortant EA H1N1 viruses with EA-like M gene have been reported in human infections. Further investigations will help to assess the potential risk of these novel triple-reassortant viruses to humans.

       (SNIP)

Currently, influenza A H1N1 and H3N2 viruses are the circulating seasonal influenza A viruses subtypes in human. The H1N1/2009 pandemic became the current seasonal H1N1 virus.

Our EA H1N1 HAs share < 73.7 and 78.1% similarity with the H1N1/2009 pandemic vaccine strain (A/Michigan/45/2015 H1N1), at nucleotide level and amino acid level, respectively. Our H3N2 IAVs-S share < 94.1 and 91.5% similarity with the H3N2 vaccine strain (A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 H3N2), at nucleotide level and amino acid level, respectively.

Studies have reported that seasonal trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine induce poor cross-reactive antibodies to EA H1N1 virus23 and does not protect against swine H3N257. Importantly, according to the risk assessment tool, which is developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States to evaluate the pandemic potential of different influenza strains58, we found that the EA H1N1 and swine H3N2 viruses are among the animal viruses with the highest risk score in Yang’s analysis26. Besides, at least one human infection with a similar reassortant IAV-S has been reported22.

We suggest that intensive surveillance of IAV-S and of swine-to-human infections with the IAV-S described in our study should be a priority for future research.

(Continue . . . .)

Laila… what was her guilt to be killed? ليلى..بأي ذنب قتلت؟

“”What is the guilt of these children?
These young men and adults?
What guilt did a handicapped commit to being killed?
What sin does a child have to perish?
Why did Laila perish at the age eight months?
Do not lay the responsibility of our weakness on the victims.
Do not carry those who stand on the lines of fire and face aggression with their bare bodies, our falsified testimony to the occurring crimes.
The injustice that Gaza has been subjected to over the years is intolerable.
What we see is real heroism.
Un-armed bodies, young souls, lives annihilating in front of tyranny and massive military mechanisms.
The spirit of Laila and her fellow martyrs will be roaming above our fossilized hearts. Laila’s eyes, which were extinguished too early, will ask about the feasibility of seeing in a human being whose heart has been blinded.
I don’t find better than Mahmoud Darwish’s words about Gaza to close with :
“Because time in Gaza is not a neutral element … it does not push people to the coldness of observation … but it drives them to burst and to be influenced by the truth.
Time there does not take children from childhood to old age but makes them men in the first encounter with the enemy.
Time in Gaza is not relaxed but storming the burning afternoon … because the values in Gaza vary .. differ
The only benefit of the occupied is the extent of his resistance to the occupation.
It is the only competition there.
Gaza has become addicted to knowing this superior and cruel value. It has not learned from books or from urgent courses
Neither loud trumpets nor loudspeakers.
Gazans have learned it by experiment alone and with work that is not for advertising and image. ”

نادية حرحش

English follows

تملأ الصفحات أسماء وصور شهداء العودة، تحكي قصصاً لحياة كانت بالكاد تبدأ، أحلام وتوقعات، آمال وطموحات بالكاد ترى افقاً خارج حدود الحصار من كل الاتجاهات.

لوم وتساؤلات، عتب ومطالبة بمسؤوليات.

بين من يحمّل المسؤولين في غزة وزر القتل والذبح الحاصل، وبين من يتساءل عن سلاح المقاومة، يبقى الضحايا من الجرحى والشهداء هم أسياد الموقف.

هناك من يروج لفكرة ان ما يحدث من تعريض الابرياء للقتل ليس الا محاولة لفضح الاحتلال وبالتالي ما يجري من قتل يتحمل مسؤوليته اولياء الامر في البلاد.

وهناك من يروج في صحافة أخرى ان جيش الاحتلال يقتل اولئك المدججون بالسلاح من المصطفين على الحدود الشائكة، وهناك منهم من يروج بأن اولئك قد تم الدفع لهم مسبقاً من اجل ان يموتوا.

والحقيقة لا ارى فرقا بين اعلام يحمل القيادة في غزة المسؤولية عن قتل المتظاهرين وبين اعلام يحمل القتلى والجرحى المسؤولية عن قتلهم.

كعادة الحروب المستمرة هناك حسابات تدفع من قبل الشعب وتؤخذ من قبل…

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