Armenians protest Nagorno-Karabakh truce terms for a 3rd day

Protesters with Armenian flags walk along a street during a protest against an agreement to halt fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, in Yerevan, Armenia, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. Thousands of people flooded the streets of Yerevan once again on Wednesday, protesting an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan to halt the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, which calls for deployment of nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers and territorial concessions. Protesters clashed with police, and scores have been detained. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

By ASSOCIATED PRESS |
PUBLISHED: November 12, 2020 
By AVET DEMOURIAN | Associated Press

YEREVAN, Armenia — Thousands massed Thursday in Armenia’s capital to protest the terms of a cease-fire agreement that gave territorial concessions to Azerbaijan in the long-running conflict over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The rally marked the third straight day of demonstrations triggered by the truce to halt more than six weeks of deadly fighting between the two ex-Soviet nations. Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

The Moscow-brokered agreement calls for Armenia to turn over control of some areas its holds outside Nagorno-Karabakh’s borders to Azerbaijan.


It prompted celebrations in Baku, but angered Armenians, and many took to the streets soon after it was announced early Tuesday. Protesters stormed government buildings and demanded that the pact be invalidated.


Russian air-force cargo plane Ilyushin Il-76 MD flies over Yerevan, Armenia, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. More than a dozen planes carrying Russian peacekeepers headed for Nagorno-Karabakh on Tuesday, hours after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to halt fighting over the separatist region and amid signs this cease-fire would hold where others hadn’t. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)






A police officer guards as people gather in a street during a protest against an agreement to halt fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, in Yerevan, Armenia, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. Thousands of people flooded the streets of Yerevan once again on Wednesday, protesting an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan to halt the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, which calls for deployment of nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers and territorial concessions. Protesters clashed with police, and scores have been detained. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

At a large rally Wednesday, Armenian opposition parties and their supporters demanded that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian resign, calling the agreement he signed “treacherous” and “humiliating.”

Late in the evening, lawmakers called an emergency session of parliament to consider Pashinian’s dismissal but didn’t have a quorum to follow through with it. Pashinian’s faction holds 88 of 132 seats in parliament, and its members didn’t show up.

Armenian authorities said Thursday they detained 10 opposition politicians on charges of fomenting mass unrest. Naira Zograbyan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia opposition party, said at Thursday’s rally that those detained were political prisoners and expressed concern about further crackdowns on the opposition.

Crowds of people marched through the center of Yerevan and denounced Pashinian, chanting “Nikol, go away!” and “Nikol the traitor!” Over 60 people were detained, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. Heavy fighting that flared up on Sept. 27 marked the biggest escalation in over a quarter-century, killing hundreds and possibly thousands of people.

Several cease-fires in the past six weeks failed to halt the violence, but the current agreement appeared to be holding, with neither side reporting any more fighting since it came into force.

The truce came days after Azerbaijan pushed deeper into Nagorno-Karabakh and took control of the city of Shushi, strategically positioned on heights overlooking the regional capital of Stepanakert.

While Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev called the agreement a “glorious victory,” Pashinian insisted in a series of video statements that he had no other choice. On Thursday, he said he signed the pact after the military reported that “the war urgently needs to be stopped,” and the separatist leader of Nagorno-Karabakh told him that “we could lose Stepanakert in a matter of hours.”

Under the agreement, Russia began to deploy peacekeepers to the region — a total of 1,960 of them are to move in under a five-year mandate.

Turkey, which threw its weight behind Azerbaijan in the conflict and sought to play a more prominent role in the peace process, will be involved in monitoring the cease-fire.

Russian and Turkish defense ministers signed a memorandum Wednesday to create a joint monitoring center in Azerbaijan — a move announced earlier this week by Aliyev.

At the same time Russian officials underscored that Ankara’s involvement will be limited to the work of the center on Azerbaijani soil, and Turkish peacekeepers will not go to Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The center will operate remotely, using technical means of control, including drones, to determine the situation on the ground in Karabakh and determine which side is observing and which is violating the cease-fire,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

__

Associated Press writer Daria Litvinova in Moscow contributed.

Armenians Threaten Lawmakers, RFE/RL Bureau Following Nagorno-Karabakh Truce
November 10, 2020 

By RFE/RL's Armenian Service

The incident at RFE/RL's bureau in Yerevan happened in the early hours of the morning of November 10, when protesters also stormed government buildings and parliament (pictured).

YEREVAN -- Armenia's ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, has condemned the violence by protesters amid unrest triggered by the signing of a Russian-brokered agreement with Azerbaijan to end fighting over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Tatoyan said in a statement on November 10 that an attack on parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan, and a subsequent incident involving about 40 men who swarmed the bureau of RFE/RL's Armenian Service (Azatutyun) in Yerevan threatening journalists was "unacceptable."

"Violence against Ararat Mirzoyan is unacceptable and deserves all condemnation, especially as he had a child with him," Tatoyan said in the statement.

"The attack on the Yerevan office of Radio Liberty should be condemned. According to the information at this time, there was an attempt to attack the property and equipment of the media, and there was also an attack on media personnel," the ombudsman added.

The November 10 announcement of a Russia-brokered truce to end fighting between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians in the enclave has threatened to spark a political crisis in Armenia, where angry protesters stormed government buildings and parliament.

The mob later rushed RFE/RL's bureau, calling the broadcaster's Armenian Service "traitors" and "Turks" in a tirade against the government over what they perceive as a surrender in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"You are responsible for the deaths of my friends [in Nagorno-Karabakh]," one of the attackers charged.

Others said they wanted to destroy Azatutyun's computer servers to keep journalists from going on the air.

RFE/RL acting President Daisy Sindelar said that what happened at the Yerevan bureau was "a reprehensible assault on the essential duty of journalists to serve as impartial witnesses during major news events."

"Our Armenian Service, Azatutyun, is one of the few media outlets in Armenia that has aimed to present all sides of a deeply divisive conflict. We call on the police and public alike to support the right of Azatutyun and all independent journalists to report the news, objectively and in full, without threat of violence or scapegoating," Sindelar added.

The Union of Journalist of Armenia also strongly condemned the attacks and any threats against media.

Artak Hambardzumian, an executive producer with RFE/RL's Armenian Service, said he identified one of the men as Gerasim Vardanian, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun), one of nearly two dozen political parties that are demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation.

Hambardzumian said the men tried to break the door to the bureau and attack him and a cameraman.

PSA

‘PLEASE DO NOT BLOW VAPE SMOKE INTO YOUR XBOX SERIES X,’ SAYS MICROSOFT

12 November 2020

by Richard Breslin

Yes you’ve read that headline correctly; Microsoft has had to warn players via social media not to blow vape smoke into the Xbox Series X console.

Credit: Microsoft

Earlier in the week a video was shared across social media which appears to show smoke coming from an Xbox Series X console. The video was apparently made to give the impression that there was something wrong with the console in question, as some form of hoax.

However there wasn’t anything wrong with the console. The reason why the console was seemingly blowing smoke was because the console owner was blowing vape smoke into the bottom end of the Xbox Series X, causing the “smoke” to seep through the vents.

Check it out in the video below.

CANSADO de las FAKE NEWS.
Os dejo un video MIO explicando porque es Fake lo de la consola "Quemada" y como han logrado este efecto incluso estando la consola "APAGADA" pic.twitter.com/LfXzIBSu6N— Xbox Studio (@XboxStudio) November 11, 2020

In an attempt to put a stop to this viral behaviour so that it doesn’t become a widespread issue across social media, the official Xbox page sent out a tweet.

“We can’t believe we have to say this, but please do not blow Vape smoke into your Xbox Series X,” said the page, officially creating a meme.

We can't believe we have to say this, but please do not blow vape smoke into your Xbox Series X.— Xbox (@Xbox) November 11, 2020

To add humour to the situation, Xbox followed-up with a tweet sharing links for any Xbox Series X related support.

“For any non-Vape related support questions please check out the info here,” the team tweeted.

For any non-vape related support questions please check out the info here: https://t.co/3CVPbbNm6D— Xbox (@Xbox) November 11, 2020

To add further humour, Anthony Carboni host of Star Wars Emmy-Award winning show “We have Concerns” tweeted “You’re not my dad.”

You’re not my dad https://t.co/eoN0dyMecI— Anthony Carboni (@acarboni) November 11, 2020

Joking aside, if you own an Xbox Series X or any console for that matter, it doesn’t matter if you’re a member of Vape Nation or not, don’t blow vape smoke into your console.

The Xbox Series X|S released worldwide this week on Tuesday, November 10th.

Console rival PlayStation 5 also releases this week, today in North America, Australia and New Zealand. The PS5 will then release everywhere else across the world on Thursday, November 19th.

Can Trump actually stage a coup and stay in office for a second term?

Trump refuses to acknowledge Biden’s win, but experts say there isn’t a constitutional path forward for him to remain president

The fight to vote is supported by About this content
Sam Levine in New York Thu 12 Nov 2020 
 

Donald Trump participates in a Veterans Day observance at Arlington national cemetery in Virginia on 11 November. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

Joe Biden won the presidential election, a fact that Donald Trump and other Republicans refuse to acknowledge.

Trump's longshot election lawsuits: where do things stand?
Read more 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/10/donald-trump-longshot-election-lawsuits

There are worries the president and other Republicans will make every effort to stay in power. “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, said on Tuesday. William Barr, the attorney general, has also authorized federal prosecutors to begin to investigate election irregularities, a move that prompted the head of the justice department’s election crimes unit to step down from his position and move to another role.

Despite all of Trump’s machinations, it is extremely unlikely he can find a way to stay in power or stage a coup. Here’s an explanation of why:

Donald Trump refuses to accept that Joe Biden won the presidential election. Is there a constitutional path for him to stage a coup and stay in office for another term?

Not really. The electoral college meets on 14 December to cast its vote for president and nearly every state uses the statewide popular vote to allocate its electors. Biden is projected to win far more than the 270 electoral votes he needs to become president. His victory doesn’t hinge on one state and he has probably insurmountable leads in Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

There is a long-shot legal theory, floated by Republicans before the election, that Republican-friendly legislatures in places such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania could ignore the popular vote in their states and appoint their own electors. Federal law allows legislatures to do this if states have “failed to make a choice” by the day the electoral college meets. But there is no evidence of systemic fraud of wrongdoing in any state and Biden’s commanding margins in these places make it clear that the states have in fact made a choice.

“If the country continues to follow the rule of law, I see no plausible constitutional path forward for Trump to remain as president barring new evidence of some massive failure of the election system in multiple states,” Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in elections, wrote in an email. “It would be a naked, antidemocratic power grab to try to use state legislatures to get around the voters’ choice and I don’t expect it to happen.”

For lawmakers in a single state to choose to override the clear will of its voters this way would be extraordinary and probably cause a huge outcry. For Trump to win the electoral college, several states would have to take this extraordinary step, a move that would cause extreme backlash and a real crisis of democracy throughout the country.

Play Video

3:51 One week on: how Trump handled losing the US election – video report

 A live broadcast of Donald Trump speaking from the White House is shown on screens at an election night party in Las Vegas on 3 November. Photograph: John Locher/AP

“There’s a strange fascination with various imagined dark scenarios, perhaps involving renegade state legislatures, but this is more dystopian fiction than anything likely to happen,” said Richard Pildes, a law professor at New York University. “The irony, or tragedy, is that we managed to conduct an extremely smooth election, with record turnout, under exceptionally difficult circumstances – and yet, a significant portion of the president’s supporters are now convinced that the process was flawed.”

Is there any indication Republicans in these important states are going to go along with this?

Shortly after election day, Jake Corman, the top Republican in the Pennsylvania state senate, indicated his party would “follow the law” in Pennsylvania, which requires awarding electors to the winner of the popular vote. In an October op-ed, Corman said the state legislature “does not have and will not have a hand in choosing the state’s presidential electors or in deciding the outcome of the presidential election”.

Could Republicans ignore the popular vote and choose their own pro-Trump electors?
Read more https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/25/trump-attack-election-electors-republicans

But on Tuesday, Republicans in the Pennsylvania legislature said they wanted to investigate allegations of voter fraud. There’s no evidence of widespread malfeasance in the state, but the move is alarming because it could be the beginning of an effort to undermine the popular vote results in the state. The Republican-led legislature in Michigan is also investigating the election, as are Republicans in Wisconsin. There’s no evidence of widespread wrongdoing in either place.
Is this related in any way to the lawsuits Trump is filing?

Trump’s campaign has filed a slew of legally dubious suits since election day. The purpose of these suits appears not to be to actually overturn the election results, but to try to create uncertainty and draw out the counting process.

Each state has its own deadlines for certifying election results that are then used to allocate its electoral college votes. In at least two states, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Trump’s campaign is seeking to block officials from certifying results.

That certification timeline is important because federal law says that as long as election results are finalized by 8 December this year, the result is “conclusive”. That provides a safeguard against Congress, which is responsible for counting the electoral college votes, from second-guessing election results. By dragging out the process, the Trump campaign may be seeking to blow past that deadline and create more wiggle room to second-guess the results.

Even if that is the Trump campaign’s hope, courts are unlikely to step in, Pildes said.

“States are going to start certifying their vote totals beginning in less than 10 days, and there is no basis in the claims made thus far for the courts to stop that process,” he said.

Play Video

5:51 Can Joe Biden and Kamala Harris unite America after Trump? – video explainer

Say the worst-case scenario comes to fruition and Republican-led legislatures override the will of the people in several states. Is there any safeguard to stop Trump?

Yes. Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada all have Democratic governors who would refuse to approve a set of Trump electors with the popular vote clearly showing Biden winning their state. Instead, they would submit the electors Biden is entitled to as the winner of the popular vote.

It would then fall to Congress, which is charged with counting the votes from the electoral college, to decide what to do. The law that outlines the process for how Congress should handle a dispute in electors from a state is extremely confusing, but experts believe the slate backed by a state’s governor is the legally sound one. There is a rival theory that the president of the Senate, Mike Pence, could have control over the process. A dispute over electors between the US House and Senate is a worst-case scenario and the US supreme court would probably be asked to step in.

Regardless of however long a dispute is, the constitution does set one final deadline. Even if counting is ongoing, the president and vice-president’s terms both end at noon on 20 January. At that point if there isn’t a final result in the race, the speaker of the House – probably Nancy Pelosi – would become the acting president.

Donald Trump’s refusal to concede …

… risks jeopardising the transition for president elect Joe Biden, vice president elect Kamala Harris, and all those who believe in justice. It could disrupt efforts to take rapid action on the escalating pandemic, the climate crisis, and the migrant emergency in Central America. Trump’s false accusations of voter fraud are already being thrown out of courts, and appear to subvert the very foundations of democracy.

'No Laughing Matter': Pompeo's Comment On Legitimacy Of U.S. Election Raises Eyebrows At Home And Abroad
November 11, 2020 

By Tony Wesolowsky

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “A smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”

In his post as the senior U.S. diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is charged with promoting democratic values.

That’s why his comments casting doubt on the election of former Vice President Joe Biden as the next U.S. president are prompting concern and outrage, with many questioning what kind of signals the remarks could be sending around the world.

Speaking to journalists in Washington on November 10, Pompeo was asked if the State Department was working with Biden to ensure a smooth transition of power in the interest of national security. Pompeo replied that he expected “a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”


Pompeo's remarks came as he is due to head off on a foreign tour with a stop in Georgia, which has been rocked by protests amid opposition claims of vote-rigging during recent parliamentary elections there. During his trip, which will include stops in Turkey, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, Pompeo will likely be meeting with world leaders who have already congratulated Biden.

Despite the fact that the November 3 election has been called in favor of Biden, who state ballot counts show secured more than enough Electoral College votes to win the presidency, Trump and his campaign have made unfounded allegations of electoral fraud and are trying to overturn the results in several states through the courts.

Pompeo later dismissed as “ridiculous” any suggestion that Trump’s evidence-free claims of widespread vote fraud could hurt America’s credibility when weighing in on foreign elections, and he continued to maintain that Trump might have won the election.

“Our adversaries should know that we’re ready, we’re continuing to work, we’ll work all the way through January. And then on January 20th, we’ll have a transition, whether it’s to a Trump administration -- a second Trump administration, as I spoke about today -- or to an administration led by former Vice President Biden,” he said in an interview with conservative U.S. radio host Tony Perkins.

In another interview on November 10, this one with Fox News, Pompeo appeared to warn Biden’s team over what he suggested could be inappropriate conversations with foreign leaders. He pointed to the Logan Act, a 1799 law that bars private citizens from conducting foreign policy on behalf of the United States.

“I’m always worried when people are engaging in activities, speaking with foreign leaders, in a way that represents things, that might be representing things that aren’t true or might be attempting to influence American foreign policy in ways that are inconsistent with what the law requires,” Pompeo said.

“You know the Logan Act. I know the Logan Act. I hope that all those folks who are out there having these conversations aren’t violating that law. I’m sure the Department of Justice will be keeping a good eye on that for us,” he said.

Due to the Trump administration's refusal to concede the election, congratulatory phone calls to Biden from world leaders -- normally facilitated in past transitions by the U.S. State Department -- are taking place through other channels.

Mark Takano, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from California, voiced the dismay felt by many after Pompeo’s comments.

“Secretary Pompeo’s job is to call out authoritarian behavior abroad but his comments today made a mockery of our own democratic process,” Takano wrote on Twitter.

Biden, at least publicly, appeared to dismiss Pompeo’s remarks, saying “there is no evidence” backing the assertions of election fraud. He called Trump's refusal to concede an "embarrassment" that will "not help the president's legacy."

But others, including members of Congress, took Pompeo to task.

Eliot Engel, the outgoing chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that Pompeo “shouldn’t play along with baseless and dangerous attacks on the legitimacy of last week’s election.”

"The State Department should now begin preparing for President-elect Biden’s transition,” said Engel, who has been a vocal critic of Pompeo.

Richard Haass, a veteran U.S. diplomat and president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said the timing and context meant Pompeo’s remarks were no laughing matter.

“In another context, in another world, at another time, @SecPompeo's comment re a transition to a 2nd Trump administration might have been funny. But not in this context, in this world, at this time. Too much at stake for our democracy & our standing,” he wrote on Twitter.

Guy Verhofstadt, an EU liberal lawmaker and former Belgian prime minister, raised the specter of Russian President Vladimir Putin by accusing Pompeo on Twitter of “disingenuously preparing the ground for Putin-style authoritarianism!”

Pompeo also lashed out at a reporter’s question about how Trump’s rejection of the election results would be interpreted overseas.

“That’s ridiculous, and you know it’s ridiculous, and you asked it because it’s ridiculous,” Pompeo told the reporter who asked if Trump's stance jeopardized U.S. standing in the world. “You asked a question that is ridiculous. This department cares deeply to make sure that elections around the world are safe and secure and free and fair, and my officers risk their lives to ensure that that happens.”

In the recent past, Pompeo and the State Department have expressed concerns about irregularities in elections from Tanzania to Ivory Coast and Belarus.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus was declared the landslide winner of an August 9 poll that opponents and the West judged was rigged. The West -- including the United States -- has refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus, and dozens of Belarusian officials have been sanctioned by Washington as well as the European Union amid a wave of protests that have been cruelly crushed by Lukashenka’s regime.

“We want good outcomes for the Belarusian people, and we’ll take actions consistent with that,” Pompeo told RFE/RL in Prague on August 12.

Pompeo Says U.S. Will Look At Stopping Oil Shipments To Belarus

“We’ve opposed the fact that he’s now inaugurated himself,” Pompeo said of Lukashenka in an interview with Fox News in October.

Now, the 66-year-old Lukashenka, in power since 1994, has seized on baseless doubts about the U.S. presidential election promulgated by Trump, Pompeo, and other Republicans in the United States to suggest Belarus is being unfairly singled out.

“Let's see how the [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] will react to this,” Lukashenka was quoted on November 7 as saying by the state-run BelTA news agency. “And let's wait and see the German parliament, as I said yesterday, demand a new election in the United States. Today we see that a new election is warranted based on all kinds of irregularities, even domestic legislation violations."

In a January 2019 report on Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, whose 2018 reelection was not recognized by the United States and other Western countries, the State Department wrote: “On January 10, the term of former President Nicolas Maduro ended. He sought to remain in power based on his claimed ‘victory’ in the 2018 presidential elections widely condemned as neither free nor fair, a claim not accepted by the democratically elected National Assembly.”

The Trump administration’s record on foreign elections has been inconsistent. Trump congratulated Putin on his disputed 2018 reelection, even though his briefing notes for the telephone call said, “Do not congratulate.”

Trump congratulated incumbent Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on a “peaceful, fair, and transparent contest” in 2017, even though Kenya’s Supreme Court later annulled that vote.

The Trump administration also congratulated Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez after he successfully had the results of a violently disputed 2017 election overturned.

In his talks with senior Georgian officials next week, Pompeo will express U.S. “support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “urge further progress in democratic reforms,” according to the U.S. Embassy in Georgia.

Tony Wesolowsky is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL in Prague, covering Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and Central Europe, as well as energy issues. His work has also appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists.

Alibaba, JD.com say U.S. was top seller to China during Singles' Day event

By Sophie Yu, Josh Horwitz

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Alibaba 9988.HK and JD.com JD.O said the United States was the top seller of goods to China during the Singles' Day shopping extravaganza that generated about $116 billion in merchandise volume for the pair.

VIDEO States was the top seller of goods https://www.reuters.com/video/?videoId=OVD49OZUZ&jwsource=em

Singles’ Day is usually a one-day sales event, the world’s biggest, eclipsing Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States. Many online companies offer deals at the event.

This year, companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.O and JD.com Inc 9618.HK offered promotions over several days, with sales widely interpreted as indicative of China's rebounding post-virus economy.

Customers, unable to travel abroad because of the COVID-19 pandemic, snatched up deals from brands including Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] and Fast Retailing Co Ltd's 9983.T Uniqlo.

Alibaba generated gross merchandise volume (GMV) of 498.2 billion yuan ($75.28 billion). JD.com, which recorded 271.5 billion yuan in GMV, told Reuters on Wednesday that best-selling products included Apple Inc AAPL.O iPhones, L'Oreal SA's OREP.PA Lancome toner and 60-inch smart LCD TVs from Sharp Corp 6753.T.

Alibaba offered promotions in two windows starting Nov. 1 but calculated GMV over 11 days. JD.com offered deals Nov. 1 through Nov. 11.

The event was overshadowed by news that China aimed to propose anti-monopoly rules for internet platforms.

Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed stock, which took a beating when regulators scuppered the listing of fintech affiliate Ant Group, dropped another 10% on Wednesday. It was up 3% around midday Thursday.

Alibaba said other top-selling countries this year included Australia, Germany, Japan and South Korea. Over 470 firms exceeded 100 million yuan in GMV. Last year, Alibaba merely named Japan and the United States among biggest sellers.

Alibaba clocked GMV of $38.4 billion in a single day last year and said 299 brands surpassed 100 million yuan in GMV, including Nestle SA NESN.S and Under Armour Inc UAA.N.

Reporting by Brenda Goh and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai, and Sophie Yu in Beijing; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh; Editing by Christopher Cushing

'We won': Indigenous group in Canada scoops up billion dollar seafood firm
Clearwater Seafoods deal gives Mi’kmaq control of lucrative ocean stretch, as tensions remain high over First Nation fishing rights
Seascape: the state of our oceans is supported byAbout this content


Leyland Cecco Thu 12 Nov 2020 


 

Members of the Sipekne’katik First Nation gathered in Saulnierville, Nova Scotia, to bless the fleet of a self-regulated fishery in September. Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock

For generations, Indigenous peoples in Canada have watched, often in frustration, as commercial industries profit from the land and waters their ancestors once harvested. This week, however, excitement replaced irritation as a group of First Nations announced plans to scoop up one of the largest seafood companies in North America.

Early this week, leaders of the Membertou and Miawpukek First Nations, both of which are Mi’kmaq communities, reached an agreement to buy Nova Scotia-based Clearwater Seafoods in a deal worth C$1bn (£580m). Heralded as the “single largest investment in the seafood industry by any Indigenous group in Canada”, the landmark deal comes at a critical moment for Indigenous communities in the region, as tensions remain high over their treatied fishing rights.

“For 13,000 years, the Mi’kmaq have sustainably fished the waters of Atlantic Canada, and today, on this truly transformational day, we are owners of a global leader in the fishery,” Chief Terrence Paul of the Membertou wrote in a letter to community members, announcing the purchase. “For so many years, our communities were not welcome to participate in big industry. Today, on our own terms we are 50% commercial owners.”
The Mi’kmaq people have been at the centre of a tense battle over fishing rights. 

Photograph: John Morris/Reuters

Partnering with Vancouver-based Premium Brands Holdings Corporation, a number of Mi’kmaq communities will put up C$250m (£145m) for their share of the purchase. The Mi’kmaq will have full ownership of Clearwater’s coveted offshore fishing licences, which allow the harvest of lobster, scallop, crab and clams in a massive tract of ocean known as LFA 41. They also plan to bring more Indigenous peoples into the company’s ranks.

For decades, Clearwater has been a giant in the industry, with a monopoly on offshore fishing licences, which allow for year-round lobster harvest. But as of last year, amid lagging performance, the company signalled it was looking for a buyer. The Membertou First Nation, based in the Cape Breton region, had previously shown an interest in expanding its reach into the commercial industry, when it paid Clearwater C$25m (£14.5m) for two of the company’s eight licences in September.

“In order to be in business, you first have to play the game,” Paul told CBC News after the purchase was announced. “You have to play to win, and we won.”

In addition to Membertou and Miawpukek supporting the deal, a number of other groups in the region, including the Paqtnkek, Pictou Landing, Potlotek, Sipekne’katik and We’koqma’q First Nations, have also expressed an interest in acquiring a stake in Clearwater.

Why were Indigenous crews in Canada shot at with flares for fishing?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/23/why-indigenous-crews-in-canada-were-shot-at-with-flares-for-fishing


The purchase comes at a critical moment for the Mi’kmaq people, who have been at the centre of a tense and at times violent battle over their right to harvest lobster.

In early September, members of the Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia launched their own self-regulated inshore lobster fishery as an exercise of their treaty rights, setting traps during a period in which the season is closed.

Commercial fisherman in the area responded aggressively, harassing the Indigenous boats, cutting their traps and destroying their catch. In late October, a lobster pound rented by the Sipekne’katik was set on fire.

Other Indigenous groups have expressed an interest in acquiring a stake in Clearwater. Photograph: John Morris/Reuters

At issue for both sides is the interpretation of a 1999 supreme court ruling, which came after a Mi’kmaq activist, Donald Marshall Jr, was barred from harvesting eel out of season, despite claiming a treaty right to fish. The country’s highest court determined Indigenous peoples had a right to fish their ancestral waters in the pursuit of a “moderate livelihood”. But the court also issued a clarifying decision, which determined that the federal government has the authority to regulate fisheries in the public interest and for conservation.

For two decades, the federal government has failed to clearly define the scope of a “moderate livelihood” fishery and how it would apply to Indigenous peoples.

“We need to sit down with First Nations and do what we should’ve done 250 years ago. We need to review fishery plans and implement them together,” fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan told reporters in October, calling the violence “disgusting”.

The purchase of Clearwater, while it marks a tectonic shift in the industry, doesn’t resolve the ongoing issues over the “moderate livelihood” fishery. Instead, because of the fractious relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishermen, the deal could further inflame tensions.

“Now that Clearwater is perceived to be a First Nations-owned company, that adds to the mistrust about the expansion of Indigenous fisheries,” Rick Williams, research director for the Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters, told the Canadian press. “It will add to fears that a large company can buy up lobster licences through First Nations that they weren’t able to buy as a company.”

A 1999 supreme court ruling stated Indigenous peoples had a right to fish their ancestral waters, but failed to clarify the scope permitted. Photograph: John Morris/Reuters

Among non-Indigenous fishermen, reactions to the sale were mixed. In Facebook groups dedicated to lobster harvesting, a number of users deployed racist slurs and stereotypes, pledging not to sell their lobster catch to Clearwater’s new owners. Others, however, praised the move as a shrewd business decision.

Paul has said the purchase of Clearwater is a purely commercial venture and that he and others remain committed to establishing a moderate livelihood fishery, guaranteed by their treaty rights.

But he also acknowledged the Clearwater deal was the result of years of fighting for a seat at the table.

“Today, we are keeping our hero, Donald Marshall Jr, in our hearts,” Paul told community members. “It’s a moment we know he would look on with great pride.”

A promising peep at Covid-19 vaccine efficacy

Pfizer–BioNTech’s will need to be one of many if we are to overcome the pandemic

BY PHILLIP BROADWITH11 NOVEMBER 2020
OPINION

Pfizer and BioNTech’s early peek at the effectiveness of their Covid-19 vaccine is encouraging, but there’s still a long way to go before a vaccine will be widely available.

From this first glimpse at how things are going in trials, it seems that the vaccine will offer good levels of protection against the disease. Out of 43,500 people so far enrolled on the trial, over 90 have subsequently tested positive for Covid-19. Most of them had received a placebo, not the vaccine. The companies say this suggests the vaccine is at least 90% effective at preventing people from developing the disease.

As the trial progresses, with larger numbers of infections and more robust data analysis, we will get a better idea of how accurate this number is. However, efficacy is not the only reason for running these trials – safety is a huge factor. The US Food and Drug Administration has been clear that it needs to see a minimum of two months’ data after people are given their second dose of vaccine before it will consider applications for an Emergency Use Authorisation. Pfizer’s chief executive Albert Bourla projects that this will happen around the third week of November.

Even if all goes smoothly in the trial, there are still massive logistical hurdles to overcome. This vaccine is not going to be the answer for everyone, by any means. While the companies have been investing heavily in developing manufacturing capacity, this would be the first time such an RNA-based vaccine has been produced and distributed. Expecting everything to go without a hitch is probably wishful thinking. The fact that it needs to be stored at –70°C makes this especially difficult.

Maintaining cold chain transport for products kept at regular freezer or refrigerator temperatures is hard enough. But the need for specialised ultra-cold freezers and transport will severely limit where and how quickly the Pfizer­–BioNTech vaccine can be deployed. Most likely it will, at least to begin with, be limited to large hospitals in developed countries with access to the necessary infrastructure.

Given that the people most desperately in need of vaccine protection are probably healthcare workers, this isn’t all that bad. But it does exaggerate the inequalities already present in global healthcare systems, almost automatically excluding remote areas and lower income countries even if their need is as great or greater.

Perhaps the most promising aspect of this preliminary view is the fillip it gives the other vaccines in development. It indicates that vaccines can work against the virus, even if the safety and efficacy profiles will vary. Given that several of the other vaccines in late stage trials should be simpler to manufacture and distribute, that can only be good news all round.

Phillip BroadwithBusiness editor, Chemistry World

Biden’s pivot to science is welcome — Trump only listened to experts when it suited him

November 11, 2020 

In his acceptance speech at the weekend, US President-Elect Joe Biden signalled a return to science as a key policy shift for the United States.

“Americans have called on us to […] marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope in the great battles of our time,” he said, assuring the public the Biden-Harris COVID plan “will be built on the bedrock of science”.

His message, on its surface, is a response to the Trump administration’s disdain for scientific advice, most notably in the COVID response and withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

But Biden’s remarks are deeper and more interesting than a simple spruik for science-led policy.

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A track record of ignoring evidence

Is Trump’s administration anti-scientific? Yes and no.

According to a report compiled by the journal Science, the Trump White House has indeed pursued an agenda of suppressing science by slashing funding. But this agenda has been largely unsuccessful.

During Trump’s term, funding for the National Institutes for Health rose by 39% and the budget for the National Science Foundation rose by 17%. This is explained, at least in part, by Congress resisting the White House’s efforts to defund science.

Setting aside direct attacks on funding, the Trump administration has also positioned itself as anti-science in other, more visible ways.

It has a track record of ignoring scientific advice on issues ranging from the deadliness of COVID, to the impact of human activity on the climate, to the bizarre “Sharpiegate” episode in which Trump apparently used a marker pen to alter the forecast track of Hurricane Dorian.
The rightwing QAnon conspiracy is part of a wider trend of disdain for facts and evidence. Dario Lopez-MIlls/AP

Cherry picking to suit an agenda

Yet it would be wrong to paint Trump as unequivocally anti-science.

He poured money into quantum computing and artificial intelligence, and invested heavily in space exploration, promising a return to the Moon this decade. And, at the risk of stretching this argument beyond breaking point, he called on civil engineering to deliver his Mexican border wall.

Trump also used science to win an election. Let’s not forget the pivotal role of Cambridge Analytica in his victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. A mixture of data science and empirical psychology delivered voters to Trump in the millions.

While it is difficult to know exactly what methods Cambridge Analytica used, it is possible that a method known as psychographic targeting was part of their approach. This involves analysing users’ behaviour on social media sites such as Facebook — for example, by tracking the content that individuals “like” — as a basis for delivering targeted advertising that fits a person’s personality.

It is perhaps no accident, then, that quantum computing and artificial intelligence got the thumbs-up. In the world of voter manipulation, it is hard to think of a scientific investment that would yield a better return.

Painting Trump’s administration as entirely anti-intellectual overlooks one of the key factors that delivered him electoral success in the first place. His 2016 victory was in one sense a scientific achievement, delivered by technological algorithms designed to exploit publicly available data with unprecedented effectiveness.

Such a result is absolutely repeatable. As long as methods such as psychographic targeting go unregulated in the political sphere, future candidates could leverage data science in much the way Trump did to win the White House.

Read more: Humans are hardwired to dismiss facts that don't fit their worldview
Science in the public interest

Biden’s approach is not just a pivot back to respecting expertise, but also a pledge to embrace science in the public interest. The Biden-Harris COVID plan, for example, will be founded on expert advice but will also, as Biden explained, “be constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern” 

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On Monday, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris attended a meeting with Biden’s COVID-19 advisory council. Carolyn Kaster/AP

Hopefully this heralds an end to the use of science to achieve narrow and selfish political ends, and a return to the appropriation of science for the common good.

While I applaud the kind of science Biden wants to embrace, I daresay he faces a difficult choice. If he refuses to use science to further any partisan political ends, his party runs the risk of getting rolled in the next election by a demagogue who does not suffer the same burden of decency.

Perhaps he can get ahead of this by asking us all to have a serious conversation, on a global scale, about the use of science in winning elections.

Read more: 'Science is political': Scientific American has endorsed Joe Biden over Trump for president. Australia should take note

At the very least, we should reject the narrative that the Trump administration repudiates science in its entirety. That only makes it harder to see the danger the improper use of science poses to democracy.

We are, it is often said, living in a post-truth world. The Trump administration’s denial of evidence, and its capacity to lie about everything from coronavirus cures to election results, provide several classic examples. After four years of “alternative facts”, Biden’s vocal support for scientific expertise was a breath of fresh air.

But, perhaps unintentionally, Biden has also revealed a dangerous faultline of democracy. By positioning his administration as one that uses science only for the common good, he is tacitly acknowledging democracy’s vulnerability to science and technology.

Biden’s words remind us that technological advances threaten to propel us into a world where political differences become irreconcilable, and respect for democratic norms is not guaranteed.

AUTHOR

Sam Baron
Associate professor, Australian Catholic University

Disclosure statement
Sam Baron receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
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Yale researchers discover psychiatric diagnosis increases COVID-19 mortality


VERONICA LEE 12:03 AM, NOV 12, 2020
CONTRIBUTING REPORTER YaleNews

In a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open on Sept. 30, Yale researchers analyzed patient data from the Yale New Haven Health System to investigate a possible link between prior psychiatric diagnosis and COVID-19 mortality.

Led by assistant professor of psychiatry Luming Li and Chief of Psychiatry at Yale New Haven Hospital John Krystal, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine looked at data from 1,685 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during a two-month period and discovered that patients with a previous psychiatric diagnosis died from COVID-19 at a significantly higher rate than those without one.

“Controlling for medical illnesses, age, sex, and other factors, psychiatric disorders were associated with an increased mortality risk from COVID-19,” Krystal wrote in an email to the News. “This analysis was important because the patients with COVID-19 and psychiatric disorders tended to be older and to have more medical illnesses.”

Although the COVID-19 outbreak began almost a year ago, this is the first study to investigate the association of psychiatric diagnosis with COVID-19 mortality, to the researchers’ knowledge. Psychiatric disorders have previously been shown to affect mortality rates of other diseases, like heart disease. Given the widespread nature of the coronavirus pandemic, studying comorbidities — both physical and mental — has become imperative for proper treatment of high-risk populations.

The researchers were inspired to conduct this study after seeing many publications that analyzed mortality rates of patients with COVID-19 and associated risk factors yet failed to address prior psychiatric disorders in their data.

“None of the studies included the variable of prior psychiatric diagnoses,” Li wrote in an email to the News. “I found this to be troubling, especially since we know many patients with psychiatric comorbidities have poorer clinical outcomes (whether related to physical health conditions or all-cause mortality).”

Thus, this new study represents a new and important opportunity for researchers to gain a better understanding of COVID-19 and its relation to non-physical health.

Although the researchers established this correlation between prior psychiatric diagnosis and COVID-19 mortality rates, the underlying cause remains unclear. According to the paper, one possible explanation is that psychiatric disorders may be indicative of a larger inflammatory issue in the body that increases mortality rate. Another possibility is that psychiatric disorders and medications that treat them may magnify the body’s inflammatory response and thus compromise the immune system.

“We are increasingly appreciating that the boundaries of ‘mind’ and ‘body’ are breaking down,” Krystal wrote. “Psychiatric disorders, like depression, are associated with increased levels of inflammation in the body. On a long-term basis, this form of inflammation can worsen diseases affecting most organs of the body.”

However, it is clear that psychiatric diagnoses have a significant impact on the mortality rate of many diseases, including COVID-19. Krystal noted that the general attitude toward psychiatric disorders must shift to recognize their detrimental effect on physical medical conditions. Such results have long been ignored by society despite strong scientific evidence, causing the physical risks associated with psychiatric disorders to be underestimated.

Dwain Fehon, associate professor of psychiatry and chief psychologist for psychiatric services at the hospital, echoed this point and emphasized the importance of narrowing the gap between mental and physical health.

“Too often, the psychiatric and mental are not factored into the medical care that people receive,” Fehon said. “This article is a great contribution to the literature because it highlights the need to create more integrated health models for patients. We simply cannot focus on just the physical. We also need to look at the mental and social context of each individual.”

Li wrote that in the future, they hope to analyze patient data for different psychiatric diagnoses — something that they were unable to do in this study. Other possible avenues for future research include looking at the effect of substance abuse on COVID-19 mortality and considering controls such as body mass index.

Fehon also said that he looks forward to seeing more in-depth analyses of similar data to those used in the study, such as taking into account which patients were receiving medical care or were on psychotropic medications at the time. In addition, he said that more research must be done regarding the mental health needs of patients who survive COVID-19 and struggle with long-term health effects, like respiratory problems and issues with cognitive functioning.

According to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 26 percent of adults in America suffer from a diagnosable psychiatric disorder.

Veronica Lee | veronica.lee@yale.edu

#DMT
Ayahuasca Stimulates Neurogenesis In The Hippocampus, Study Shows

AYHAUSCA IS USED AS A MEDICINE BY INDIGENOUS AMAZONIAN COMMUNITIES. IMAGE: STEPHANIE LEE PANOS/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

By Ben Taub 09 NOV 2020,

A psychedelic Amazonian drink called ayahuasca has been found to promote the birth of new brain cells in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is largely responsible for memory and learning. While the brew has been used as a spiritual sacrament for thousands of years by indigenous communities, its role as a potential treatment for neurological and emotional disorders has caused a major spike in interest within the Western scientific community in recent years.

Ayahuasca contains the psychoactive compound N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is known to produce intense visions and hallucinations. Yet it also contains compounds like harmine and tetrahydroharmine, both of which have previously been found to stimulate the formation of neurons from stem cells in a petri dish.

Obviously, though, there’s a pretty big difference between a sterilized dish and an actual brain, which is why researchers at the Complutense University of Madrid have spent the past few years trying to figure out if the visionary brew can also spark the birth of new neurons in living hippocampi. Publishing their findings in the journal Translational Psychiatry, the study authors reveal that not only did ayahuasca promote neurogenesis in mice during their experiments, but that these rodents also performed better on memory tasks than those that had not been treated with the trippy beverage.

Neurogenesis consists of three main phases, beginning with the proliferation of neuronal stem cells to form neuroblasts in the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the dentate gyrus, which is found within the hippocampus. Next, these neuroblasts must migrate into the granular layer of the hippocampus, before differentiating into functional neurons. To determine how ayahuasca influences this process, the researchers injected the brew into the brains of mice before removing and analyzing their hippocampi.

Results showed that this caused neuronal stem cells within the SGZ to proliferate and differentiate into neurons, as well as neuronal support cells such as astroglia and oligodendrocytes. To determine whether these cells were able to migrate into the granular and become functional, the study authors injected a second group of mice with ayahuasca over a period of three weeks, before presenting them with a range of tasks that are designed to assess memory and learning.

The fact that the rodents performed better at these tasks after receiving a course of ayahuasca treatment suggests that the newly-formed neurons had indeed become functional, boosting the animals’ cognitive abilities.

According to the study authors, this finding could open the door to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, which are characterized by a loss of neurons in key brain areas. “The challenge is to activate our dormant capacity to form neurons and thus replace the neurons that die as a result of the disease,” explained study author José Ángel Morales in a statement. “This study shows that DMT is capable of activating neural stem cells and forming new neurons.”

Furthermore, while ayahuasca’s psychedelic effects are mediated by serotonin receptors in the brain, the study authors found that the brew stimulates neurogenesis by interacting with a different receptor known as sigma-1. This is significant, as it suggests that it may be possible to trigger the formation of new neurons without tripping out.

In other words, by developing medications that bind only to sigma-1 receptors without interacting with serotonin receptors, the next generation of treatments for dementia could stimulate the formation of new neurons without sending patients on any mind-bending cosmic adventures.