First ancient cultivated rice discovered in Central Asia

SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

 

IMAGE: SATELLITE IMAGERY OF KHALCHAYAN AND SURFACE REMAINS WITHIN THE SITE. CREDIT: CHEN GUANHAN AND ZHOU XINYING, IVPP view more 

CREDIT: ©SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

Rice has always been the most important food in Asia and the world. About half of the population on earth use rice as their main food source. The origin, spread, evolution, and ecological adaptation of cultivated rice are still one of the most important issues which currently concerned by global archaeologists, biologists, and agricultural scientists.

In recent years, archaeobotany and molecular biology studies have shown the originally cultivated rice was domesticated into japonica rice (Oryza sativa japonica) in the lower Yangtze region, China, 10000 years ago, then spread to Japan, South and Southeast Asia. About 5000-4000 years ago, the cultivated japonica rice spread to South Asia, hybridized with the native wild rice, gradually form the indica rice (Oryza sativa indica) and become the main crop in South Asia today.

However, in recent years, research on the origin and spread of rice have mainly focused on East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. At present, we still know very little about when and how rice spread into West Asia, Europe, and Africa. The Central Asia region, as an important node in the ancient Silk Road cannot be ignored, because it is the "crossroad" of world civilization. Therefore, studying the time and location of rice emergence in Central Asia can help us restore the spread process about of rice agriculture and add an important part for the early crop globalization research.

Recently, Li Xiaoqiang research group in Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IVPP, CAS) and other researchers in College of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University, China, Institute of Archaeology, Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences reported their latest research about the agricultural remain in Khalchayan site, Uzbekistan, which published in the Science China: Earth Science. Researchers investigated 11 sites on the northern bank of the Amu Darya from Bronze Age to Arabian period and found carbonized rice remain at Kalchayan site. With archaeobotany, chronology method and other local archaeological records, researchers provide a new physical evidence for the spread of rice to western Asia and the exchange of eastern and western civilizations along the ancient Silk Road.

Khalchayan site is a city site in southeastern Uzbekistan. Researchers use flotation method obtain large amount of botanical materials at a cultural layer in southwest part of the site. The AMS 14C dating results showed that the age of the rice remains in the site are 1714-1756 cal. B.P., which in Kushan period. In addition to the rice remains, carbonized wheat, 2-row barley, pea, millet, grapes, flax and other crops were recovered at the site. These crops include both West Asian and East Asian origin, which illustrates a diverse and complex oasis farming system. Because rice cultivation requires a lot of heat and water then wheat and millet, make it difficult to cultivate in arid regions in early times. But combining the carbonized rice remains with the records of the irrigation system existing in other local oases agricultural archeological sites during Kushan period, researchers believe it has the possibility of cultivation rice locally during that time.

Morphological studies show that the carbonized rice remains are japonica rice, and their morphology is similar to the remains found in some sites in southern China and northwestern India during the same period. That indicating the possibility of rice in Central Asia was spread from South Asia. Meanwhile, when rice appeared in Central Asia, Kushan Empire has already established in northwest India and conquered most part of Central Asia and South Asia. The imperial expansion and political unrest may have further fueled the dispersal of crops across Inner Asia. The emergence of rice may also indicate the beginning of the rice-based diet culture gradual integration with the local wheat-based diet system in Central Asia and finally form Central Asia diet system today, like baked dough (Naan), pilaf and barbecue.

The rice remains in Khalchayan site is the first well reported rice remain in Central Asia. It is also one of the few ancient cultivated rice found without in East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It has a great value for further understanding the exchange process of the early agricultural activities in the Southern Himalayan route, and also provided a new evidence to explain how rice further spreads westward to Iran, Europe, and Africa, where rice cultivation activities exist today.

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This study was supported by the joint archaeological work of China-Uzbekistan (Project leaders: Pro. Wang Jianxin, Northwest University, China); Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CAS/CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment; National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41572161, 41730319); Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Projects of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB26000000) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, CAS.

See the article: Chen G, Zhou X, Wang J, Ma J, Khasannov M, Khasanov N, Spengler R N, Berdimurodov A, Li X. 2020. Kushan Period rice in the Amu Darya Basin: Evidence for prehistoric exchange along the southern Himalaya. Science China Earth Sciences, 63, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-019-9585-2 http://engine.scichina.com/doi/10.1007/s11430-019-9585-2

Deep learning: A new engine for ecological resource research

SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

 

IMAGE: ECOLOGICAL RESOURCE AREAS THAT ARE IMPACTED AND OVERWHELMED BY DEEP LEARNING (WATER PART) AND THE AREAS NEED TO BE SOLVED (MOUNTAIN PART) view more 

CREDIT: ©SCIENCE CHINA PRESS

Ecological resources are an important material foundation for the survival, development, and self-realization of human beings. In-depth and comprehensive research and understanding of ecological resources are beneficial for the sustainable development of human society. Advances in observation technology have improved the ability to acquire long-term, cross-scale, massive, heterogeneous, and multi-source data. Ecological resource research is entering a new era driven by big data.

Deep learning is a big data driven machine learning method that can automatically extracting complex high-dimensional nonlinear features. Although deep leanring has achieved better performance for big data mining than traditional statistical learning and machine learning algorithms, there are still huge challenges when processing ecological resource data, including multi-source/multi-meta heterogeneity, spatial-temporal coupling, geographic correlation, high dimensional complexity, and low signal-to-noise ratio. A recent study clarified the aforementioned frontier issues.

The related research paper entitled "The Application of Deep Learning in the Field of Ecological Resources Research: Theory, Methods, and Challenges" has been published in "Science in China: Earth Science" . Prof. GUO Qinghua and Ph.D. student JIN Shichao from Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences are co-first authors. GUO Qinghua is the corresponding author. Prof. LIU Yu from Peking University and Prof. XU Qiang from Chengdu University of Technology are co-authored research teams.

Deep learning has made significant progress in many fields with the accumulation of data, the improvement of computing power, and the progress of algorithms. This study focuses on the application of deep learning in the field of ecological resources. The main contents include:

1) An overview of the history, development and basic structure of deep learning (Figure 1). The relationships between ecological resource big data research and deep learning structures represented by convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, and graph neural networks were analyzed (Figure 2)
2) The main tasks of deep learning, common public data sets, and tools in ecological resources were summarized (Figure 2).
3) The application of deep learning in plant image classification, crop phenotype, and vegetation mapping were demonstrated. The application ability and potential of deep learning in structured and unstructured ecological data were analyzed.
4) The challenges and prospects of deep learning in the application of ecological resources were analyzed (Figure 3), including standardization and sharing of data, construction of crowdsourcing collection platform, interpretability of deep neural network, hybrid deep learning with domain knowledge, small sample learning, data fusion, and enrichment and intelligence of applications.

This study explored the relationship between deep learning and ecological resource research. It is of great significance for connecting the technological frontier of computer science with the classical theoretical science in the field of ecological resources. This connection will contribute to the establishment of a new paradigm of theoretical discovery and scientific research in the era of ecological resources big data.

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This research was funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA19050401) and the National Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31971575 & 41871332)

See the article: Guo, Q., Jin, S., Li, M., Yang, Q., Xu, K., Ju, Y., Zhang, J., Xuan, J., Liu, J., Su, Y., Xu, Q., & Liu, Y. (2020). "Application of deep learning in ecological resource research: Theories, methods, and challenges". Science China Earth Sciences. DOI: 10.1007/s11430-019-9584-9

http://engine.scichina.com/doi/10.1007/s11430-019-9584

This Young Man Spent His Twenties Imprisoned On A Pacific Island Before Finding Safety In Canada

Amir Sahragard hoped for safety in Australia but ended up in a brutal offshore camp. He is still dealing with the trauma as he starts a new life.

BUZZFEED NEWS Posted on May 20, 2020

Chloë Ellingson for BuzzFeed News
Amir Sahragard recently arrived in Canada after six years at the Papua New Guinea detention centre.

Amir Sahragard thinks he would be dead if it weren’t for the group of civilians who sponsored his passage to Canada after six long and brutal years in migrant detention centres in Papua New Guinea.

“The only thing that [kept] me alive in the last two years was this,” he told BuzzFeed News.

“I've been mentally and physically sick and the only reason that I didn't kill myself or that I'm still alive was this sponsorship process, because I didn't have another option.”

Sahragard is one of thousands who tried to claim refugee status in Australia but were instead routed to offshore detention centres in the Pacific because of their mode of transport: boat. Under this harsh regime, people like Sahragard who sought safety in Australia by sea were instead subjected to brutal conditions and years of limbo.

But Sahragard is also one of the lucky ones. He found a way out, and not just to another centre on the Australian mainland, but to Canada — where refugees shunned by Australia are increasingly placing their hopes of freedom.

Sahragard, now 28, began his long journey in 2013 when he fled his home country of Iran. Anxious about his family, who remain in Iran, he won’t talk about why he left the country.

His next stop was Indonesia, where he boarded a ship he hoped would bring him to Australia, where he could declare refugee status. The ship was filled with families and other single men, some that he got to know as they waited for the ship to leave.

They were at sea for four days. “The boat was like a scary movie,” Sahragard said.

When the ship arrived at the remote Australian territory of Christmas Island, it was intercepted by the Australian Navy. Officers brought them onto the island, taking everything the asylum seekers had with them, Sahragard said.

Sahragard and his shipmates were processed, given medical checkups and new clothes, and told they’d be sent to an offshore detention centre. After being bounced around to various compounds, Sahragard said he was asked to sign a paper that would transfer him to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. At the time, Australia was paying the government of Papua New Guinea to take migrants and hold them in a facility on the island.

Sahragard didn’t sign the paper, but was sent “by force”, he said. Guards put him on a bus, then a plane, and half a day later he landed at the Manus Regional Processing Centre.

The scene there, Sahragard said, was “the worst thing that I [have] ever seen”. Some people were ill, others didn’t have clothes, and everyone was terrified.

“I was alone and like 21 years old and I'd never seen things like that and everything was by force, so I didn’t have any choice,” he said.

He was put in a small room with three other men and two bunk beds, in a compound called Foxtrot. Again, he was shuffled around, sometimes to tents, sometimes to facilities that lacked air conditioning and were sweltering in the tropical environment. Eventually, he landed at a compound called Mike. It would become his home for four years.


Jonas Gratzer / Getty Images
Children bypassing the barracks where the asylum seekers are living on Manus Island, February 2018.

At Mike, detainees were permitted to use the internet once and have two 10-minute phone calls per week. They had access to laundry and a mess hall, but were also subject to abuse and violence by locals and guards, Sahragard said.

In February 2014 a riot broke out. A friend of Sahragard got hit in the face with a stone and his eyes were bleeding. With the lights out, Sahragard tried to take care of him and wait for a medical response. It was chaos. It was hard to tell who was in the fray — locals, police, guards — and he distinctly remembers the smell of the bullets being fired. Another friend was shot in the buttocks.

After the chaos, the detainees were gathered outside, he said, and beaten.

“They beat people with whatever they had. They had rods, iron, everything like that,” he said. “They were just assaulting and beat[ing] people and when they gather us in the yard they said ‘you can't remain in our country, this is our country, this we run it and you can't do something that we don't want you to do’.”

For a month after, the detainees lived in the mess hall without access to phones or the internet, according to Sahragard. When he finally returned to his room, he saw a bullet hole that went straight through two walls.

At this point, he wasn’t sleeping, and his days were filled with paranoia, stress and the agony of not being able to do anything or make any decisions for himself. He was also shedding pounds and getting dangerously underweight.

They were not being fed properly, he said, and nobody was cleaning the compound. Detainees were continuing to rebel with hunger strikes.

In 2016, the PNG Supreme Court declared the facility illegal. Detainees were suddenly able to sign out for the day and leave the compound. They could shop in Lorengau or swim in the ocean, but it wasn’t any safer outside. The locals were hostile to the migrants and would rob and assault them, leaving some people with long-term neurological injuries, he said.

Soon he was transferred to Hillside Haus, another facility on the island. This one had hot showers — a luxury Sahragard didn’t even realise he’d missed.

“It was like rich that I could have hot water for shower. It's really funny when I think about it but it was something that I really was missing,” he said.

In all this time, there had never been a glimmer of hope of getting out. Sahragard clearly wasn’t going to make it to Australia, and even the NGOs like UNHCR, Red Cross and Amnesty International that were on the ground in PNG hadn’t been able to help him get out. He had not applied for refugee status in PNG, for fear he would be stuck there forever if the claim was approved. But remaining as an asylum seeker presented a huge issue: he was not allowed to apply for resettlement in the United States under the refugee swap deal struck in 2016.

Finally, in 2017, Sahragard heard of a Syrian refugee who made it to Canada through a private sponsorship program. In Canada, a group of citizens can raise funds to bring a refugee to the country and provide settlement assistance when they arrive. He managed to connect with volunteer refugee advocates who were eager to help him.

In 2018 he submitted his application and began the long waiting process to get approved. At that time, talking to the volunteers helping him was the only thing keeping Sahragard going


Chloë Ellingson for BuzzFeed News

“The last year [in detention] was the hardest time for me,” he said. “I was really scared and I couldn't sleep [for] months, and can't eat, and it was the worst time.”

Fifteen months passed. Then, Sahragard was told he had to get a medical checkup, and he thought he might finally get out. He was approved for travel, landing in Brisbane before being escorted onto a Canada-bound plane by Australian immigration enforcement.

Even when Sahragard saw the travel documents, he still couldn’t believe it was happening. The disbelief lingered through the 14-hour flight, and through his arrival at the airport, where his sponsors greeted him by draping him in a Canadian flag.

It took weeks for him to truly accept what had happened. “I thought that I still might wake up and see that I'm in Manus or I’m still in Papua New Guinea in detention,” he said.

That was in November. When he spoke to BuzzFeed News in February, Sahragard had been settling into his new life in Toronto, first staying with an Iranian family who also came to Canada as refugees, and now renting his own room. He was attending college for English and making friends, but he was still plagued by the trauma of his time on Manus.

He has continued to sleep poorly, but was recently approved for Ontario’s public health care system, where he can access a family doctor.

Sounds are still a problem, too.

“There was a fire alarm in our building yesterday which really drove me crazy,” he said. “It was really scary for me because when I hear those things or the ambulance in downtown it really gives me stress and I get really paranoid about these things because of all the experience or the memories that I have.”

It’s getting better, day by day, but it’s still hard for Sahragard to imagine a future, of any kind, in any place, after spending most of his 20s scared, alone and detained.

“I live my life in a day for now,” he said. “[The present] is the only thing that I think of for now because I really don't want to think about something that I couldn't reach. That would be really hard for me, and I've lost like six years of my life for nothing.”


Chloë Ellingson for BuzzFeed News


For others — at one time Sahragard’s peers — Canada remains a dream.

Abdolah Sheikhypirkohy also fled Iran in 2013 only to be sent to Manus Island, and like Sahragard, the 2014 riot is one of his most traumatic memories. Local police arrested him and put him in a cell with almost 40 others, including six refugees.

“They beat me up, they punch me, they hurt me, cut my lips,” he said.

Over his six years in PNG, Sheikhypirkohy thinks he lost 12 teeth. For the first few years in detention there was no dentist at all. After three years, one arrived, but they had one solution for dental problems.

“They just pull it out. Not crown or filling or root canal, nothing. Just pull out. I don’t have many teeth now. I have problem with chewing,” Sheikhypirkohy said. It was his missing and infected teeth that brought him to Australia for medical treatment in July 2019. He has been detained in a hotel in Melbourne since then.

He applied for private resettlement in Canada over six months ago. Like Sahragard, he had never applied for refugee status in PNG and could not apply to go to the US, where more than 700 people have been successfully resettled.

Sheikhypirkohy has written to Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau three times: to tell him about the situation on Manus, to send condolences about the Canadians killed when Iran shot down a plane flying to Ukraine, and to ask him to help get his application for resettlement approved.

Trudeau’s office replied each time to tell him there was nothing they could do. His latest request was forwarded to the Canadian immigration minister, and a representative emailed Sheikhypirkohy telling him where his application was up to and explaining the process.

Sheikhypirkohy was stoked to get the replies. “Even though he said he cannot interfere in the matter...at least someone answer, replied my letter,” he said.

“I said to myself, if my application get approval, I’m sure I’m going to be in the perfect country, that cares about people. Here they just call me, ‘go back to your freaking country, boat people’.”


Jonas Gratzer / Getty Image
Karam Zahirian, another refugee seeking asylum, is seen on Manus in February, 2018.
Jafar (a pseudonym to protect his identity) has been trying to go to Canada from Nauru for the last two years. He was sceptical the plan would work at all — “in seven years, we had many news, many rumour, but nothing happen” — before hearing about the first flight to Canada.

His US application rejected, he has high hopes for Canada. “I saw on the internet about the Canadian prime minister, he is very humble. I see also Canadians, very, very good people. They are welcome to refugees, very incredible,” he said.

Sheikhypirkohy and Jafar may be waiting a while. The volunteer efforts that helped Sahragard reach Canada have ramped up. There are now dozens of people in Canada, Australia and the US organising to fill out applications, fundraise and ultimately free the men from detention. But so far, only 11 people have made it to Canada: a handful in 2015 and 2017, then eight more last year.

The process is slow: each application requires sponsors to prove they have thousands of dollars to support the refugee, and the Canadian government offers limited sponsorship spots each year. Now the coronavirus pandemic has paused resettlement in Canada entirely, though applications are still being processed.

The arduous process also means the groups helping to file the applications — Ads-Up, an Australian-North American group dedicated to helping refugees stuck on Manus and Nauru; the volunteer group Operation Not Forgotten; Canadian non-profit MOSAIC; and UNHCR — have to figure out who to prioritise. At the moment, that’s people still held offshore, those with medical conditions, and people who have no other resettlement options.

Still, the volunteers working to make it happen are committed to ending Australia’s offshore detention program.

“To get everyone off would be hundreds of submissions and millions of dollars,” said Ben Winsor, the founder of Ads-Up. “But that’s our ultimate aim.”

The softly-spoken Sahragard feels safe in Canada. But now he is dealing with a new challenge: the pandemic. His classes have moved online and the social isolation is triggering traumatic memories.

“It reminds me of the time I’ve been in detention, because it’s the same situation, I can’t do anything.”

But he’s chosen to speak out — reliving memories he’d rather not — because he hopes his friends back in Manus can get out too.

“It's really hard for me to talk about all these memories, all these things, but the only reason that I'm doing this is because I get the help, and I want them to get the help also, to have their future and save their life.”


Chloë Ellingson For Buzzfeed News



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Men Held Incommunicado In A PNG Detention Centre For Five Months Have Been Released

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This Man On Nauru Hasn’t Eaten Fruit In More Than A YearHannah Ryan · Jan. 26, 2020
Australia Detained People On Islands For Years. Now It Wants To Ban Them From Ever Visiting.

Hannah Ryan · Aug. 22, 2019




Lauren Strapagiel is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Hannah Ryan is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Sydney.

A Doctor Told Lawmakers The Country Is Not "Prepared For A Second Wave" Of The Coronavirus

Nearly every essential worker who testified before lawmakers at a hearing on the coronavirus said the lack of personal protective equipment remains a huge problem.

Clarissa-Jan Lim BuzzFeed News Reporter Posted on May 21, 2020


Joe Raedle / Getty Images
A supermarket cashier in Miami, Florida.

A doctor testifying at a virtual congressional subcommittee briefing on the coronavirus on Thursday told lawmakers that the country is not prepared to handle a second wave of the virus should it come later this year.

"I do not think that we are currently prepared for a second wave," Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and researcher at Brown University, said in a stark warning to the public and members of Congress.

Ranney said the inconsistent public health messaging from authorities and the lack of scientific understanding of the novel coronavirus mean the country is not ready for another surge in infections, which public health experts have said will possibly hit in the fall.

"We still lack adequate science. I'm so thankful for the funding that you all have given to the NIH and CDC, but that's not enough, and we need more," she told lawmakers. "We also lack adequate public health messaging. We need consistency in our messaging to the public so that they can believe us. We need to give them accurate data, and we need to give them straightforward answers. We also need to be clear about when and why our answers change and how those depend on science."

But the most crucial barrier to preparing for another wave of the coronavirus, Ranney said, is the continued shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing for essential workers.

"Everyone who's out there facing the public needs to be safe. And to do that they need to be tested, and they need masks, and gowns, and gloves, and sanitizer," she said


Frontline workers have raised the alarm about inadequate access to testing and a lack of PPE since the first outbreaks in the country were reported. As state governments engaged in bidding wars with each other and the federal government in an attempt to obtain supplies, employees deemed essential — many of whom work minimum wage jobs — were forced to reuse masks over and over, all while fearing for their health and safety.


Trump, who himself has refused to wear a face mask around others, has repeatedly dismissed concerns about testing and PPE shortages, saying that "everyone who wants a test can get one."

Earlier this month, he disputed an account from a nurse he invited to the White House when she brought up the "sporadic" availability of PPE in some parts of the country.


Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images

The lack of PPE was an issue raised by nearly every frontline worker who gave testimony Thursday.

Diana Wilson, an EMT with the New York Fire Department, said that despite being one of the first people coming into contact with a potential COVID-19 patient in crisis, she has gone to work "not knowing if I was going to be provided a medical N95 mask."

"The government failed us by not protecting first responders by providing us with a plan and PPE," Wilson said.

Marcos Aranda, a janitor in San Francisco who lives with his wife, six children, his mom, his sister, and her two children, said he's lucky to have some protective gear, which not all custodians are afforded.

He wears latex gloves and dust masks while at work, "but nothing medical-grade," he said. "I'm not only worried about my health, but also worried about the health of my family."

Eric Colts, a Detroit bus driver whose colleague Jason Hargrove died days after talking about a woman coughing openly on his bus in a viral video, said though the city is now providing passengers with masks when they board the bus, it's not enough.

"But me, working in the inner city, we have a box of 50 masks that by the time I do a round trip, those masks are gone," Colts told lawmakers. "Personal protective equipment has been a constant, constant battle."

As states around the country make the push to reopen businesses against the advice of experts, Ranney, who is part of a grassroots group helping frontline workers access protective gear, cautioned that there still isn't enough PPE for many hospitals at the moment.

"On a national level, we still are millions and millions and millions of pieces of PPE short from what hospitals need currently," she said, "much less what they need in order to build the normal stockpiles that we all keep in order to face pandemic situations."

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“We Are Desperate”: 10 Nurses And Doctors Explain What It's Like To Fight The Coronavirus Without Enough Face Masks 

Zahra Hirji · March 18, 2020

They Still Have Jobs At Grocery Stores And Pharmacies. Does That Mean They'll Catch The Coronavirus?

Julia Reinstein · March 18, 2020

Doctors And Nurses Fighting The Coronavirus Outbreak Are Getting Sick And Dying — And No One Is Keeping Track

Zahra Hirji · March 26, 2020

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. She is based in New York.

A New Study Says The Malaria Drug Touted (And Taken) By Trump Looks Deadly For Coronavirus Patients

“If there was ever hope for this drug, this is the death of it.

 May 22, 2020



The malaria drug that President Donald Trump has said he is taking as a coronavirus preventive, hydroxychloroquine, was linked to a higher rate of deaths and serious heart problems, according to a massive study of COVID-19 hospital patients released Friday.

The drug, also used to treat arthritis and lupus, has emerged as a medical flashpoint in the coronavirus pandemic, seeing the FDA issue a warning against its use outside of hospitals even as Trump said he was taking it.

The six-continent report released by the Lancet journal effectively slams the door on the suggestion that hydroxychloroquine helps COVID-19 patients, showing no signs of benefit among the 96,000 patients in the study.

Instead, it found the drug linked to an increased risk of dying — by over 35% — while also more than doubling the risk of heart arrhythmia.

"It's no longer that hydroxychloroquine has no sign of efficacy — it is associated with an increase in mortality," said cardiologist Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Institute in a tweet on the study.

“It’s one thing not to have benefit, but this shows distinct harm,” Topol told the Washington Post. “If there was ever hope for this drug, this is the death of it.”
To generate its statistical power, the study tallied the experience of nearly 15,000 hospital patients taking some combination of hydroxychloroquine drugs against more than 80,000 who didn't. More than 10,000 patients among the 96,000 in the study died.

Patients given a combination of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, taken with or without an antibiotic as some regimens suggested, died at a higher rate compared to the patients who didn't get the drug.
"Our findings suggest not only an absence of therapeutic benefit but also potential harm with the use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine drug regimens," concluded the study.

It's possible that the heart arrhythmias documented in the study aren't what killed the patients, noted a commentary led by Christian Funck-Brentano of France's Sorbonne University that the journal ran with the study. Instead, those might be due to a separate problem for people already on heart drugs, and hydroxychloroquine drugs, they suggested, simply "could worsen COVID-19 severity in some patients."

MORE ON THIS
Trump Said He's Taking Hydroxychloroquine To Try To Prevent COVID-19 In Spite Of An FDA Warning

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Zahra Hirji · April 24, 2020

Dan Vergano is a science reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.
Contact Dan Vergano at dan.vergano@buzzfeed.com.

Explainer |

 What you need to know about the national security law for Hong Kong

• China’s legislators will discuss a new national security law specifically crafted for Hong Kong
• The issue has long been controversial in the city, despite the Basic Law requiring its enactment

The Chinese and Hong Kong flags. Photo: Shutterstock

Chinese legislators are expected to discuss a
new law concerning Hong Kong’s national security at the upcoming parliamentary session. The law would ban all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and external interference in the city’s affairs, as well as target terrorist acts in the special administrative region, sources say. Here is a rundown of the background of the issue.

Hong Kong democrats bash national security law from China’s two sessions, US also voices concern

What does Hong Kong need a national security law for and why does it not have one?
Under Article 23 of the Basic Law, or the city’s mini-constitution, the Hong Kong government must enact its own national security law prohibiting acts of “treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the central people’s government, or theft of state secrets … and to prohibit political organisations or bodies of the region from establishing ties with foreign political organisations or bodies”.
In 2003, the Hong Kong government was forced to shelve a national security bill after an estimated half a million people took to the streets to oppose the legislation, which they warned would curb their rights and freedoms.

A Causeway Bay rally against proposed Article 23 legislation on July 1, 2003. Photo: Dickson Lee


How has the issue developed since then?


The Hong Kong government has steered clear of introducing the legislation. After the 2014 Occupy Central protests, Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing politicians urged the city administration to consider reviving the Article 23 bill. National People’s Congress deputy Stanley Ng Chau-pei had suggested incorporating mainland China security laws into the Basic Law.

Since taking office as the city’s chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has repeatedly said that Article 23 legislation could only be enacted when the timing and the political atmosphere were right.

Pressure to bring in the legislation has been mounting since protests erupted in June last year, initially over the now-withdrawn extradition bill, but which morphed into a wider
anti-government movement.



What other options are available under the Basic Law?
Under Article 18,
national laws can only be applied in Hong Kong if they are listed in Annex III of the mini-constitution and relate to defence, foreign affairs and “other matters outside the limits” of the city’s autonomy. The national laws would then either be promulgated – taking effect automatically – or adopted through local legislation.


What happens next?
This week – A resolution paving the way for the legislation will be presented on Friday to
the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s legislature.

By the end of May – The NPC is expected to vote on th resolution at the end of the annual session, likely on May 28. The resolution will then be forwarded to the NPC Standing Committee to flesh out the details of the legislation.

By the end of June – The Standing Committee is expected to hold its next meeting as early as June. A draft law will be presented at the start of the gathering, which could last for about a week. That draft could be approved and promulgated in Hong Kong by the end of the meeting.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: looking back – and ahead

Hong Kong crisis: China presents security laws banning subversion and separatism

Details emerge of security laws Beijing wants to impose, overriding territory’s constitution and prompting threat of US retaliation
Lily Kuo in Beijing and Helen Davidson 

THE GUARDIAN Fri 22 May 2020
 

Pro-democracy activists hold up placards of Chinese President Xi Jinping with slogans including ‘End one party state’ at a ferry terminal in Hong Kong. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP


China’s proposal for imposing new national security laws on Hong Kong would bar subversion, separatism or acts of foreign interference against the central government and would allow the central government to set up “security organs” in the territory, it has emerged.

The Communist party’s efforts to impose a national security law have been widely interpreted as a move to fully take control over the territory, wracked by pro-democracy protests for the last year. Critics say it will effectively erase the “one country, two systems” framework that is meant to grant Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy.

According to a draft of the legislation, China’s parliament has set up a legal framework “prevent, stop and punish any act to split the country, subvert state power, organise and carry out terrorist activities and other behaviours that seriously endanger national security.”

The bill bars any “activities of foreign and external forces to interfere” in Hong Kong’s affairs. “When needed, relevant national security organs of the Central People’s Government will set up agencies in [Hong Kong] to fulfil relevant duties to safeguard national security”.News of China’s plan has prompted broad international condemnation and raised the prospect of further unrest.

Successive Hong Kong governments have attempted to pass a national security law – the most recent was shelved after half a million people took to the streets in protest in 2003.

Wang Chen, vice-chairman of the standing committee of the national people’s congress, said on Friday at the opening of China’s annual parliament in Beijing that a draft decision on the proposal had been submitted to the legislature, according to state media.

“Law-based and forceful measures must be taken to prevent, stop and punish such activities,” the document said, according to the state news agency Xinhua. The legislation appeared to be aimed at compelling Hong Kong to pass national security laws as required under the territory’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, after the former British colony’s handover to Chinese control in 1997.

Article 23 says the territory must enact, “on its own”, national security laws to prohibit “treason, secession, sedition [and] subversion” against the Chinese government.

The document said, according to Xinhua: “More than 20 years after Hong Kong’s return, however, relevant laws are yet to materialise due to the sabotage and obstruction by those trying to sow trouble in Hong Kong and China at large as well as external hostile forces.

“Efforts must be made at the state level to establish and improve the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for [Hong Kong] to safeguard national security, to change the long-term ‘defenceless’ status in the field of national security.”

Fear and fighting spirit in Hong Kong as China 'rams through' security law

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/22/fear-and-fighting-spirit-in-hong-kong-as-china-rams-through-security-lawHong Kong’s security laws: what are they and why are they so controversial?

The latest protests against the Beijing-backed government began over another controversial law that would have allowed extradition to mainland China. As those protests approach their one-year anniversary, Chinese authorities appear more determined to put down the movement with unprecedented measures that experts say will irreparably damage the territory’s autonomy, as protected under the “one-country, two-systems” framework.

The Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, said on Friday that his government would “establish sound legal systems and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security” in Hong Kong and see that the region “fulfils its constitutional responsibilities”.

Former legislator and veteran pro-democracy activist, Lee Cheuk-yan, told media the draft allowed Beijing to set up its own national security agency bureau in Hong Kong.

Pro-democracy camp legislator Helena Wong said: “even the SAR government will not be able to regulate what the agents do in Hong Kong”.

But pro-Beijing legislators supported the move, citing a rise in “localism”, independence-motivated violence, and collusion with Taiwan independence groups and “anti-China forces”.

Denunciations of the decision continued to pour in on Friday as Chinese lawmakers were expected to reveal more details of the proposal. Taiwan’s mainland affairs council called on Beijing not to push Hong Kong into “bigger turmoil” and said authorities had wrongly blamed external influences and “Hong Kong separatists” for the demonstrations.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/21/china-to-propose-controversial-hong-kong-security-measureCall for reprisals over China's Hong Kong security proposals

The US Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said any further crackdowns from Beijing would “only intensify the Senate’s interest in re-examining the US-China relationship”.

The US senators Marco Rubio and Cory Gardner, and the chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations, Jim Risch, said it would begin “an unprecedented assault against Hong Kong’s autonomy”.

“The Chinese government is once again breaking its promises to the people of Hong Kong and the international community … The United States will stand resolute in its support of the Hong Kong people,” they said. “These developments are of grave concern to the United States, and could lead to a significant reassessment on US policy towards Hong Kong.”

A bipartisan bill being introduced by US senators Chris Van Hollen and Pat Toomey would also sanction officials and entities that enforced any new national security laws, and penalise banks that did business with the entities, the Washington Post reported. That bill appears to expand on existing laws in the US, which require lawmakers to examine the level of autonomy from China Hong Kong holds, and adjust its special status with the US accordingly.

Virginie Battu-Henriksson, spokeswoman for the European Union on foreign affairs and security, said the EU was watching developments “very closely … We attach great importance to the ‘one country two systems’ principle.”

Chinese state media lauded the move by Beijing. State-run tabloid the Global Times called the decision “overdue” and intended to “prevent internal and external forces from using the region as a tool or creating situations that threaten national security”. Hong Kong “did not enjoy a single peaceful day” in 2019, it said. “It was like a city in an undeveloped country engulfed in turmoil.”

On Friday protesters in Hong Kong called for a march while pro-democracy activists vowed to continue demonstrating. Observers say the law could be used to target critics of the central government, especially protesters.

“This is potentially the end of constitutional autonomy and legal separation. It’s several magnitudes worse than the extradition bill,” said Jeppe Mulich, who teaches global history at the University of Cambridge, and focuses on Asia.

“Given how severe Chinese law is on issues like sedition and secession, and given the frequent use of ‘terrorism’ by Beijing when characterising the protests, I would guess it could get really, really bad.”

With Reuters

'This is the end of Hong Kong': China pushes controversial security laws

Proposed legislation would effectively end one country, two systems status, say critics


Lily Kuo in Beijing, Verna Yu in Hong Kong, and Helen Davidson
THE GUARDIAN Thu 21 May 2020

China plans to push through sweeping national security laws for Hong Kong at its annual meeting of parliament, in a move that critics say will effectively end the territory’s autonomy.

Beijing has been making it clear it wants new security legislation passed since huge pro-democracy protests last year plunged Hong Kong into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

“National security is the bedrock underpinning the stability of the country,” said Zhang Yesui, spokesman for the National People’s Congress (NPC), the annual meeting of parliament that kicks off its full session on Friday.

Zhang announced that delegates at the NPC – a largely rubber-stamping exercise – would “establish and improve a legal framework and mechanism for safeguarding national security” in Hong Kong.

Condemnation of the proposal was swift, amid fears it could erase the “one country, two systems” framework that is supposed to grant the territory a high degree of autonomy.

“This is the end of Hong Kong,” said pro-democracy Hong Kong legislator Dennis Kwok. “Beijing, the Central People’s Government, has completely breached its promise to the Hong Kong people ... They are completely walking back on their obligation.”

Article 23 of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, says the city must enact national security laws to prohibit “treason, secession, sedition [and] subversion” against the Chinese government.

But the clause has never been implemented due to deeply held public fears it would curtail Hong Kong’s cherished rights, such as freedom of expression. An attempt to enact article 23 in 2003 was shelved after half a million people took to the streets in protest.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/22/what-better-time-than-now-fears-china-will-use-crises-to-cement-grip-on-hong-kong'What better time than now?' Fears China will use crises to cement grip on Hong Kong

By passing a law in the NPC, Chinese authorities will effectively bypass local opposition.

Zhang said details of the proposal would be announced at NPC proceedings on Friday. The resolution is likely to be passed by China’s parliament next week.

The US president Donald Trump, who has ratcheted up his anti-China rhetoric as he seeks re-election in November, told reporters at the White House that “nobody knows yet” the details of China’s plan. “If it happens we’ll address that issue very strongly,” Trump said, without elaborating.

US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus warned that imposing such a law would be “highly destabilising, and would be met with strong condemnation from the United States and the international community”.

China’s announcement came as anti-government protests that have overwhelmed Hong Kong since last June approach their one-year anniversary. In recent months the protests have been paused as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and much of the world has been distracted. In the meantime Beijing has appeared more determined to definitively quell the demonstrations.

Critics say the measure severely undermines Hong Kong’s legal framework, established under the terms of the former British colony’s handover to Chinese control in 1997. Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, described it as a “comprehensive assault on the city’s autonomy”.

Under its Basic Law, Hong Kong is meant to enact security legislation on its own. “This spells the beginning of the end of Hong Kong under ‘one country, two systems’,” said Kenneth Chan, a political scientist at the Baptist University of Hong Kong.

“It would mean also communist-style political struggles have trumped the rule of law and a dagger that has stabbed into the heart of the city’s liberal foundations,” he said.

“This is an expedient way to control Hong Kong,” said Johnny Lau, veteran China watcher and former journalist at the pro-China Wen Wei Po.

Legal observers and human rights advocates worry the law will be used to target critics of the central government. Over the last year, Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have often described demonstrators as terrorists.

“The obvious worry is that in China, we have seen ‘national security’, as well as related concepts like ‘counter-terrorism’, being used as an excuse for all sorts of human rights abuses, including the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of dissidents, activists and human rights lawyers,” said Wilson Leung, a Hong Kong barrister who is part of the Progressive Lawyers Group.

According to legal experts, Chinese lawmakers may be able to enforce the law in Hong Kong through a provision, article 18, of the Basic Law that allows certain national laws in mainland China to be applied in Hong Kong, either through declaration or local legislation.

Martin Lee, the founder of the Democratic Party and a senior barrister who helped draft the Basic Law, said he insisted on the language in the document that “Hong Kong shall legislate on its own” national security laws.

“This is a blatant breach of their promise, they have reversed things completely,” he said. “This is the wrong procedure.”

He said the article 18 provision should apply to national laws only, not laws that specifically relate to Hong Kong. “If this precedent is set, then there is no need for [Hong Kong’s] legislative council,” he said.

Eric Cheung, the director of clinical legal education of the faculty of law at the University of Hong Kong, said: “The problem here is that if they want to do it, of course they can do it in any way they want to. The reality is that we are powerless.”

As China’s most important political event opens this week, after almost three months of delay, there are other signs of measures to stop the protests in Hong Kong. At the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on Thursday, Wang Yang, the head of the political advisory body, said the party supported strengthening the ability of its members in Hong Kong to “speak out, stop chaos, and reinstate order”.

till, demonstrators, who have begun to take to the streets again, appeared more determined to pursue their demands.

“At this time last year, didn’t we believe that the extradition law was sure to pass? Hong Kongers have always created miracles,” Nathan Law, a pro-democracy activist, wrote on Facebook.

“People will continue to protest on streets,” tweeted Joshua Wong, an activist and former student leader during the 2014 protest movement. “Hong Kongers will not be scared off.”

Additional reporting by Lillian Yang

Play Video
1:00 'Saddest day in Hong Kong's history': China pushes controversial security laws – video

Timeline
Hong Kong protests

February 2019

A new Hong Kong extradition law is proposed, which would allow people to be transferred to mainland China for a variety of crimes. Residents fear it could lead to politically motivated extraditions into China's much harsher judicial system.

31 March 2019

Large public demonstrations start as thousands march in the streets to protest against the extradition bill.

11 May 2019

Hong Kong lawmakers scuffle in parliament during a row over the law.

30 May 2019

Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, introduces concessions to the extradition bill, including limiting the scope of extraditable offences, but critics say they are not enough.

12 June 2019

The scale of protests continues to increase as more than half a million people take to the streets. Police use rubber bullets and teargas against the biggest protests Hong Kong has seen for decades.

15 June 2019

Lam says the proposed extradition law has been postponed indefinitely.

1 July 2019

The protests continue as demonstrators storm the Legislative Council, destroying pictures, daubing graffiti on the walls and flying the old flag of Hong Kong emblazoned with the British union flag. The protests coincide with the 22nd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from the UK back to China.

21 July 2019

Armed men in white T-shirts thought to be supporting the Chinese government attack passengers and passers-by in Yuen Long metro station, while nearby police take no action.

30 July 2019

44 protesters are charged with rioting, which further antagonises the anti-extradition bill movement.

September 2019

By now the protest movement has coalesced around five key demands: complete withdrawal of the proposed extradition bill, withdrawal of the use of the word "riot" in relation to the protests, unconditional release of arrested protesters and charges against them dropped, an independent inquiry into police behaviour and the implementation of genuine universal suffrage.

15 September 2019

The mass protests enter their fifteenth week, with police resorting to teargas and water cannon against the demonstrators, and a wave of "doxxing" using digital techniques to unmask police and protesters as a new front in the battle.

1 October 2019

Police shoot a protester with live ammunition for the first time, as demonstrations continue on the day marking the 70th anniversary of the declaration of the People's Republic of China.

7 October 2019

The first charges are brought against protesters for covering their faces, after authorities bring in new laws banning face masks in order to make it easier to identify or detain protesters.

11 October 2019

Hong Kong officials spark outrage in the city as it revealed that nearly a third of protesters arrested since June have been children. Seven hundred and 50 out of the 2,379 people arrested  were under 18, and 104 were under 16.

16 October 2019

Lam is forced to deliver a key annual policy speech via video link after after being heckled in parliament, as the legislative council resumed sessions after it was suspended on 12 June. Later in the day one of the protest leaders, Jimmy Sham, was attacked by assailants wielding hammers and knives.

23 October 2019

Chan Tong-kai, the murder suspect whose case prompted the original extradition bill is released from prison, saying that he is willing to surrender himself to Taiwan. The extradition bill is also formally withdrawn, a key demand of protesters.

8 November 2019

Chow Tsz-lok, 22, becomes the first direct fatality of the protests. Chow, a computer science student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), was found injured in a car park in Tseung Kwan O in Kowloon, where he was believed to have fallen one storey. Protesters had been trying to disrupt a police officer’s wedding, which was being held in the area. A week later a 70-year-old cleaner who is thought to have been hit by a brick during a clash between protesters and pro-Beijing residents becomes the second person to die.

18 November 2019

Hundreds of protestors are trapped as police lay siege to a university, firing tear gas.

24 November 2019

Local elections deliver a landslide victory for pro-democracy campaigners.


SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/05/china-security-law-could-be-end-of-hong.html