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On Monday The Times reported British social media users could face a two-year prison term if they send messages or post content deemed to have caused “psychological harm” under the UK government’s draft ‘Online Safety Bill’ to tackle hate speech and abuse online. “It includes an anti-misinformation offence … In this regard, The Times reported that unnamed government sources had referenced the example of ‘anti-vaxxers spreading false information that they know to be untrue’,” RT reported. In Taiwan, a similar law has been in place from 19 June 2019, if not earlier. The Communicable Disease Act (or Infectious Disease Prevention...

A lack of transparency from Chinese officials and looming geopolitical consequences have damaged the credibility of a WHO-led inquiry into how the virus that causes COVID-19 originated. Lesley Stahl reports. The question: how did SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, originate? Among the leading theories examined: was it accidentally leaked from a lab in Wuhan or did it come from infected animals in a wet market there? The WHO inquiry was far from comprehensive, because, as it has done since the beginning of the outbreak, the Chinese government withheld information. Jamie Metzl: I wouldn't really call what's happened now an...

Beijing, China, shuttered in-person classes for all schools on Tuesday, bracing for a new wave of the coronavirus. The closure goes into effect Wednesday. The capital hub of 20 million people had gone more than 50 consecutive days without a new recorded case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new virus. But last weekend, city officials reported a cluster of 87 new cases, the Financial Times reported, 46 of which were asymptomatic. That cluster emerged in Xinfadi, the largest produce and seafood market in the city. Xinfadi was closed over the weekend, as were several residential buildings on the...

We know how the COVID-19 pandemic began: Bats near Wuhan, China, hold a mix of coronavirus strains, and sometime last fall one of the strains, opportunistic enough to cross species lines, left its host or hosts and ended up in a person. Then it was on the loose. What no one knows yet is how the pandemic will end. This coronavirus is unprecedented in the combination of its easy transmissibility, a range of symptoms going from none at all to deadly, and the extent that it has disrupted the world. A highly susceptible population led to near exponential growth in...

The goal of this campaign was to downplay health risks across the American public, and to cast doubt on the critical warnings and directions given by the U.S. Government, state and local officials, public health agencies, and experts in the field.”...“This malicious content was seeded into public media in China, and within hours it was rapidly distributed by social media users who believed these narratives and then amplified them...Notably, many of those conspiracy sites are home-grown U.S. disinformation sites that were created for their creators’ own political agendas.

China, Chinese Virus, CNN, Corona virus, In an article and TV segment yesterday, CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh and Vasco Cotovio argued that the Chinese virus pandemic was not the fault of China’s communist government or bats, but “human activity.” The big winner in this bizarre way of telling the story is China, which is launching a furious disinformation campaign to distance itself from blame for the pandemic.According the CNN theory, the real problem is a global one. Through climate change and other means, natural habitats are being destroyed. This displaces animals such as bats. When the bats are displaced (and...

A no-deal Brexit could trigger a recession lasting four quarters in Britain, with the country's gross domestic product (GDP) contracting by 1.5 percent in 2020, the accountancy firm KPMG warned on Monday. KPMG economists said that trade disruption under a no-deal Brexit would damage the British businesses, while potential shortages of imported foods and medicines are likely to undermine consumer confidence. A no-deal Brexit could also significantly dent exports in 2020, causing delays at the border and confusion about regulations. "While both the Bank of England and the UK government would be likely to offer monetary and fiscal policy support,...

The Xinhua News Agency, a large state-owned news network that broadcasts Communist Party propaganda, called the ad “false” and “foolish.” The Washington Post credited the pushback to “authorities in Beijing,” underscoring the widely accepted synergy between Xinhua and the Chinese government. Stephanie Cutter, the president’s deputy campaign manager, seized on the PRC’s attacks in a tweet Friday morning, calling a piece on Xinhua’s criticism a “must read.”

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The "Mengshi (Warriors)" off-road military vehicle produced by Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor surpasses U.S. Humvee in 12 out of 15 major battlefield performance indices, chief designer Huang Song has said. Use by the Chinese military force has proven that "Mengshi" overtakes Humvee in 12 indices, including the loading capacity andoil consumption, and are well-matched with Humvee in three other indices, Huang was quoted as saying by Monday's Economic Information Daily, a Xinhua publication. It took Dongfeng six years to develop the vehicle, which had undergone more than 200,000 hours of factory tests and more than...

A man who is believed to have killed up to 100 million people in his life is to be the subject of a positive $60 million biographical film portrait, if a Hollywood producer gets his way. "Challenging Heaven" by Steven North will tell the story of the founding of Communist China with Mao Zedong in the role of George Washington. North is currently trying to romance Beijing into offering support for the project. "This is a very positive portrayal of Mao, and we are hoping that once the script clears the approval process, China will come forward with services and...

Kuwait City, April 4 (Xinhua) The US is planning to attack Iran's nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities by the end of this month, the Kuwait-based Arab Times newspaper reported Wednesday. Citing anonymous sources in Washington, it said that various White House departments had started preparing the political speech to be delivered by the US president later this month, announcing the military attack on Iran. The speech will provide the 'evidence' and the 'justification' for the US to resort to the military option after failing to persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear ambitions, said the report. According to the...

China issued Thursday the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2005 (read full text) in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2005 issued by the U.S. State Department on Wednesday. Released by the Information Office of China's State Council, the Chinese report listed a multitude of cases to show the serious violations of human rights both in and outside the United States. "As in previous years, the U.S. State Department pointed the finger at human rights situations in more than 190 countries and regions (including China) but kept silent on the violations of human...