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China Tag

I had an opportunity to have lunch with the biosafety specialist and colleague this week, to do a preliminary risk assessment related to the Wuhan Coronavirus and its potential for the outbreak in China to blossom into a full-blown pandemic. One of the biggest challenges in this exercise is the reliability of any of the data coming from China. Presently, we will assume that the death toll stands now at 169, with 7169 cases officially reported (including the five in the US).

The United States has imposed sanctions against a China-linked business network financing Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and Quds Force, both U.S. designated terrorist entities. The network bought hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil from National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), a state-owned Iranian firm "which helps to finance Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and its terrorist proxies," The U.S. Treasury Department disclosed Thursday.

Pro-Democracy protestors prevailed in Hong Kong this weekend, as its candidates decisively won nearly half of the seats on the ballot.
So far, pro-democracy candidates have won 269 out of 452 seats in 18 district council races, while pro-Beijing forces, who previously held 73 percent of the seats, have only won 30. Voters came out in droves -- with a 71 percent turnout -- up from 47 percent four years ago in the same elections, according to the Electoral Affairs Commission.

Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters have paralyzed parts of the city for the past several days by forcing schools to close, blocking highways, and escalating the intensity of the demonstrations.
Protesters have torched vehicles and buildings, hurled petrol bombs at police stations and trains, dropped debris from bridges on to traffic below and vandalized shopping malls and campuses, raising questions about how and when more than five months of unrest can be brought to an end.