Beijing, Mar 10 (Prensa Latina) Observers in China suggested on Wednesday that the Asian country support the World Health Organization (WHO) in creating a platform to manage global passports providing some information such as vaccination data and Covid-19 test results.

Xiang Ligang, manager of the information technology sector, suggested that China provides its experience in technology and implementation of code anchored to personal telephones to detect if an individual is at risk of Covid-19 contagion.

According to Ligang, WHO would ensure the independence, transparency and data protection of the system, as well as establish the rules and proceedings of use.

I could get the mechanism up and running in two or three months if other nations join this project, and I even have it fully ready for Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The vaccine passport contains an encrypted code to protect person´s particulars. It includes information about vaccinations and test results, and it will only allow appropriate authorities to check if carrier is or not healthy.

https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=65206&SEO=china-who-cooperation-suggested-in-global-health-passport

The Facebook comments for this article were hilarious.
>Amanda Gorman's The Hill We Climb stole the show at Joe Biden's presidential inauguration but when a renowned Dutch author was asked to translate her work there was an outcry because the translator is not black.

>Critics said it was not just about skin colour but identity too. This was not simply about translation but whether Gorman's poetry could be accurately reflected, interpreted by someone of a different ethnicity, genre, and mother tongue.

>One day after accepting the task, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld decided not to go ahead after all.

>>Who is Rijneveld?
>Dutch publisher Meulenhoff described poet Marieke Lucas Rijneveld as a "dream candidate", who at 29 became the youngest author to win the International Booker prize in 2020 with debut novel The Discomfort of Evening. Amanda Gorman had selected Rijneveld herself, as a fellow young writer who had also come to fame early, said the publisher.

>Outspoken on issues including gender equality and mental health, Rijneveld identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns they/them.

>Marieke Lucas Rijneveld initially revealed the news of being chosen to translate Amanda Gorman's works on Twitter, accompanied by two sparkling heart emojis. There was praise too for a poet who had highlighted their own respective struggles, and congratulations on a first translation job.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56334369

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANRs4DojOek

An official Chinese Academy of Sciences video to mark the launch of the new biosafety level 4 laboratory in May 2017 speaks about the security precautions that are in place if “an accident” occurs and reveals there had been “intense clashes” with the French Government during the construction of the laboratory.

The video shows bats being held in a cage at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, along with vision of a scientist feeding a bat with a worm.

The World Health Organisation report investigating the origin of the pandemic failed to mention that any bats had been kept at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and only its annex referred to animals being housed there.

“The animal room in the P4 facility can handle a variety of species, including primate work with SARS-CoV-2,” it states.

A member of the World Health Organisation team investigating the origin of the pandemic in Wuhan, zoologist Peter Daszak said it was a conspiracy to suggest bats were held at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

In one tweet dated December, 2020 he said: “No BATS were sent to Wuhan lab for genetic analysis of viruses collected in the field. That’s now how this science works. We collect bat samples, send them to the lab. We RELEASE bats where we catch them!”

In another tweet, dated December 11, 2020, he said: “This is a widely circulated conspiracy theory. This piece describes work I’m the lead on and labs I’ve collaborated with for 15 years. They DO NOT have live or dead bats in them. There is no evidence anywhere that this happened. It’s an error I hope will be corrected.”

This month, Daszak appeared to retract his earlier denials and admitted the Wuhan Institute of Virology may have housed bats but admitted he had not asked them.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences video was discovered by researchers investigating the origin of the pandemic who call themselves DRASTIC.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/live-today-pres-biden-arrives-in-lake-charles-for-first-stop-on-louisiana-tour/ar-BB1gptTC

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/29/trump-transition-democrats-108513

Democrats are bracing for the possibility that if President Donald Trump loses the 2020 election, he and his aides will bungle a smooth handover of power – and maybe even try to outright sabotage the transition.

At least one outside group that works with the 2020 Democratic campaigns has quietly launched a transition-related effort designed to offer an early look at the landscape that awaits them if they oust Trump.

Separately, a prominent good government organization, the Partnership for Public Service, is openly appealing to Trump and his Democratic opponents to start thinking early about transition planning, even if it comes across as “presumptuous.”

And one leading Democratic presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, just days ago unveiled a plan that, among other things, describes how she would move quickly to staff the government if she wins the White House.

In the plan, Warren voices the fears of many Democrats. “This will be no ordinary transition between administrations,” she states. “Unlike previous transitions, we will not be able to assume good faith cooperation on the part of the outgoing administration.”

That Democrats are making transition-related moves more than nine months before Election Day underscores not only their distrust of Trump but also the reality that taking over the U.S. government is a mammoth task with high stakes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-56994408

Infrastructure talks are starting to gain momentum in Congress two weeks after President Joe Biden rolled out his sprawling $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan.

A Republican-led group of 20 lawmakers is gearing up to make a counteroffer in a bid to strike a bipartisan deal on a smaller package. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia floated one this week in the range of $600 billion to $800 billion. But there are fresh signs of discord among Republicans on the price tag and it's far from settled.

The sole factor binding them together is opposition to Biden's corporate tax hike. Capito called it a "non-negotiable red line," and other Republicans like Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Susan Collins of Maine agreed they wouldn't budge.

Instead, they are suggesting potential "user-fees," a set of charges levied on the users of a federal service or good, such as raising the federal gas tax. User-fees have the support from the Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business group.

"My own view is that the pay-for ought to come from people who are using it. So if it's an airport, the people who are flying," Sen. Mitt Romney told reporters on Wednesday. "If it's a port, the people who are shipping into the port; if it's a rail system, the people who are using the rails; If it's highways, it ought to be gas if it's a gasoline-powered vehicle."

That could shift the financial burden of an infrastructure overhaul from companies onto people, Kevin DeGood, an infrastructure expert at the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress, told Insider. It has triggered intense resistance among Democrats.

"If the Republican position is that we're going only going to do this by raising the gas tax and we won't accept an additional penny of corporate revenue, that won't be something our caucus can get behind," a Senate Democratic aide granted anonymity to speak candidly said.

https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-infrastructure-cost-companies-average-people-gax-tax-congress-2021-4

1/3
>Michael Harriot, who wrote a scathing essay about Mr. Buttigieg in The Root, said his goal was to point out that "the ignoring and whitewashing of the issues, and trying to remain appealing to moderate voters, does a disservice to the Democratic Party's core constituency."

>WASHINGTON -- Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., whose lack of support among black voters poses an ongoing threat to his presidential candidacy, responded Tuesday to an outcry over eight-year-old comments he made about black students from poor neighborhoods struggling in school because they did not have proper role models.

>"Kids need to see evidence that education is going to work for them," Mr. Buttigieg said during a mayoral candidate forum in 2011, before being elected, a clip of which has circulated widely on Twitter. "There are a lot of kids, especially, the lower-income minority neighborhoods, who literally just haven't seen it work. There isn't somebody they know personally who testifies to the value of education."

>After Michael Harriot, a writer for The Root, denounced Mr. Buttigieg's claim in a scathing essay, Mr. Buttigieg phoned Mr. Harriot on Tuesday to discuss the piece.

>"What I said in that comment before I became mayor does not reflect the totality of my understanding then, and certainly now about the obstacles that students of color face in our system today," Mr. Buttigieg told reporters, speaking in Denison, Iowa. "I want to make sure I communicated that I'm very conscious of the advantages and privileges that I have had, not through any great wealth but certainly through education, through the advantages that come with being white and being male, and that's part of why I know I've got to make myself useful as a candidate and as president."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-the-root-michael-harriot.html

LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace said on Friday.

“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the palace said in a statement.

“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. Further announcements will be made in due course. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2BW1E6