Pakistan: Imran Khan's Custody Extended By 2 Weeks
Pakistan's former PM Imran Khan on Wednesday had his jail custody extended for two weeks on charges of exposing an official secret document apparently featuring diplomatic cable, which he had touted as proof of a US conspiracy against him.
His lawyer has confirmed that a bail petition will be heard in the special court on Saturday, adding that an appeal has been filed to challenge the jail trial and to demand the case to be held in an open court.
This comes a day after the Islamabad High Court granted Khan bail after suspending his three-year jail sentence on charges of unlawfully selling state gifts, as "procedural defects" were found in the lower court's proceedings.
Narrative A
Imran Khan and other leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party — who are being deprived of their constitutional rights — should have long been released from custody as there's no legal cause to keep them behind bars. Though the Islamabad High Court's decision was a positive step for Khan, he continues to face politically motivated efforts to keep him out of politics.
Narrative B
Despite the Islamabad High Court ordering his release on bail, Khan will remain in custody as he was officially arrested under the Official Secrets Act during his imprisonment in the Toshakhana graft case. Not only did he misplace and misuse a classified document for political gains while facing a vote of no-confidence, but he also did admit to losing the cipher.
Trump's Federal Jan. 6 Trial Set for Day Before Super Tuesday
US Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday set March 4, 2024 — one day before Super Tuesday, when 15 states are slated to hold GOP primaries or caucuses — as the start date for former Pres. Donald Trump's trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.
The Washington, D.C., district judge found that neither the April 2026 trial date proposed by the Trump camp nor the Jan. 2, 2024, proposed by the US Dept. of Justice (DOJ) were "acceptable."
This comes as special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump on August 1 on four counts related to actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots — including conspiring to defraud the US, obstructing an official proceeding, and conspiring against the rights of voters.
Pro-Trump narrative
As the eve of Super Tuesday had previously been proposed as the start date for the Georgia case against Donald Trump, it's clear that these criminal cases are part of a Biden administration plan to interfere with the 2024 election to prevent Trump from winning back the White House. Additionally, the March 4, 2024 date makes it impossible for Trump's lawyers to provide adequate defense in this case.
Anti-Trump narrative
The delaying strategy of Trump's legal team has gone wrong as Judge Chutkan reaffirmed the primacy of the legal system over political scheduling. He and his allies may cry election interference but, like any defendant in this country, Trump will have to make the trial date work despite his personal and professional obligations. After all, the public deserves a prompt and efficient resolution on such a serious case.
Nerd narrative
There's a 90% chance that prediction markets will say Donald Trump is the most likely Republican nominee for President on January 1, 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
US to Counter China's Military Buildup With 'Autonomous Systems'
US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks formally announced Monday that the Pentagon plans to field thousands of autonomous systems within two years as part of the ambitious Replicator initiative, which is aimed at countering China in the Indo-Pacific.
Speaking at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technologies conference in Washington, D.C., she stressed that this latest strategy is vital to stay ahead as Beijing has quantitative advantages in ships, missiles, and troops.
While America will still leverage more high-end weapons systems, the Replicator initiative is reportedly designed to use cheaper and smarter platforms that are easy to update and put fewer humans in harm's way.
Pro-establishment narrative
The Pentagon is putting the development of autonomous weapons systems in full gear. This technology keeps soldiers out of harm's way by removing them from the battlefield while allowing military decisions to be made much faster — almost at superhuman speed — thus improving defensive capabilities. The future of warfare is here and will help deter aggression — such as PRC actions toward America and its allies.
Establishment-critical narrative
Autonomous weapons systems lower the threshold of war by reducing perceived risks and making conflict easier to enter into. Decisions over life and death must always remain in human hands to prevent digital dehumanization and the automation of death. It's imperative to establish boundaries between what is acceptable and what is unacceptable and these systems must be rejected.
Nerd narrative
There is an 11% chance that the United States will sign a Treaty on the Prohibition of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems before 2031, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Russia Accused of Intimidating US Consulate Staff
The US Dept. of State on Monday accused Russia of trying to "intimidate and harass" US employees inside Russia after a former Consulate worker — a Russian citizen — pled guilty to charges of collecting information for Washington.
Robert Shonov, a longtime employee of the US Consulate in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, was initially arrested in the city in May. After an investigation and further questioning by the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, he was charged with "collaboration on a confidential basis with a foreign state or international or foreign organization" — he was held at the Lefortovo Prison in Moscow.
On Monday, Shonov pled guilty to the charge from a courtroom inside the prison. In a video of his interrogation released by the FSB, Shonov said he was approached by US embassy employees "seeking information about the key developments in Russia — the special military [operation], mobilization, the coming presidential election and the accession of new territories."
Pro-establishment narrative
The charges against Shonov are wholly without merit. This is simply another demonstration of the Kremlin's crackdown on its own citizens and is part of Russia's attempts to intimidate and harass US employees in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Pro-Russia narrative
In filmed testimony, Shonov admitted to collecting sensitive information about Russia for the Americans. This is clearly against the laws in Russia and the courts will deal with this case accordingly.
Nerd narrative
There's a 4% chance that there will be a deadly clash between the US and Russian armed forces before 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Study: Mozart May Be a Painkiller for Newborns
According to a study published in Pediatric Research, playing a Mozart lullaby may help reduce pain in infants receiving routine heel prick blood tests.
The study's randomized and blinded clinical trial involved 100 infants undergoing routine screening for multiple conditions between April 2019 and February 2020 in New York City.
While 54 infants listened to an instrumental Mozart lullaby for 20 minutes before and during the jabs and 5 minutes afterward, the remaining weren't exposed to music. On average, the infants were two days old and born at 39 weeks.
Narrative A
With humans being as complex as they are, music can provide a clear and immediate impact on well-being in a variety of circumstances. Music therapy is an established healthcare profession, and while there may be no singular solution, the tool can be a powerful instrument for positive change that demands greater attention within medical circles.
Narrative B
There are a variety of potential risks that music therapy may pose. While containing the ability to do good, different musical choices may provide complicated and dangerous responses in each unique individual. Certain music may cause more good than bad, and safety and careful consideration must remain a priority in music therapy.
US Lists First 10 Drugs for Medicare Negotiations
On Tuesday, US Pres. Joe Biden's administration released its list of the first 10 prescription medicines that will enter the first-ever price negotiations between the nation's Medicare program and Big Pharma.
Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) allows the US government to negotiate drug prices through the Medicare program. Historically, pharmaceutical companies have been unregulated in the price they could charge for life-saving medications.
The drugs selected include Bristol-Myers Squibb's Eliquis, a medication that reduces stroke risk; AstraZeneca's Farxiga, a drug used for Type 2 diabetes treatment; Novo Nordisk's insulins, Fiasp and NovoLog; and Entresto, Novartis' drug for the treatment of heart failure; among others.
Democratic narrative
Republicans have led an unconscionable effort to deny Medicare the right to negotiate drug prices. Pres. Biden stepped in with the Inflation Reduction Act, which will not only help millions of elderly and marginalized Americans afford crucial medicines but will also decrease the federal deficit for years to come. This is a win for everyone.
Republican narrative
The only thing this provision will achieve is years of litigation as companies rightfully defend themselves against this attack. This development will force drug makers to decide between earning enough in sales to fund their research, development, and operations and investing in new cutting-edge life-saving drugs, as the government threatens them with financial ruin if they don't comply.
Live Roundworm Found in Australian Woman's Brain
In a medical first, a neurosurgeon performing a biopsy on an Australian woman last year pulled an 8 cm (3.15 in) living parasitic worm from her brain, according to findings published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal.
The patient, a 64-year-old woman, had complained of symptoms such as stomach pain, night sweats, and a cough, later progressing to forgetfulness and depression. A brain scan revealed what appeared to be "an atypical lesion" on the right frontal lobe of her brain.
During the biopsy, neurosurgeon Dr. Hari Priya Bandi pulled out a living roundworm from the woman's brain. This "once-in-a-career" finding spurred doctors to find the cause of the unique infection, with specialists determining it was an Ophidascaris robertsi roundworm.
Narrative A
As we emerge from the COVID pandemic, the world needs to be aware of a new frontier of infectious diseases being driven by population growth and climate change. Research shows that an acceleration of climate change will cause more parasites to spill over into the human population. Unless we take bold action to mitigate environmental damage, novel infections like this will become more common.
Narrative B
While diseases that travel from animals to humans are on the rise, science will always be able to provide us with new ways of mitigating the damage. For instance, research done in Africa has found that ants can house a multitude of viral sequences unknown to science. It's just as often that nature poses a problem as it does a solution, and the intense focus on zoonosis in the aftermath of COVID could leave us well-prepared.
Study: Air Pollution is the Greatest External Threat to Global Health
According to a study published by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago on Tuesday, air pollution is the world's greatest external risk to human health.
The study found that while tobacco use reduces global life expectancy by 2.2 years, fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) cuts it by 2.3 years — or a combined 17.8B life years for the global population.
The situation is worse in South Asia, where the researchers claimed that increasing air pollution can cut a person's life expectancy by more than five years.
Narrative A
Multiple studies have shown that air pollution is more dangerous to global health than smoking, alcohol, or malnutrition. Yet the percentage of funding set aside to confront the existential threat is minuscule. Just six countries suffer from three-quarters of the world's air pollution's impact. Governments must unite to reduce global disparities in the fight against air pollution.
Narrative B
While air quality has improved over the last few decades in Europe, the growing threat of wildfires — caused by rising temperatures linked to climate change — is causing spikes in air pollution from the western US to Latin America and Southeast Asia. We must devote more resources to tackle global warming as a root cause of this threat.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that the average annual level of PM2.5 in Beijing will be at least 40 in 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
Iraq Executes 3 Over 2016 Islamic State Group Bombing
Iraq has reportedly hanged three people convicted for a 2016 bombing that was claimed by the Islamic State group (IS).
The bombing, which killed more than 320 people in a Baghdad shopping district, was one of the deadliest terrorist acts globally since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.
The car bombing on July 3, 2016, targeted a busy shopping area ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival ending the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The initial blast claimed a limited number of lives, but the resulting fire spread and trapped victims inside a shopping center that lacked emergency exits.
Narrative A
While the death penalty is highly contested, a serious punishment for heinous crimes like terrorism is still necessary. Terrorists like those who perpetrated the bombing in Baghdad in 2016, are among the most brutal and violent criminals, and their targeting of civilian men, women, and children, cannot be left unpunished.
Narrative B
The death penalty is not an effective deterrent against terrorism. The execution of terrorists goes beyond retribution or perceived justice and may create more issues than life in prison would. By killing these criminals, Iraq risks turning them into martyrs that can be used for the public relations and fundraising strategies of extremist groups.
PRC County Offering Cash to Young Married Couples
Amid concerns over declining birth rates and marriage registrations, officials in eastern China’s Changshan County are offering a 1K-yuan ($137) reward to young married couples if the bride is 25 years old or younger.
The county, located in the eastern province of Zhejiang, announced the policy on its official WeChat account. It stipulated that the reward only applies to couples marrying for the first time and is intended to promote "age-appropriate marriage and childbearing."
The county’s program also seeks to ease the high costs of raising children in China by providing childcare, fertility, and education subsidies to couples who have children.
Anti-China narrative
China created its current demographic disaster with its failed family policies over the last four decades and is now overcompensating for its mistakes. For nearly 40 years China forced a birth rate that was half of the replacement level, yet Chinese officials seem to be caught off guard that decades later the PRC has an aging population and low birth rates. China is nearing catastrophe as its demographic pyramid becomes inverted. China did too little, too late to avoid this crisis.
Pro-China narrative
While all of the focus is on China’s rise in the last 40 years, many are ignoring China’s history of vast population fluctuation. Any civilization that is thousands of years old will have times of population growth and decline. China still has more than a billion people, and it will endure strongly regardless of whether the birth rate ticks up a bit or not in short-term cycles.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that China’s fertility rate will be at least 1.15 births per woman in 2031, according to the Metaculus prediction community.