Month: July 2021

Categories
Entertainment

By no means Have I Ever Devi Vishwakumar Bravery Private Essay

NEVER I NEVER HAVE (L to R) MAITREYI RAMAKRISHNAN as DEVI VISHWAKUMAR in episode 202 of NEVER I NEVER HAVE Cr. Courtesy of NETFLIX 2021

Many people consider Devi Vishwakumar to be I have never being a problematic character. She lies, hurts the people she loves, and makes incredibly selfish decisions – that much is true. However, there is something to be said about authenticity when it comes to Devi’s character, as she is rarely anyone but herself. She apologizes (mostly) and is not afraid to be her real self, no matter how culturally inappropriate or frowned upon. For this reason, when watching the new season of I have never, I was jealous of Devi and wished I had been more like her than I was her age.

I was born in the UK and have lived in a South Asian household for most of my life, except for a three year hiatus where I lived in Southampton with my university roommates and my current neighborhood in my own apartment. Throughout my childhood and teenage life, I’d say my parents were a reasonable level of severity – definitely more so than Devi’s mother, Nalini, at least. I got to visit friends outside of school, I went to my fair share of house parties, and I even managed to convince my parents to let me go to the Reading Festival a long time ago, plus a full annual trip to Zante in Greece. But I still feel like I could have taken more risks and been a more authentic version of myself.

As a South Asian woman who grew up in the UK, it sometimes feels like you’re leading a double life. There is the “you” that you are when you are with your cousins, grandma, and your parents, and there is the “you” that you are when you are away from all of these people. Growing up, I wasn’t very open with my family about things at school, I never had male friends visiting my house or sneaking into my room, and I very rarely had friends to stay over. When I watch the show I can’t help but feel like my experience was very different from Devi’s. When I watch her transition from school to home, I have the feeling that her personality, her opinions and the way she speaks hardly or not at all change, unlike in my case.

Devi is pretty open with her family about the language she uses, and she really doesn’t hold back when it comes to swearing, sex, or dating – topics that are usually off-limits in South Asian cultures. In comparison, I didn’t even ask my mother about the periods before it happened to me, and it wasn’t because I didn’t know her; it just felt awkward bringing it up. I would never openly curse or argue about dates with my parents (to this day) even though I’ve been with my boyfriend for five years (not to mention that we live together). There are definitely more factors at play besides Devi’s bold personality, but I couldn’t help but notice all of these things that she loved to do and say without fear of judgments that made me wish I could have been fair so brave in my younger days

The only caveat is probably the episode where her nose is pierced because she is concerned about what her mom is going to say. Even then, the nose piercing is a direct result of sneaking out of her house in the middle of the night to hang out with guys, and she comes to the solution pretty quickly that she’ll “just take it out” before she sees hers Mother the next morning anyway.

I can’t help but wonder how my life would have been if I had taken more risks and been less afraid of what my family would think of some of the things I talked about, how I acted or what i did. Perhaps a more open relationship would have been the result, or a greater level of understanding of the difficulties of growing up in a Western society. Anyway, my hope for other young South Asian girls watching the show is this: Take risks. Within reasonable limits, of course, but take the time to blend the “double lives” together as best you can without worrying too much about what is being said or thought about you. Because the truth is, life is too short to live with regret, and we all could use being a little more like Devi Vishwakumar.

Categories
World News

Afghanistan Flood Kills 80 – The New York Occasions

Hong Kong Website Doxxing Police Gets Blocked, Raising Censorship Fears

KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 80 people were killed with a hundred more missing after a flash flood tore through a village in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan late Wednesday night, Afghan officials said.

The deluge swept away most of the village in the Nuristan Province, destroying around 200 homes, and caught most residents off guard because they were sleeping. By Thursday night, villagers had recovered around 80 bodies but as the search continues, local officials expect the death toll to surpass 200.

“It is wiped out, nothing remains after floods,” said Abdul Naser, a resident of the district who visited the village on Thursday. “No aid has arrived yet, and there are no measures for caskets, coffins and funerals.”

The flash flood is the latest blow for Afghanistan, where fighting between government forces and the Taliban has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in recent months and pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis, aid agencies say. Since international troops began withdrawing in May, the Taliban have made a swift military advance across the country, gaining control of more than half of the country’s 400-odd districts.

But as the militant group presses on in its offensive, raising the possibility of a complete Taliban takeover, many have questioned whether they could effectively govern the war-stricken and foreign aid dependent country if they seize power. The flood, in Kamdesh district, offered an early test for the Taliban’s ability to provide relief services — a sign of effective governance — in the areas they control.

On Thursday afternoon, local officials called on the Taliban to grant aid groups access to the district to provide emergency services. But by the afternoon, search and rescue teams had still not been able to reach the remote village largely because the Taliban control the roads into the district, according to a statement from the Ministry for Disaster Management. Local disaster management committees in nearby Kunar and Laghman provinces were working on getting their rescue teams to the area.

“The area is under Taliban control, if the Taliban allow us, we will take aid to the area,” said Hafiz Abdul Qayum, the governor of Nuristan Province.

In a statement Thursday evening, a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the group welcomed aid organizations’ assistance.

Floods in northern and eastern Afghanistan are not uncommon this time of year. In August last year, flooding in Charikar, a city on the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains, in northern Afghanistan, killed at least 92 people and injured 108 others.

But the flash flood in Nuristan comes as extreme weather has taken a grim toll around the world this summer and scientists warn that warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions is changing the climate. Heavy rainfall is a visible sign of that change, they say, because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture — producing more powerful rain.

This month alone, floods deemed once-in-a-millennium or rarer killed at least 170 people in Europe and caused billions in damages after homes, businesses, vehicles and electricity and sewer systems were wiped away. Floodwaters trapped terrified passengers in submerged subway cars, swept cars away and caused power outages in Zhengzhou, China. And monsoon rains set off a flash flood in the Grand Canyon in the United States.

In recent decades, flash floods have become increasingly common in Afghanistan after widespread deforestation largely destroyed the open woodlands and closed forests that once slowed the flow of water down mountainsides. With weak governance and entrenched conflict putting people in additional peril, Afghanistan consistently ranks as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change, according to the World Bank.

Of the 110,000 Afghans who have been affected by some sort of natural disaster so far this year, 75 percent experienced flooding, according to the United Nations.

Fahim Abed reported from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Zabihullah Ghazi from Jalalabad.

Categories
Politics

Lawmaker to Name for Renewed Push to Free Paul Whelan, U.S. Marine Jailed in Russia

Lawmaker to Call for Renewed Push to Free Paul Whelan, U.S. Marine Jailed in Russia

Paul N. Whelan, the former US Marine who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia on espionage charges, has been unable to contact his family or the US embassy since July 4, and relatives and members of Congress are increasingly concerned about his welfare. His.

“No one has heard from him,” said Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat who represents Mr. Whelan, in an interview. “We haven’t heard from him or really been able to speak to him since the beginning of July.”

Ms. Stevens and the family members of Mr. Whelan and Trevor Reed, another former Marine who has been sentenced to prison terms in Russia, will hold a press conference to discuss detention conditions and press for new Congressional resolutions calling for their release.

Speaking to the Capitol on Thursday, Ms. Stevens said Mr. Whelan had to work in a prison clothing factory six days a week, injuring his arm and being held by Russia for 944 days.

“That’s 944 days he’s been away from his friends and family,” Ms. Stevens said at the press conference. “It’s 944 days too long.”

In early June, Mr Whelan interviewed CNN, after which the Russian authorities restricted his access to cell phones, although he was still allowed to call his family. President Biden raised the cases of Mr Whelan, 51, and Mr Reed, 30, during his June summit with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.

Mr. Whelan called his parents in early July and then a second on July 4th.

“At that time he said, ‘If you don’t hear from me tomorrow, there will be trouble,'” said Elizabeth Whelan, his sister, in an interview.

Since then, neither the US embassy in Moscow nor Mr. Whelan’s parents have been able to contact him, Ms. Whelan said.

Joey Reed, Mr Reed’s father, said Thursday that his son had Covid and that he hadn’t heard from him in more than two weeks. “We are very concerned about his health,” he said. “Both of our families are concerned that Paul and Trevor might die in a Russian prison because of the poor conditions and lack of medical care.”

Evidence against Mr Whelan is thin, and nothing Russian prosecutors have produced has convinced American officials that he was spying on Russia.

Mr Whelan was arrested in late 2018 and, following his conviction last year, was detained in the IK-17 labor camp in Mordovia, about eight hours from Moscow.

Ms. Whelan said she believed her brother was returned to camp after being taken to hospital for treatment for an arm injury. But Mrs. Stevens said it was not clear where the Russians were holding him now. She also said that he was in solitary confinement.

Ms. Stevens, the Congresswoman, said, “The reality is that there has been no contact with him. This reaches another crucial moment. ”

Congress passed a resolution on Mr Whelan in 2019, but new action is in order, Ms Stevens said. She added that a vote would hardly force Mr Whelan’s release, but would demonstrate bipartisan opposition to Moscow’s tactics and “get under the skin of Russia.”

Rep. August Pfluger, the Texas Republican who represents the district Mr. Reed is from, urged Mr. Biden to step up pressure on Russia.

“We won’t compromise until we get Trevor and Paul home,” he said. “We will not tolerate American citizens being illegally detained by the Putin regime.”

Ms. Stevens said Moscow was trying to use Mr. Whelan and Mr. Reed to its own advantage.

“Americans absolutely cannot be used as political pawns for other countries, period, end of story, unacceptable,” she said. “These are the Russians who engage in the dark arts of political interference. I think this is part of an attempt to play with the inner psychology of our political structure. “

Categories
Health

When Work Weighs You Down, Take a ‘Unhappy Day’

When Work Weighs You Down, Take a ‘Sad Day’

“I think the safe advice is not to be upfront,” said Andrew Kuller, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. Not everyone values ​​mental health, he added, and “unless you are close to your manager.” a risk.”

But say you work in an organization where you can tell the truth without facing punishment. In this case, you are still not obliged to state why you want to call in sick. However, if you have something to share (or are interested in reducing the stigma surrounding mental health), you could reach out to your manager and say, “I think I would really benefit from taking a day to help out. to relax a little, “said Dr. said Grant. “I want to get back to work with all my energy.”

When employees are mentally and physically exhausted, it affects the quality of their work, their productivity, and the people around them, added Dr. Grant added.

“I think it’s easier to have a conversation about burnout than about sadness, depression or anxiety, so I would probably play it safe there and highlight why this is good for the organization, not just you,” said he

If you feel ready, you can also try putting together a coalition of people in your department who are concerned about mental exhaustion, said Dr. Grant, whose latest book “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know,” challenges readers to change long-cherished thought patterns. As a group, you can discuss concerns such as missed deadlines or mistakes that could be made worse by burnout, and then bring these issues to your manager, who may be motivated to find a solution. That way, you can try and change the system for everyone, including yourself.

When deciding how to use a mental health day, it helps to think about what got you there in the first place. Do your personal relationships need attention? Are you exhausted from your workload and want to switch off from it all? Did you have a particularly stressful week and want to spend some time decompressing? Maybe it’s a combination of several things.

Thinking about it ahead of time will help you make the most of your day as possible. While one person is benefiting from a massage or a pampering day, another person may want to paint or garden. Others will find the greatest value in reconnecting with friends or family members.

Categories
Health

5 issues to know earlier than the inventory market opens Thursday, July 29

5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday, July 29

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:

1. Dow futures rise after Fed keeps rates near zero

A trader works behind plexiglass on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., July 28, 2021.

Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Dow futures rose more than 100 points Thursday, one day after the 30-stock average and the S&P 500 dipped slightly and the Nasdaq rose modestly. All three benchmarks finished less than 1% away from Monday’s record closes after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at his post-meeting news conference that substantial economic improvement would be needed for the central bank to start dialing back its easy-money policies. On the fiscal side, the Senate voted to advance a bipartisan infrastructure plan Wednesday evening, a critical step toward Democrats passing their sweeping economic agenda.

  • In stocks to watch: Dow stock Merck fell in the premarket after the drugmarker Thursday matched estimates with quarterly earnings and topped expectations on revenue. Amazon reports earnings after the bell Thursday.
  • Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola, has been charged with three counts of fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan in connection with their investigation into the embattled electric vehicle start-up. Shares of Nikola, which lost more than half their value in the past 12 months, were down 6% in Thursday’s premarket trading.

2. Latest GDP, initial jobless claims weaker than expected

In the latest snapshot of the economic recovery from the Covid pandemic, the Commerce Department said Thursday morning that its first look at second-quarter gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 6.5%, a big miss compared to estimates for 8.4% growth.

The Labor Department also reported before the opening bell on Wall Street that initial jobless claims came in at 400,000 last week, slightly worse than expectations. The previous week’s level was revised up to 424,000. Initial claims for the week ended July 10 of 368,000 matched last month’s Covid-era low.

3. Robinhood to make its public debut after pricing IPO

Vlad Tenev, CEO and Co-Founder, Robinhood in his office on July 15, 2021 in Menlo Park, California.

Kimberly White | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Robinhood, whose stock trading app surged in popularity among retail investors, is expected to make its debut on the Nasdaq on Thursday. The initial public offering was priced Wednesday night at the low of the range at $38 each, raising about $2 billion and valuing the firm at about $32 billion. However, the company is not without controversy.

  • Earlier this year during the initial meme stock frenzy, Robinhood angered some investors and lawmakers when it restricted trading in some popular stocks following a 10-fold rise in deposit requirements at its clearinghouse.
  • The company this week disclosed that it’s received inquiries from U.S. regulators about whether its employees traded shares of GameStop and AMC Entertainment before trading curbs were placed at the end of January.
  • In June, Robinhood agreed to pay nearly $70 million to settle an investigation by Wall Street’s own regulator.

4. Facebook warns about growth, sets vaccine mandate

A giant digital sign is seen at Facebook’s corporate headquarters campus in Menlo Park, California, on October 23, 2019.

Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images

Facebook shares fell roughly 3.5% in Thursday’s premarket, the morning after the social network said revenue growth will slow during the second half of the year. Facebook cited a change in Apple’s privacy policies, which it said will hurt the social network’s ability to target ads. In its second quarter, Facebook reported earnings of $3.61 per share on revenue of $29.08 billion. Both topped estimates. Daily active users and monthly active users each matched expectations.

Facebook will require workers returning to its U.S. offices to be vaccinated, the company also announced Wednesday. “How we implement this policy will depend on local conditions and regulations,” Vice president of people Lori Goler said in a statement. Facebook will create processes for those who can’t be vaccinated for medical or other reasons, Goler said, adding the company will continue to evaluate its approach outside the U.S.

5. Disney, Apple bring Covid mask requirements back

Guests wear masks. as required. to attend the official re-opening day of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Saturday, July 11, 2020.

Joe Burbank | Orlando Sentinel | Getty Images

Disney has amended the mask policy at its U.S.-based theme parks in the wake of new guidance from health and government officials. Starting Friday, the company will require all guests, regardless of vaccination status, to masks in indoor locations at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and the Disneyland Resort in California. Children under the age of two are exempt from this mandate.

People walk past an Apple retail store on July 13, 2021 in New York City.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

Apple will require both vaccinated and unvaccinated customers as well as staff members to wear masks in many of its U.S. retail stores starting Thursday, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC’s Josh Lipton. Earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC the company had pushed back its return to office plans for corporate workers from September to October and that it could be pushed back again.

— Reuters and CNBC Peter Schacknow contributed to this report. Follow all the market action like a pro on CNBC Pro. Get the latest on the pandemic with CNBC’s coronavirus coverage.

Categories
Politics

The case towards Tom Barrack may draw categorized materials into courtroom

The case against Tom Barrack could draw classified material into court

Tom Barrack, chairman of Colony NorthStar Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, the United States, on Tuesday, May 1, 2018.

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – Tom Barrack’s attorneys have a big job given the volume and specificity of the evidence in the 45-page federal indictment filed against him last week.

Prosecutors allege that Barrack secretly took orders from the United Arab Emirates government and used his status as Trump’s informal White House advisor on Middle East strategy to enforce policies told by Emirati officials.

In a case where a co-defendant worked for the United Arab Emirates’ intelligence agency, and a sensitive issue like U.S. Middle East politics, experts say there could be several interesting avenues for defense.

For example, if Barrack’s lawyers argue that the White House knew he was working for the United Arab Emirates, the conversations Barrack had with US officials telling them who he worked for could contain classified information.

If so, chances are Barrack’s defenders are using a legal defense tactic called Graymail.

Graymail happens when the defense threatens to divulge government secret information during a trial in hopes of forcing the government to drop the case instead of risking disclosing potentially harmful state secrets.

Barrack’s lawyers did not respond to questions from CNBC about their strategy.

“It is entirely possible that the defense is threatening to divulge classified information in order to produce evidence [Barrack] did not act without the knowledge of anyone, “said a former top national security official who was granted anonymity to discuss how classified information is used.

To prevent defense lawyers from using graymail in national security cases, prosecutors typically tailor their strategy to avoid making classified information a relevant or necessary part of the defense.

Barrack, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was charged along with Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, an Emirati citizen with close ties to the royal family, and Matthew Grimes, a junior employee at Colony Capital, which founded Barrack.

Grimes and Barrack have pleaded not guilty. Al Malik is still at large.

Thomas Barrack, a billionaire friend of Donald Trump who ran the former President’s Inaugural Fund, stands next to his co-defendant and former employee Matthew Grimes and attorney Matt Herrington during their indictment at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, United States. July 26, 2021 in this court sketch.

Jane Rosenberg | Reuters

Odd timeline

The desire to avoid classified information could help explain a strange element of the formal indictment against Barrack: the timeline.

It appears to be carefully designed to keep suspected crimes within a certain time frame from April 2016 to October 2017.

After 18 months of almost constant communication between the three defendants, the last contact in the indictment was a text message on October 11, 2017.

The news suggests that at this point the three co-defendants were stepping up their efforts to influence the US response to a UAE-Saudi-led blockade of Qatar.

But whether Barrack and his co-defendants succeeded may never be publicly known, as the indictment ends abruptly with the October 11 news.

“It seems like they have some evidence afterward that they don’t want to surface because it may be relevant to these charges,” said the former National Security official.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the entire conspiracy lasted two years, from April 2016 to April 2018.

However, the indictment does not describe what happened in the six months between October 2017 and April 2018.

However, even with careful planning by the prosecutor, there are still several defense strategies that could draw on classified information while staying within the current time window.

Back channels

Barrack’s attorneys could argue that he did not break the law prohibiting acting as a foreign agent in the United States without registering with the Justice Department because people in the Trump administration could know he was acting on orders from the UAE.

As Trump’s top campaign bundle and chairman of his founding committee, Barrack had access to key players in US Middle East politics. In the west wing, this was spearheaded by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

“Given Jared Kushner’s involvement in these and other high-level issues, it’s hard to believe that there was no conversation between Barrack and some people at that level about what he heard from the Emiratis,” said the former national Security guard.

If Barrack discussed his work on behalf of the United Arab Emirates with senior White House officials, his lawyers could argue that while Barrack did not officially register as an agent of the UAE as required by law, it was disclosed in a practical manner Has.

A spokesman for Kushner did not respond to questions about whether the two men had ever spoken about Barrack’s work.

However, the Trump administration’s preference to conduct foreign policy through informal back channels is well documented.

“I think the Trump administration has created new norms for communicating through the back rather than transparent and official channels,” said Michael Atkinson, inspector general of the intelligence community for 2018-20.

“We saw it with Russia and Ukraine, and there were allegations that it was done with China.”

Shortly after Trump’s election in 2016, Kushner tried to open a return channel for Trump to communicate privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A few months later, Kushner worked privately with China’s ambassador to arrange a summit meeting for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump’s Palm Beach Resort.

In 2019, Trump was charged with pressuring the President of Ukraine to open a mock investigation into Trump’s political rival, then-candidate Joe Biden.

The proliferation of these unofficial channels made it difficult to know exactly what the Trump administration was saying to allies and opponents overseas at all times.

But that confusion could feed into another possible defense strategy for Barrack, said Atkinson, now a partner at Crowell & Moring.

Barrack’s attorneys “could argue that it did no harm because the interests of the United States and the United Arab Emirates coincide on these matters. So no harm, no foul,” he said.

“You might even try to argue that what these defendants did was in the best interests of the United States,” he said.

This is the argument Al Malik’s attorney Bill Coffield made to The Intercept in 2019. Coffield denied that his client was a spy but declined to answer specific questions.

Al Malik “is a businessman who loves the United Arab Emirates and the US,” Coffield said at the time. “He has openly shared his belief that the best way to forge stronger bonds is through economic prosperity.”

However, Atkinson is skeptical that this defense would work.

“This is not a viable defense under the law,” he said.

“Even in cases where the United States and a foreign country are pursuing the same goals, the government does not want people to sit in such meetings and not know that they are at the behest or direction of a foreign government.”

Categories
World News

Dow futures up 100 factors after Fed retains rates of interest close to zero

Stock futures mixed ahead of major corporate earnings

US stock futures were mixed in trading Thursday morning after the Federal Reserve closed its two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee by taking no action to buy assets.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 142 points. Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures hovered above the flatline and Nasdaq 100 futures traded slightly in negative territory.

PayPal and Facebook fell 5% and 3% respectively in after-hours trading after warning of a significant growth slowdown as they reported quarterly earnings.

Meanwhile, Ford’s shares rose nearly 4% after raising its outlook for 2021, saying it is selling more cars that are more expensive, despite missing analysts’ earnings estimates.

The moves in futures came after Fed chairman Jerome Powell warned in a press conference that while the economy is making progress towards its goals, there is still a way to go before the central bank would actually adjust its loose policy . Government bond yields rose slightly in anticipation of the announcement but fell slightly following Powell’s comments.

“We still have some work to do on the job side,” said Powell. “I think we are still a long way from having made significant progress towards the maximum employment target. I would like some strong employment figures.”

In regular trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 127.59 points, or nearly 0.4%, to 34,930.93 points. The S&P 500 ended the session little changed at 4,400.64. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7% to 14,762.58.

“The market understood that we had a bad quarter here compared to last year,” said Michael Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede. “What is far more important this season are the forecasts we get for the quarters ahead as the economy adjusts to the new normal.”

Key averages are on track to end the month higher, with the S&P up 2.4% for July. The Nasdaq Composite and the Dow were up 1.8% and 1.2%, respectively.

Amazon, Pinterest and Anheuser-Busch will report their results on Thursday. Dealers will also keep an eye on the latest metrics on initial jobless claims and upcoming home sales.

Categories
Health

Citing New Knowledge, Pfizer Outlines Case for Booster Photographs

Citing New Data, Pfizer Outlines Case for Booster Shots

Pfizer reported on Wednesday that the power of its two-dose Covid vaccine wanes slightly over time, but nonetheless offers lasting and robust protection against serious disease. The company suggested that a third shot could improve immunity, but whether boosters will be widely needed is far from settled, the subject of heated debate among scientists.

So far, federal health officials have said boosters for the general population are unnecessary. And experts questioned whether vaccinated people should get more doses when so many people have yet to be immunized at all.

“There’s not enough evidence right now to support that that is somehow the best use of resources,” said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University in Atlanta.

Still, the findings raise questions about how well the Pfizer vaccine will prevent infection in the months to come. And with coronavirus cases surging again in many states, the data may influence the Biden administration’s deliberations about delivering boosters for older people.

If third shots are cleared for the general population, the boosters would likely represent a multi-billion-dollar business for Pfizer.

In a study posted online but not yet peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal, Pfizer and BioNTech scientists reported that the vaccine had a sky-high efficacy rate of about 96 percent against symptomatic Covid-19 for the first two months following the second dose. But the figure declined by about 6 percent every two months after that, falling to 83.7 percent after about four to six months.

Against severe disease, however, the vaccine’s efficacy held steady at about 97 percent.

“This drop is very slight — I wouldn’t say it’s waning,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University. She did not see in the new study any evidence that boosters should go into use for the general population. “These data don’t support a need for that right now,” she said.

The findings fit with what scientists have learned about how the immune system fends off viruses. Antibodies are the only defense to prevent an infection, but their levels typically drop in the months after vaccination or recovery from the disease. If the coronavirus takes hold, immune cells can swoop in to destroy infected cells and make new antibodies.

That enduring defense produced by the vaccine may explain how the virus can sometimes breed in the nose — producing a cold or sore throat — but fail to reach the lung where it can cause serious disease.

“Everything that’s engaged by the vaccine is able to fight off that spread that ultimately leads to severe disease,” Dr. Iwasaki said. “That’s probably not declining at all.”

The study period ended before the rise of the Delta variant, the highly contagious version of the virus that now dominates in the United States and makes vaccines somewhat less effective against infection.

The findings come from 42,000 volunteers in six countries who participated in a clinical trial that Pfizer and BioNTech began last July. Half of the volunteers got the vaccine, while the other half received a placebo. Both groups received two shots spaced three weeks apart.

The researchers compared the number of people in each group who developed symptoms of Covid-19, which was then confirmed by a P.C.R. virus test. When the companies announced their first batch of results, the vaccine showed an efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19 of 95 percent.

Updated 

July 28, 2021, 8:48 p.m. ET

In other words, the risk of getting sick was reduced by 95 percent in the group that got the vaccine, compared with the group that got the placebo. That result — the first for any Covid-19 vaccine — brought an exhilarating dose of hope to the world in December when it was riding what had been the biggest wave of the pandemic.

Since then, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has made up the majority of shots that Americans have received, with more than 191 million doses given so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In the new study, the researchers followed the volunteers for six months after vaccination, up to March 13. Over the entire period, the researchers estimated, the vaccine’s efficacy was 91.5 percent against symptomatic Covid-19. (The study did not measure the rate of asymptomatic virus infections.)

But within that period, efficacy did gradually drop. Between one week and two months after the second dose, the figure was 96.2 percent. In the period from two to four months following vaccination, efficacy fell to 90.1 percent. From four months after vaccination to the March cutoff, the figure was 83.7 percent.

Understand the State of Vaccine Mandates in the U.S.

Those figures still describe a remarkably effective vaccine, however, and may not convince critics that booster shots are widely needed.

The study comes on the heels of data from Israel suggesting that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s protection may be waning there. But experts have pushed back against a rush to approving a booster there. The data have too many sources of uncertainty, they say, to make a precise estimate of how much effectiveness has waned. For example, the Delta-driven outbreak hit parts of the country with high vaccination rates first and has been hitting other regions later.

“Such an analysis is still highly uncertain,” said Doron Gazit, a physicist at Hebrew University who analyzes Covid-19 trends for the Israeli government.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pfizer reported that a third dose of its vaccine significantly increases blood levels of antibodies against several versions of the virus, including the Delta variant.

Results were similar for antibodies produced against the original virus and the Beta variant, which was first identified in South Africa. Pfizer and BioNTech expect to publish more definitive research in the coming weeks.

The announcement was a preliminary snapshot of data contained in an earnings statement. And although antibody levels are an important measure of immunity, they are not the only metric. The body has other defenses that turn back infection.

Pfizer also said in its statement that vaccines for children ages 5 through 11 years could be available as early as the end of September. The vaccine is already authorized in the United States for everyone ages 12 and up.

Pfizer’s vaccine brought in $7.8 billion in revenue in the last three months, the company said, and is on track to generate more than $33.5 billion this year.

The vaccine is poised to generate more sales in a single year than any previous medical product, and by a wide margin. Pfizer did not disclose its exact profits on the vaccine, but reiterated its previous estimate that its profit margins on the vaccine would be in the high 20 percent range. Even if the drugmaker’s profits fall on the lower end of that range, that would work out to about $3 billion in profit so far this year.

Rebecca Robbins contributed reporting.

Categories
Entertainment

5 Issues to Do This Weekend

5 Things to Do This Weekend

The Bayreuth Festival remains a place of tradition, but the stage that Richard Wagner built for his operas is not averse to innovation. While the festival is returning to personal appearances this year, parallel digital presentations will again be accessible on Deutsche Grammophon’s DG Stage streaming platform. For people who cannot travel to Germany or who are just curious about Wagner, this is a boon.

The premiere stream of this year’s production of “The Flying Dutchman” costs just under 10 euros (approx. 12 US dollars) and is available until 6 pm Eastern Time on Sunday. The rest of the online festival – focused on productions from the last few years – is free.

If you’d like to see a production that wasn’t released on Home-Video, register to stream the controversial (and revealing) ring cycle directed by Frank Castorf, shot in 2016. Since Bayreuth doesn’t offer English subtitles, live or online, the current Penguin Classics translation of Wagner’s epic poem will come in handy. There is still time for the Castorf Route 66 journey through “Das Rheingold” (48 hours from Friday at 10 am).
SETH COLTER WALLS

Few things say summer in New York is as good as live music outdoors – even if it means braising in the sun. Whatever the weather, you can count on neo-soul singer Ari Lennox to radiate warmth when she performs in Brooklyn on Saturday. It doesn’t matter if she sings about hot hookups (shout “On It”, her song with Jazmine Sullivan, and prepare to blush), the joys of being home alone (“New Apartment”) or the tight budget become (“Broke”), Lennox’s songs make everyday life sound comfortable and sensual.

Lennox is headlining the opening night of Celebrate Brooklyn !, BRIC’s annual series – now in its 43rd season – which features live music at the Prospect Park Bandshell. She gets support from the rapper and poet Kamauu and the R&B singers Adeline and Nesta. Admission to the concert, which begins at 7.30 p.m. (admission at 6 a.m.), is free and is awarded according to the first-come-first-served principle.
OLIVIA HORN

CHILDREN

Summer is not just about beaches and barbecues. It’s also a time of year to celebrate books – not just for kids, but by them too.

Preschool bibliophiles and grades 1-3 will enjoy the Woke Baby Book Fair, which focuses on titles on social justice issues. On Saturday from 1pm to 3:30 pm, this free event in and around Hearst Plaza at Lincoln Center features readings by authors such as Mahogany L. Browne, the centre’s poet in residence and the festival’s curator. Expect book signing, games, baby movement classes, and live banjo songs.

Through August 15, the Morgan Library & Museum is displaying 40 accordion-style volumes written by grades 3 through 12 writers. The exhibition “The Morgan Book Project” arises from an annual program of the same name, in which pupils are inspired by the library’s medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts. Using traditional materials such as gold leaf and organic pigments, students illustrate their own stories.

This year’s pick includes a magical portal that appears in Hoboken and a fairy tale king who identifies his long-lost daughter through a DNA test. You will also see a well-known villain: the coronavirus.
LAUREL GRAVE

theatre

In recent years, the Public Theater’s Mobile Unit has brought theater to underserved communities by setting up Shakespeare stores in prisons, libraries, homeless shelters, and community centers with a high-energy, space-saving approach to the classics.

After a pandemic-triggered hiatus, the program has returned in what it calls the Summer of Joy, bringing verse to outdoor spaces across town. Produced by the public and the National Black Theater, in partnership with the Department of Transportation, these free performances, currently scheduled to run through August 29, arrive at Manhattan’s Astor Place on Saturday and Sunday at 4:30 p.m., and then stop in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. (You can find locations and dates at publictheater.org.)

Each show provides the stage for Healing and Resistance from the National Black Theater, Malik Works “Verses @ Work – The Abridged Mix” and “Shakespeare’s Call and Response,” conceived and directed by Patricia McGregor. The Volksbus, a municipal initiative known as a community center on wheels, also stops at every stop.
ALEXIS SOLOSKI

Today dance is just as exciting online as it is on stage (perhaps even more so during this time of Covid-19). 92nd Street Y recognized this development a few years ago through the Mobile Dance Film Festival, which is returning for the fourth time this weekend. Three programs include 36 films by artists from around the world, all shot on mobile devices.

These are not home videos like those found on TikTok. They are cinematic, immersive, and imaginatively edited, and range from 30 seconds to more than 10 minutes. Examples are Yupei Tang’s ominous, fragmented “Inception”, Maksym Kotskyi and Elena Mesheryakova’s short but impressive “30 Seconds to Fastiv” and the mesmerizing, gold-colored “Untold Stories” by Nigerian dancer and choreographer Hermes Chibueze Iyele. Another series of student works rounds off the festival, where these programs will be premiered in person on Saturday in the Buttenwieser Halle; the films will also be available on demand until August 15th. Tickets for each program and access to the stream start at $ 10 and can be purchased at 92y.org/mobiledancefilmfestival.
BRIAN SCHAEFER

Categories
Politics

Biden Visits Pennsylvania to Promote Infrastructure Plan

Biden Visits Pennsylvania to Promote Infrastructure Plan

President Biden traveled to Lehigh Valley, Pa., to bolster support for his infrastructure package on the day of a critical breakthrough with Republicans on the Hill, who said they had resolved the biggest sticking points to a final agreement on a far-reaching infrastructure plan, and planned to vote to allow the package to advance.

After touring a plant that produces Mack trucks, Mr. Biden underscored the importance of American manufacturing and unveiled a new proposal to support domestic production by increasing the amount of U.S.-made products purchased by the federal government.

“In recent years, ‘Buy America’ has become a hollow promise,” Mr. Biden said. “My administration is going to make ‘Buy America’ a reality, and I’m putting the weight of the federal government behind that commitment.”

Standing in front of two Mack trucks and an oversized American flag, Mr. Biden said he was making the biggest enforcement changes in the “Buy America” law in 70 years, with the goal of funneling tens of billions of dollars into jobs in communities like Allentown.

The federal government procures about $600 billion of goods a year, including everything from helicopter blades to office furniture, according to the Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Biden announced on Wednesday that he was changing the “Buy American” rules related to purchases made with taxpayer dollars. The plan is to increase the percentage of component parts that need to be manufactured domestically from 55 percent to 60 percent, with a graduated increase to 75 percent.

“55 percent is not high enough,” Mr. Biden said, referring to the domestic content of products provided by contractors. “We got a new sheriff in town.”

He added: “if American companies know we’re going to be buying from them, they’re going to be more inclined to hire and make key investments in the future in their companies.”

Mr. Biden’s efforts to promote the economy and his infrastructure plan, however, came alongside concerning new data about the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, and the possibility of variants to come. Anxiety about the pandemic has begun to rise again, and Mr. Biden was expected to announce on Thursday that civilian federal workers will be required to get vaccinated or get weekly tests.

Wearing a mask for part of his trip, Mr. Biden brushed aside reporters’ questions about the possibility of imposing vaccination requirements.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for universal masking in schools and told vaccinated Americans that they should begin wearing masks again in the many counties in the country where the virus is surging. At the same time, officials in Congress and the White House reinstituted indoor mask requirements for staff to counter the surge.

The return to masking in the West Wing came just over two months after Mr. Biden and senior officials shed their face masks, in the biggest sign of a triumphant return toward normalcy since he took office.