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21 Oct, 6 tweets, 2 min read
Pro-China social media accounts are pushing a new thread of propaganda about the origins of the pandemic, claiming that Covid was imported to Wuhan from the U.S. through a batch of Maine lobsters, the University of Oxford found. #NBCNewsThreads (1/6)
nbcnews.to/3n9AybO
Marcel Schliebs, a disinformation researcher at the university, uncovered more than 550 Twitter accounts spreading a nearly identical message. Translated into multiple languages, the message was sent at similar times each day between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. China Standard Time. (2/6)
“This is the third or fourth major different redirection Chinese officials have gone in to try and somehow pin the Covid outbreak on the U.S.,” said Bret Schafer, the head of the information manipulation team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy. (3/6)
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the claims about lobsters have no scientific basis.

“It’s a right load of codswallop,” said spokesperson Robert Long. (4/6)
Kai Yan, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.K., said China was “opposed to the fabrication and spread of disinformation.” (5/6)
Despite the swift suspension of the accounts by Twitter, the same theory is still spreading.

“It seems like accounts are being set up now to replace the ones taken down in response to our investigation,” Schliebs said. (6/6)

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More from @NBCNews

21 Oct
Americans are leaving their jobs in record numbers for new ventures, whether it's because of a change of heart or a need to survive.

We asked people to share their stories. Here's what they said.

nbcnews.to/3vLv637
Read 6 tweets
20 Oct
How a trip to buy farmland ended with police taking all his cash.

A pair of New Mexico businessmen were driving along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma late one night in April when a sheriff’s deputy pulled over their BMW sedan. (1/8)

#NBCNewsThreads nbcnews.com/news/us-news/h…
The two men, Nang Thai and Weichuan Liu, were on their way to a hotel in Oklahoma City, where they planned to sleep before heading out in the morning to close on a 10-acre plot of farmland they’d agreed to buy for $100,000. (2/8)
A Canadian County sheriff’s deputy peered into their car, and after being interrogated for hours, the two men were released without being charged or even issued a traffic ticket.

But the Canadian Co. Sheriff’s Office refused to return the $100,000 of cash seized. (3/8)
Read 8 tweets
20 Oct
After Hurricane Ida ripped through New York City, 11 people died in flooded basements. Nearly all of the deaths were Asian residents—which experts say is the result of a lack of affordable housing, the pandemic and climate injustice. #NBCNewsThreads (1/11) nbcnews.com/news/asian-ame…
Hongsheng Leng used to sell art in Times Square and work odd jobs under a visitor’s visa he was granted in 1995.

He retired with medical issues, and his family mostly relied on welfare. He was largely confined to his home — a small basement apartment in Queens. (2/11)
It was a plight that would prove fatal.

Leng was found dead in his flooded basement apartment at noon on Sept. 2. The bodies of his wife and daughter were discovered later that same day. (3/11)
Read 11 tweets
19 Oct
At a tense school board meeting Monday night in Southlake, Texas, a former student described the antisemitic bullying that he said he experienced in middle school.

Story from @Mike_Hixenbaugh: nbcnews.to/3AVr88V
@Mike_Hixenbaugh Jake Berman, a Jewish former student, told board members that the bullying he endured in the district two decades ago was so severe that he contemplated suicide.

His parents eventually pulled him out of the school system.
@Mike_Hixenbaugh A Jewish parent, Rob Forst, described himself as a descendant of Holocaust survivors and said his family members are questioning whether they want to stay in Southlake.
Read 5 tweets
18 Oct
BREAKING: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has died aged 84 from Covid-19 complications, his family says. nbcnews.to/3j7V8ID
Powell was fully vaccinated from Covid-19, his family says. He received treatment at Walter Reed National Medical Center. nbcnews.com/politics/polit…
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of a type of white blood cell.

It’s unclear what complications he experienced from Covid-19 or when he tested positive for the disease.

nbcnews.to/3j7V8ID
Read 4 tweets
17 Oct
“Squid Game” star Jung Ho-yeon discusses the series’ dark twists, the mood on set and her daring transition from supermodel to actress in an interview with @NBCAsianAmerica. (1/6)
nbcnews.to/3p89We4
@NBCAsianAmerica Jung said her desire to act first came after hitting a “slump” in her modeling career.

“I was constantly bottling up my loneliness. It was only after I entered the real world that I became firmer,” Jung said. (2/6)
@NBCAsianAmerica In her acting debut, Jung said she had no fear of taking on the role.

“To tell you the truth, people might think going from a model to a North Korean defector would’ve been difficult in appearance. For me, the focus was not on the external but internal side of things." (3/6)
Read 6 tweets

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