1. #Covid Live Updates: South Africa Identifies New Variant
The concerning new variant is driving a spike in infections in South Africa. Britain banned flights from six African nations as it investigates a new variant.

nytimes.com/2021/11/25/wor…
2. Botswana’s health ministry confirmed that four cases of the new variant were detected in people who were all fully vaccinated. All four were tested before their planned travel. One sample was also detected in Hong Kong, carried by a traveler from South Africa.
3. “This variant did surprise us, it has a big jump in evolution, many more mutations than we expected, especially after a very severe third wave of Delta,” said Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform.
4. The B1.1.529 variant has a “very unusual constellation of mutations,” with more than 30 mutations in the spike protein alone, said Mr. de Oliveira. On the ACE2 receptor — the protein that helps to create an entry point for the coronavirus to infect human cells —
5. the new variant has 10 mutations. In comparison, the Beta variant has three, the Delta variant has two, said Mr. de Oliveira. Displaying mutations that might resist neutralization, scientists are also still unclear how effective existing vaccines will be against the new
6. variant. The variant shares similarities with the Lambda and Beta variants, which are associated with an innate evasion of immunity, said Richard Lessells, an infectious diseases specialist at the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform.
7. “All these things are what give us some concern that this variant might have not just enhanced transmissibility, so spread more efficiently, but might also be able to get around parts of the immune system and the protection we have in our immune system,” said Mr. Lessells.
8. The new variant has largely been detected among young people, the cohort that also has the lowest vaccination rate in South Africa. Just over a quarter of those ages between 18 and 34 are vaccinated, said Dr. Joe Phaahla, the country’s minister of health.

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More from @TimInHonolulu

24 Nov
1. I don't usually report on what Michael Cohen says but I think it deserves note that he said that Eric Trump would be charged for the Stormy Daniels related crimes. I think the statute has run on that so if he's right, Eric's likely already been charged.
2. Also, Putin's acting oddly. Starting a World War is not off-brand but to make it so obvious he's trying to incite one makes little sense. Unless perhaps he's been listening in on US grand juries, as I suspected the SVR was some time ago, and he knows what's coming.
3. Two of the other players in the fact pattern I've been watching for about four years are meeting today in Ankara that prompted me to ponder this. But why would Cohen know about this now? I suppose he could be called to the grand jury to add counts to a superseding indictment.
Read 5 tweets
20 Nov
1. My dad died in 1962 when I was 9. At the time of his death he had taught me to fear two groups: the KKK & the John Birch Society. Birch is claimed to have died in 1945. My dad's first assignment after he and his pregnant bride arrived in Shanghai in 1947
2. left my mom alone in Shanghai after he was drawn by lot from the pool of foreign correspondents to go north to where the #Communists were going to repatriate two American flyers, I think the story was they were part of the 1942 Tokyo raid. When my dad got to the exchange he
3. interviewed the pilots. I remember distinctly my dad and mother later confirming many times that he was told, "Jack, they treated us great. We ate when they went hungry." My father posted by wire and the Nationalists went nuts especially the Sung family's Madame Chiang who
Read 5 tweets
20 Nov
1. @Interior @USIndianAffairs @SecDebHaaland How about conferencing with the indigenous groups to find names to replace the derogatory names that can help preserve these original American languages to the best extent possible.
2. The names can help teach these languages and preserve this critical cultural resource for generations. The Irish did this at the start of a long process of reviving their language. @indiancountry @nativenews_net @nCAI1944 @indianz @cherokeeNation @vinceshilling @center4native
3. What I would love to see here in #Hawaii are street signs with the Hawaiian name and a small English translation. Adults might ignore it but children will learn when their brains are in the language phase and the language will be reborn not just in the indigenous world
Read 4 tweets
19 Nov
1. @TheDemocrats are justifiably excited about this monumental achievement but it is unlikely to leave the Senate in the same form. Challenge will be whether our members in the House who want fast change are willing to accept a 9/10th of a loaf or just get nothing.
2. I think the immigration and family leave will be a heavy lift. If immigration and the family leave are taken out of the Senate version, we can use that as a motivation to win the midterms and hold the House. This struggle for working families didn't just start. It's been a
3. long struggle and much more needs to be done. The threat to all we hope for looms in the voting rights assault we see daily. Passing the Civil Rights Act amendments can get us the majority for the foreseeable future and make everything possible.
Read 4 tweets
19 Nov
1. The district court judge is requesting argument today as follows:

"MINUTE ORDER. At the motions hearing on November 19, 2021, the parties shall be prepared to answer questions relating to the following issues highlighted in the defendant's supplementary briefing and the
2. government's response: (1) whether 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2)'s prohibition on obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding should be understood in light of § 1512(c)(1)'s prohibition on evidence spoliation; and (2)
3. the appropriate definition of "corruptly" as it is used in § 1512(c). So Ordered by Judge Dabney L. Friedrich on November 9, 2021. (lcdlf2) (Entered: 11/09/2021)"
Read 6 tweets
19 Nov
1. @Lawrence's Last Word was to the women to whom racist misogynist @JohnKennedyLA again proved his un-American credentials, first evidenced by Kennedy spending 4th of July in the Kremlin on secret trip. Previously I missed the important fact & why Gomer had to ask the question.
2. The GQP is losing it over the @USTreasury rules about bank information that requires reporting for small amounts. IMO it's meant to stop major way drug & other criminal proceeds are laundered. I once saw a SAR. I remember it was on authority of the
3. Comptroller of the Currency. An obscure federal position but key to fighting the mob, including the mob headed by @JohnKenneyd's host at the Kremlin. And that's who Kennedy attacked her for. And the beauty of this is that she will hold the power with that new FINCEN rule
Read 4 tweets

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