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Bill Melinda Gates to

D IVO RC E After Nearly 30-year Marriage

By Jonathan Walker Vision Times

B

illionaire Bill Gates has announced that he and his wife Melinda Gates will be divorcing soon, after being married for 27 years.

In a joint statement posted to Bill’s Twitter account, the couple stated that they put in a “great deal of thought” and a lot of work into their relationship, but eventually decided to end the marriage.

Gates pointed out that during the course of their relationship, the couple raised three incredible children and established a foundation that helps people across the world to lead productive and healthy lives. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has provided grants totaling $54.8 billion since its inception back in 2000.

“We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life,” Bill Gates posted on Twitter.

The couple first met in 1987 at a New York City sales

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Bill Gates announced that he and Melinda Gates recently filed for divorce. They visited the Oslo Opera House together back in June 2009, 15 years after they married.(Image: GettyImages)

meeting, after Melinda joined Microsoft as a product manager. They soon discovered that they shared a love of puzzles, and ended up tying the knot seven years later in 1994. Bill was 38 years old at the time, while Melinda was 29. When their first child was born, Melinda decided to be a stay-at-home mom and leave the company, a decision that apparently shocked Bill. The couple’s three children are Phoebe, Rory, and Jennifer, who are 18, 21, and 25 years old.

“But then my view changed over time when I felt like I had created the environment where I could give my kids privacy and let them grow up to be

themselves. We had the values, we had people around us who were also imparting those same values that we had. Then I felt, like, ‘OK, I do want to work, and I will be a working mum.’ The one thing I’ll say about Bill is he was incredibly supportive all along the way,” Melinda said in an interview with Business Insider.

The fourth richest man in the world, Bill Gates is estimated to have a net worth of more than $130.5 billion. The couple filed a petition to dissolve the marriage in the King County Superior Court in Seattle, and Melinda will not be seeking spousal support according to divorce papers she filed.

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While the couple did not sign a prenuptial agreement, they have agreed to a separation contract dividing their joint assets.

The couple’s main home in Washington is a 66,000 square foot mansion that is estimated to be worth around $125 million. They own two ranches, one in Wyoming worth $9 million and another in Florida worth $59 million. They also have two homes in California worth $18 million and $43 million.

Although the couple will continue to collaborate through their foundation, David Callahan, editor of Inside Philanthropy, believes that Melinda will also pursue

her own philanthropic projects. “There’s no particular reason to think that anything will change with the foundation and its work. It has a large endowment. It has a professional staff of 1,600 people. It has a set of really well-developed programs,” Callahan said to the Los Angeles Times.

“To me, the big question is, does Melinda get a sizable divorce settlement? And if so, what does she do in terms of forging her own path as an independent philanthropist,” he said. Callahan believes that Melinda may focus on projects promoting women’s empowerment, which has been one of the foundation’s top priorities over the past five years.

Callahan pointed out that the Gates foundation usually writes an annual letter signed

by Bill Gates. However, Melinda’s name also started appearing in the letters a few years ago, indicating that she had started to play a bigger role in the foundation.

Preceding the Gates’ divorce, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott separated in 2019. Scott received Amazon stock valued at around $36 billion at the time of the divorce, and donated over $4 billion to charities during a four-month period last year.

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TSMC to Build 5 More Arizona Plants at US Request

By Neil Campbell Vision Times

T

aiwanese chip behemoth TSMC is gearing up to build several additional production facilities in Arizona in order to satisfy U.S. demand, say anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the largest chipmaker in the world, already unveiled plans in May of 2020 to build a $12 billion USD factory in Arizona to produce high-tech chips on American soil.

The announcement came after former President Donald Trump’s administration pushed to create a renaissance in Amer-

ican manufacturing and a shift away from reliance on made-in-China goods.

The project’s construction began this year and is expected to result in a single fully operational production plant by 2024. The main branch of the Arizona facility is projected to build a modest 20,000 silicon wafers per month using the firm’s most sophisticated 5 nanometer technology. Each wafer contains thousands of individual chips.

TSMC currently manufactures most of its chips in Taiwan, but has older production facilities in both China and Washington.

Three anonymous sources told Reuters that as many as five additional fabrication plants are in the works at the Arizona site.

Last month, TSMC’s board announced plans to invest $100 billion over the next three years to expand production capacity, compelled by an unprecedented shortage of chips</a> rippling across the global auto and electronic markets.

One of Reuter’s sources told the outlet six fabrication facilities would be built at the direct bequest of the United States. The sources could not give a time frame for when construction would begin or could be completed, however.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said during an appearance at an Americas Society event on May 4 that the U.S. is on the hunt to onshore domestic production in a number of sectors in a bid to move away from reliance on Chinese Communist

Party-made goods.

She added that her administration is pressuring TSMC to allot more supply to American automakers, who are struggling with a major chip shortage, "We're working hard to see if we can get the Taiwanese and TSMC, which is a big company there, to prioritize the needs of our auto companies since there's so many American jobs on the line," she said.

Raimondo said currently the U.S. is making “zero percent of leading-edge chips in the United States,” and that “that's a problem.”

“We ought to be making 30 percent because that matches our demand...It is definitely the case that we have to reshore much of our supply chain," she said.

FBI Conducted Warrantless Surveillance on American Citizens T

By Jonathan Walker & Steven Li Vision Times

he Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has continued to conduct warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and commit “widespread violations of the querying standard,” such as searching for private information on American citizens, according to a recently declassified report. In November 2020, the 67-page ruling was issued by James Boasberg, the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, but was not authorized for public release until recently by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

Despite highlighting numerous shortcomings and areas of concern, Boasberg authorized the program for another year. Originally created in the early 2000s, the program allowed American tech companies to assist the National Security Agency (NSA) in intercepting communications of foreign targets, which sometimes involved U.S. citizens.

In a review of “40 queries that had been conducted in support of predicated criminal investigations relating to healthcare fraud, transnational organized crime, violent gangs, domestic terrorism involving 212-730-6962

racially motivated violent extremists, as well as investigations relating to public corruption and bribery [redacted],” Boasberg said that “none of these queries was related to national security.”

Some of the FBI’s data searches involved the personal information of people who wanted to participate in an FBI-run citizens’ academy, repairmen who needed to enter the FBI field office, and people who entered the field office to report a crime. The agency also made queries on citizens for crimes completely unrelated to foreign intelligence and without permission from the courts.

Legislation to protect personal data

Senator Ron Wyden helped to introduce a bipartisan bill last month to protect American data privacy. (Image: jdlasica via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

To protect the personal data of Americans, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Sen. Rand Paul recently introduced The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act. The bill aims to block a legal loophole that allows data brokers to sell the personal data of Americans to intelligence and law enforcement agencies without proper legal oversight.

“Doing business online doesn’t

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amount to giving the government permission to track your every movement or rifle through the most personal details of your life… There’s no reason information scavenged by data brokers should be treated differently than the same data held by your phone company or email provider. This bill closes that legal loophole and ensures that the government can’t use its credit card to end-run the Fourth Amendment,” Wyden said in an April 21 statement.

Currently, app developers are banned from directly selling personal data to government agencies, but data sold to a data broker can be resold to government entities. By contrast, phone companies and social media websites are subject to stricter data transfer regulations. Several media outlets have reported that data brokers track and collect information on people who visit places of worship and participate in protests.

The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act aims to require a court order for the government to access data from brokers. In addition, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies would be prohibited from

accessing data obtained from an American citizen’s device or online account. The purchase of American data collected through hacking, deception, contract violation, and other similar methods would be banned, which would make the government’s use of the Clearview service illegal.

Recommendations to counter undemocratic surveillance

In September last year, the Center for New American Society (CNAS) released a report outlining the steps Washington must take to prevent abuse of surveillance technologies. The organization recommended that federal agencies like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. State Department develop tech solutions to protect the privacy of American citizens.

The report also asked the government to “enshrine data privacy protections in statute for American use” and collaborate with tech companies to further the cause internationally. Furthermore, the U.S. should “Partner with tech companies to develop a ‘privacy solution,’ or commercially viable, privacypreserving digital products, which can act as the free-world alternative to the illiberal use of surveillance tech.” subscription@visiontimes.com

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A3

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Apple’s

AirDrop

Vulnerable to Leak Personal Information Attained by Any Nearby Hackers

By David Wagner Vision Times

A

vulnerability in Apple’s AirDrop file transfer system may result in contact information such as email addresses and phone numbers being easily attained by hackers, experts warn.

Academics from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany exposed the problem, which centers around the cryptographic hash functions that obscure personal information during the discovery process when initiating an AirDrop. In an article titled PrivateDrop: Practical Privacy-Preserving Authentication for Apple AirDrop, an attacker needs only to decrypt the hashes to simply utilize what is called a brute force attack.

“We discovered two severe privacy vulnerabilities in the underlying authentication protocol. In particular, the flaws allow an adversary to learn

contact identifiers (i.e., phone numbers and email addresses) of nearby AirDrop senders and receivers…The flaws originate from the exchange of hash values of such contact identifiers during the discovery process, which can be easily reversed using brute-force or dictionary attacks,” the Abstract explained.

AirDrop typically verifies if both the sender and receiver are in one another’s contact lists before displaying on the other person’s device during the authentication process. However, If you have your receive settings to “Everyone,” researchers say you are particularly vulnerable. Even if you have your receive settings to “Receiving Off” or “Contacts Only,” they say you are still vulnerable while your AirDrop app is looking for other devices to connect to.

Apple’s Airdrop file transfer system an easy target

The analysts say a hacker may only need to be in range of a target with a Wi-Fi capable device and know how to

decrypt information using brute force techniques to attain data from Apple devices without their users’ consent.

“Recovering the preimage of a hashed phone number can be achieved using brute force because the phone number space is relatively small. For example, a U.S. phone number contains an area code followed by 7 digits. Given this small search space, it is feasible to check all possible phone numbers on a PC within seconds,” the researchers explained.

“Recovering the preimage of a hashed email address is less trivial but possible via dictionary attacks that check common email formats such as first. lastname@{ gmail.com,yahoo.com,…}.

Alternatively, an attacker could generate an email lookup table from data breaches or use an online lookup service for hashed email addresses.”

The researchers said that they first informed Apple of the vulnerabilities back in May 2019. In October, they announced developing a solution with

a program called PrivateDrop, which uses “optimized cryptographic private set intersection protocols that can securely perform the contact discovery process between two users without exchanging vulnerable hash values.”

However, Apple has yet to either acknowledge their research and solution or inform the public that they are working on their own solution.

AirDrop has been used on iPhone, iPad, and other Mac systems since 2011.

There are currently more than 1.5 billion users worldwide that have devices with AirDrop.

Another recently exposed flaw with Apple’s Find My feature that uses Bluetooth location tracking was also found to have vulnerabilities, easily leaking a person’s location history.

The FindMy holes were disclosed to Apple in July 2020, and they have since partly addressed the issues, according to Hacker News.

FBI Releases Documents on 2016 Seth Rich Murder

By Prakash Gogoi Vision Times

T

he FBI recently released a set of documents related to the murder of Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich who was shot dead in Washington on July 16, 2016, near his home.

Rich’s murder triggered huge interest due to allegations that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange claimed the staffer was the source of the email leak that rocked the 2016 Presidential Election. Democrats and mainstream media have portrayed Rich’s death as a robbery. However, none of his valuables were taken.

The FBI released the documents in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas resident Brian Huddleston under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), represented by lawyer Ty Clevenger. Huddleston had requested the release of documents in June 2020.

A judge ordered the release, and the FBI eventually delivered 68 of the 576 documents related to the case. According to the documents, top officials from the Justice Department met in 2018 to discuss subscription@visiontimes.com

the murder, reviewing Rich’s financial records but finding no unusual activity. When interviewing witnesses, none reported any significant changes to the victim’s life before his death. One witness saw a man walking away from the spot where Rich was killed. However, the man thought it was Rich himself and did not find it suspicious. Only the next day did the witness realize something had gone wrong.

Another witness had taken Rich’s laptop to their home; the device later fell into the custody of the FBI. It is unknown whether the witness deleted files or made changes to the system. However, the lawyer is concerned that the government has no idea whether any critical data has been deleted from Rich’s laptop.

Clevenger is planning to request U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant to issue an order to release unredacted copies of the documents.

An independent investigation

In June 2017, Profiling Project, a group conducting an independent investigation of Rich’s murder, released a report detailing their findings on the case. Composed of George Washington Universi-

Forensic psychology graduate students and professors at the George Washington University concluded in the Project that the murder was unlikely to be a random homicide or a robbery gone bad.

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ty’s forensic psychology graduate students and professors, the Project concluded that the murder was unlikely to be a random homicide or a robbery gone bad.

They point out that the crime scene is not consistent with a random attack, as not even a bullet casing was found at the site. Such a “sanitized” crime scene indicates “careful planning on the part of the offender.”

“We do not believe Offender is a robber, nor a robber who killed.

Offender had the ability to kill, and brought with them an instrument to do so. Though we do not know what other items Seth may have had in his possession, his watch, phone, wallet, and necklace were not stolen. Nor was Seth’s body reported to have been further accosted or degraded.

With such a sanitized crime scene and no emotional indications, this is not Offenders’ first kill,” the report stated.

“Further research indicates that robbers go to great lengths to ensure that a robbery does not escalate into a murder,” The group found the case to be highly unusual, came across several discrepancies in the data, and heavily criticized the police in the report. Some of these discrepan-

cies were due to input errors, while some other data were skewed without a proper explanation. The report asked law enforcement officials to ensure that data is not used to support any political narratives.

Media conflict

Rich’s family was also engaged in a conflict with media outlet Fox News following his death. TV host Sean Hannity covered the issue extensively when Rich’s brother wrote a letter to Hannity’s producer, asking that the television host stop spreading what he called “conspiracy theories.” The brother asked the channel to stop dragging their “family name through the mud.”

Hannity eventually dropped discussion of the case to comply with the family’s request.

“I totally and completely understand how upset and how hard this is on this family, especially over the recent coverage of Seth’s death,” Hannity said on his broadcast.

“I’ve been communicating with them. I got a very heartfelt note.

I also sent them a heartfelt note back…However, out of respect for the family’s wishes, for now, I am not discussing this matter at this time,” he said.

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CHINA

A4 | MAY 7 - 13 , 2021

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Chinese Criticize Regime for Using Rocket Launch to Mock India Pandemic Losses

By Neil Campbell Vision Times

C

hinese took to the internet to complain after the Chinese Communist Party’s internal security apparatus committed a huge gaffe on Weibo, the mainland’s version of Twitter, when comparing widespread funeral pyres in pandemic-stricken India to the April 29 launch of a now-wayward Long March 5B rocket.

On May 1, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC) posted on its official “China Changan Net” Weibo account a side-by-side picture of cremation workers in India burning the bodies of those who perished in the COVID-19 pandemic against the April 29 launch of the latest Long March 5B rocket, which carried the 22.5 ton Tianhe “Heavenly Harmony” unmanned space station module into space.

The PLAC’s post had the words, writ-

ten in Chinese, “Lighting a fire in China vs. lighting a fire in India” followed by a hashtag commenting on how India’s COVID-19 positive test rate now exceeded 400,000 per day.

According to Chinese-language media outlet Dajiyuan, the Ministry of Public Security also made similar posts mocking India’s plight on Weibo. All such posts were deleted on May 1.

The PLAC is a powerful security organization, overseeing all of China’s police, procuratorates, and courts to ensure that the law follows the Communist Party line.

DJY says Chinese netizens were not shy in mocking the post despite the country’s heavy internet censorship. One user flamed the Commission directly, “As the official Weibo of the Chinese Political and Legal Commission News, your remarks are really embarrassing. Don’t you have basic humanistic care!?”

while others said they reported the post to Weibo for promoting hatred and “regional discrimination.”

Another netizen, showing conscience, apologized to India on behalf of the Chinese people, “China Changan Net does not represent the Chinese people. I hope that the Indian people will be free of COVID-19 as soon as possible,” they said.

When Bloomberg pressed the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Foreign Ministry for comment on the controversy, the Ministry sidestepped the issue: “We hope everyone gives attention to the Chinese government and mainstream public opinion supporting India’s fight against the epidemic,” while promising to send more pandemic aid to India.

China’s Delayed Census Points to Severe Population Decline

By Jacqueline Chung Vision Times

C

hina’s seventh census, which was scheduled for release in April, is still yet to be released as of May 3. Despite the delay in the final report, population data from more than 27 cities have already been released by local governments, and many of which show an alarming statistic: a negative natural growth rate.

This revelation echoes rumors of a spawning demographic crisis for the world’s largest nation by population, and has generated heated debate among both the Chinese and international public.

Population decline ‘considered very sensitive’

On November 1, 2020, the Seventh National Census was officially launched by the Chinese Communist Party

(CCP). The entire registration process was scheduled to end on December 10, and on December 30, the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC) announced the completion of all fieldwork.

As of early May, CCP officials have yet to state their position on when the report will actually be released.

Some details can be determined from analysis of local media reports, however.

According to 21st Century Business Herald, at least 26 prefecture-level cities have already disclosed population figures. Eight of them report Natural Population Growth (NPG) rates falling below zero.

The NPG statistic measures the difference between the number of births and deaths in a population. A negative rate would imply more people are dying than being born in that locale.

Prior to the CCP’s relaxation of the One Child Policy

to a full two-child policy in 2016, the NHFPC predicted that 47 million babies would be born each year; in fact, the birth rate in 2016 was much lower than expected, at 1.24 percent, meaning only approximately 12 million babies were born.

In 2017, the CCP’s 19th National Congress convened to consider, among other things, whether the NHFPC should continue to exist. In order to survive, the birth control commission at one point falsely announced that China’s birth rate was in line with expectations, forecasting 18.46 million births would occur in 2018.

In fact, the real numbers, which only surfaced in 2018 after the NHFPC was abolished, showed only 13.62 million babies were born that year, far fewer than family planners’ prediction. However, the NBSC has always used the NHFPC’s figures in its calculations.

As China reformed its household registration system in 2010, many people saw an opportunity presented by a loophole in buying and selling birth certificates and applying for dual or even multiple accounts in urban and rural areas in order to receive a swath of more than 20 social benefits such as preferential housing and medical coverage. This resulted in further falsification of population figures.

The aging crisis

China has been the world’s most populous country for the past decade. However, the One Child Policy the CCP pursued since 1979 to artificially control its population has brought the nation both a severe aging problem and gender imbalance.

The Communist Party officially relaxed its policies to a two-child policy in 2016, and is now relaxing it once more, allowing people to

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have three children. However, not only was there no signs of an expected baby boom in response, but the birth rate actually dropped to 10.48 per 1,000 in 2019, with a total of 14.65 million births, and is expected to drop to less than 11 million by 2030. Meanwhile, China’s fertility rate has been lower than Japan’s since 2000.

At the same time, the aged population has more than doubled in less than 10 years.

As of 2019, there were more than 250 million elders over 60 years old, accounting for 18.1 percent of the population. It is expected that by 2035, China’s 60+ age bracket will reach 400 million people, accounting for 28 percent of the entire population.

At present, this is the fastest rate of aging of any country in the world.

Chinese people are not having more children

There is another key ques-

tion leading China’s demographic crisis: Why have the Chinese stopped having children, even though the Party now allows them to have up to three? In discussion forums and comments on Chinese news sites, many people say they can’t afford to support their children because the cost of living is getting higher and higher, while wages are not increasing.

On the other hand, the single adult population in China reached 240 million in 2018, with more than 77 million living alone. 2020 saw only 8.131 million registered marriages, the lowest since 2003 and only 60 percent of the 2013 peak. China is experiencing a fourth wave of increasing singles, and unlike previous waves, which could be attributed to an increase in divorces, this wave appears to be simply due to the people not getting married.

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Wall Street Behemoths Ate Reddit’s Gamestop Lunch

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ck

ccording to Wall Street behemoth JPMorgan, the fairytale spun by pundits about Reddit’s WallStreetBets organizing to “squeeze” badly positioned hedge fund short sellers of video game retailer Gamestop (NYSE: GME) in what has been affectionately dubbed the “Gamestop Rebellion” is simply false.

Peng Cheng, the JPMorgan quantitative and derivatives strategy analyst, wrote to clients in a note: “Although retail buying was portrayed as the main driver of the extreme price rally experienced by some stocks, the actual picture may be much more nuanced,” according to CNBC.

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Jeffrey Sachs sits on a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Commission even though he has close ties with multiple entities linked with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He is pictured here speaking at the 3rd Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID) Forum in 2015. (Image: United Nations Industrial Development Organization via Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0)

LANCET’S COVID-19 Commission Chairman Has

Significant Ties

By Steven Li Vision Times

to Communist China WHO’s coronavirus origin study ‘lacks crucial data’

J

effrey Sachs, chairman of medical journal Lancet’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Commission, has extensive ties to organizations associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), and Huawei, according to The National Pulse.

The commission has four main objectives – recommending the best ways to suppress the pandemic, addressing the humanitarian crisis triggered by the viral outbreak, dealing with the economic and financial fallout of the pandemic, and aiding in rebuilding a fair, inclusive, and sustainable world. Sachs’ eminent role enables him to oversee COVID19 investigations and make recommendations that may be implemented globally.

In 2020, Sachs appeared in a show backed by CUSEF, a propaganda group founded by a former CCP member who serves as the ViceChairman of an entity overseeing the activities of China’s United Work Front. As a guest speaker on the show’s podcast in May 2020, Sachs criticized the Trump administration for taking a hardline position against the communist regime.

“The U.S. right-wing was attacking China beforehand and the Trump administration had its so-called trade war against China and then its technology war against China. I regarded those as dangerous, wrong, absurd, on false pretenses... Trump was in the middle of confronting China, and I think very dangerously so and I opposed it all along,” Sachs said on the podcast.

Sachs also has ties to CEFC, whose Chairman, Patrick Ho, was one of

The CCP’s inf luence not only reaches key international figures such as Sachs, but also includes global organizations that are meant to enforce regulations in an unbiased manner. For example, the recent World Health Organization (WHO) coronavirus origin study published on March 30 met with public backlash due to its questionable methodology.

The team conducting the investigation spent four weeks in the communist nation in January and February. However, the team was barred from spending time at critical sites and was only given secondhand data rather than being allowed to investigate on their own. As a result, the final report indirectly reflected the regime’s viewpoints and propaganda rather than providing an unbiased, scientific report.

In total, 14 nations raised concerns about the investigation, including the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the UK. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on March 30 that the WHO report “lacks crucial data, information, and access. It represents a partial and incomplete picture.”

“There's a second stage in this process that we believe should be led by international and independent experts. They should have unfettered access to data. They should be able to ask questions of people who are on the ground at this point in time, and that's a step the WHO could take,” she said in a statement.

Hunter Biden’s business partners. The U.S. Justice Department indicted Ho in 2018 for “two bribery schemes to pay top officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages for CEFC China.” Sachs has been on CEFC’s 2015 Advisory Council and has participated in CEFC-backed events such as the Sino-US Colloquium.

In addition, Sachs has publicly praised Huawei, a company that the Trump administration labeled as a national security threat due to its collaboration with the Chinese military.

In an article that details the firm’s plans to dominate the global 5G sector, Sachs calls Huawei a “remarkable company.” In another op-ed, he laments that America has declared “war on Huawei.”

Critics worry that Sachs’ soft position against China betrays American interests. He is quoted heavily by foreign media outlets such as state-backed China Daily and Xinhua, which cite his comments as a “Western expert” to validate the policies of the communist regime while simultaneously pointing out the flaws of Western nations.

Chinese vaccination efforts fall short

Meanwhile, China is facing trouble with its COVID-19 vaccination drive.

The Chinese government had set a target of vaccinating around 560 million people, or 40 percent of its total population, by the end of June. As of April 11, only 167.3 million doses have been administered.

One major reason citizens have avoided the jab is because the Chinese-made vaccines have low efficacy rates of around 50 to 80 percent, considerably less than the approximately 95 percent efficacy rates of the PfizerBioNTech and Moderna vaccines. The Brazilian trial for the Chinese-made CoronaVac vaccine revealed an efficacy rate of just 50.4 percent, barely above the 50 percent threshold mandated by the WHO. At a recent press conference, Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), admitted that the current Chinese vaccines do not have very high rates of protection, and even suggested mixing vaccines to boost their efficacy.

“The protection rates of all vaccines in the world are sometimes high, and sometimes low. How to improve their efficacy is a question that needs to be considered by scientists around the world… In this regard, adjusting the vaccination process in terms of the number of doses and intervals and considering sequential inoculation of different types of vaccines might be possible options," Gao said to Global Times.

The CCP has resorted to threatening people with serious consequences if they do not get vaccinated. For example, some local governments have encouraged businesses to fire employees who refuse to get the jab.

Many Chinese citizens denounce these methods of coercion and question the safety of vaccines offered by the regime.

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May Fourth Movement : When the Red Specter Entered China

By Leo Timm Vision Times

In

1949, communist armies led by Mao Zedong conquered mainland China and imposed a brutal socialist regime upon the world’s most populous country.Under Mao and his successors, the Chinese Communist Party has killed tens of

millions of Chinese, and done incalculable damage to their five millennia of culture and heritage.

But to see how the atheism and class struggle of Karl Marx toppled China’s age-old faiths and virtues, it is necessary to understand the impact of the 1919

May Fourth Movement.

China at the time was in turmoil. The final decades of the Qing imperial dynasty (16441911) had seen the descent of the country into backwardness, civil war, and corruption.

Western industrial powers, later joined by a modernized Japan, forced ruinous unequal treaties upon China after

defeating it in a series of wars and invasions.

A ‘New Culture’ for China

Through Qing imperial scholars and officials of the late 1800s had attempted to learn technology and skills from the West, as Japan had done, they were strictly against abandoning the cultural heritage and traditions that defined China as a civilization.

But as the Qing Dynasty col lapsed, China descended into an era of feuding warlords and weak republican adminis-

trations, seemingly unable to govern the country, let alone repel foreign encroachment.

A growing cadre of intellectuals believed that China’s misfortunes were not only a matter of technological backwardness, but that its very culture had doomed the Chinese people to misfortune.

Lu Xun, a student of literature made famous for his satirical writings, wrote in his short story Diary of a Madman that the whole of Chinese civilization could be summed up as “cannibalism.” In The True Story of Ah Q, Lu’s titular protagonist represented what he believed to be an archetype of the typical Chinese: hypocritical, self-deceptive, and doomed to suffer repeated humiliations.

Thinkers like Lu Xun, jaded

Chinese protesters marching in Tiananmen on May 4, 1919.

by the events of recent history, attacked the traditional codes of morality and order that had governed Chinese society for thousands of years. Instead of trying to update it, they believed that China needed to reinvent itself entirely.

Leading members of the New Culture Movement thought up ways to demolish Chinese culture from its foundations.

Scholars and activists like Hu Shih and Chen Duxiu sang the praises of vernacular Chinese literature and denounced the ancient form of Classical Chinese. The linguist Qian Xuantong wrote that Chinese script itself promoted “childish, naive, and barbaric ways of thinking” and advocated the replacement of Chinese characters.

Proponents of the New Culture Movement were determined to rescue China from itself, criticizing everything from Chinese clothing styles to the authenticity of classic texts. Some even claimed the family should be abolished.

The May Fourth Movement

Young Chinese were particularly incensed by their incompetent government.

In Beijing, the capital of the Public Domain

Reflections by a Chinese Warlord on His Role

in the Rise of Communism Public Domain

By Vision Times Staff

E

vents in China’s modern history are often fraught with controversy and lack of clarity, especially since many details have been obscured by the communist regime’s censorship and doctored historical narrative of how the Party “liberated” the country.

Two such events that had a pivotal impact on China’s fate were the Xi’an Incident of 1936, as well as the earlier September 18 Incident. And historians’ assessment of both incidents is heavily dependent on their understanding of one man’s role in them.

The September 18 Incident led to the Japanese invasion of China and the Asian theater of World War II, while the Xi’an Incident forced China’s leaders to make peace with the then-insignificant communist rebellion. A little over a decade later, the red flag would fly over the country.

The man at the center of both incidents was Zhang Xueliang, warlord of Northeast China, also called Manchuria.

In the 1920s and 1930s, China was nominally united under the Republic of China, with the imperial Qing Dynasty having fallen in

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Zhang Xue liang

1911. But many regions of the country were in fact held by warlords, who commanded independent armies and ran their own governments. To make matters even worse for the ROC authorities, Imperial Japan was intent on dominating Asia, stationing troops on Chinese territory and constantly demanding more economic and diplomatic rights to China’s disadvantage.

The ‘Young Marshal’

Manchuria, comprising the three provinces of Northeast China and parts of Inner Mongolia. It was under the control of Zhang Xueliang, the 30-year-old “Young Marshal,” who had taken over from his late father, the “Old Marshal”

Zhang Zuolin.

The expansionist faction of Imperial Japan coveted Manchuria, seeing the area as their gateway to a colonial empire in Asia — with vast fertile land, coal, and iron, it contained much of what overpopulated Japan lacked. Japan already controlled the port of Dalian, and had rights to operate a key railroad in the region. The elder Zhang did business with Japan, but he was too independent for the militarists’ liking. In 1928, a conspiracy of Japanese military officers had him assassinated in hopes that a more pro-Japan general would take power.

Instead, Zhang was simply replaced by his son Xueliang, a Chinese patriot who declared his allegiance to the central government and its leader, Chiang Kai-shek.

The younger Zhang’s overtly anti-Japanese policies frightened the Japanese military. On Sept. 18, 1931, the Japanese army stationed in southern Manchuria mobilized and attacked Chinese positions in the region.

The Chinese retreated, and the whole of Manchuria fell within a few months.

‘Chinese do not fight Chinese’

The Chinese Commu-

nist Party (CCP) has always depicted the September 18 Incident as an episode in which the Chinese central government led by Chiang Kaishek refused to defend the country against Japan. However, the truth of who gave the order to retreat — Chiang or Zhang — is unclear.

The Northeastern Army, as Zhang’s forces were known, was well-equipped by Chinese standards, and boasted more than 250,000 men. However, it was no match for the Japanese army, which was much better led, trained, and armed.

According to oral history, Zhang later admitted to being the one who, in the hopes of preserving his army intact, ordered it to leave Manchuria rather than put up major resistance.

In addition, on the night of Sept. 18, Chiang Kai-shek was not even in Nanjing, China’s capital, but on a warship travelling to a province in southern China. Only after disembarking in Nanchang on Sept.

19 did Chiang learn, through a report from Shanghai, of the events in the Northeast.

Meanwhile, the communists, who were waging a full-scale rebellion in southern China at the time, immediately jumped on the September 18 Incident

to attack Chiang’s Nationalist Party authorities. Accusing him of fighting a useless civil war while the country lost territory to a foreign enemy, communist propagandists touted the slogan “Chinese do not fight Chinese.”

However, Chiang Kai-shek was determined to quash the communists before they became a bigger threat. He famously wrote that “the Japanese are a disease of the skin, while the communists are a disease of the heart.”

After four years of fighting, the CCP lost much of its strength and was forced to retreat to a remote region in northwestern China — Yan’an. The Nationalist army followed it there, and for a while, it seemed the communist movement would be destroyed or forced to flee into the Soviet Union.

The Xi’an incident

While the communist movement lost manpower, its propaganda message proved influential, especially among patriotic Chinese youth who wondered why Nanjing had seemingly decided not to fight Japan. By 1936, the Japanese army had only continued to expand, even crossing the Great Wall and stationing troops in northern China.

One of the armies tasked with encircling and exterminating the communists was Zhang’s redeployed Northeastern Army. But the recent events made him question his loyalty to Chiang and the Nationalists. Meanwhile, communist agitators worked on his soldiers, manipulating their homesickness for the Northeast.

The Xi’an Incident took Japanese soldiers stand atop the ruins of Zhongshan Gate on December 13,1937 (Image: Public Domain)

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Republic of China, the president had little power and had to do the bidding of whichever warlord happened to occupy the city.

Following World War I, the victorious powers denied China representation at the peace negotiations, despite the fact that China had declared war on Germany and retaken its colonial holdings in China, as well as sent over 100,000 laborers to the Western Front to help the war effort there.

To add insult to injury, the former German territory in Qingdao, eastern China, was handed over to Japan.

Outraged, thousands of students took to China’s streets in protest on May 4. The demonstrations soon turned violent, with people attacking those they suspected of having alle-

giance to the Japanese. The protests were dispersed by the military. Though the Chinese government boycotted the Treaty of Versailles, Japan was still awarded the territory of Qingdao.

It was not until 1921 that Tokyo relinquished control of the city under American pressure.

Though the May 4 protests did not achieve its goals, it was put to great use by participants of the New Culture Movement in spreading their ideas and mobilizing support. In particular, the growing atmosphere of chaos and anger in Chinese urban society drove the rise of left-wing radicalism and the creation of the Chinese Communist Party.

Inviting the Red Specter

The CCP regards the May Fourth Movement as one of the great events that paved the road for its successful spread in China, and eventually its seizure of power in 1949. Though the intellectuals and thinkers of the New Culture Movement did not all share the same opinions, the events of May 4 made Marxism, social Darwinism, and other left-wing ideologies popular on Chinese campuses and among the educated youth.

Further adding to the popularity of leftism was the fact that the communist Bolshevik Party had recently seized Red Guard members wave copies of Chairman Mao’s “Little Red Book” during a parade in Beijing in June 1966.

power in Russia and established a Soviet regime, which, at least on paper, was committed to building a classless, equal society.

In 1921, a tiny band of radicals, with support from the Comintern Third International, formed the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai. Two main participants of the May Fourth and New Culture movements, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, were among its first leaders.

With the momentum from the May Fourth movement, the CCP quickly grew and managed to infiltrate the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), whose leader Sun Zhong-

shan is honored for his role in establishing the Republic of China following the collapse of imperial rule.

Mao Zedong, chairman of the CCP who ruled China from 1949 to his death in 1976, praised the radical writer Lu Xun as the “chief general of China’s cultural revolution.”

Lu’s works are heavily represented in mainland Chinese educational curriculums.

Many recognize the radicalism of May 4 as a watershed moment for the cause of Chinese Marxism, and its later misrule of the country. Feng Xuerong, a Chinese scholar based in Hong Kong, summed it up: “The May Fourth Movement, apart from … sowing

the fireseeds of violence, yielded no positive results to speak of… It didn’t help save the country or leave a legacy of virtue. It was nothing more than a scene of chaos.”

In 1966, Chairman Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in reminiscence of his bygone revolutionary days.

Millions of people became victims of violence and abuse inflicted by the fanatical Red Guards. The campaign targeted the “Four Olds” of traditional culture with a vengeance, putting the ideas of the May 4 radicals into deadly practice.

Jean Vincent/AFP via Getty Images

place in December 1936, when Zhang and another general, Yang Hucheng, detained Chiang during his visit to the city (near the frontline) in order to force the Nationalist Party to change its policies regarding Japan and the CCP. After two weeks of negotiation, Chiang was released and returned to Nanjing, accompanied by Zhang.

The communists were closely involved in the plot through Yang, who was an underground member of the CCP. Zhang himself admitted that he could be called a CCP member, though he never formally joined the organization.

While Mao Zedong, chairman of the CCP, and other Chinese communists wanted to see Chiang executed, this plan was stopped by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who believed only Chiang had the ability to lead the resistance against Japan — and by extension, keep Japan from attacking Russia.

Results: CCP escapes destruction, China enters World War II

The Xi’an Incident forced the Nationalist Party and CCP to form a “united front” against Japanese aggression.

While this seemed like a

TIMES

noble patriotic endeavor, its true effect was to allow the communists an opportunity to build up its strength while the more powerful Nationalists faced almost all of the Japanese military’s aggression.

The United Front immediately caught the attention of the Japanese, who used it as an excuse to provoke more violent incidents. Six months after the Xi’an Incident, a skirmish broke out between Japanese and Chinese troops in Beijing, starting the full-scale invasion of China in 1937.

Had it not been for the Xi'an military revolt, the Communist Party would likely have been wiped out, rewriting modern Chinese history.

Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, the direct initiators of the coup, can thus be regarded as responsible for the rise of the Communist Party in China.

Zhang Xueliang was placed under house arrest, and would not regain his freedom for 50 years. Yang Hucheng and his family were eventually executed for their involvement in the plot.

Over the next eight years, the Nationalist troops fought desperately against the Japanese armies, expending most of their manpower and equip-

In his later years, the devoutly Christian Zhang quoted from the Bible,

" I am a sinner, the worst of sinners." ment. Much of the country was occupied and more than 20 million Chinese died.

The CCP, meanwhile, hardly took part in the war, instead opting to extend its guerilla networks. After Japan’s defeat by the United States in 1945, the communists and Nationalists resumed their civil war. This time, however, the CCP was not the small band of rebels on the verge of collapse, but a well-organized force that counted over 90 million people in its “base areas.” Four years later, the worn-down Nationalists were driven out of mainland China and retreated to the island of Taiwan.

Zhang was moved to Taiwan along with other Nationalist refugees. Seeing events turn out as they had, he regretted his naive actions, but preferred to keep quiet about them. In mainland China, communist rule would lead to the deaths of 80 million people.

In 1954, after meeting with Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang Xueliang wrote "A Book of Reflection on the Xi'an Incident."

Zhang defended himself, saying that he did not know the Communist Party well at that time and regretted that he had harmed the country and the people in order to realize his wish to resist Japan. Chiang's second son, Chiang Wei-kuo, recalled several occasions when he drank with Zhang: "When he was drunk, he hugged me and cried bitterly, saying, "My brother, I was wrong!"

In his later years, the devoutly Christian Zhang quoted from the Bible, "I am a sinner, the worst of sinners." Zhang is known to have never complained about his imprisonment by Chiang Kai-shek, and in an interview with the

New York Times after his arrival in t he United States in 1991, Zhang explained why he decided to free Chiang at Xi'an and accept his punishment: "It was rebellion, and I had to take responsibility for it." subscription@visiontimes.com

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India Recording Almost

3,500

By Prakash Gogoi Vision Times

I

ndia’s new wave of apparent COVID-19 infections is running wild. At the beginning of March, India was recording around 15,000 new positive PCR tests per day. Things started getting worse during the first week of April when new infections jumped to more than 100,000 per day. Over the past two weeks, the country has peaked close to 400,000 new positive tests on April 29 with Coronavirus Disease 2019 associated deaths in excess of 3,500 reported on April 28 and 29.

Media reports say hospitals and crematoriums are now faced

COVID-19-Associated Deaths

Per Day

with extensive lineups of people waiting to get their symptomatic relatives treated and the dead properly cremated, while some crematoriums are expanding in order to accommodate a reported massive influx of dead bodies.

Death rates, however, are speculated to be severely underreported. British Sky News claims from on the ground reporting to have seen quite a collection of ambulances carrying dead bodies that did not seem to align with the number of reported COVID-19 deaths, ”In Uttar Pradesh, our researchers counted about 25 bodies awaiting funerals at the Hindon crematorium in Ghaziabad and another eight which were lit.”

“Whilst inquiring about the official tally, the person in charge insisted they were dealing with only about six funerals daily on average. When our researcher challenged him on this, he was informed, ‘we’ve

been told to give that (lower) number by higher authorities.’,” reads the article.

At present, the death toll in India stands at approximately 208,330 on April 30 according to Our World in Data.

An Exodus

Wealthy Indians are reportedly fleeing the country via private jets to escape the pandemic. Just before travel restrictions were put in place by many countries blocking Indian entry, there was a huge rush of rich families flying off to Dubai and London, according to an article by Indian publication Business Today. A one-way trip to Dubai in a private jet can cost up to $20,000 USD. The UAE recently placed

restrictions on travelers from India. Another favorite destination seems to be the Maldives.

However, only a few resort-only islands are now accepting Indian guests.

On April 30, Joe Biden banned most travel from India to the U.S. The ban takes effect on May 4.

Australia had previously banned flights to and from India. The UK now requires British and Irish nationals arriving from India to hotel quarantine. Canada, by the same token, announced a ban on flights from India and Pakistan for a period of 30 days.

A cremation ground in Delhi. India has been pushing 3,500 deaths per day associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 in the latest surge.

MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP via Getty Images

Pandemic Caused Computer Chip Shortage for Automakers

Class Action Suit Alleging

TikTok Violated UK Child Privacy Laws Under Way

JIM YOUNG/AFP via Getty Images

By David Wagner Vision Times

By David Wagner Vision Times

A

F

utomakers around the world are feeling the harmful effects of a semiconductor computer chip shortage that began last year when the pandemic caused the shutdown of vehicle assembly plants. That problem has only worsened due to a fire in March at Renesas Electronics, a computer chip company based in Japan.

A new vehicle market that has been resilient throughout the pandemic has helped Ford experience $3.3 billion growth in net income — a comeback from a $2 billion loss due to the pandemic — their highest quarterly income in years, but the global semiconductor chip shortage is expected to revert income back to lowered levels. Ford expects to be set back by 1.1 million units in total throughout 2021, which could lower earnings by $1 billion to $2.5 billion this year.

Ford CEO Jim Farley said that “the semiconductor shortage and the impact to production will get worse before it gets better.”

Back in February, CNBC predicted that the semiconductor shortage is expected to cause the auto industry a setback of $60 million and create competition for the limited parts. General Motors is predicted to experience a $1.5 billion to $2 billion loss this year.

“There’s no easy way out of this,” said Kristin Dziczek, Vice Presi-

Workers assemble cars at Ford's Assembly Plant in Chicago. After experiencing a major growth in income for the first quarter, Ford is expected to feel the negative impact of a computer chip shortage.

Ford expects to be set back by 1.1 million units in total throughout 2021, which could lower earnings by $1 billion to $2.5 billion this year.

dent of Industry, Labor and Economics at the Center for Automotive Research. “Last year we knew that once they were able to flatten the curve and get safety protocols in place, they could return to production. That’s not the case now. We’ve got really long lead times and more and more demand on chips.”

One way Ford has addressed the current challenge is by producing 22,000 vehicles without semiconductors, which will be equipped with them when they become available later.

Jessica Caldwell, Executive Director of Industry Insights at Edmunds said, “Ford is hanging on tight for now, but might find itself in a less secure position as this chipset shortage continues with no immediate end in sight.”

ormer Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield has filed a legal claim against China-owned social media app TikTok that could result in billions being paid out to UK and EU children under 13 who have had their data captured by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affiliated company.

If the lawsuit is successful, TikTok may be ordered to pay out thousands of dollars to millions of children in the EU and UK who have used the app since May 25, 2018, resulting in a total payout that could reach into the billions.

TikTok and parent company ByteDance has denied the veracity of the claim, saying they plan to vigorously defend themselves in court, “Privacy and safety are top priorities for TikTok and we have robust policies, processes and technologies in place to help protect all users, and our teenage users in particular. We believe the claims lack merit and intend to vigorously defend the action,” they said in a statement according to BBC. According to the official website for the lawsuit, Longfield’s legal claim was filed in the High Court of England and Wales in December of 2020 and is currently being “stayed” pending the results of a case—Lloyd

v Google—that is likely to have bearings on how the class action suit will be pursued.

“TikTok is a hugely popular app, but behind the fun songs, dance challenges and lip-sync trends lies something far more sinister,” said Longfield.

Longfield says TikTok collects date of birth, email address, telephone number, biometric data (facial recognition), and even any information the child may have provided about sexual orientation or religious belief. The information is collected without sufficient warning, transparency, or the necessary consent required by UK law.

Longfield has instructed the UKbased legal team Scott & Scott Attorneys at Law LLP to be solicitors for her legal claim. A Partner from Scott & Scott, Tom Southwell, believes that TikTok has committed a “severe breach of UK and EU data protection law.” He said, “TikTok and ByteDance’s advertising revenue is built on the personal information of its users, including children. Profiting from this information without fulfilling its legal obligations, and its moral duty to protect children online, is unacceptable.”

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Personal Data From 533 Million Facebook Users

Stolen by Hackers Exploiting Vulnerability

By David Wagner

D

ata from more than 533 million Facebook users, including profile names, Facebook ID numbers, phone numbers, and email addresses were published in a hacking forum on April 3 according to reports.

Facebook says the breached data is not new and was originally scraped by hackers in 2019.

Facebook reacted to the leak by trying to downplay the incident, claiming that they fixed the vulnerability and encouraging users to change their privacy settings if they are concerned about their information being opened to the public

Facebook released an official blog statement on April 6, reacting to a Business Insider story that explained the details of how the data was stolen and how the vulnerabilities were addressed.

The data came from users in 106 different countries, including 32 million from the U.S., 11 million in the UK, and 6 million in India.

The hacker initially responsible sold the data for tens of thousands of dollars, but as the database circulated, the price kept on dropping until it was posted for free in open forums. The data can potentially be used for spam emails or robocalls.

You can check if your own personal data was involved in the breach by entering your information at the tracking site HaveIBeenPwned.com, which was created by Australian web-security consultant Troy Hunt In their blog post, Facebook claimed that they have been aware of the issue and that the data which was scrapped was obtained prior to September 2019, when they fixed the vulnerability. In trying to downplay the incident, Facebook framed the theft in the context of there being an important distinction between hacking and scraping. They tried to reassure users stating, “While we can’t always prevent data sets like these from recirculating or new ones from appearing, we have a dedicated team focused on this work.”

“It’s a fallacy to think that a breach isn’t serious just because it doesn’t have pass words in it or other maximally sensitive data,” said Zack Allen, Director of Threat Intelligence at the security firm ZeroFox. “It’s also a fallacy to say that a situation isn’t that bad just because it’s old data.”

Back in July 2019, Facebook was held responsible for a data leak by the Federal Trade Commission, resulting in a $5 billion settlement. Tens of millions of users had their data scrapped, ending up with a data firm called Cambridge Analytica who shut down in 2018 after concerns were raised about its controversial political tactics.

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“ Individuals signing up to a reputable company like Facebook are trusting them with their data, and Facebook is supposed to treat the data with utmost respect,” said Alon Gal, the Chief Technology Officer of the cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock.”

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Stories From the Students’ Rules :

At Home,

Be Dutiful

By Vision Times Staff

to Parents

“Standards for Being a Good Student and Child” (Di Zi Gui, 弟子規) is a traThe ditional Chinese textbook for children that teaches morals and proper etiquette.

It was written by Li Yuxiu in the Qing Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Kang Xi (1661-1722). In this series, we present some ancient Chinese stories that exemplify the valuable lessons from the Di Zi Gui. The first chapter of the Di Zi Gui introduces the Chinese concept of xiao (孝) , or filial duty to one’s parents.

Min Ziqian’s filial piety touches his contemptuous stepmother According to traditional Chinese culture, filial piety — respect for parents and ancestors — is one of the basic human virtues.

Unsurprisingly, the Di Zi Gui begins with instructions to its students on how to act as a filial child: 親愛我 孝何難 親憎我 孝方賢 If my parents love me Being filial is no difficulty If they disdain me My filial piety is truly noble The trope of the wicked stepmother is not exclusive to European fairy tales. In China’s Spring and Autumn Period (770 – 476 B.C.), there lived a man named Min Ziqian in the eastern part of the country. As a child, Ziqian suffered the

loss of his mother, and his father remarried.

Ziqian treated his stepmother with the same respect as his birth mother. However, the elder Min’s new wife did not return the favor, treating her own sons much better than Ziqian.

One winter, the stepmother prepared jackets for the three children. But while the clothes she made for her own sons were filled with warm down, she packed Ziqian’s jacket with thin materials made from reed. The coat appeared thick, but could hardly maintain heat.

The weather grew colder and harsher. One time, the elder Min asked Ziqian to drive his carriage. Ziqian was so cold that he could hardly hold the reins. Upset, his father scolded him. But Ziqian remained silent.

Ziqian’s father soon noticed that his son was pale and shivering. His anger

turned to shock when he tore off Ziqian’s jacket and examined it, finding it almost useless in the weather.

Upon returning home, Ziqian’s enraged father demanded a divorce from his cruel wife. But hearing this, Ziqian tearfully pleaded with his father to let her stay.

“With Mother in the family, only one child suffers coldness. Should she be gone, all three of your sons would freeze.”

The stepmother finally saw the error of her ways, and from then on extended her love to all of the elder Min’s sons.

It may seem unfair or stupid to bear undeserved hardship in silence. However, Ziqian took the well-being of his entire family into consideration, and believed in his stepmother’s capacity for goodness. As a result, his story was recorded and became an example of filial piety in trying circumstances.

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Avoiding vain pursuits: the upbringing of a successful general The Di Zi Gui stresses that morality must be developed as a matter of habit and principle. Even small acts should be avoided if they are not right. 事雖小 勿擅為 苟擅為 子道虧 Though the matter be small Do not handle it arbitrarily Handling it arbitrarily Harms your moral integrity 物雖小 勿私藏 苟私藏 親心傷 Though the thing be small Do not keep it to yourself Keeping it to yourself Brings sadness to your parents Ancient Chinese, from peasants to the upper class, emphasized the importance of frugality and diligent behavior. Excess was looked down upon and usually a sign of a society or family in decline. Many statesmen and military officers who made a name for themselves were able to resist decadence, often in their formative years and under the strict guidance of their parents.

Qi Jiguang (1528 – 1588) was a general who served in the Ming Dynasty, playing a decisive role in defeating the hordes of pirates that plagued the Chinese coastline.

Qi was born into a family of military officers. He was the only son in his household and his father, Qi Jingtong, prized him greatly. The elder Qi personally taught Jiguang reading and martial arts. Yet he also paid strict attention to his son’s moral character and habits.

When Jiguang was 13, he received a pair of fine silk shoes as a gift from his maternal grandfather. Delighted, he strutted to and fro in his courtyard, feeling very pleased about himself.

However, when his father saw this, he called Jiguang to his study and scolded him.

“Once you have good shoes, you will naturally dream about wearing good clothes. Once you have good clothes, you will naturally dream about eating good food. At such a young age, you have developed the habit of enjoying

good food and good clothing. You will have insatiable greed in the future.”

“When you grow up, you will pursue delicious food and beautiful clothes,” Jiguang’s father continued. “If you were to be a military officer, you would even embezzle soldiers’ salaries. If you continue to be like this, it will be impossible for you to succeed in the undertaking of your elders.”

Qi Jingtong was aware of where Jiguang had gotten the shoes from.

Still, he had his son remove the shoes, and cut them to pieces.

Jiguang decides on a plain renovation Experiences like the above would temper Jiguang’s character as he grew older. However, sometimes his father’s judgement was still necessary.

Once, Qi Jingtong contracted several artisans to renovate their property. More than a dozen rooms were in poor shape and needed to be made presentable for visitors from the imperial court.

The elder Qi decided to have four doors with finely carved floral patterns installed in the main hall, and entrusted Jiguang to oversee the work.

But once Qi Jingtong left, the artisans began to try talking Jiguang into adding more carved doors. They reasoned with him in private, “Your elders are generals.

For such a noble and wealthy family, all doors throughout the house should be carved, flowery doors, which would be twelve such doors in total. Only this grade of setting will match the social status of your family.”

Finding this explanation sound, Jiguang went to his father, who swiftly rejected the idea. “If you pursue and indulge yourself in vanity, you won’t be able to achieve great things when you grow up,” he warned.

Over the course of his upbringing, Qi Jingtong stressed to his son that the ultimate purpose of all his academic study and martial arts training were to serve the nation and its people. Personal fame, rank, and wealth were strictly secondary.

Due to his father, Qi Jiguang applied himself diligently to this mission. The skill and competence he developed allowed him to keep the invading pirates at bay for many years.

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Things

By Vision Times Staff

Hierapolis Turkey to See in

H

ierapolis is the name of an ancient Greek city whose ruins are located in modern Pamukkale in Turkey. It was designated a World Heritage Site in 1988. Hierapolis roughly translates as “sacred city” and has a history dating back to the 7th century BCE. “The name of the city may derive from Hiera, the wife of Telephus (son of Hercules and grandson of Zeus), the mythical founder of Pergamum. Or it may have been called the “sacred city” because of the temples located at the site,” according to Sacred Destinations. Here are some of the must-see sights at Hierapolis.

1 Theater The theater at Hierapolis is believed to have been constructed during the time of Roman emperor Hadrian, who lived between 76 CE and 138 CE. This is one of the oldest open theaters whose remains are preserved to some extent.

In fact, the full 300-foot-long façade still stands despite centuries having passed since its construction. An earthquake during the 7th century caused significant damage to the theater. At its peak, the auditorium could seat about 15,000 people. The theater has several statues and reliefs of gods and goddesses like Apollo, Diana, and Dionysus.

Image: AdobeStock

Image: AdobeStock

2 The Gates The city of Hierapolis has a main street that used to be 1,500 meters long and was bordered on both sides by a succession of continuous arches. Close to the northern city gates that lead to the main street is the Frontinus Gate built by proconsul Julius Frontinus around 84 CE to 86 CE. It consists of three arches and is one of the earliest grand remnants of Hierapolis. In the late 4th century, the northern gate was fortified with the North Byzantine Gate, the ruins of which still exist today.

4 Necropolis The necropolis of Hierapolis is one of the best-preserved sites in Turkey. The place has about 1,200 tombs constructed from materials like marble and limestone. The majority of tombs are from the Hellenistic period, with some of them from Roman and early Christian periods. The necropolis is home to simple graves belonging to common people to large family graves of the elite classes. The tombs of poor families are constructed from rocks.

Image: Wikipedia

Image: AdobeStock

3 Temple of Apollo The principal god of Hierapolis during the late Hellenistic period was Apollo. A grand temple dedicated to this god existed in those times. At the ruins of the temple, only the foundations exist. Yet the site still attracts a lot of visitors. Interestingly, the temple was constructed over an active planar fracture called the Plutonian. According to the belief in those times, only a priest of the Great Mother could enter the cave while resisting the fumes emanating from the underground fracture. The Temple of Apollo is not the only one constructed over such geological formations. Temples dedicated to this god, including the famous one at Delphi, were usually built over geologically active sites.

5 Martyrium Hierapolis is home to St. Philip Martyrium.

Dating from the 5th century CE, the saint is buried in the center of the building. He is said to have been crucified upside-down. However, there is some dispute as to whether the Martyrium actually belongs to Apostle Philip. The design of the Martyrium indicates that it was built by an architect affiliated with a Byzantine emperor. In the late 5th or early 6th century, the Martyrium was burned down, with the fire marks still visible on the columns.

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Image: Wikipedia

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LEGO Unveils the New Botanical Builds for Adults

By Jack Roberts

The survey revealed that 73 percent of adults want to destress at least once a week.

F

or millions of people across the world, growing up involved playing with LEGOs. The iconic brand has always been a favorite with both kids and their parents. The company recently came up with a new range of toys with botanical themes aimed at adults. The new LEGO Botanical Collection includes a Bonsai Tree and a Flower Bouquet.

There are many people who opt for gardening or buy artificial plants to introduce a touch of green in their homes or office. The new LEGO Botanical Collection will help them fulfill their craving for greenery without a green thumb as these “plants” will need minimal to no maintenance.

An ideal way to reduce stress during the pandemic

The LEGO

Flower Bouquet

It is not only about adorning rooms, but the LEGO Botanical collection can also prove to be the ideal stress reducer for people stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Adults can spend time customizing and building the entire botanical range. Both sets come with several elements.

The company also has made use of sustainably sourced sugarcane in place of petroleum-based plastics.

The flower bouquet can be an ideal gift for a friend or relative who is fond of greenery. It is a 756-piece set and the user can rearrange the blooms in enticing colors. Its flower stems are also adjustable and can be put in vases of varying shapes. The flowers include roses, snapdragons, daisies, poppies, asters, and different grasses.

The LEGO

Bonsai Tree There are millions of people who admire Bon- sai trees, but growing them is not for everyone. Instead, they can buy the LEGO Bonsai Tree which can be customized using pink cherry blossoms and bright green leaves. The model is sold in a rectangular pot and there is a wood-effect LEGO stand.

The LEGO Botanical Collection was launched commercially on January 1, 2021. The models can be bought at LEGO Stores, the brand’s website, or on Amazon. Apart from the bonsai set and bouquet, the company is also selling LEGO tulips and roses individually.

A collection was developed after conducting an in-depth study LEGO Group’s design lead, Jamie Berard, said the company developed the collection to let the adults find new ways to reduce stress and hone their creative skills. The LEGO Play Well Study 2020 surveyed 12,591 children and some 18,000 adults. The survey revealed that 73 percent of adults want to de-stress at least once a week. The study also revealed 81 percent of adults believe playing helps them reduce stress.

The Danish toymaker has come up with an innovative solution for people who love greenery around but lack gardening skills. Using plant-sourced materials is also a good move as it does not utilize fossil fuels.

With people stuck at home during the pandemic, this collection may prove to be an ideal stress reliever.

The flower bouquet is great for people who love blooming flowers and the Bonsai set is ideal for those who love calmness with a touch of tranquil beauty.

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The LEGO Bird of Paradise will be released in Europe on 1st June, 2021.

Image: Lego .com

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