A mystery of unproven vaccines in China
Although China’s vaccine candidates have not been formally proven safe or effective, officials have injected them into thousands of people as part of an emergency policy to demonstrate their safety and effectiveness.
The campaign may have turned out too well. In Yiwu City, 500 cans were consumed within hours. Other cities limit the dosage. The overwhelming demand has inspired a scalper home industry to charge up to $ 1,500 for an appointment.
Users could take great risks. People who have taken the vaccines safely can be risky. They may not be allowed to take another, better vaccine because they have already been injected. In some cases, unproven vaccines have created health risks. It is unclear how many people received a vaccine candidate.
Quote: “We risk losing confidence in people if adverse effects actually occur,” said Kristine Macartney, director of the National Center for Immunization Research and Surveillance in Sydney, Australia.
Trump pushed for options to attack Iran
President Trump asked senior advisors during a meeting last Thursday whether he had options in the coming weeks to crack down on Iran’s main nuclear site. The president was prevented from conducting a military strike.
The meeting took place a day after international inspectors reported a significant increase in Iran’s nuclear supplies. Mr Trump could still be looking for ways to hit Iranian assets and allies, including militias in Iraq, officials said.
A number of senior advisors, including Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, warned Trump that a military strike in the final weeks of his presidency could lead to greater conflict.
What’s next: Mr Trump is imposing further sanctions on Iran that will be difficult to reverse. Tehran faces elections in June. This complicates President-elect Joe Biden’s promise to re-enter the nuclear deal, writes our chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe.
Huawei will sell its budget smartphone brand
The Chinese tech giant said Tuesday that it would sell Honor to a Chinese state entity. Huawei came under pressure as the Trump administration’s restrictions began to take effect on its business.
The company did not disclose the size of the sale and stated that it would not have any stake in the Honor business or be involved in its management after the transaction.
The move comes after a spate of US restrictions on Huawei’s purchase of components and software for smartphones and equipment.
Context: According to research company Canalys, Huawei was the second largest smartphone seller in the world last quarter. However, the company’s uncertain future has seen sales in key markets outside of China such as Europe plummet.
If you have 4 minutes, it’s worth it
A fuss over fat shame
“Slim.” “Beautiful.” “Rotten.” “Extra lazy.” “Rotten to the core.” This is how a Taiwanese chain, RT-Mart, described sizes for women’s clothing from small to XXL in one of their superstores in China.
Dismay and anger over the size chart erupted this week in China, where fat burning is rife on the internet and in advertising. RT-Mart later apologized, saying it was “deeply sorry for the inappropriately worded marketing material and the crime it caused”.
The following also happens
Thailand protests: Police fired water cannons and tear gas at protesters marching in parliament on Tuesday, and at least 40 people were injured in the most violent clash since a youth-led protest movement broke out in July, Reuters reported.
Hurricane Iota: The hurricane landed in Nicaragua as a Category 4 storm on Monday, hitting a region that was still recovering from Hurricane Eta, which occurred less than two weeks ago. It’s now downgraded to a Category 1, and officials say no deaths have been recorded so far.
Dresden means: The German police arrested three men on Tuesday and searched for two more in connection with the theft of gold, diamonds and precious stones from three highly valued collections of baroque royal jewels in a museum in Dresden last year.
Twitter update: On Tuesday, the social media network announced it was introducing a feature called Flotten, which would allow users to post short-lived photos or text that would automatically disappear after 24 hours. It is followed by Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, which offer similar functions.
How is your week going At Home offers a comprehensive collection of ideas on what to read, cook, see, and do while staying safe at home.
And now for the background story about …
Masayoshi’s son on his regrets
SoftBank’s founder and CEO has made billions out of his predictive bets over the years, including an early investment in Alibaba in China, but he has also made some mistakes. Mr. Son spoke at an online event on Tuesday’s DealBook newsletter. Here’s what he had to say.
Mr. Son talked as much about his missed opportunities as he did about his successes. His philosophy: “I would rather accept my stupidity and my ignorance – my bad decisions – so that I can learn from my mistakes,” he said. “Better to accept them so I can get smarter.”
He noted that he had the opportunity to become an early investor in Amazon and even spoke to Jeff Bezos, the Amazon chief executive, about a 30 percent stake in the company before it went public.
He didn’t take it. “I’m so stupid!” he said with a giggle. “Don’t embarrass me.”
But Mr. Son also admitted he made a huge mistake with WeWork. SoftBank poured billions into the cooperating business, betting that it would change the nature of offices and “raise awareness of the world” – and then was forced to save it after its plans to go public in Krater were advised.
“We made a loss at WeWork,” he said. “That was my fault.” But he noted that the company had other hits and that its total investments grew by at least $ 10 billion.
Mr. Son also expressed some admiration for Adam Neumann, the once high-flying managing director of WeWork, who persuaded him to invest in the company in the first place. Mr. Neumann also made mistakes, said Mr. Son, but “I am firmly convinced that he will be successful and that he has learned a lot from his previous life.”
That’s it for this briefing. Until next time.
– Melina
Many thanks
Carole Landry helped write this briefing. Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh took the break from the news. You can reach the team at [email protected].
PS
• We listen to “The Daily”. Our latest episode is about the second wave of coronavirus in Europe.
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a clue: Catchy song in slang (three letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• Tracy Ma, a visual editor at The Times, recently discussed what a creative visual package is all about in this video from It’s Nice That.
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