Regarding the adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines

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By David Ibeleme, MD, MBBS; PG-Dip; MSc.; MPH

There have been a lot of reports of vaccine adverse affects on several platforms across the globe. This post serves to put some of the things into perspective based on what we know from the science regarding the COVID-19 vaccines at this time.

Before, I share my perspective I would like to extend my sincere condolences to the families of everyone who is reported to have passed as a result receiving any of the WHO approved COVID-19 vaccines.

I trust the Lord to comfort and strengthen them as they go through this season of bereavement.

It's always a sad time when anyone has an adverse reaction to a medication (in this case a vaccine) that is meant to make them feel better. It creates a sense of low confidence in the medical interventions and institutions and most certainly increases vaccine hesitancy.

For us as doctors and medical personnel who have taken an oath "to do no harm", it's always a major concern. We therefore always feel it for the individual(s) and their family, and our best wishes go to them for speedy recovery and in the case of fatalities our sincerest condolences are extended to their families.

There are currently over two hundred and thirty one million (>231M) recorded Covid-19 cases globally accounting for over four million seven hundred and thirty five thousand (>4.735M) deaths globally. Adding vaccine related adverse effects does not help the situation for us at all.

However, we must also note that everyone who takes a vaccine knows (or ought to be informed before the shot) that side effects generally ALWAYS follow.

These side effects are usually non-life threatening for the most parts and also indicate that the immune system is responding very well to the vaccine.

It must also be noted that every individual reacts differently to vaccines and even to medications generally (I have a cousin that developed a near fatal adverse reaction to Ibuprofen or Motrin).

My wife and I have had our vaccines (AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine) already and we are doing well, along with a host of our friends and colleagues who have also had their vaccines.

Here in Trinidad and Tobago where I live, about 500,000 people have already had COVID19 vaccines and a phenomenally significant majority are doing very well. We have no officially confirmed vaccine related deaths to date and have less than ten (10) reported major adverse reactions, and these have all been resolved.

With respect to clotting issues in relation to the COVID19 vaccines; note that Clotting issues are way more common in the general population and in people who have had the COVID19 infection, than in people who have had the vaccine. That's the irrefutable fact.

Hence, the fact that one person develops (or some people develop) clotting, following vaccination should never negate the benefits of vaccines. Benefits that have been evident and undisputed for over two hundred (200) years.

Indeed the benefits of vaccines have been proven over the years COVID19 or no COVID19. Hence, the advent of COVID-19 should not change that. This is why most, if not all of us have been vaccinated against diseases like polio, measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, pertussis, yellow fever, hepatitis, HPV, etc.

We can all testify that countless numbers of deaths have been prevented through the use of vaccines. Vaccination remains the major tool in the fight against infectious diseases.

I am a polio survivor, however, I have been left with permanent paralysis in my right lower limb because I was not vaccinated on time, against the polio virus.

Vaccines are manufactured under strict protocols to ensure safety and efficacy, and the current COVID19 vaccines approved by the WHO have definitely gone through these rigorous measures. This is also why they are given emergency use authorization before full authorization. The emergency use authorization is to help protect the most vulnerable in a pandemic and also in determining how the vaccines perform in the general population. Emergency use authorizations are not just for vaccines but for medications in general and even for laboratory tests. Medications are often pulled or recalled and not granted full authorization if or when they are found to cause significantly adverse effects while they have emergency use authorization.

Some people have stated that these COVID-19 vaccines are not the same as the original vaccines we have been taking for years. Please permit me to clarify that a bit. Of the over twenty (20) Covid-19 vaccines that have been approved by at least one WHO recognized authority; there are only two (2) mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Modena, these are the newest technology vaccines); nine (9) killed inactivated vaccines which include Sinopharm, Sinovac, Coronavac and Covaxin (these have the same technology for injectable polio, rabies, hepatitis A and influenza); five (5) viral vector vaccines which include AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V and Convidecia; four (4) protein subunit vaccines which are Abdala (from Cuba), Epivac-corona, RBD Dimer and Zivifax, one (1) conjugated vaccine, Soberana from Iran.

The technology for these vaccines have been with us for decades; mRNA for about thirty (30) years, conjugate and protein subunits for over forty (40) years, viral vector vaccines for about fifty (50) years and killed inactivated vaccines for over seventy (70) years.

To date over six (6) billion doses of COVID19 vaccines have been administered across two hundred and seventeen (217) countries globally. So far, over two and half billion (>2.5B) which accounts for over thirty three percent (33.2%) of the global population. It must also be noted that a very significant number of those vaccinated are doing very well and have significantly been protected against severe illness.

I must also indicate that correlation is not necessarily causation.

Hence, some reported fatalities following vaccinations have been clarified following autopsies as not being due to the vaccines, but due to some underlying condition that the deceased had which might not have been apparent to them or their relatives.

I encourage people who have had adverse effects and relatives of people who have died following vaccination to report them quickly and consistently to the relevant authorities. This will ensure that it can be properly investigated and also aid in the knowledge that we are acquiring regarding the vaccines. Remember that if it is not officially reported, then it cannot be officially confirmed and recorded.

Once again our sincere condolences go out to families whose relatives have had fatal adverse effects secondary to vaccine administrations or to any medications.

Let us continue to follow the recommended public health protocols and stay safe as we continue the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Descendants of the Ancient Egyptians in modern day Egypt

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BLACK ON BUZZ

Leadership and the history of Western Nigeria: Why Nigeria Must Go Back To Its Originally Constituted Regiinal Government System

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AGBALETU TV with Dr Yemi Farounbi

Band of thieves and purveyors of ineptitude.....

CC™ Viewpoint 
By Boyejo A. Coker - Editor-in-Chief

It actually does not matter what aisle of the 'political' spectrum you belong to, this rudderless leadership has failed Nigerians, more-so even worse, since the inception of the 4th Republic in May, 1999.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held sway for fifteen mostly inglorious years (1999-2015) under the stewardship of the following:

a) Rtd. General Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007)

b) The late Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (2007-2010)

c) Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (2010-2015).

For at least 12 of those first 15 years of the 4th Republic, corruption, by and large, became the norm while the climate created by avaricious greed, further engendered a general state of lawlessness.

Kidnappings and killing orgies became commonplace and have continued unabated, till today.

While some may say that there was a certain degree of accountability, with the accompanying restoration of some semblance of sanity during Yar'Adua's brief reign, the truth remains that his vision of a better Nigeria was never going to see the light of day, given the scavengers and marauders he was surrounded by.

For this piece, we will absolve Umaru Yar'Adua of some of the PDP misrule when one considers that he was never in charge, as the cabal (whose stranglehold on the proverbial throat of Nigeria has never been in doubt) led by the one Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo et al essentially pulled his strings. When he (Yar'Adua) then dared to think for himself, he was murdered by the demonic powers behind the Nigerian throne of oppression.

Then came Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo again, as in his quest to maintain his inordinate hold and that of his fellow 'barbarians at the gate' on the destiny of Nigeria, he ensured that the next Nigerian leader would come from his "political family tree' (unfortunately, nothing good has ever come from any Obasanjo tree including his biological family tree). Thus, the dysfunctional reign of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, an absolute and utter misfit for any public office, was visited upon Nigerians.

It remains telling that only Goodluck Ebele Jonathan could have made an ethnic and religious bigot attractive to the same Nigerians that had rejected him (Muhammadu Buhari) a resounding three times (2003, 2007 and 2011) prior to his resounding victory in the 2015 general elections.

In case some have forgotten how we got here, this was the "scorecard" of the PDP misrule, particularly under Jonathan:

a) Coffers-to-personal account accountability (or lack-there-of) where public funds were used for personal gain including the extravagant wedding of GEJ's daughter http://www.myjoyonline.com/…/goodluck-jonathans-daughter-re….

b) An aviation industry (once led by Femi Fani-Kayode and then later by the certificate forging Stella Oduah) that was nothing short of a death trap. I should know as I lost a close relative, Deji Falae (Ondo State Commisioner for Culture and Tourism at the time) to one of those unfortunate but far-too-common air crashes under the PDP misrule.

c) Fabricated economic numbers embellished masterfully by sycophants in the Finance and Economic Ministries to obfuscate the fact that the average Nigerian could not afford the most basic amenities under the Jonathan misrule.

d) Religious over-reach where Jonathan consistently employed openly the advise and services of so-called Christian Pastors and even embarrassed the country by taking his whole cabinet to Israel to "pray". Can you imagine the outcry from the same hypocritical CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) and their egunje leadership if PMB had gone to Saudi Arabia with his whole cabinet to pray?

e) Under Jonathan, the bigotry and balkanization of Nigeria was effectively set in motion as Jonathan was essentially committed to the disintegration of Nigeria; and this was made even more apparent with the systematic decimation of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Jonathan, in an act of subterfuge against the Nigerian state, then employed foreign mercenaries (former South African soldiers under the apartheid racist regime) to fight Boko Haram at the end of his unfortunate misrule. 

f) Do Nigerians also forget that Jonathan attempted to scuttle the democratic process during this period of shame and disgrace to the Nigerian nation by postponing the elections?

g) The use of the DSS to terrorize, intimidate and kill (thousands of people disappeared without trace) Nigerians in the North, the SE and the SW (in particular) with Femi Fani-Kayode, Ayo Fayose and Musiliu Obanikoro leading the assault on political opponents in the SW with the firm support of the DSS, much like the days of Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, that weaponization of a State Security apparatus against the citizenry has continued under the autocratic administration of Muhammadu Buhari.

h) Nigeria became a pariah state under Jonathan and effectively lost its voice both on the African continent and globally. Anyone who underestimates the forces that are against this current administration with its stated desire to sanitize the nation must be truly misinformed. The forces are both spiritual and physical and I will caution Nigerians that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.  

And the circus basically continued under the rudderless and despotic rulership (note I didn’t use the term leadership) of Muhammadu Buhari, who proved himself to be just as incompetent a leader as he was as a soldier. Sadly, the teeming masses of hardworking and highly industrious Nigerians remain saddled with an unbecoming band of brigands and marauders as so-called leaders.

Nigerians need to realize that they are merely pawns in the game of high stakes chess being played by a corrupt and morally bankrupt political class. The truth is they (the political class) even intermarry and are not bothered by ethnic or religious so-called differences, while at the same time fanning the embers of ethnic and religious warfare among the desperately poor who just would like to have a fair shake in life, for once. 

While I am not personally a big fan of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he is actually making tough decisions required to turn the tide of gross economic mismanagement that had occurred during decades of PDP misrule. Now, those same PDP band of brigands and their undulating appendage of parasitic acolytes, have created another alphabet soup organization called the ADC or the African Democratic Congress.                                      

The only thing democratic about this new conduit for looting and unbridled thievery, is the legalization of it by the same parasitic kleptocrats that have bled Nigeria dry. As the late Sunny Okosun said in his famous song from almost three decades ago, "Which way Nigeria. Which way to go?" The answer lies squarely in the hands of the Nigerian people and the sooner they realize how much power they have to make a change, the sooner that change will come.  

Heaven, as they say, helps those who help themselves. Recycling proven crooks and eternal back-room deal makers like Atiku, Peter Obi, Nasir El-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi under whatever auspices is simply putting lipstick on a pig. The latter is still just that, a pig! 

Lagos 2027: Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour (ADC) hires Yoruba teacher, promises to campaign in local dialect

CC™ Politico

The Lagos State governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour, has said he will campaign in Yoruba ahead of the 2027 election.

Rhodes Vivour, who contested the 2023 governorship election under the Labour Party, made the disclosure during an interview on Arise TV on Thursday. 

He was asked about his inability to speak Yoruba, an issue that became a major part of the campaign against him during the 2023 election.

The issue followed an earlier interview in which Rhodes Vivour said he did not “think in Yoruba.”

However, the ADC candidate said he had taken steps to learn the language and had hired a Yoruba teacher.

He explained that language and culture were important when connecting with people in Lagos, adding that he planned to use Yoruba during his campaign.

He said, “Culture and language is very important and I’ve gotten a Yoruba teacher, and I’ve learned Yoruba, and I’ll campaign in Yoruba.”

Rhodes Vivour, however, said language would not be the main focus of his campaign.

According to him, residents of Lagos are facing challenges that affect everyone, regardless of their ethnic or cultural background.

He identified flooding, housing and traffic as some of the major problems facing residents across the state.

“My passionate interest is to ensure that we have a Lagos that no longer stinks,” he said.

Rhodes Vivour said the effects of the problems facing Lagos could be felt by residents across the state.

He argued that issues such as flooding, the housing crisis, traffic and what he described as the loss of dignity among Lagos residents affected people regardless of the language they spoke.

He said the challenges should therefore form part of the major issues to be addressed ahead of the 2027 election.

Rhodes Vivour was the Labour Party candidate in the 2023 Lagos governorship election. He finished second behind the then incumbent Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Veteran Nollywood Actor, Director and Film Maker, Olu Jacobs Passes On

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Veteran Nigerian actor and film executive, Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, popularly known as Olu Jacobs, has died at the age of 84.

According to TVC, the actor’s son, Olusoji Jacobs, announced his death in a post on Instagram on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, saying the family was grateful for his life and asking the public to respect their privacy.

The late Jacobs was one of Nigeria’s most renowned veteran actors, with a career spanning theatre, television and film.

The late actor was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, and started his acting career in British television.

The octogenarian later featured in several international productions before returning to Nigeria, where he became a major figure in the country’s film industry.

The deceased Nollywood veteran was also a film executive alongside his wife, actress Joke Silva.

They were both involved in the Lufodo Group and the development of performing arts in Nigeria.

Racial microaggressions take a major toll on Black Americans

CC™ Viewpoint

By Michelle Singletary

“White people gawking at or complimenting Black people for doing ordinary things is literally harming their health, research shows.”

A while ago, my family was vacationing at a resort in Orlando. My husband was tossing our three young children around in the pool, to their audible delight. I was sitting nearby on a lounge chair, reading a book. There were other parents in the water playing with their children as well.

After another shriek of laughter from my kids, I looked up and saw a White man, perhaps in his mid-60s, splashing toward my family. He waded up to my 40-something husband and said, loud enough for me to hear as well: “You have such a nice family. It’s so nice to see you playing with your children.”

My husband and I shared a glance. He could see me getting steamed. I wanted to say something about this man’s offensive statement, but my husband just shook his head and mouthed, “Let it go.”

If you’re a Black person or a person of color, you understand why I was so angry.

If you’re confused, let me explain why the compliment wasn’t well received.

This White man felt duty-bound to congratulate my husband for playing with our Black children as if it were an anomaly. He didn’t praise the White fathers spending time with their kids. No, he wanted my husband to know that he was proud of him for, in his mind, contradicting the stereotype of the absentee Black father.

But “most black dads are not absent,” writes Josh Levs in “All In: How Our Work-First Culture Fails Dads, Families, and Businesses — and How We Can Fix It Together.” Although Black children are more likely to have unmarried parents, this doesn’t mean they are fatherless, Levs points out.

Even when Black fathers don’t live with their children, they are more involved than White fathers in helping their children with homework, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And among the Black fathers who do live with their children, a higher percentage of them bathe, dress or diaper their kids compared with White dads, the study found.

So I’m sure that, while the White man at the pool had good intentions, he didn’t recognize that what he said was insulting and biased.

We were on our way to a family vacation in Aruba. ... A White man standing behind us said: ‘I don’t think you are in the right line. This is for TSA PreCheck.’ He didn’t take it upon himself to question other travelers. Just us. The only Black folks in the queue.

Pre-pandemic, it was infuriating when White folks stared as our family showed up at five-star resorts or hotels. It was as if they were trying to figure out how we could afford to vacation with them. As we moved about the properties, some asked my big, hulking husband if he was an athlete. Or they asked what we did for a living — out of the blue, with no relationship established to justify such brazenness. For the record, we live frugally throughout the year so that we can afford treats like this.

We typically keep such incidents to ourselves. We wouldn’t want to be accused of being “too sensitive.”

But this happens too often.

I’m still bothered about the White woman who asked me how we got our front-row seats to a multiracial performance of “Oklahoma!” at Arena Stage in D.C.

It was intermission. I chose to stay seated to read the Playbill.

The woman, sitting a few rows back, moved down, tapped me on the shoulder and said: “Wow, you have great front-row seats. Do you have a relative in the cast?”

There were several White theatergoers parked along the front row — right next to me. But she didn’t ask any of them if they were related to someone in the play who comped their seats.

I wanted to say, “Heifer, I purchased my ticket, just like you.”

I wouldn’t have actually called her that name, that would be rude, but I wanted to school that woman on why her question was offensive.

The message she was sending was that my husband and I couldn’t have afforded our orchestra seats, being Black and all. It might have surprised her to know that we are season-ticket holders at Arena Stage and we pay extra for premium seating. (We even add on the dinner and parking package.)

It wasn’t the first time we were made to feel out of place. Often, when we attend a non-Black production, we get stares from some White patrons who seem to be thinking, “They know this isn’t an August Wilson play, right?”

It’s the White customer who assumes a Black shopper at a luxury boutique is a clerk. Or a salesperson in Zurich redirecting Oprah Winfrey to cheaper handbags when she was inquiring about a $38,000 purse. It’s the so-called ‘compliment’ that a Black person ‘speaks so well.’

I’ll share just one more incident, although there are so many more.

We were on our way to a family vacation in Aruba. The regular security lines were overwhelmed. My family hurried to take our place in the line reserved for people who had paid for TSA PreCheck, which speeds up the security process.

A White man standing behind us said: “I don’t think you are in the right line. This is for TSA PreCheck.”

He didn’t take it upon himself to question other travelers. Just us. The only Black folks in the queue.

“I know what line this is,” I said curtly.

As I started to say more, my husband, ever the peacekeeper, looked at me. He didn’t have to say it this time.

But I’m tired of letting it go.

All the encounters I’ve shared are examples of racial microaggressions.

“Microaggressions are the everyday slights, insults, indignities, put-downs and allegations that people of color experience in their day-to-day interactions with well-intentioned White [people],” said Derald Wing Sue, a professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University and author of “Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation.”

Black Americans disproportionately experience microaggressions, according to a Gallup poll this summer. “The flash points that spark national conversations on racism are often instances of violence, but for many Black Americans, their experiences with mistreatment and discrimination are much subtler and are woven into the routines of their normal, daily lives,” Gallup said.

It’s the White customer who assumes a Black shopper at a luxury boutique is a clerk. Or a salesperson in Zurich redirecting Oprah Winfrey to cheaper handbags when she was inquiring about a $38,000 purse. It’s the so-called “compliment” that a Black person “speaks so well.” Joe Biden found himself having to apologize to then-presidential candidate Barack Obama for saying, “You got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean.”

Sue writes in his book: “The power of microaggressions lies in their invisibility to the perpetrator, who is unaware that he or she has engaged in a behavior that threatens and demeans the recipient of such a communication.”

In business, “microinequities” result in Black workers being overlooked, under-respected and devalued. Work performance suffers when microaggressions accumulate over time.

“Our research indicates that not only is it invalidating your experience of reality, but it has major psychological impact on what we call subjective well-being,” Sue said in an interview.

But a lot of White people don’t see the harm they are doing.

“A lot of my White brothers and sisters believe that the everyday incivilities they experience with someone who is rude are no different from racial, gender or sexual-orientation micro-aggressions,” Sue said.

When Sue began studying the impact of microaggressions, many of his White colleagues told him his work was making a mountain out of a molehill, that microaggressions were just macro nonsense.

But microaggressions can cause depression and self-esteem issues, Sue’s research shows. “They are a constant reminder that we, as people of color, are second-class citizens in our own country,” he said.

There’s also the stress of how to respond.

“If you choose not to do anything about it, it takes a toll on you psychologically,” Sue said. And physically. Studies have shown people subjected to microaggressions experience elevated blood pressure because they get upset or feel frustrated, maybe even angry at themselves for not saying something, he said.

Sue argues that it’s important not to let incidents go unaddressed in the moment. He calls the reactions “microinterventions,” strategies that people of color can use to make the “invisible visible,” drawing attention to the insult.

“For example,” he said, “if someone compliments me and says, ‘Derald, you speak excellent English,’ I would say: ‘Thank you. I hope so. I was born here.’”

If your biased question, ill-conceived compliment, befuddled stare or racist statement is called out, don’t get defensive or trivialize the incident. Black people need you to be able to accept the feedback, because it’s literally detrimental to our psychological and physical health to stay silent and seethe in the face of racial microaggressions.

Sincerely,

Michelle

Note: This piece was from December 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 epidemic. 

WASHINGTON POST

Beijing hits back at Anthropic CEO's call to curb China's AI development

CC™ Global News

BEIJING — China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday bristled at the Anthropic CEO's call for the U.S. to curb China's artificial intelligence capabilities as part of a wider argument for a global slowdown on AI development.

In a lengthy essay published Saturday, Dario Amodei warned that a "Chinese lead in AI would pose grave danger for the United States and the world." To enable the U.S. to keep its technological edge, Amodei called for maintaining restrictions on sales to China of the most advanced AI chips and chipmaking equipment.

A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Amodei's dire warnings about China were counterproductive and that all parties should work together on AI.

"Fearmongering, confrontation and vicious competition will only disrupt the process of global AI governance -- which serves no one's interest," spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a press conference in response to a question about Amodei's essay.

For their part, Chinese leaders have also sounded the alarm about AI, warning of the risks posed by foreign entities with advanced capabilities. A top security official in China's government published an essay on Sunday in which he accused "certain nations" — a reference to the U.S. — of leveraging AI advantages to hinder other countries' innovation.

On Monday, President Donald Trump pushed back against calls for his administration to step in to slow down AI development, saying such efforts were part of a "SICK conspiracy" which could allow China to eclipse the U.S. on AI.

Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to discuss AI governance, among other topics, at a meeting planned on Sept. 24.

Chinese companies have developed powerful AI models that are often cheaper to use than advanced models from U.S.-based companies; by some measures, they are just as capable.

Among the concerns outlined in his essay, Amodei predicted that a swarm of AI "agents" could be able to take over the internet in six to 12 months unless researchers agree to slow down. He said that "global pacing will require cooperation with China, the autocratic country with by far the most advanced AI capabilities."

Xi has called for the setting up of a global AI governance framework among the Global South, while pitching China as a pioneer in establishing an open-source AI community.

In an editorial published Sunday, China's state-run Global Times newspaper dismissed Amodei's essay as a veiled call to "contain" China. It said that Amodei's essay may appear on the surface to be focused on global AI security, but, that it is "packed with containment provisions targeting China and is, in essence, a 'Cold War playbook' for the AI sector."

Amodei's essay was published a few days after the FBI, National Security Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a joint cybersecurity advisory last week. That advisory said Chinese AI developers had engaged in "aggressive, malicious" efforts in extracting, or "distilling," capabilities from some of the most advanced AI models in the U.S. like Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's GPT.

China's Commerce Ministry dismissed the U.S. claims as groundless and said "distillation" has been commonly used by many AI companies. It also said that the U.S. was pursuing a "monopoly of the AI industry."

Both China and the U.S. want "to make sure the other side cannot establish a tech chokepoint over them," said Lizzi C. Lee, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis.

"So from Beijing's perspective, there is an obvious question: if the U.S. wants China to cooperate on frontier safety while also restricting its access to frontier compute, what exactly does that cooperation look like?" Lee said.

In an essay posted Sunday on social media, Chen Yixin, head of China's Ministry of State Security, warned that, in the hands of "hostile forces and individuals with ulterior motives," this technology could pose a direct threat to "our political, institutional, and ideological security."

Citing the capabilities of powerful technologies from U.S. companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, Chen warned that "certain nations and organizations" now have the capabilities to "rapidly discover vulnerabilities at scale ... and execute complex hacking tasks." That, he wrote, poses "serious risks to my country's critical information infrastructure."

Foreign spying agencies are turning to AI to "aggressively harvest sensitive data, including critical national data, trade secrets, and citizens' personal privacy information," Chen wrote.

NPR

Rogue Elements: Ex- CIA official found with $40 million in gold bars for ‘work-related expenses’ reaches tentative plea deal

CC™ Kaleidoscope

A former CIA official found with $40 million of gold bars in his home has reached a tentative plea agreement after being charged with theft for fraudulently inflating his salary, according to court records.

A federal judge on Friday extended a deadline to formally indict defendant David J. Rush until Oct. 8, giving time for federal prosecutors and his attorney to finalize the plea deal and avoid a public trial that the parties said could involve significant litigation over classified material.

A joint court filing Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia and Rush’s lawyer did not outline the details of the tentative plea deal. The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment Saturday, and Rush’s attorney did not not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rush was charged with theft of public money in May. He was accused of fraudulently claiming 744 hours of military leave on his timecards after he was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2015 and of inflating his salary by falsely claiming degrees from Clemson University in South Carolina and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit filed in court.

That same document also revealed that investigators searched Rush’s home and seized about 300 gold bars worth more than $40 million, plus about $2 million in U.S. currency and about 35 luxury watches.

The FBI affidavit said Rush had obtained the gold bars from the U.S. government for “work-related expenses.” 

Rush’s attorney has said the charge against him isn’t related to the gold bars, which she described as “a sensational tidbit.”

A Justice Department attorney said during a June court proceeding that Rush wasn’t supposed to have the gold bars at his home.

AP