Connect with us

News

US Tensions With China Are Fraying Long-Cultivated Academic Ties. Will The Chill Hurt US Interests?

Published

on

china

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Fu Xiangdong was a Chinese virology student who moved to the United States to study biochemistry in the 1980s. He held a distinguished post in California and was pursuing promising Parkinson’s disease research more than three decades later.

On the other hand, Fu is now conducting research at a Chinese institution. His American career was ruined as US-China ties deteriorated, casting doubt on his cooperation with a Chinese university. He eventually resigned.

Fu’s narrative parallels the growth and fall of intellectual engagement between the United States and China.

Beginning in 1978, such cooperation grew for decades, virtually immune to variations in the two countries’ relations. It is now in decline, with Washington considering Beijing a strategic adversary and mounting concerns about Chinese surveillance. The number of Chinese students in the United States is declining, and collaboration between the United States and China in research is dwindling. Academics are avoiding possible China projects out of worry that seemingly little mistakes could jeopardize their careers.

china

US Tensions With China Are Fraying Long-Cultivated Academic Ties

This decline is affecting more than just students and researchers. Analysts say it will reduce American competitiveness and hamper global efforts to solve health challenges. Collaborations in the past have resulted in substantial improvements, such as in influenza surveillance and vaccine development.

“That’s been really harmful to U.S. science,” said Deborah Seligsohn, a former US ambassador in Beijing who is now a political scientist at Villanova University. “We are producing less science because of this falloff.”

Given the heightened US-China relations, some believe the promise of scientific achievements must take a back seat to security concerns. According to them, such cooperation benefits China by providing it with crucial economic, defence, and technological information. They also believe the Chinese government is monitoring and harassing dissidents in American institutions.

These concerns were central to the Justice Department’s China Initiative, a program launched in 2018 by the Trump administration to discover acts of economic espionage. While the effort did not result in the capture of spies, it did impact researchers in American schools.

Gang Chen, a mechanical engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was charged in 2021 under the program with concealing ties to the Chinese government. Prosecutors later dropped all accusations, but Chen’s research group was disbanded. He stated that his family had a difficult experience and is still recovering.

Chen stated that inquiries and unfair prosecutions like his “are pushing out talents.”

“That’s going to hurt U.S. scientific enterprise, hurt U.S. competitiveness,” he said.

The Biden administration stopped the China Initiative in 2022, but other initiatives are aimed at Chinese-connected researchers.

In Florida, a state rule aimed at reducing foreign influences has sparked fears that Chinese students may be essentially barred from labs at the state’s public colleges.

This month, a bipartisan group of Republican senators raised worry about Beijing’s influence on American campuses through student groups, urging the Justice Department to investigate whether such groups should be registered as foreign agents.

china

US Tensions With China Are Fraying Long-Cultivated Academic Ties

According to Miles Yu, director of the Hudson Institute’s China Center, Beijing has used American higher education and research institutes to modernize its economy and military.

“For some time, out of cultural, self-interest reasons, many people have double loyalty, erroneously thinking it’s OK to serve the interests of both the U.S. and China,” he said.

The United States-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement, signed in 1979, was slated to expire this year. Congress extended the pact by six months in August, but its future remains to be determined.

According to Nicholas Burns, the United States ‘ ambassador to China, if a new agreement is reached, it should consider new scientific and technological breakthroughs.

According to Burns, just 700 American students were studying in China, compared to almost 300,000 Chinese students in the United States, down from a peak of around 372,000 in 2019-2020.

On American university campuses, practically all Confucius Institutes, a Beijing-backed Chinese language and culture program, had dissolved by October. According to the US Government Accountability Office, their number has decreased from around 100 in 2019 to fewer than five.

In 2018, the National Institute of Health launched an investigation into foreign links by requesting that hundreds of American schools investigate if their faculty members may have broken laws governing the use of government funds, typically in situations involving cooperation with Chinese institutions.

The NIH probe focused on Fu, who was then a professor at the University of California, San Diego, and his connections with Wuhan University. According to the local news outlet La Jolla Light, Fu argued that federal funds were never used for work there, but the university decided against him.

Charles Lieber, a former chair of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard institution, was found guilty of lying to the federal government about his links with a Chinese institution and a Chinese government talent-recruitment program in a China Initiative case in December 2021.

china

US Tensions With China Are Fraying Long-Cultivated Academic Ties

According to Chen, collaborations that were once welcomed have suddenly become challenging. He claimed that disclosure standards had been unclear and that such collaborations had been praised in many situations.

“Very few people in the general public understand that most U.S. universities, including MIT, don’t take on any secret research projects on campus,” Chen said. “We aim to publish our research findings.”

University campuses have suffered as a result of the probes. “People are so fearful that, if you check the wrong box, you could be accused of lying to the government,” Chen said.

According to a peer-reviewed academic study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal in June, the China Initiative has undoubtedly produced widespread fear and anxiety among scientists of Chinese heritage.

The study, which polled 1,304 scientists of Chinese heritage working at American colleges, found that many were considering leaving the country or ceasing to seek federal funds, according to the researchers.

An analysis of research papers in the PubMed database revealed that, as of 2021, U.S. scientists still co-wrote more papers with Chinese scientists than with scientists from any other country, but those with a history of collaborating with China saw a decline in research productivity after 2019, shortly after the NIH investigation began.

The study’s findings, which will appear in the PNAS journal before the end of the year, indicate that the impact of US-based academics collaborating with China has decreased by 10%.

china

US Tensions With China Are Fraying Long-Cultivated Academic Ties

“It has a chilling effect on science,” said Ruixue Jia, the NIH investigation’s main researcher. “While researchers worked to complete existing collaborative projects, they were hesitant to start new ones, and the results could worsen.” Both countries have suffered.”

Fu’s name surfaced on the website of Westlake University, a private research university in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, three months after he resigned from the California school. Fu directs a lab at Westlake that studies RNA biology and regenerative medicine.

Guan Kunliang, a fellow scientist in San Diego who was being probed, joined Fu in August. Guan has been barred from applying for NIH grants for the next two years. Guan’s job was recovered, but his lab had downsized. He is now re-establishing a molecular cell biology lab at Westlake.

According to Li Chenjian, a former vice provost of Peking University, talent loss to China is a tricky issue, and the concern may be overstated because the United States remains the go-to spot for the world’s greatest minds and has abundant talent.

According to the National Science Foundation, from 2005 to 2015, more than 87% of Chinese students who got doctorates in the United States intended to stay in the country. The percentage dipped to 73.9 in 2021 but increased to 76.7 in 2022, exceeding the 74.3% average for all foreign students who received research doctorates in the United States.

Rao Yi, a distinguished neurobiologist who returned to China from the United States in 2007, stated that American actions about the China Initiative were “morally wrong.”

“We will see how long it will take for the U.S. government and its morally upright scientists to correct such mistakes and come around to see the bigger picture of human development, beyond petty-mindedness and shortsightedness,” he said. “Throughout history, it is always the morally corrupt governments which advocate the blocking of scientific communication and persecution of scientists.”

SOURCE – (AP)

News

Suddenly, After Several Seasons, Gary Oldman’s TV Series ‘Slow Horses’ Gets Some Emmy Love

Published

on

oldman

NEW YORK — Jackson Lamb is an Englishman who solves mysteries, but he is not your normal sophisticated, attractive character. One clue is that he frequently and noisily passes petrol.

Lamb, played by Gary Oldman, is the beating heart of Apple TV+’s “Slow Horses,” a critical darling that seemed to have acquired popularity in the United States just recently, now in its fourth season. After being ignored at the Emmys for two seasons, it now has nine nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series.

“I think it’s been a slow burn,” adds Oldman, who received an Emmy nomination for Lamb. “More people are now approaching me and saying, ‘I like the show.'” I’ve become that guy on television, which I truly enjoy.”

Lamb is the comically rude head of a gang of despondent British spies known as the “Slow Horses” because they work at the humble Slough House, far from the sparkling center of power in London. They’ve jeopardized their careers in a variety of ways, including botching surveillance missions, developing gambling addictions, and leaving a top-secret file on a train.

Suddenly, After Several Seasons, Gary Oldman’s TV Series ‘Slow Horses’ Gets Some Emmy Love

Lamb’s hair is messy and oily. He wears a shabby, muddy raincoat, and his stocking feet are always up on his desk. He smokes excessively, drinks scotch on the job, is violently un-politically correct, and is frank to the point of rudeness. His voicemail reads: “This is Lamb.” If I did not respond, it is because I do not wish to speak with you.

He’s also extremely loyal to his squad and possesses the sharpest — but dirty — knife in the drawer. He can tell someone’s wage just by looking at their footprint and is at least three steps ahead of everyone else. He refuses to follow the rules, displaying a petulant middle finger to the establishment.

“If there’s a sign that says ‘No smoking,’ Lamb will smoke,” stated Oldman. “He’s only a bloody pig. We just enjoy watching. Perhaps we’d want to be so direct.”

Will Smith, the showrunner and executive producer, says we’re meeting Lamb late in his career after he’s run afoul of the hierarchy and been fired by others.

“He is a puzzle. He is an enigma because he is unlike anything you’ve seen. “I believe the character is intriguing on that level,” adds Smith. “You’re meeting him at the end of his arc — he’s burned out — and then you’re kind of unpacking what made him this way and given little glimpses of the man he was and can be when he when he has to be.”

Many of the series’ most delectable scenes occur when Lamb encounters his antagonist, the flawlessly coiffed Diana Taverner, played by Kristin Scott-Thomas, who is in many ways Lamb’s polar opposite: courteous, diplomatic, and aspiring to the top of MI5.

The series also features Jack Lowden, Jonathan Pryce, Christopher Chung, Rosalind Eleazar, Aimee Ffion Edwards, Kadiff Kirwan, and Saskia Reeves. Mick Jagger, who co-wrote the theme song, is one of the novels’ most prominent fans.

“Slow Horses” is about underdogs, and the series should emerge from the cold to be recognized at the Emmys.

“It’s a good thing when the reviews come in and people appreciate it and, and it and it gets a nod,” Oldman asserts.” He’s excited to catch up with his co-stars on Sunday over a table “and have a laugh.”

“Slow Horses” is based on Mick Herron’s Slough House novels, and Oldman gives Herron enormous credit for inventing such a fun Lamb. “I just immediately responded to it,” the actor admits.

Critics have fallen under its spell, with the Los Angeles Times questioning the attention and accolades: “What took so bloody long?” According to Empire magazine, Oldman steals “every scene he’s in, either with acidic sardonics or acid indigestion.”

“Lamb is about as far away from the tuxedo-wearing, Savile Row-tailored James Bond as you can get and yet, he’s the best spy we’ve had on screen for years,” according to New Musical Express.

Suddenly, After Several Seasons, Gary Oldman’s TV Series ‘Slow Horses’ Gets Some Emmy Love

Smith is feeling the love, which is a lovely tailwind as the show’s actors wrap out season five.

“There are a lot of evangelical fans out there who have done an excellent job of attracting an audience. “It seems to have reached a critical mass,” he says.

Oldman has created several notable characters, including Sid Vicious, Lee Harvey Oswald, Count Dracula, and Winston Churchill. “In terms of characters that I’ve played, he’s up there,” adds the actor.

This is not Oldman’s first spy role; he previously played John Le Carré’s far more refined George Smiley. “Some wit said I’d gone from George Smiley to George Smelly, which I which I wish I’d thought of,” according to him.

SOURCE | AP

Continue Reading

News

Justin Timberlake Admits Guilt to Impaired Driving and Pays a $500 Fine.

Published

on

Justin Timberlake

(VOR News) – Justin Timberlake’s guilty plea to driving under the influence on Friday concluded the criminal case that originated from his detention in the Hamptons of New York in June.

The actor and former member of the boy band appeared in Sag Harbour Village Court to register a new plea.

Timberlake was also required to issue a public safety announcement by the judge, in addition to a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge and 25 hours of community service at the nonprofit of his choosing.

Timberlake issued an apology for his conduct and maintained his composure throughout the event. He maintained that his childhood in a small community had enabled him to comprehend the influence of his arrest on Sag Harbour. He asserted that he had ample time to contemplate his actions.

“I failed to meet the expectations I set for myself,” said the individual.

Timberlake expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to participate and stated that he aspires to leverage his influence to help others make “better decisions.” He confessed to the magistrate, “I should have exercised more foresight.” “I recognise how serious this is.”

A judge enquired about the plea agreement.

Judge Carl Irace expressed his dissatisfaction with the plea agreement that the prosecution had proposed. He questioned the appropriateness of Justin Timberlake’s forthcoming public statement, which was scheduled to be released shortly following judicial proceedings.

He alleged that he was incorporating community service requirements into the sentence to compensate for the shortage of time he had to reflect on his actions.

The pop artist initially entered a not guilty plea to a misdemeanour allegation of driving while intoxicated during a hearing last month, which resulted in the suspension of his driving licence.

The prosecution, which is being led by Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, and Justin Timberlake’s attorney, Edward Burke, declined to provide any commentary prior to the hearing.

Timberlake was apprehended in Sag Harbour, New York, shortly after midnight on June 18. According to reports, he is accused of violating a stop sign in the village centre, exiting his BMW with an alcoholic odour, and driving out of his lane.

Police characterised the 43-year-old Tennessee native’s eyes as “bloodshot and glassy” in court documents. They also noted that he had “slowed speech,” was shaky on his feet, and performed poorly on all sobriety tests. Justin Timberlake informed the officer that he was returning home with some friends after consuming a single martini, according to the police.

Sag Harbour, a former whaling village that is mentioned in Herman Melville’s renowned novel “Moby-Dick,” is situated in the Hamptons, a region of beachfront municipalities situated approximately 100 miles (160 km) east of New York City.

Justin Timberlake’s legal consequences beyond New York

A legal expert stated on Monday that Justin Timberlake’s licence suspension in New York likely affects his ability to drive in other states.

Kenneth Gober, the managing partner of Lee, Gober & Reyna, a law firm in Austin, Texas, is of the opinion that the automatic suspension of one’s license under New York state law is the consequence of denying a Breathalyser test, as Justin Timberlake did during his detention. Subsequently, this moratorium should be implemented in additional states.

“The majority of states participate in the interstate Driver’s License Compact, an agreement to share information about license suspensions and traffic violations,” he said in an electronic communication. “A licence should be suspended in all states if it is suspended in one.”

Gober observed that it may take some time for these enhancements to be replicated across state lines. He further stated, “The pop star doesn’t need a car to drive to do his job; he has the resources to easily arrange for a driver.”

This week, emails soliciting responses from Justin Timberlake’s agent and other agents were unsuccessful.

Despite the fact that the ten-time Grammy winner has refrained from publicly discussing the incident, she appeared to address it during a Chicago performance a few days later.

During the United Centre performance on June 21, he addressed the audience and stated, “This week has been extremely challenging.” Nevertheless, both of us are present in this location. Nothing can change the present state of affairs.

Timberlake has been touring in support of his most recent album for months. He will be performing in Brooklyn and Newark, New Jersey in the coming weeks during his return to the New York City regional area.

SOURCE: NPR

SEE ALSO:

Ontario Woman Charged Criminally for Squiring Neighbor With Water Gun

Boeing Machinists Strike after Rejecting 25% Salary Increases over a 4-Year Period.

Continue Reading

News

Boeing Machinists Strike after Rejecting 25% Salary Increases over a 4-Year Period.

Published

on

Boeing

(VOR News) – Boeing machinists decided to strike Thursday, another setback for the huge aviation business, whose reputation and finances have suffered and now risk halting production of its best-selling commercial planes.

Per the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, 94.6% of voters rejected the plan to boost salaries 25% over four years, and 96% supported the strike, exceeding a two-thirds majority.

33,000 machinists struck Friday at 1:59 a.m.

The vote was announced by IAM District 751 President Jon Holden: About respect, the history, and battling for our future.

Boeing said, “I’m ready to go back to the table and make a new deal.”

Members rejected our IAM leadership tentative agreement. The corporation will re-establish employee-union relations. Boeing experienced multiple mishaps this year, from a panel blowing out and causing a hole in a passenger jet in January to NASA dumping two men in orbit instead of taking them home on a problematic Boeing spacecraft.

Boeing will lose crucial airline plane delivery revenue during the strike. Kelly Ortberg, the new CEO of a corporation that lost $25 billion in six years and fell behind Airbus six weeks ago, faces another challenge.

Ortberg defended a contract union negotiators unanimously supported. Wednesday he told machinists that ‘no one wins’ in a strike and that it would hurt Boeing’s recovery and exacerbate airline consumer anxieties.

He stated Boeing’s business is struggling owing to past missteps. I believe we can recover, but a strike would damage customer trust and constrain our decisions.

Workers didn’t hear.

Holden said machinists are unhappy with stagnant earnings and pension and health care cutbacks since 2008 to keep the firm from relocating employment.

“It’s hard to make up 16 years,” he stated.

The ruling also rebuked Holden and union negotiators for endorsing the contract. Holden predicted a strike and said the union would poll members to decide what to discuss when negotiations resume.

Social media union members requested higher wages every week. Several hundred marched to a union hall near Boeing’s 737 Max facility in Renton, Washington, on Thursday, blowing whistles, banging drums, and waving strike banners.

“As you can see, solidarity is here,” said quality-assurance worker Chase Sparkman. I expect my union brothers and sisters to stand together and tell our company we deserve more.”

In four years, Boeing expects machinists to earn $106,350.

It failed to meet the union’s 40% three-year salary increase request. Boeing increased 401(k) contributions without restoring pensions cut a decade ago.

Adam Vogel of Boeing termed the 25% rise “crap.” The latest rise was 16 years ago. Another quality-assurance worker, 16-year employee Broderick Conway, said Boeing can afford more.

We disappointed many members with our first offer. He hoped the second offer was right. “If not, we’ll strike and defend.” Boeing’s commercial-airplane head Stephanie Pope tried to deter blue-collar workers from striking for a better deal this week.

“We bargained in absolute good faith with the IAM team that represents you and your interests,” she stated. Let me clarify: We did not wait for a second vote.”

Union halls in Washington, Portland, and others held elections.

Boeing proposed to manufacture its next jet in Puget Sound if workers signed the contract, believing it would benefit the union. The 2030s jet would replace the 737 Max. Boeing’s Dreamliner production transfer from Seattle to South Carolina was blocked by unions.

The strike will stop Boeing’s best-selling airliner, the 737 Max, 777, and 767 cargo plane production in Renton and Everett, Washington, near Seattle. Nonunion South Carolina 787 Dreamliner workers may be unaffected.

Due to 1995 and 2008 strikes, workers’ $150 weekly strike fund contributions may seem minimal before the holidays, according to TD Cowen aerospace analyst Cai von Rumohr. Von Rumohr stated a long strike would cost $3.5 billion in cash flow because receives 60% of jet sales.

Since the union won all negotiations, Holden advised members to approve the accord “because we can’t guarantee we can achieve more in a strike.” Many workers remembered pension, health care, and wage cuts. They’re mad. Their desires are many. According to aerospace researcher Von Rumohr, Boeing recognises it and aims to appease many. Will they suffice?

Since the 2018 and 2019 737 Max crashes that killed 346, Boeing’s reputation has deteriorated. In January, a Max panel blew out during a flight, raising safety concerns.

In plane orders and delivery, strikes might push it behind Airbus.

SOURCE: AP

SEE ALSO:

Unprecedented 4.7 Earthquake Strikes Near Los Angeles.

Ontario Woman Charged Criminally for Squiring Neighbor With Water Gun

Continue Reading

Download Our App

vornews app

Advertise Here

Volunteering at Soi Dog

Soi Dog

Trending