ГОЛОВНЕ

China has sharply reduced the number of directly elected seats in Hong Kong’s legislature in a setback for the territory’s already beleaguered democracy movement. The changes were announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting of China’s top legislature. In the new make-up, the legislature will be expanded to 90 seats, and only 20 will be elected by the public. Currently, half of the 70-seat legislature — 35 seats — are directly elected. The move is part of a two-phase effort to reign in political protest and opposition in Hong Kong, which is part of China but has had a more liberal political system as a former British colony. China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong last year and is following up this year with a revamp of the electoral process. The crackdown comes in the wake of months of pro-democracy protests in 2019 that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets and turned violent as the government resisted protester demands. “It’s a very sad day for Hong Kong. The election system is completely dismantled,” said former lawmaker and Democratic Party member Emily Lau.Emily Lau, a Hong Kong politician and member of the Legislative Council in the geographical seat of New Territories East.China’s top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, amended Hong Kong’s constitution to pave the way for the changes. The Hong Kong government is now tasked with revising its electoral laws and holding an election. In the current 70-member legislature, voters elect half the members and the other half are chosen by constituencies representing various professions and interest groups. Many of the constituencies lean pro-Beijing, ensuring that wing a majority in the legislature. The new body will have 20 elected members, 30 chosen by the constituencies and 40 by an Election Committee, which also has and will continue to choose the city’s leader, The committee, which will be expanded from 1,200 to 1,500 members, is dominated by supporters of the central government in Beijing. A separate committee will also be established to review the qualifications of candidates for office in Hong Kong to ensure the city is governed by “patriots,” in the language of the central government. The political opposition in Hong Kong — which has advocated for more democracy, not less — sees the changes as part of a broader effort to keep them out of office. “They are going to get rid of opposition voices because under this new system, which is so oppressive and restrictive, I don’t think any self-respecting individual will want to take part,” said Lau. In part, it comes down to the definition of patriots. The opposition has tried to block legislation by filibustering a key legislative committee for months and disrupting legislative proceedings. Beijing, which prioritizes political stability, sees these actions as unduly interfering with the governing of Hong Kong and wants to keep these actors out of government. A statement by Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said that the Hong Kong national security law provided a solid legal foundation to safeguard national security and that the electoral reforms provide a “solid institutional guarantee” of the city’s so-called “one country, two systems” framework and ensure that only “patriots” rule Hong Kong. The statement also said that with the electoral changes, the relationship between the city’s leader and the legislature will be smoother, and the “various deep-seated contradictions and problems that have plagued Hong Kong for a long time” will be more effectively resolved. The full National People’s Congress rubber-stamped a proposal in mid-March that authorized the Standing Committee to amend the Basic Law, the constitution that has governed Hong Kong since the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997. 
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U.S. prosecutors on Monday expanded their criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell, saying the British socialite helped procure a fourth underage girl for the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.An amended indictment against Maxwell now covers alleged crimes stretching from 1994 to 2004 in New York and Florida, including accusations that she paid the girl, known as Minor Victim-4, hundreds of dollars for each sexual act with Epstein.Maxwell, who was Epstein’s longtime associate and former girlfriend, faces new charges of sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor in the eight-count indictment, as well as earlier charges that include perjury.She had previously pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and groom three teenage girls for sex between 1994 and 1997 in New York. Maxwell, 59, has been held in a jail in Brooklyn since her arrest last July.Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.It is unclear whether the new charges could lead to a postponement of Maxwell’s scheduled July 12 trial before U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan, though prosecutors said Maxwell should have ample time to prepare.In a letter to the judge, prosecutors said they have given Maxwell’s lawyers the month and year when the fourth victim was born and key evidence about her.They also said they plan to turn over large amounts of other evidence, including statements from more than 250 witnesses related to their investigation of Epstein and his associates.Epstein killed himself at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.His estate was used to create a fund expected to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution to victims of his sexual abuses. The fund has received more than 175 claims.According to the amended indictment, Maxwell and Epstein recruited the fourth victim to engage in sex acts with Epstein at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, and successfully encouraged her to recruit other girls to do the same.In late January and early February, Maxwell filed 12 motions seeking to dismiss all or part of the government’s case, or at least make it more difficult to win a conviction.Maxwell has said the government targeted her only because Epstein killed himself and prosecutors wanted someone to blame, and that she was covered by Epstein’s own non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida.She has also said the perjury charges, based on depositions from 2016 in a civil lawsuit, should be tossed because her answers were true, and the grand jury in suburban White Plains, New York, that indicted her had too few nonwhite jurors.Last week, another federal judge in Manhattan refused to dismiss espionage charges against a former CIA employee indicted in White Plains early in the COVID-19 pandemic, rejecting the defendant’s argument that the jury was not diverse enough.That ruling may foreshadow the outcome of Maxwell’s dismissal request.On March 22, Judge Nathan rejected Maxwell’s third request for bail, saying Maxwell remained a significant flight risk.
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A study released Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are highly effective at preventing COVID-19 in “real world” conditions.
The study was conducted among nearly 4,000 health care workers, first responders, and other essential workers in six states between December 14 and March 13. The results showed the risk of infection was reduced by 80 percent after one dose and 90 percent after two doses.
Speaking during a White House COVID-19 response team briefing, CDC Director Rochell Walensky said the study showed the two vaccines can be effective not only in symptomatic infections but asymptomatic infections as well. She called it “tremendously encouraging,” and said it complements other recent studies in the New England Journal of Medicine and elsewhere.  
But Walensky said that good news was tempered by the lasted virus figures from around the United States.  She said the daily average for infections rose by ten percent over the past week, to nearly 70,000 per day. Hospitalizations were up by more than four percent and deaths by almost three percent.
The CDC chief said the U.S. looks similar to Europe just a few weeks ago, which is now going through another wave of infections.  
She issued a dire warning of a sense of “impending doom” in the U.S. amid an increase in in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations.  She urged people to hang on just a bit longer and continue practicing social distancing and other safety measures.
She said the national vaccination efforts are working. As of Sunday, more than 93 million people received at least one dose of vaccine and more than 51million people have been fully vaccinated in the United States. 
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