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Given China's record in Xinjiang, you have to question this:

A "wartime state" has been declared in Urumqi, the capital of China's western Xinjiang region, after a spike in cases of coronavirus.

Officials on Saturday said 17 new cases had been recorded and strict measures on movement had been imposed.

Although the figure appears low, China has recorded very few significant outbreaks since Covid-19 emerged in the city of Wuhan late last year.

China is now not in the top 20 in terms of either infections or deaths….

The capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region has a population of about 3.5 million.

The latest infections began to be detected on Wednesday, the first in the region for months, prompting the cancellation of almost all flights in and out of the city. Subway services were also suspended.

On Saturday, officials said the total of cases was 17. One official told a state briefing: "The whole city has entered a 'wartime state', and will suspend all kinds of group activities."

The latest lockdown measures include:

• • Mass screening in buildings where new cases have been detected, later expanding to the whole of Urumqi
  • Visits to other households are restricted, as are large gatherings
  • Residents urged not to leave the city unless absolutely necessary and must be tested if they do

17 new cases in a city of 3.5 million would hardly seem to justify such extreme measures. But then extreme measures are par for the course in Xinjiang, as China continues its cultural genocide against the Uighurs. They seize on whatever excuse comes to hand. Until now it's been the supposed threat of Islamic extremism – "terrorism" – that's been used to justify the oppression, with over a million in "re-education camps", and women subject to mass sterilisation and forced abortions. The coronavirus pandemic, handily, would seem to offer a new cover for their brutal police state.

From the Atlantic's Photos of the Week:

In Poyang County, Shangrao city, in Jiangxi province. [Photo: AFP / Getty]

Flooding of the Yangtze River submerges roadways in Wuhan. [Photo: Costfoto / Barcroft Media / Getty]

Colourised and speed-corrected video of Tokyo, with added ambient sound:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQAmZ_kR8S8&w=550&h=309]

Source video – black and white – here.

recover from their illness,” Carl Heneghan, from Oxford University, and Yoon Loke, from East Anglia University, wrote. “A patient who has tested positive but been successfully treated and discharged from hospital will still be counted as a Covid death even if they had a heart attack, or are run over by a bus three months later.”…

It is unlikely that reassessing this methodology will substantially affect the death count from the height of the pandemic. It does mean, however, that it is now essentially impossible for England to reach zero deaths until the point at which everyone who has had Covid-19 has died.

“PHE’s definition of the daily death figures means that everyone who has ever had Covid at any time must die with Covid too,” the researchers wrote….

Mr Hancock is concerned that the system will create an artificial spike in care home deaths in the coming months, given the relatively short life expectancies of many residents.

Initially the review is expected to attempt to remeasure English deaths using the Scottish system. Ultimately, however, it will aim to come up with a more robust estimate of the numbers to have died as a direct result of the virus.

Susan Hopkins of Imperial College London, who sits on a PHE board, said: “Although it may seem straightforward, there is no WHO agreed method of counting the deaths from Covid-19. In England we count all those that have died who had a positive Covid-19 test at any point, to ensure our data is as complete as possible.

That's not complete data…that's wrong data. That's misleading data…

What with Neil Ferguson and his doomsday scenarios, and now this Susan Hopkins, my estimation of Imperial College has not exactly been boosted by recent events.

i21″ class=”asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451ebab69e20264e2e912b4200d img-responsive” src=”http://mickhartley.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/mt_imported_image_1758483865-1.jpg” style=”width: 550px” title=”Antaki21″ />
Pierre, Bordeaux © Vladimir Antaki

A couple of these photos accompany Michael Walzer's latest essay in Tablet, In Praise of Shopping.

Guardians was published in April.

e=”font-size: 11pt”>According to the source, a panel of judges made up of 18 members has been put together from cultural and artistic fields, including officials from the Propaganda and Agitation Department. They will evaluate the solo performances and graduation portfolios of students from arts-related universities and recruit the most talented female students who fit the selection criteria. 

The primary criteria for selection reportedly focuses on academic record, experience and physical appearance, and recruits must also come from “appropriate” backgrounds and have “clean ideological records.” This is because the women selected will be working and performing close to Kim Jong Un, the source explained….

The source further said that given the Moranbong Band’s status as a “national treasure” created by Kim Jong Un, rumors have “quickly spread” that the new recruitment efforts are aimed at passing on Kim’s “noble ideology” to future generations. 

The Moranbong Band was formed at the order of Kim Jong Un and held their first demonstration performance on July 6, 2012. Since then, the band has performed at many anniversary celebrations including the 70th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement (referred to as “Victory Day” in North Korea), showing off an elaborate and sophisticated style that is markedly different from other North Korean music groups. The band’s colorful image has seen them dubbed a North Korean-style “girl group” by the international community.

The Moranbong Band remains under the command of Hyon Song-wol and consists of approximately 20 singers and musicians. Core members Ryu Jin-a, Ra Yu-mi and Kim Yu-gyong received the title of “distinguished actress” from Kim Jong Un in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. 

“The singers in the Moranbong Band are now approaching their late 20s or early 30s, so it is considered time for them to be married off to the sons of central government officials or other individuals who have had a direct connection with the leader [for example, someone who received a letter from Kim Jong Un or was spoken to directly during an on-the-spot visit],” the source said. “While the musicians are able to continue performing even after marriage, it is more difficult for the singers since having children tends to weaken their bodies and vocal chords. Accordingly, this order is being interpreted as preparation for an inevitable generational shift.”

Videos on my previous posts on the band – here and here – are "no longer available", so let's see how long this one lasts. Click the 'Caption' button to activate English subtitles.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycdDHP7QfWo&w=550&h=309]

There are plenty more where that came from – all, of course, regime propaganda. "Let's Go to Mt Paektu", for instance, or "Long long live the commander-in-chief Kim Il-sung", or "We cannot live apart from His bosom" which features a string quartet, and has no lyrics to enlighten us on whose bosom that might be. But we can guess.

Desmond Dekker's 1967 rock steady classic -  the ultimate rude boy song – in a video put together by Perry Henzell:

In the summer of 1967, Desmond Dekker & the Aces’ rude boy anthem, ‘007’ became one of the first Jamaican-produced recordings to breach the UK’s national Pop Singles charts; its unexpected international success prompting an urgent need for material to promote the 7” single.

Consequently, Graeme Goodall, MD of Doctor Bird Records, the company behind its British release, hastily secured the services of respected Jamaican director, Perry Henzell, who wasted little time in filming the group live on stage and in the streets of island’s capital before editing the resultant footage and rushing it to the UK, where on the evening on 3 August, it was aired it on the BBC’s hugely popular ‘Top Of The Pops’ TV show.

Notable for being one of the earliest promotional music films ever to be created in Jamaica specifically for a global audience, it now not only provides a truly fascinating glimpse of Desmond & the Aces in action, but also of Kingston street life back in the mid-Sixties.

Henzell went on to greater things with The Harder They Come – which has this song on the soundtrack:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpVxwWQjIy0&w=550&h=309]

Dekker moved to the UK, like many of that generation of Jamaican artists, and died here in 2006.

Previously, his biggest hit The Israelites.

of trans women who've suffered FGM – one of ActionAid UK's major areas of concern – is not large. Somewhere around zero?

Sarah Phillimore:

ActionAidUK declares itself to be a charity ‘that works with women and girls living in poverty’. It apparently recognises the harm done to women and girls by violence. Women and girls do not ‘chose’ to become victims of violence, rape, sex trafficking, FGM or abortion from their mother’s wombs. They haven’t ‘self identified’ into this condition. It is immediately obvious to those who hurt and kill them, who deny them an education, who force them into marriage aged 12, what sex they are. For about 99% of living humans, it is immediately obvious what sex they are.

Women are not oppressed, raped and killed for their GENDER.

They are oppressed, raped and killed for their SEX .

More on this Twitter thread.

photographed by Seoul-based photographer Hyung S. Kim:

Today, many have surpassed age sixty: the youngest diver Kim photographed was 38 at the time, while the oldest was more than 90.

Captured just after they exited the water, Kim’s life-size portraits situate the women against a stark, white backdrop, which emphasizes their dirt-speckled shoes and wet, shining gear. Their equipment includes a tewak, the orange sphere slung over some of their shoulders, that floats at the surface during each dive and lead weights attached to their waists to hasten the descent.

“They are shown exactly as they are, tired and breathless. But, at the same time, they embody incredible mental and physical stamina, as the work itself is so dangerous; every day they cross the fine line between life and death.”…

In 2016, the haenyeo were added to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage as the number of divers has dwindled from around 20,000 in the 1960s to just 2,500 in recent years. Although the work was male-dominated originally, it began to reflect the semi-matriarchal society of the Jeju by the 18th century and continues to be led by women today.

Her Kyungsuk, Hamo Jeju (2014) © Hyung S. Kim

Hyun Okran, Onpyeong Jeju (2014) © Hyung S. Kim

Kim Julja, Dodu Jeju (2013) © Hyung S. Kim

Hyun Okwoo, Onpyeong Jeju (2014) © Hyung S. Kim

Hyun Soonok, Hwasun Jeju (2013) © Hyung S. Kim

Lee Hwaju, Hamo Jeju (2014) © Hyung S. Kim

now engaged not only in Syria, but also in Libya (essentially against a coalition of countries that include Greece, France, Cyprus, Egypt and Turkey’s regional antagonist, Saudi Arabia), while the Turkish navy is spread out from the Black Sea to eastern Africa and all the way to Qatar.

There are constant and numerous airspace violations by Turkish fighter jets, while Greece was infuriated by a maritime boundary treaty signed between Turkey and the Libyan Government of National Accord which establishes an exclusive economic zone between them, in the Mediterranean Sea. Greece regards the deal as ‘void’ and ‘geographically absurd’, as it ignores the presence of several Greek islands between the Turkish and Libyan coasts.

In this context, the abandonment of Ataturk’s legacy is also a direct challenge to the treaty of Lausanne, which Erdogan has spoken of many times as disgraceful for Turkey. His revisionist worldview would seek to overturn it, and open up Turkey’s sea borders deeper into the Aegean.

Erdogan’s firm friendship with Donald Trump has so far protected him from worse sanctions and responses by European leaders. Will the Hagia Sophia be a wake-up call to a West that has so far tolerated far too many transgressions? Does it even care? The time for complacency is over.