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Billionaire hedge fund executive Ken Griffin outbid a group of cryptocurrency investors to buy an original copy of the U.S. Constitution for $43.2 million at a Sothebys auction on Thursday.

The Citadel CEO said he will loan the document to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., where it will be on display to the public for free.

The auction drew wide attention thanks to the online campaign by crypto enthusiasts to crowdfund a bid for the document. More than 17,000 people joined the effort, according to Sotheby’s, raising more than $40 million worth of the digital token Ethereum in a matter of days for an artifact that the auction house had valued at between $15 million and $20 million.

“The U.S. Constitution is a sacred document that enshrines the rights of every American and all those who aspire to be,” Griffin said in a statement released by Sotheby’s. “That is why I intend to ensure that this copy of our Constitution will be available for all Americans and visitors to view and appreciate in our museums and other public spaces.”

The artifact is one of 13 copies of the founding document that survived from a series of about 500 printed for Constitutional Convention delegates to consider in Philadelphia in 1787. Its sale to Griffin set a world auction record for a document, Sotheby’s said.

Bidders for Griffin and the crypto collective squared off in an eight-minute battle on Thursday night. The contest made for riveting viewing through an online stream of the event, though it wasn’t clear which representative in the room at Sotheby’s was bidding on behalf of the investors – or whom they were bidding against.

The crypto group – which called itself ConstitutionDAO, referring to its self-governing structure as a “decentralized autonomous organization” that allows participants to vote on major decisions – claimed a kind of victory in defeat. The effort “still made history” as “the largest crowdfund for a physical object that we are aware of – crypto or fiat,” the group said in a statement. It had also planned to put the Constitution on public display.

“We have educated an entire cohort of people around the world – from museum curators and art directors to our grandmothers asking us what eth is when they read about us in the news,” the group said. It said it would refund all contributions.

Griffin already boasts an expansive collection of multimillion-dollar artworks. He spent $100 million last year to acquire Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 painting “Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump,” now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. He also owns works by Paul Cézanne, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns.

The financier has also been a prolific Republican donor, contributing more than $67 million in the 2020 election cycle alone, mostly to GOP candidates and causes, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Published : November 20, 2021

By : The Washington Post

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The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 13.73 million across Southeast Asia, with 28,225 new cases reported on Friday (November 19), lower than Thursday’s tally at 29,302. New deaths are at 524, decreasing from Thursday’s number of 608. Total Covid-19 deaths in Asean are now at 286,895.

Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on November 18 decided to suspend karaoke, disco, massage, spa and bar services just after 2 days of reopening, in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus in the community. The city is also considering cutting short the isolation and treatment period for asymptomatic F0 who have received two vaccine doses and have negative testing results on day 7.

The borders between Singapore and Malaysia will be reopened for quarantine-free travel at scale from November 29, for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began rapidly worsening in March last year. Travellers will be able to fly between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme. To qualify, travellers must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 with vaccines approved by both countries.
 

Published : November 20, 2021

By : THE NATION

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“We are heading into a serious emergency at the moment. We will really have a very bad Christmas if we do not take countermeasures now,” said RKI President Lothar Wieler on Wednesday during an online debate.

The number of daily COVID-19 infections in Germany continued to rise strongly, exceeding 65,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases announced on Thursday.

Daily infections increased by around 15,000 within one week as the country’s seven-day COVID-19 incidence rate climbed to 336.9 cases per 100,000 people, according to the RKI. A week ago, the seven-day incidence rate still stood at 249.1.

“We are heading into a serious emergency at the moment. We will really have a very bad Christmas if we do not take countermeasures now,” said RKI President Lothar Wieler on Wednesday during an online debate.

A man enters a COVID-19 test center in Berlin, Germany, on Nov. 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

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“We have never been as worried as we are now,” said Wieler. The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients is rising, he said, adding that for people suffering from strokes, it can take up to two hours to find a free intensive care bed in some places.

As of Wednesday, 56.4 million people in Germany have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, bringing the country’s vaccination rate to 67.8 percent, according to the RKI.

People queue to receive COVID-19 vaccines outside a vaccination center in Berlin, capital of Germany, Nov. 12, 2021. (Xinhua/Stefan Zeitz)

Published : November 19, 2021

By : Xinhua

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009005

“In terms of investment into the UK, weve seen Chinese companies set up research and development centers,” said SMMT chief executive officer Mike Hawes, listing a couple of Chinese firms which have invested in the country, including Geely, Changan, SAIC, BYD and so on.

“We’ve seen most recently a real vote of confidence in the UK when Envision (a Chinese smart energy technology company) had announced a massive expansion of its battery production facility in Sunderland in the northeast of England to support Nissan.”

Britain and China have seen increasing cooperation in the electric vehicle (EV) sector over the past decade, as the two countries strive to pursue ambitious emission reduction targets, Mike Hawes, chief executive officer of a leading British automotive trade body, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

His remarks came just a few days after the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which concluded in Glasgow on Nov. 13, with negotiators agreeing on a new global pact to tackle climate change.

Visitors view a new energy car of Jaguar at Haikou New Energy Vehicle Exhibition in Haikou, south China

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Noting that the development of EVs is “absolutely important” for the two major economies, Hawes, head of the British Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said “road transport is a major contributor of that transition” in the global ambition to achieve the net zero goal.

“The UK government has set out its ambition that it wants the road transport to be 100 percent zero emission by 2035,” said Hawes. “I think if you look at in both investment and trade between China and the UK, that have been increasing over the last 10 years or so.”

China has announced that it would strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

“In terms of investment into the UK, we’ve seen Chinese companies set up research and development centers,” said Hawes, listing a couple of Chinese firms which have invested in the country, including Geely, Changan, SAIC, BYD and so on.

An electric car is seen at a charging point in London, Britain, Oct. 26, 2021. (Photo by Ray Tang/Xinhua)

“We’ve seen most recently a real vote of confidence in the UK when Envision ( a Chinese smart energy technology company) had announced a massive expansion of its battery production facility in Sunderland in the northeast of England to support Nissan.”

In terms of the institutional communication with the Chinese counterpart, Hawes said the SMMT has a memorandum of understanding with the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on cooperation.

“Because whether you’re based in China, whether you’re based in the UK, the automotive industry faces similar challenges around decarbonization, connectivity, automation, and so forth.”

As to the British auto industry, Hawes said now the country is not part of the European Union, so “we can pursue a trade policy that’s unique to the UK that will probably have a focus on the growing markets, and China, Asia Pacific markets are growing rapidly.”

China certainly has been a big market for British exporters, especially for premium brands, such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, etc, Hawes said.

“There’s also the challenge that needs to be met in terms of making sure your products match local tastes, local culture, local demands,” said Hawes. “To be really successful, you have to tailor those vehicles to an individual market.”

Seeing the auto industry, particularly around the EV section, as “a global player”, Hawes said there would be “great, tremendous opportunities for new entrance as well as existing players, because you need to put the products on the market that attract people.”

“Whether the individual companies can take advantage of those opportunities, it depends on their own strategies, it depends on their own technology, and depends on their attitude towards trade, their attitude towards overseas investment,” he added.

“That is about performance, it’s about range and it’s about affordability,” said Hawes. “So whoever can meet those objectives will succeed in that transition.”

Published : November 19, 2021

By : Xinhua

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009004

Nearly 10 percent of 5-to-11-year-olds in the United States have received their first coronavirus vaccine dose, just two weeks into the immunization campaign for the 28 million young Americans in that age group, said White House official Jeff Zients.

Fewer Americans this year plan on taking precautions against COVID-19 when hosting or attending holiday gatherings compared with last year, signaling some return to normalcy now that 59 percent of the country is vaccinated against the virus, local media has reported.

Researchers at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center polled 2,042 adults nationwide from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1, finding that 51 percent would ask party-goers to wear masks, down from 67 percent, showed the survey published on Monday. Half of those surveyed would ask for the vaccination status of their friends and family.

But anti-vaccine and anti-mask sentiment isn’t necessarily to blame, Iahn Gonsenhauser, a collaborator on the survey and chief quality and patent safety officer at the Wexner Medical Center, was quoted by CNBC as saying.

Students of Montrara Ave. Elementary School are seen in their in-person class in Los Angeles, California, the United States, on Aug. 16, 2021. (Xinhua)

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Vaccinated Americans are also starting to feel more comfortable seeing each other without masks, and groups of fully immunized individuals can enjoy the holidays together “with basically no precautions in place,” he said.

“I was pretty surprised to see that 51 percent were still considering asking attendees to wear masks,” Gonsenhauser added. “I think that what we’ve seen happen is a change in the understanding and approach to risk mitigation, particularly with a significant proportion of vaccinated individuals.”

On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated that 228,175,638 people have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, making up 68.7 percent of the whole U.S. population; fully vaccinated people stood at 195,612,365, accounting for 58.9 percent of the total. A total of 31,464,669 people, or 16.1 percent of the fully vaccinated group, have received booster shots.

Local residents come for the COVID-19 booster shots at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Los Angeles, the United States, Aug. 19, 2021. (Xinhua)

FORTH AND BACK

Nearly 10 percent of 5-to-11-year-olds in the United States have received their first coronavirus vaccine dose, just two weeks into the immunization campaign for the 28 million young Americans in that age group, Jeff Zients, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator, said on Wednesday.

Zients, speaking to reporters alongside the nation’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, estimated that by the end of the day on Wednesday, 2.6 million children younger than 12 would have received their first shot.

“In fact, the pace of vaccinations for kids has been accelerating. In the last week, 1.7 million kids got vaccinated — double the prior week,” he added. The CDC signed off on a pediatric vaccine for younger children on Nov. 2, and the nationwide drive to inoculate that age group was operational on Nov. 8.

In contrast, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is suspending enforcement of the Joe Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large private businesses after a federal appeals court upheld a stay on it last week.

OSHA said in a statement published on its website that while it is confident in its power to protect workers amid the pandemic, it is suspending activities related to the mandate, citing the pending litigation. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit fully blocked Biden’s executive order requiring companies with over 100 workers to mandate vaccination for their employees after temporarily staying it earlier.

BOOSTERS FOR ALL ADULTS

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC are expected to recommend COVID-19 boosters for anyone who wants one and is at least six months past their initial vaccination by the end of the week. The CDC has said it’s safe to mix vaccine brands.

“COVID-19 vaccines do a great job of preventing hospitalization and death, but their protection against infection starts to fade at about six months, even in young, healthy people. That’s why by the end of the week, booster doses may be recommended for all adults, or at least those over 30,” reported USA Today on Thursday.

There’s really no downside to getting a third shot, Ted Ross, an infectious disease expert at the University of Georgia in Athens, was quoted as saying. California, New Mexico and Colorado are among the states that have already made boosters available to all adults.

Meanwhile, Moderna has asked federal regulators to authorize booster shots of its coronavirus vaccine for all adults, a request that the FDA could grant as early as this week along with a similar request from Pfizer, reported The New York Times on Wednesday.

If the CDC also signs off, every adult who was fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shot at least six months ago would not only be eligible for a booster, but could choose which vaccine. The agency’s committee of independent experts is set to meet on Friday to discuss booster shots.

It would also allow U.S. President Joe Biden to fulfill his August pledge to offer booster shots to every adult, nearly two months later than the administration originally planned, though, and “amid an ongoing debate among experts over whether extra shots are necessary for younger, healthy adults,” according to the report. 

Published : November 19, 2021

By : Xinhua

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009003

Relations between Russia and China have reached their highest level in history, Putin said.

Relations between Russia and China have reached their highest level in history, and the two countries will step up cooperation further, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. 

“We will continue to strengthen ties with our good neighbors and friends in the People’s Republic of China,” Putin said at an expanded meeting of the Russian Foreign Ministry Board. 

The bilateral relations have served as a model for effective interstate cooperation in the 21st century, he stressed.

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Putin noted that some Western countries are “openly trying to drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing.”

“Together with our Chinese friends, we will continue to respond to such attempts by expanding our political, economic and other cooperation, and coordinating steps in the international arena,” he said.

Published : November 19, 2021

By : Xinhua

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The milestone comes four years after the NDMA entered into an agreement with the U.S. Navy for the P-8A, and two years before the new aircraft are scheduled to begin taking over maritime patrol duties in Norways high north, the announcement said.

Boeing announced on Thursday that the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA) accepted the first of five Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft that will be operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF).

Norway’s first P-8A aircraft, named Vingtor, was delivered to the NDMA during a ceremony at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, U.S. state of Washington.

The milestone comes four years after the NDMA entered into an agreement with the U.S. Navy for the P-8A, and two years before the new aircraft are scheduled to begin taking over maritime patrol duties in Norway’s high north, the announcement said.

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Norway’s four remaining aircraft are all in advanced stages of production and will be delivered to the NDMA in 2022. The five P-8As will replace the RNoAF current fleet of six P-3 Orions and two DA-20 Jet Falcons, according to the announcement.

The delivery to Norway also marks the 142nd P-8 aircraft delivered to global customers. 

Published : November 19, 2021

By : Xinhua

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The Canadian government is reportedly set to announce on Friday that Health Canada has approved the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11.

Canada reported 1,827 new COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, bringing the cumulative total to 1,758,706 cases, including 1,705,513 recoveries and 29,448 deaths, according to CTV.

Ontario, the most populous province in Canada, reported the highest daily number of new COVID-19 cases since Sept. 24 with 711 new cases of COVID-19 and five deaths on Thursday.

Today’s report brings the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Ontario to 609,429, including 9,955 deaths.

The rolling seven-day average in Ontario now stands at 597, which is up from 532 this time last week. There are at least 278 COVID-19 patients, including 129 in the intensive care units (ICU).

A visitor buys handmade magnetic bookmarks at the Circle Craft Christmas Market in Vancouver, Canada, on Nov. 10, 2021. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

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Of the 711 new cases on Thursday, 322 are in people who are unvaccinated and 314 are in people fully immunized. There are 47 people with an unknown vaccine status and 28 who are partially vaccinated.

Health experts have previously said the number of COVID-19 infections identified in fully vaccinated individuals will naturally increase as more people get both of their shots. Vaccination helps reduce the risk of severe symptoms related to COVID-19 as well as hospitalization.

Last week, Ontario announced to pause the next step of the reopening plan at least 28 days because of an increase in cases.

On Thursday, 129 COVID-19 new cases were found in schools across Ontario. Of the infections found in schools, 114 were recorded in students, 14 were in staff and one in an unidentified individual.

There are 589 schools with at least one confirmed case and five facilities are currently closed as a result.

Quebec, another populous province, confirmed 720 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. A total of 205 sufferers are in hospitals with coronavirus symptoms, including 46 in the ICU.

Most of Thursday’s cases were recorded among people who had either received their first shot less than two weeks prior or never got a shot at all.

That group accounted for 432 of the 720 newly-reported cases, and 13 of 20 new hospitalizations.

Public health authorities said unvaccinated people are 4.2 times more likely to catch COVID-19, and 15.9 times more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated people.

Since the COVID-19 in the province, 436,804 people have caught COVID-19. Of that number, there were 419,156 recoveries and 11,550 deaths.

Of the eligible population aged 12 and up, 91 percent of Quebecers have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 87 percent are fully vaccinated.

The Canadian government is reportedly set to announce on Friday that Health Canada has approved the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11.

Canada is expecting an accelerated delivery of 2.9 million child-sized doses, enough for a first dose for every child in the five to 11 age group.

In a statement Thursday, Pfizer Canada said the company is prepared to deliver the pediatric doses to Canada shortly following the Health Canada authorization.

Published : November 19, 2021

By : Xinhua

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40009000

The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 13.7 million across Southeast Asia, with 29,302 new cases reported on Thursday (November 18), lower than Wednesday’s tally at 29,901. New deaths are at 608, increasing from Wednesday’s number of 511. Total Covid-19 deaths in Asean are now at 286,370.

Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia has expressed concern over the re-emergence of Covid-19 during the upcoming cold weather and called on the people to pay attention to health care and continue to implement health rules to ensure that there is no recurrence of Covid-19.

The PM added that in Cambodia, although cases of Covid have now been alleviated, the spread of the disease has not yet ended, which requires high attention, prevention and prevention.

Meanwhile, people who have got at least one shot of Covid-19 vaccine or recovered from the disease are permitted to engage in socio-economic activities in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. Children who have not reached the age eligible for vaccination can take part in socio-economic activities, but they have to be accompanied by inoculated adults.
 

Published : November 19, 2021

By : THE NATION

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Two years after Elon Musk elicited audible gasps from an awards show audience with his surprise announcement that Tesla would build a factory outside Berlin, the project is nearing fruition and the hype has never been more palpable.

One analyst recently compared the series of innovations Musk is pursuing at the plant with Henry Ford’s revolutionary moving assembly line. Volkswagen’s chief executive officer this month expressed worry Tesla will be able to crank out an electric car in a third of the time it’s taking his company – a disparity that would jeopardize jobs.

Musk has billed the novelties Tesla is working on as transformative to the structural design of its vehicles. He wants to use massive machines – as long as a semitrailer and tall as a two-story home – to produce front and rear body parts using single pieces of metal. Pulling this off would save time and cost, reduce weight and improve driving range.

All this buzz will sound familiar to those who followed the launch of the Model 3 a few years back. The perennially promotional Musk touted an effort to build a highly automated “alien dreadnought” manufacturing system that went disastrously awry and nearly bankrupted Tesla. Today, the company has vastly more resources to support its CEO’s desire to push the envelope with regard to how cars are made.

“The big picture here is that Tesla has the opportunity to completely reinvent the car manufacturing process for vehicle production and factories,” Adam Jonas, Morgan Stanley’s top auto analyst, wrote in a report last month. “Tesla is building the car factory of the future.”

Musk summed up Tesla’s pursuit in a simple way early this year. “With our giant casting machines, we are literally trying to make full-size cars in the same way that toy cars are made,” he tweeted in January.

On billboards strewn about Tesla’s factory when it opened to the public for a day last month, Tesla said it would inject aluminum into the world’s largest die-casting machines, which will then clamp the metal using 6,100 tons of pressure – a force equivalent to 1,020 African elephants standing on the tool to form parts.

The plant will house eight of these machines, with Musk aiming to eventually stamp out the two biggest parts of its Model Y sport utility vehicles – the front and rear underbodies – each with just one piece of metal. The current Model 3, by contrast, comprises 70 metal pieces just for the rear underbody.

While Musk has used a term for these machines – “Giga press” – that suggests Tesla conjured them in-house, this isn’t the case. The company has been buying them from Idra Group, a closely held Italian company that’s sold them to three customers on three continents and is in talks with other carmakers and major suppliers.

The front and rear castings will interface with frames beneath Model Ys that will house batteries built into the structure of the vehicle. This, too, could be a step change – Tesla and other EV makers have to this point been housing their batteries in sheet metal, then sealing those coverings to separate floorpans.

Musk touted the ramifications of simpler and more integrated battery and body manufacturing during Tesla’s “Battery Day” event last year. He claimed the company could reduce investment per gigawatt hour of battery output by 55% and shrink the amount of plant-floor space needed by 35%.

For all the upside Musk has described, he’s also acknowledged Tesla will be gambling in Gruenheide, a town about an hour’s drive east of the German capital.

“Lot of new technology will happen in Berlin, which means significant production risk,” Musk tweeted in October of last year. Tesla’s plants in Shanghai and Fremont, California, will attempt the same transitions in about two years, when the new tech is proven, he wrote at the time.

Five months after that post, a “Giga press” in Fremont was involved in a minor fire. The machine melts aluminum alloy at up to 850 degrees Celsius (1,530 degrees Fahrenheit) before the metal is moved into an only somewhat less-hot holding oven. Morgan Stanley’s Jonas wrote in his Oct. 24 report that the manufacturing process is tricky in part because the alloy must enter at a speed that ensures even cooling across the structure.

Germany’s automakers are watching Tesla’s progress closely. VW may build a new EV factory near its sprawling Wolfsburg headquarters in direct response to Musk’s foray.

Earlier this month, VW’s CEO Herbert Diess sought to rally his workers for the challenge. He warned Tesla may manage to make an EV in just 10 hours, versus the more than 30 hours VW needs at its plant in Zwickau. VW’s new factory would make 250,000 EVs a year and aim to catch up to Tesla on production time.

Morgan Stanley’s Jonas last month increased his forecast for how many cars Tesla will crank out annually by the end of the decade by 2.35 million, citing his expectation that Tesla will produce an average of more than 800,000 vehicles per plant by 2030. That’s far greater than the capacity for 500,000 units the company claims for its Fremont factory now.

“We have yet to see the ‘moving assembly line moment’ in the EV industry,” Jonas wrote, referring to Henry Ford’s 1913 breakthrough. “We believe the time is approaching for that moment. And we believe Tesla is uniquely positioned to push the boundaries at the epicenter of a manufacturing change in auto making.”

BMW’s production chief Milan Nedeljkovic told reporters at an event last month that the carmaker hasn’t worked with big casting components like Tesla, in part because this would reduce the flexibility it needs to produce several different kinds of models on the same assembly lines. Tesla’s new approaches intrigue him, nonetheless.

“If it works, maybe it’s something we’d consider,” Nedeljkovic said.

Published : November 19, 2021

By : Bloomberg