Mediaboss Marketing

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and GAINESVILLE, Fla., Aug. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT), the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, and the University of Florida today announced a strategic collaboration to enable cutting-edge research for novel genetic medicines. Through the agreement, Sarepta will fund multiple research programs at the University, and will have an exclusive option to further develop any new therapeutic compounds that result from the funded research programs.

We have developed a productive incubator approach to our pipeline development, partnering with the best and brightest in genetic medicine, including leading academic researchers like those at the University of Florida, to discover and translate into meaningful therapies genetic medicine for rare diseases, said Sarepta President and CEO Doug Ingram. Weare excited topartner with andsupportUF research that has the potentialto profoundlyimproveand extend the lives of patients with rare genetic-based diseases.

Through the collaboration, currently unique to UF, funding has been allocated for four innovative projects. These projects include exploratory research in novel gene therapy vectors, next-generation capsids and gene editing technologies as well as work in new therapeutic areas in degenerative genetic diseases. The goal is to foster early relationships with experts and accelerate the scientific advancements that lead to the development of transformational precision genetic medicines for patients in need.

Our researchers intend to find solutions for diseases that have no cure or limited therapeutic options. Their goal is to move these solutions from their labs to patients who need them to see their discoveries change lives. Because Sarepta has a focus and expertise in disease areas that coincide with the work of some of our scientists, its a match and collaboration that make sense and, we hope, will save lives, said Jim OConnell, assistant vice president of UF Innovate, the technology commercialization arm of the university. Sarepta has a bold vision for transforming genetic disease because the company, ultimately, serves patients. That end goal drives its willingness and ability to translate research into a medical reality. We want to be part of that.

University of Florida is a gene therapy powerhouse. UF researchers were the first to discover the life cycle of the adeno-associated virus (AAV), the smallest human virus. Using AAV as a benign delivery vehicle to carry therapeutics to a target, UF was first to reverse blindness in dogs with genetic disease, and UF researchers were integral in the first gene therapy approved by the FDA to treat an inherited genetic disease that can cause blindness. Today, UF is developing technologies in manufacturing, capsid design and therapies to address neuromuscular, cardiovascular, inflammatory, metabolic, pulmonary, skeletal, ophthalmic, and other disorders.

About SareptaAt Sarepta, we are leading a revolution in precision genetic medicine and every day is an opportunity to change the lives of people living with rare disease. The Company has built an impressive position in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and in gene therapies for limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs), mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA, Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), and other CNS-related disorders, with more than 40 programs in various stages of development. The Companys programs and research focus span several therapeutic modalities, including RNA, gene therapy and gene editing. For more information, please visitwww.sarepta.comor follow us onTwitter,LinkedIn,InstagramandFacebook.

Sarepta Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," "intends," "potential," "possible" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the ability of the collaboration between Sarepta and UF to engage in cutting-edge research for novel genetic medicines; Sareptas commitment to fund multiple research programs at UF; Sareptas option to further develop any new therapeutic compounds that result from the funded research programs; Sareptas incubator approach to discover and translate into meaningful therapies genetic medicine for rare diseases; the collaborations potential to profoundly improve and extend the lives of patients with rare genetic-based diseases; the collaborations ability to foster early relationships with experts to accelerate the scientific advancements that lead to the development of transformational precision genetic medicines; and Sareptas vision to transform genetic disease and translate research into a medical reality.

These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Sareptas control. Known risk factors include, among others: the expected benefits and opportunities related to the collaboration between Sarepta and UF may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected due to challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development. In particular, the collaboration may not result in the discovery of any new therapeutic compounds or any viable treatments suitable for commercialization due to a variety of reasons, including any inability of the parties to perform their commitments and obligations under the agreement; Sarepta may not be able to execute on its business plans and goals, including meeting its expected or planned regulatory milestones and timelines, clinical development plans, and bringing its product candidates to market, due to a variety of reasons, many of which may be outside of Sareptas control, including possible limitations of company financial and other resources, manufacturing limitations that may not be anticipated or resolved for in a timely manner, regulatory, court or agency decisions, such as decisions by the United States Patent and Trademark Office with respect to patents that cover Sareptas product candidates and the COVID-19 pandemic; and those risks identified under the heading Risk Factors in Sareptas most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other SEC filings made by Sarepta which you are encouraged to review.

Any of the foregoing risks could materially and adversely affect Sareptas business, results of operations and the trading price of Sareptas common stock. For a detailed description of risks and uncertainties Sarepta faces, you are encouraged to review the SEC filings made by Sarepta. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Sarepta does not undertake any obligation to publicly update its forward-looking statements based on events or circumstances after the date hereof.

Contacts:

Sarepta Therapeutics Investors: Ian Estepan, 617-274-4052, iestepan@sarepta.comMedia: Tracy Sorrentino, 617-301-8566, tsorrentino@sarepta.com

UF Innovate: Sara Dagen, 352-294-0998, saradagen@ufl.edu

Continue reading here:
Sarepta Therapeutics and University of Florida Announce Collaboration to Accelerate the Discovery and Development of Therapies for Rare Genetic...

Google Chrome makes frequent updates, and some of the recent changes that have come have added some cool new features into the mix. You have probably already heard of Chromes tab freezing feature. It is a feature that allows you to essentially freeze a tab so that any autoplaying videos or audio tracks on the webpage dont unnecessarily use up your bandwidth in the background. This is an important feature and a big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that it would allow users to have more control over where their bandwidth is being funneled.

With all of that having been said and out of the way, it is important to note that there was another feature that came to Chrome recently and this was a tab collapsing feature. This feature allows you to collapse a group of tabs into a single, smaller tab that you can then access as and when needed. The main purpose of this was to make it so that you could potentially end up clearing your tab bar up which can often be a real problem for people that are attempting to do research, something that necessitates the opening of a large number of tabs at the end of the day.

Now you are going to have the option to collapse a group of tabs and also freeze them. This amalgamation of two important features will be quite useful once all has been said and is now out of the way. The reason behind this is that collapsed tabs can also use a lot of resources in the background, and freezing them can give you more options when it comes to allocating bandwidth. Collapsing a group of high bandwidth tabs and subsequently freezing them can be a very efficient way of streamlining bandwidth usage.

There are two updates coming to the global media control panel. The first is cast control, which basically means if you are casting media to an external device such as a Chromecast you would now be able to control the audio or video being casted through global media controls as well.

You will also get the option to select which audio device you want to cast the audio to, and the same goes for video devices. This gives users a lot more control over how their media is played and more importantly where it is played, coming together to enable Google to ensure that each and every user gets the exact experience they want.

With picture in picture mode as well as a variety of other features already having been added to the mix, the global media control panel is already becoming a popular feature for the average Chrome user. Adding in tab freezing and grouping gives further control to users and is a great step towards giving total media control to the user in question.

Sources: TechDows / 1 / 2.

Read next: Chrome 85 Will Now Generate Tagged PDFs When Users Will Print A Webpage

See more here:
Google Chrome Tests New Tab Freezing and Media Control Options - Digital Information World

If the human element mattered in this surreal, stupefying slog of 2020, the consensus directive would be, Health first, sports later. Instead, the resumption of games has become a marketing slogan YOU CANT STOP SPORT courtesy of Nike, of course, which is trying to spike its stock with yet another campaign portraying athletes as invincible gods who, in this case, are bigger than COVID-19.

You cant stop sport, says Russell Wilson, who is in the commercial, because you cant stop us.

And when any of us challenge that rationale as foolish, dangerous and ass-backward that ones life is a bit more important than a bastardized ballgame amid a pandemic we are subjected to the millennial wisdom of Kyle Brandt, he of the NFL Network, who surely heard an Attaboy or two from his league bosses when he tweeted, Theres a segment of the NFL media that seems to be almost rooting for COVID to affect the season. They want it. They see the Marlins news and say, `Yep! Lots of luck, football! These are people who make their livings off football. I dont get it.

Well, Kyle, the Marlins outbreak news soon became the Cardinals outbreak news, inevitably to be followed by another teams coronavirus spread. And some of us, as professional journalists, are obligated to be honest to the masses and not underplay a global health crisis because were beholden to a pay day, as maybe you are, Kyle, along with others I see in sports media. Consider it more jarring proof that this Major League Baseball season never should have been attempted and that Rob Manfred, the so-called commissioner, should be banished to another planet for jeopardizing the lives of players and families and further humiliating the sport. Its now more evident than a 104-degree fever and relentless diarrhea runs that leagues not playing seasons in restrictive medical environments are doomed to stall, which eventually will include the NFL and college football, once mass outbreaks occur as players spit, breathe, slobber and bleed on each other every play, then gather in confined locker rooms to spread those expectorations, then travel to road hotels or mask-optional campus parties. These are not dominoes, Kyle. These are human beings who might get sick and spread COVID-19 to others, who could get sick themselves or, I dont know, maybe die.

Yet the ongoing realities of the virus We just have to assume the monster is everywhere, said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, whose state is home to two MLB franchises has only turned Manfred into his own kind of monster. In a country with 500,000 new infections the past week, a country that Johns Hopkins University says needs a reset because the U.S. is not currently on course to get control of this epidemic, Dr. Rob isnt going down without a fight. Knowing the NBA, NHL and other leagues in Bubbles are functioning well so far and making MLB look typically inept, Manfred responded with his own grand, You Cant Stop Sport declaration to ESPN after postponing 17 games in his seasons first 10 days. In the process, he continued to point a long index finger at the players and their union, as always for violating health/safety protocols when: (1) Manfred and the owners signed off on those protocols; (2) MLB should have been monitoring the players behavior all along and canceled the Miami-Phillies game eight days ago, when the Marlins outbreak emerged; and (3) MLB decided not to conduct tests daily, meaning infected players can be exposed to other people for days while awaiting results, which probably is what happened when the Cardinals had their explosion of positive tests.

We are playing, said Manfred, who pondered canceling the season and should have. The players need to be better, but I am not a quitter in general and there is no reason to quit now. We have had to be fluid, but it is manageable.

Yeah, just as Howard the Duck thought he could manage Son of Satan. This from the man who refuses to put baseballs virus catastrophe in the nightmare category, the very definition of denial if not delusion. Its what the public health experts have been saying from the beginning about this, that there is no one big magic fix, Manfred, who has not held a press conference in months, told the Associated Press. The protocols are a series of little things that people need to do. Weve had some problems. In order to be better, its a series of little things. I think its peer pressure. I think its players taking personal responsibility. When will Manfred realize this is not a fair fight? How many positive tests, team quarantines, game postponements, reconfigured schedules, Yoenis Cespedes blow-offs and seven-inning doubleheaders does he need before he finally gets it that hes risking a full-blown tragedy and starts thinking with common sense instead of feeding his shattered ego? He already has said baseball cant afford to not finish this season if others leagues do. But quitting, at this point, would be the noble and sensible option, with epidemiologist Zachary Binney tweeting, This is veering quickly into `shut all of MLB down territory for me.

Understandably, players are tired of being blamed while Manfred and the owners sit in their bunkers, counting early revenues. Said veteran pitcher Jon Lester: I dont know Robs situation, and I dont want to put my foot in my mouth. But I do know we not only players, but families are making sacrifices, day in and day out. Ill stop there. This after Cubs teammate Anthony Rizzo, who, as a cancer survivor, is especially vulnerable to the virus, tweeted during a rain delay in Cincinnati: Player safety? @mlb lets sit around for 8 plus hours inside the clubhouse.. Im sure I can find that somewhere in the 113 page safety protocol.

Meanwhile, leagues playing inside Bubbles have found a competitive mood and safety vibe antithetical to baseballs chaos. While realizing any medical or logistical hiccup is possible at any moment, Id say the NBAs Bubble is blowing up right now, to paraphrase the kids, with a chance not only to complete a season but even be entertaining and compelling in the process. Seamlessly, and almost miraculously, the coronavirus became an afterthought as we watched: LeBron James hit a game-winner to end an intense Lakers-Clippers game the Raptors beat down the Lakers with smothering defense and a reminder they could repeat as champions COVID-19 scapegoat Rudy Gobert hit the first shot and two deciding free throws in the leagues first game back James Harden go for 49 in a playground romp between the Rockets and Mavericks Zion Williamson pout while tethered to the bench on a playing-time restriction Giannis Antetokounmpo make another MVP statement and the leagues players and coaches beautifully salute Black Lives Matter, whether kneeling, standing or wearing a jersey with no social justice message, as Jimmy Butler tried to no avail.

As Clippers coach Doc Rivers said, relaying his thoughts about George Floyd while kneeling during the national anthem, The hardest thing that happened to me was, my knee was hurting. In the middle of it, Im thinking, `In two minutes, my knee is hurting, yet there was a guy that had his knee on someones neck for eight minutes. Think about that. A national anthem took two minutes. There were guys who needed towels and things to get under their knees, and yet someone kneeled on another human beings neck for eight minutes.

This is what the NBA does. It figures out solutions and keeps eyeballs on basketball, thanks to more cameras, tight angles and technical innovations. Yes, the virtual, big-headed fans are goofy, as are the occasional simulated ventures into NBA 2K mode. But we barely notice because the games are interesting and the same can be said for the NHL, which followed the NBAs lead and established two bubbles in virus-dulled Canada, so far with solid reviews in Toronto and Edmonton.

Said James: Were in the land of the unknown. Things are happening for the first time. You just take it for what it is. Dont take the moment for granted. Were all still living and alive and back to doing what we love to do: playing the game, watching the game. Thats a blessing, because 2020 has been pretty (crappy). Were all blessed. No matter what the (situation) is, no matter what the bubble is, no fans, or with fans, basketball is basketball and competitive spirit is competitive spirit, so were right back to where we left off.

So is baseball, for that matter, still stuck in the same world of hurt and inevitable impasse when the collective bargaining agreement expires next year. Leave it to MLB to clumsily lead the pandemic way for Big Sports in America, only to wobble frantically, with no sadder scene than sending the Marlins back to South Florida in sleeper buses after at least 18 players were infected and quarantined in Philadelphia. Obviously, even a shortened season already has been stripped of its competitive integrity and ability to produce a legitimate champion, which I wrote a week ago while calling for the season to be canceled. Since then, Manfred has directed his ire at Players Association executive director Tony Clark, threatening to shut down the season if players dont manage the virus better. Rizzo wants to know how thats possible when, without a Bubble, teams are required to travel to cities, stay in hotels and come into constant contact with virus carriers and that doesnt include protocol violators who might be taking risks around town or at a Wisconsin golf course, as some members of the Cardinals have been accused. Its one of those things where you can get food delivered to you, and if (the virus) is on there, we dont know where this thing hides all the time, Rizzo said. You got to be prudent. You got to have faith, but guys are gonna get it. Tomorrow, we could have someone walking around here asymptomatic and spread it to 10 guys.

The opt-outs, positive tests and short-season-related injuries continue, an absence of continuity that is robbing fans of whatever enjoyment they can muster. Mike Trout whose wife delivered their first child, a son named Beckham Aaron would be wise to stay home and not return, but hes a good man who wants to help a dying sport. Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, who has a heart issue likely stemming from a recent COVID-19 bout, shut down his season. Milwaukees Lorenzo Cain explained his weekend decision to opt out: With all of the uncertainty and unknowns surrounding our game at this time, I feel that this is the best decision for me, my wife, and our three kids.

And Nationals manager Dave Martinez, who has an underlying heart condition, continues to speak about his fears, telling the Washington Post, You know what? Im just not going to hold it in anymore. This is different for everyone. This is scary for us, even if our job is to play a game. I feel like thats something I have to say. This is weighing on me a lot. Its not just the players or myself. Thats only the start of it. Its my coaching staff, the clubbies, the PR staff, the beat writers, everyones families. A lot of people could be in danger if were not smart and safe. And even then, you really dont know if thats enough.

Yet, the owners expect these men to keep trudging out there every day and play ballgames, no matter the health fallout. Is Manfred even listening to a man who only directed a team to a championship last autumn?

Just as America was in no mood to hear the owners and players jibber-jabber over money before the season resumed, no one wants to hear the owners blame the players for outbreaks. All the sides want to do is fight, a rift that goes back decades and was exacerbated last spring when Manfred described the World Series trophy as a piece of metal. Tweeted pitcher Trevor Bauer, referring to the protocol blame Manfred is placing on players: Take no risk yourself; blame everything on the players; protect TV revenue at all costs. Is Bauer not dead-on right? He didnt mention that the players werent interested in a Bubble, but the prospect turned moot anyway when owners engaged players in a a weeks-long fight over taking a second pay cut. We should ignore the rhetoric. Baseball will not recover from this, nor does it deserve to after the leagues medical director, Gary Green, tried to justify the Marlins outbreak thusly last week: Twenty-nine out of 30 is a pretty good batting average if youre playing baseball. By my count, six teams and counting have been disrupted so far, which means the batting average is climbing.

Not that anyone in sports is treating COVID-19 with appropriate fear. These multi-billion-dollar industries have exploited Americas divided views on the coronavirus wearing masks, sending kids back to classrooms, geopolitical madness and who should win an apocalyptic presidential election presumably ahead in just three months to almost sneak-slide games back into the American consciousness. The media have gleefully responded with mostly Brandt-approved coverage, such as when ESPN led SportsCenter not with an important Marlins update early last week but a Pirates-Brewers game. Sometimes, the network reminds me of a drug dealer, slipping coke to fans to feed their Why We Love Sports fix and make sure they keep watching and gambling.

Coronavirus? What coronavirus?

Yet explain how Charles Barkley and the Inside The NBA crew can make us not only forget the pandemic, but make us LOL.

The U.S. casualty numbers, which are nearing 200,000 and could reach a half-million without a miracle vaccine, have not deterred sports in the least. The NFL, a $15-billion-a-year enterprise lorded over by a commissioner and team owners who wont be risking their health on lines of scrimmage, still believes a regular season will start in five weeks; the sizable number of players already opting out, including eight New England Patriots, strongly suggests otherwise, as does the positive test of another head coach, the Eagles Doug Pederson. College football hedges its bets, moving schedules back in wishfully thinking the virus will fade, but more outbreaks and opt-outs are inevitable. The almighty Southeastern Conference, still planning a shortened season in a region with less virus-related resistance, allowed players to speak with commissioner Greg Sankey and medical advisers in a conference call last week, the Washington Post reported. The exchange was ominous.

There are going to be outbreaks, one SEC official told the players. Were going to have positive cases on every single team in the SEC. Thats a given. And we cant prevent it.

Added Sankey: Part of our work is to bring as much certainty in the midst of this really strange time as we can so you can play football in the most healthy way possible, with the understanding there arent any guarantees in life.

The pushback, shall we say, was akin to a goal-line stand. Said Texas A&M linebacker Keeath Magee II: You guys have answered a lot of questions the best way that you guys could, and we really appreciate it. But as much as you guys dont know its just kind of not good enough. We want to play. We want to see football. We want to return to normal as much as possible. But its just that with all this uncertainty, all this stuff thats still circulating in the air, yall know it kind of leaves some of us still scratching my head. I feel like the college campus is the one thing that you cant control.

Expect more rebellion in coming days, with a group of Pac-12 players threatening to opt out of games if the conference doesnt meet their safety demands while, according to a letter published by The Players Tribune, addressing concerns about racial injustice andeconomic rights and fair compensation.

They want to be paid.

Wouldnt you, if you were age 20 and assuming all the health risks while the leagues, universities and TV networks were making the billions? At least WNBA phenom Sabrina Ionescu was making a salary when she suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain that could cost her the season and whos to say she, like other athletes, wasnt more susceptible to injury by rushing back to play after a limited preseason?

Somehow, perhaps because this virus also is destroying brain cells, the deadly ramifications of a global pandemic have been lost amid the fury of restarting sports and rushing events onto TV. The games inside Bubbles have scratched the familiar sports itch, and, I admit, I watched the final period of a Blackhawks-Oilers game. Golf has been a surprise hit, with the hulking emergence of Bryson DeChambeau still dominating conversation before the PGA Championship, the seasons first major yep, major arrives later this week at Harding Park in San Francisco.

Yet, in the time I took to write this column, more people have died from COVID-19. And a goof like Kyle Brandt wont pay attention, preferring we ignore and whitewash an epic catastrophe so he doesnt lose his gig on Good Morning, Football. Good night, Kyle.

The Nike commercial, too, will continue in heavy rotation. But to say You Cant Stop Sport is false advertising. Maybe you cant stop sports inside Bubbles, at least for now, but baseball and football soon will be added to the mounting death toll.

https://barrettsportsmedia.com

Jay Mariotti, called the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century, is the host of Unmuted, a frequent podcast about sports and life (Apple, Podbean, etc.). He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and radio host. As a Los Angeles resident, he gravitated by osmosis to movie projects. He appears Wednesday nights on The Dino Costa Show, a segment billed as The Rawest Hour in Sports Broadcasting. Compensation for this column is donated to the Scripps College of Communication General Fund at Ohio University. He can be reached on Twitter @MariottiSports.

Read the original:
As Baseball Blows It, The Bubbles Are Blowing Up - Barrett Sports Media

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Aug. 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Continuing its global 5G leadership, Verizon has become the first US operator to successfully complete 5G global roaming trials and have a commercially ready 5G global roaming service. Customers traveling from the US to South Korea with a compatible device can enjoy the benefits of 5G service internationally.

The successful trials for voice, data and text messaging were conducted on the live production 5G network in South Korea with a prototype device using dual frequencies. The 5G device, which can access 5G services in the US using mmWave spectrum, accessed 5G on 3.5 GHz spectrum in Korea. Average speeds recorded during the trial were 252 Mbps downlink and 119 Mbps uplink.

This is the first step in global 5G interoperability.

As 5G matures, the global implications are enormous, said Kyle Malady, Chief Technology Officer for Verizon. From global manufacturing and supply chain, to international AR/VR experiences, the globalization of 5G has huge implications across countless industries for consumers and enterprises. Imagine being able to get the best medical treatment from anywhere in the world through telemedicine, shop in the finest boutiques in Italy through augmented reality, play against the champions in online gaming anywhere in the world, or manage manufacturing operations across continents in real time remotely. Our team is leading the way to make those possibilities a reality and this is an important first step.

More countries to come

South Korea is just the first of many countries with whom Verizon is forging global 5G roaming partnerships. Preparations for trials with other countries are underway.

We are in the early phases of global roaming partnerships with other countries and will continue to look for strategic partnerships with international providers who, like Verizon, are leading the 5G evolution. This roaming service with South Korea will serve as a model as we engage with 5G providers in other countries to provide our customers who travel globally with more options, said Malady.

Verizons global visionThe power of 5G does not stop at national borders, and Verizon has been leading global efforts around 5G. Verizon is a founding member of the 5G Future Forum, a group of global 5G leaders accelerating the delivery of mobile edge compute (MEC) -enabled solutions around the world.

The mission of the 5G Future Forum (5GFF) is to develop 5G interoperability specifications to accelerate the delivery of 5G and MEC solutions around the world. The Forums founding members have been working to create the governance structure for the 5GFF, as well as develop both technical and commercial workstreams.

The Forum will release its first technical specifications to its members in the third quarter of 2020 a major step forward in enabling global interoperability for 5G and mobile edge compute deployment to deliver efficient and innovative services to customers.

About VerizonVerizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) was formed on June 30, 2000 and is celebrating its 20th year as one of the worlds leading providers of technology, communications, information and entertainment products and services. Headquartered in New York City and with a presence around the world, Verizon generated revenues of $131.9 billion in 2019. The company offers voice, data and video services and solutions on its award winning networks and platforms, delivering on customers demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity, security and control.

VERIZONS ONLINE MEDIA CENTER: News releases, stories, media contacts and other resources are available at http://www.verizon.com/about/news/. News releases are also available through an RSS feed. To subscribe, visit http://www.verizon.com/about/rss-feeds/.

Media Contact:Karen Schulz864-561-1527Karen.Schulz@Verizonwireless.com

See the original post:
Verizon customers will be able to take the power of 5G global - GlobeNewswire

Zumrat Dawut said she was forcibly sterilized by the Chinese government for having one too many children.

A former resident of Urumqi, the capital of Chinas western Xinjiang region, the 38-year-old Uyghur woman said she was fined 18,400 yuan ($2,600) in 2018 for having three children, one more than she was allowed to under Chinese rule.

When she went to pay the fine, Dawut said she was told shed also need to have a mandatory birth control procedure.

She said she was taken to a clinic, where she was hooked up to an IV and given a general anesthetic. A local doctor later told her shed undergone a tubal ligation, a procedure that uses keyhole surgery to clip, cut or tie a womans fallopian tubes.

The doctor said the procedure was permanent she wouldnt be able to have any more children.

Dawuts story is not unique. For years, Uyghur women both inside Xinjiang and around the world have accused the Chinese government of a campaign of abuse, including forced sterilization, cultural indoctrination and incidents of sexual violence.

Its part of a wider pattern of human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang, where authorities are accused of detaining up to two million Muslim-majority Uyghurs and other minority ethnic groups inside vast, fortified centers as part of efforts to enforce greater control over the region.

Rahima Mahmut, a Xinjiang exile and project director for the World Uyghur Congress in London, said women in Xinjiang are living in hell.

Just like any genocide, women are always the number one target There is a very, very serious crime happening at such a large scale, she said.

The Chinese government has consistently denied all allegations, presenting its efforts in Xinjiang as legal and necessary measures to prevent extremism, and has used a series of what state-run media refers to as terrorist attacks in 2014 and 2015 to justify its crackdown.

It has also attempted to discredit Dawuts account specifically, with the state-owned newspaper the Global Times quoting claims from her own brother that shes peddling lies online.

CNN has reached out to the local Xinjiang government for comment.

Beijing has a history of policing womens reproductive rights as part of the one-child policy, a mass campaign to slow birth rates in China. From its introduction in 1980, the policy officially saw 400 million births prevented, amid reports of state-enforced abortions and mandatory contraception.

The one-child policy was changed to allow two children in 2015 amid a rapidly-shrinking birth rate. In Xinjiang, rural couples are allowed to have up to three children, which authorities claim is out of respect for ethnic minorities cultural traditions of large families.

Now a new report, titled The (Chinese Communist Partys) campaign to suppress Uyghur birthrates in Xinjiang, alleges that Beijing is trying to reduce the Uyghur population through enforced contraception and sterilizations.

It was compiled by Adrian Zenz, a leading Xinjiang scholar, and is backed up by years of witness reports and statements from women both in Xinjiang and around the world.

Xinjiang is culturally and ethnically different from the rest of China, with a large population of Turkic minority groups who until recently were the majority in the region. For years, the region has maintained an uneasy relationship with the government in Beijing.

For decades, Zenz said Uyghurs often had larger families than officially permitted, sometimes with as many as nine or 10 children, and when authorities decided to discipline them it was usually only a fine.

But beginning in 2017, Zenz quotes official Chinese government policy directives calling on administrators to severely attack behaviors that violate family planning (policies). From that year onwards, minority regions began a special campaign to control birth control violations.

According to the report, the stricter enforcement led to increased prosecutions of birth control violators and harsher punishments.

Xinjiang accounted for 80% of new IUD insertions throughout China in 2018, according to official government records outlined in the report and confirmed by CNN. The statistics are primarily due to a massive drop in the use of IUDs in the rest of the country, as Beijing pushes women in the rest of China to have more children.

In Xinjiang, the opposite is happening. There, the number of sterilizations has skyrocketed, according to government records. In 2014, the year before the start of the government crackdown in Xinjiang, there were 3,214 sterilizations in the region in 2018, there were 60,440.

In his report, Zenz claimed that as a result of these policies, the natural birth rate in parts of Xinjiang with a large Uyghur population had seen a significant decrease in population growth.

According to Zenzs calculations, across all parts of Xinjiang predominantly populated by Turkic minorities, natural population growth dropped from more than 15% in 2014 to just over 4% in 2018.

Zenz estimated the birthrates by combining official Chinese government statistics for Xinjiang prefectures and weighting them by population. Worryingly, Zenz said that some predominantly Uyghur prefectures such as Kashgar didnt publish their population growth rates at all in 2019.

The Global Times news outlet has claimed that Zenzs math is wrong, and attributed the slower population growth to increased education and income levels in Xinjiang.

In a response to the report, the Chinese government said that between 1978 and 2018, the Uyghur population in Xinjiang had grown from 5.5 million to more than 11 million.

However, Zenz claims that he has found evidence of a deliberate campaign to control Uyghur population growth that goes far beyond stricter enforcement of the two-child policy.

The report claims that Chinese authorities imposed targets for up to 80% of child-bearing women in four southern prefectures, with large Uyghur populations, to undergo birth control measures with long-term effectiveness.

In some cases, women had IUDs inserted after only their first child, according to Zenzs report.

China is trying to reduce birth rates in Xinjiang because this was a region where birth rates were the higher than the rest of the country. And in a sense it was seen to be out of control. And of course it makes the Uyghurs harder to control. The more people you have, the harder they are to account for, Zenz said.

The report also aligns with witness testimony from Xinjiang detention centers where multiple women have described being given injections and pills which stopped their periods.

Uyghur exile Dawut said she spent about three months in a detention center from March 2018. Inside the center, she said she was forcibly given medication, after which she stopped menstruating.

CNN spoke to an ethnic Uyghur and doctor from Xinjiang, who asked to go only by her first name, Gulgine, for fear of retribution.

Gulgine fled to Turkey in 2012 and set up a clinic in Istanbul in 2013. She said since then she has examined around 300 exiled Uyghur women from Xinjiang, and almost all of them had some form of birth control. About 80 had been sterilized.

Many of the women who had been permanently sterilized told Gulgine that they didnt know they had undergone the procedure until she told them.

Zenz said that his findings were the firmest proof yet of genocide in Xinjiang. It specifically fulfills one of the five criteria of the United Nations convention for the prevention of genocide, which is the suppression of births, he said.

For years, women in Xinjiang have been reporting manipulation and abuse at the hands of the Chinese government.

In 2015, China banned face veils and face coverings for Xinjiang women, saying that they encouraged religious extremism. At the same time, local authorities pushed women to dress in more modern outfits, emphasizing cultural garb over overtly religious clothing. Experts said the campaign was called the Beauty Project.

In state media, the project was described as a means of helping to support Xinjiang designers and the local clothing industry. But experts on the ground said it involved numerous actions to change the way Uyghur women looked.

There were some instances where at checkpoints, on the street, women had long skirts or dresses cut by scissors because they were supposed to only wear pants and shirts, not have anything that would go below their waist, ostensibly because that was Islamic, said Darren Byler, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Colorado who worked in Xinjiang.

When Uyghurs began to be forcibly placed into detention centers in 2016, the vast majority of the inmates were male, according to previous research by Zenz. Large numbers of women were left to care and provide for families on their own.

When she visited the region for the last time in 2018, Elise Anderson, Senior Program Officer for Research and Advocacy at Uyghur Human Rights Project, said local women who recognized her in the street would come up and ask for news or help in hushed tones.

There was an older woman who started whispering to me and told me that her son had been taken away and just cried as she spoke, Anderson said.

Theyre missing important people from their lives and that is inserting grief and heaviness and an emotional burden while theyre still trying to be good enough not to get taken away to a camp themselves.

Some of the worst injustices are alleged to have occurred inside the regions mass detention centers, in the form of humiliation and sexual abuse. Gulbakhar Jalilova, an ethnic Uyghur from neighboring Kazakhstan and former detainee, claims she was on a business trip to Xinjiang in May 2017 when she was suddenly taken away by police and thrown into a detention center. She spent 15 months inside the camp.

Jalilova claimed she was locked inside a prison-like room with about 20 other women, sitting in two rows. She said they were forced to strip naked in the yard every 10 days and squat up and down in front of guards. Some girls were only 14 years old, she said.

Jalilova said one day she was raped by a guard. I told him, Arent you ashamed? Dont you have a mother, a sister, how can you do this to me like that? He hit me with the electroshock prod and said, You dont look like a human, she said.

Chinese state-run media has previously called Jelilova a liar, saying she had never been inside one of the vocational training centers, which are what Beijing claims is the purpose of the Xinjiang camps.

A US State Department report in 2019 said there had been reports of sexual abuse inside the detention centers, as well as by male Chinese government officials sent to stay with families across Xinjiang.

Several female former inmates interviewed by CNN after escaping from Xinjiang have alleged sexual violence inside the detention centers. On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in November 2019, the Uyghur Human Rights Project issued a statement calling it crimes against humanity.

Since the release of Zenzs report in June, the United States government has announced sanctions against prominent Chinese government officials in Xinjiang and the regions Public Security Bureau.

The United States will not stand idly by as the (Chinese Communist Party) carries out human rights abuses targeting Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang, to include forced labor, arbitrary mass detention, and forced population control, and attempts to erase their culture and Muslim faith, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

In June, Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied it was attempting to control the Uyghur population. In a statement, it said the minority group had enjoyed a preferential population policy for years by being allowed to have more children than other citizens.

Speaking to CNNs Fareed Zakaria in July, Chinese ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai denied that there have been any mechanisms such as sterilization or any attempts at forced population control of the Uyghurs.

I dont know how absurd all these fabrications can go, Cui said.

Dawut, who is seeking asylum in the US, believes that the Chinese government wants to completely eliminate the Uyghur people from Xinjiang. Our land is big. Our land is rich. And because we are the owners of that land, they want to eliminate us, she said.

From one side they sterilize our women decreasing our population; from another side they separate families by sending husbands and wives to separate forced labor camps.

Mahmut, from the World Uyghur Congress, said she hasnt spoken to her four sisters in Xinjiang since 2017, not daring call for fear of getting them in trouble with authorities.

But she said that without major change in either the local or national governments, she sees no hope for Xinjiangs women.

It has to be some kind of miracle from God that can that change anything, she said. (Its) the largest prison and the government has total power over every individual.

Go here to read the rest:
Women in Xinjiang shine a light on a campaign of abuse and control by Beijing - KVIA El Paso