First gene-edited babies claimed in China

HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese researcher claims that he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies — twin girls born this month whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life.

If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics.

A U.S. scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this kind of gene editing is banned in the United States because the DNA changes can pass to future generations and it risks harming other genes.

Many mainstream scientists think it’s too unsafe to try, and some denounced the Chinese report as human experimentation.

The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, said he altered embryos for seven couples during fertility treatments, with one pregnancy resulting thus far. He said his goal was not to cure or prevent an inherited disease, but to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have — an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV, the AIDS virus.

He said the parents involved declined to be identified or interviewed, and he would not say where they live or where the work was done.

https://www.apnews.com/4997bb7aa36c45449b488e19ac83e86d

After Giving $15 Million To Soros Orgs, USAID Fires Half Of Its West Bank Staff

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that half of its West Bank and Gaza employees will be let go over the next few weeks, and that operations will completely cease by early 2019, according to Haaretz.

The humanitarian agency has been a longstanding presence in the region for nearly 25 years.

The Trump State Department notified USAID last week that they would need to present a list of 60 percent of its employees to be dismissed immediately - with a full shutdown to ensue shortly thereafter.

The shutdown is thought to be linked to President Trump's funding freeze for various Palestinian relief organizations, as dozens of USAID projects in the West Bank and Gaza were suspended - even those which were partially completed.

Meanwhile, approximately 180 employees operating out of the US Embassy in Israel have yet to receive budgeting for their 2018 and 2019 operations - while leftover funds have been diverted from projects to paying salaries and maintaining the organization. US Ambassador David Friedman has given USAID the cold shoulder over the past few months, according to Haaretz, citing officials involved in the matter, adding that Friedman has not held meetings with USAID officials on various projects.

In March, Fox News reported that USAID gave nearly $15 million to George Soros' Open Society Foundation over Obama's last four years in office alone, which conducts extensive work in the West Bank / Palestine region - however the funding was primarily for Soros operations in Albania and Macedonia.

According to the USAID website, the agency gave over $18 million to an Open Society Institute (OSI) program from 2005 - 2012 operating in the West Bank, which sought to place prospective Palestinian PhD students in United States partner universities with waived or reduced tuition.

These types of programs are coming to an end, however, at least at the US Taxpayer's expense.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-25/after-giving-15-million-soros-orgs-usaid-fires-half-its-west-bank-staff