Israel closed all its Mediterranean beaches until further notice Sunday, days after an offshore oil spill deposited tons of tar across more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) of coastline in what officials are calling one of the country’s worst ecological disasters.Activists began reporting globs of black tar on Israel’s coast last week after a heavy … continue reading -> “Israel Shuts Mediterranean Shore After Oil Devastates Coast”
Israel has reopened many schools, malls and gyms that were closed for several weeks. Some venues, however, are open only to those with a “green passport,” a document showing they have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine. The opening comes amid reports that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine works better than expected. Malls reopened after almost two … continue reading -> “Israeli Economy Reopening Following Coronavirus Shutdown “
Major winter storms, extreme cold and power outages shut down more than 2,000 vaccination sites and delayed delivery of 6 million vaccine doses in all 50 states last week, White House senior adviser Andy Slavitt said in a briefing with reporters Friday.Extreme weather has spread across large swaths of the United States since Feb. 14. … continue reading -> “Weather Disrupts US COVID Vaccine Delivery”
It took just three months for the rumor that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was engineered as a bioweapon to spread from the fringes of the Chinese internet and take root in millions of people’s minds.By March 2020, belief that the virus had been human-made and possibly weaponized was widespread, multiple surveys indicated. The Pew … continue reading -> “COVID Conspiracy Disinformation Campaign Has Had Vast Reach, Study Finds”
Argentina’s health minister has resigned after he reportedly gave preferential treatment to those with personal connections when authorizing coronavirus vaccinations.The Associated Press reported that President Alberto Fernández, through his chief of staff, asked for Minister of Health Ginés González García’s resignation Friday after a high-profile local journalist said he had been vaccinated after personally asking … continue reading -> “Argentine Health Minister Resigns Amid COVID Vaccine Scandal”
The World Health Organization says it welcomes the recent pledges of coronavirus vaccines from several Western countries to the international health group that will help ensure an equitable allocation of vaccines to countries around the world.“There is a growing movement behind vaccine equity, and I welcome that world leaders are stepping up to the challenge … continue reading -> “WHO: ‘Growing Movement Behind Vaccine Equity’”
Alphabet Inc.’s Google fired staff scientist Margaret Mitchell on Friday, they both said, a move that fanned company divisions on academic freedom and diversity that were on display since its December dismissal of AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru.Google said in a statement that Mitchell violated the company’s code of conduct and security policies by moving … continue reading -> “Google Fires 2nd AI Ethics Leader as Dispute Over Research, Diversity Grows”
The coronavirus death toll on the African continent surpassed 100,000 on Friday, as African countries struggled to obtain vaccines to counteract the pandemic.South Africa alone accounts for nearly half of the confirmed deaths in Africa with 48,859, according to data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The country, which is facing its own variant … continue reading -> “Africa’s Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 100,000”
The United States has officially rejoined the Paris Agreement after the Trump administration abandoned the global climate pact saying it was too costly for business. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.Produced by: Kimberlyn Weeks …
Jolted by a sweeping hack that may have revealed government and corporate secrets to Russia, U.S. officials are scrambling to reinforce the nation’s cyber defenses and recognizing that an agency created two years ago to protect America’s networks and infrastructure lacks the money, tools and authority to counter such sophisticated threats.The breach, which hijacked widely … continue reading -> “Suspected Russian Hack Fuels New US Action on Cybersecurity “
President Joe Biden toured a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing plant Friday afternoon outside Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he touted the safety of the vaccine.”If there’s one message to cut through to everyone in this country, it’s this: The vaccines are safe,” he said, according to NBC News. “Please, for yourself, your family, your community, this country, … continue reading -> “Biden Tours Pfizer Vaccine Production Center”
U.S. President Joe Biden pledged $4 billion to the World Health Organization’s COVAX plan designed to help provide COVID-19 vaccines for 92 low- and middle-income economies around the world. During Friday’s virtual G-7 and the Munich Security Conference, Biden championed U.S. involvement in international alliances. VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara has more. …
For a brief time before Beijing banned the audio chat app Clubhouse, tech-savvy Chinese joined global discussions on taboo topics — Beijing’s placement of Uighurs in concentration camps in Xinjiang, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests — absorbing perspectives and information far outside the lines drawn by the Communist Party.Unlike Twitter … continue reading -> “China Blocked Clubhouse App Fearing Uncontrolled Public Discourse”
An international backlash was growing Thursday to Facebook blocking users of its platform in Australia from viewing or sharing links to domestic and international news stories, with the social media giant accused of behaving like a “bully.” Facebook’s move to block the content ahead of Australian lawmakers approving a new measure forcing the company to … continue reading -> “Facebook Dubbed ‘Bully’ as Backlash Grows over Dispute with Australia”
When NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance, a robotic astrobiology lab packed inside a space capsule, hits the final stretch of its seven-month journey from Earth this week, it is set to emit a radio alert as it streaks into the thin Martian atmosphere. By the time that signal reaches mission managers some 204 million kilometers away at … continue reading -> “NASA Rover Faces ‘7 Minutes of Terror’ Before Landing on Mars “
The World Health Organization says debilitating post-COVID-19 symptoms in patients will have an impact on global health because of the magnitude of the pandemic. The World Health Organization is conducting research into why many people who are infected with COVID-19 continue to suffer from various disabling conditions for up to six months after they … continue reading -> “Post-COVID Symptoms Will Have Profound Impact on Global Health “
There are 108.5 million global COVID-19 infections, Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday. The U.S. has the most cases at 27.5 million, followed by India with 10.9 million and Brazil with 9.8 million.The Telegraph newspaper reports British scientists are developing a universal vaccine that would combat all the variants of the coronavirus and … continue reading -> “Report: British Scientists Developing Universal COVID Vaccine”
Azhoni Marina had witnessed the havoc wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic up close as she nursed patients in a COVID ward for seven months at New Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. As she waited after her night shift to get her first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, however, she was apprehensive.“I heard from so many people … continue reading -> “Doctors, Selfie Points Help Fight Vaccine Hesitancy in New Delhi”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had administered more than 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Saturday morning and delivered about 69.9 million doses.The tally of vaccine doses is for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET Saturday, the agency said.According to the … continue reading -> “More Than 50 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccines Administered in US, CDC says”
Four people have died of Ebola in Guinea in the first resurgence of the disease in five years, the country’s health minister said Saturday.Remy Lamah told AFP that officials were “really concerned” about the deaths, the first since a 2013-16 epidemic — which began in Guinea — left 11,300 dead across the region.One of the … continue reading -> “Guinea Sees First Ebola Deaths Since 2016 “
New research has shown that Australia is the “last stronghold on Earth” for four out of five threatened species of sawfish. With their serrated snouts, these predatory fish are one of the ocean’s most unusual and endangered animals.They have a snout, or rostrum, that looks like a hedge-trimmer or a chainsaw. Small electromagnetic sensors help … continue reading -> “Australia Leading Race to Save Endangered ‘Hedge-Trimmer’ Fish”
The top public health agency in the U.S. said Friday that in-person schooling could resume safely with masks, social distancing and other strategies but that vaccination of teachers, while important, was not a prerequisite for reopening.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its long-awaited road map for getting students back to classrooms in the … continue reading -> “CDC: Evidence Is Strong That Schools Can Reopen Doors Safely”
In Malawi, health care workers have come under attack several times recently while trying to bury victims of COVID-19 without spreading the coronavirus.Health care workers now want a review of guidelines that say they should handle the burials.The incident happened Tuesday in Mchinji district in central Malawi where villagers threw stones at an ambulance carrying … continue reading -> “Malawi Health Workers Face Harassment over COVID-19 Deaths”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is calling on the world community to make sure Africa gets a fair share of COVID-19 vaccines. Ahead of a visit to the Central African Republic, one year after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported there, ICRC President Peter Maurer said in a … continue reading -> “ICRC Calls for Africa to Get Fair Share of COVID-19 vaccines”
The Australian Open in Melbourne is underway, but without any spectators. Instead of enjoying the tournament, tennis fans and the millions of people who live in Victoria state are under a five-day snap shutdown, following a coronavirus outbreak at a quarantine hotel in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital. Tennis players have been classified as essential workers. Germany is banning travel from its Czech border regions and Austria’s Tyrol because of an alarming COVID surge in the two … continue reading -> “Australian Open Begins Under COVID Lockdown”