Month: November 2020

Kenyan health officials say the public has failed to follow health protocols to limit the spread of COVID-19, leading to a jump in daily infections. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta now is reintroducing new measures to curb the virus’s spread, just weeks after lifting some restrictions. Speaking to the country Wednesday following several weeks of rising number of COVID-19 infections, President Uhuru Kenyatta called on Kenyans to adhere to public health protocols meant to limit the spread of the virus.   FILE – A health worker takes the temperature of a person standing in line for mass testing in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, May 26, 2020.“County government and other government agencies [are] to enhance and strictly enforce all public health measures, including hand washing, social distancing and mandatory wearing of masks in public places, and to enhance civic responsibility. The national government and county government have to be resolved going forward services will not be rendered to anyone who does not abide by the Ministry of Health protocols,” he said.   Kenyatta instructed ministers to work virtually, ban public gatherings, move up the nightly curfew to 10 p.m., and extend the curfew until January.    Kenyatta said the gains made in previous months have been wiped out in just under eight weeks. FILE – Medical staff dressed in protective suits talk to each other as they treat coronavirus disease patients at the COVID-19 ICU of Machakos Level 5 Hospital, …

Organizers of next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics will have measures in place to limit the spread of COVID-19. But little is known about how the virus affects the long-term health of those already infected, including athletes. South African researchers are leading an international effort looking for answers, as Marize de Klerk reports from Pretoria. Camera: Franco Puglisi  Produced by: Jon Spier   …

As voters across the United States lined up to cast their ballots in a hotly contested presidential race Tuesday, the nation posted one of its biggest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 infections in a single day.  Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Research Center shows a total of 91,530 total confirmed cases on Election Day, including 1,130 deaths. Additionally, there were more than 50,000 hospitalizations on Tuesday, according to separate data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project, an effort launched by The Atlantic magazine. Votes are counted at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Election Day in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Nov. 3, 2020.More than 20 states have announced more new COVID-19 cases in the past week than in any other seven-day period, with states like Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania — three states that play a major role in the presidential contest — setting single-day records on Tuesday.  The pandemic continues to affect the U.S. sporting world on all levels.  The athletic department at the University of Wisconsin announced Tuesday that its football team, one of the country’s top programs, is cancelling its scheduled game against Purdue University this Saturday due to an ongoing surge of coronavirus cases among the team’s players and coaching staff, including head coach Paul Chryst.  This is the second consecutive cancellation for the Badgers after calling off last Saturday’s contest against Nebraska.   The United States leads the world with more than 9.3 million of the world’s 47.4 million total COVID-19 infections, including 232,627 deaths.  Medical staff members move a patient from …

Hurricane Eta continues on a destructive path over the Central American nations of Nicaragua and Honduras hours after making landfall along the Nicaraguan coast. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Eta is moving inland over northeastern Nicaragua carrying maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers an hour.  Forecasters are warning of life-threatening storm surges, damaging winds and flash floods over portions of Central America.   Hurricane Eta made landfall Tuesday near the eastern Nicaraguan coastal town of Puerto Cabezas, carrying maximum sustained winds of 225 kilometers an hour, making it a Category 4 storm on the five-level scale that measures a storm’s potential destructiveness.  At least three people have been killed as a result of Eta. A 12-year-girl in Honduras was killed when her home was buried in a landslide, while two miners were killed in a mudslide in Nicaragua.A general view shows a flooded street as Hurricane Eta approaches, in Tela.Forecasters predict the storm will produce a storm surge that will raise water levels along the coastline from four to more than six meters – and rainfall throughout Central America of 25 to 51 centimeters, with isolated areas receiving more than 63 centimeters. They say flash flooding and landslides in elevated areas are likely. The storm is expected to move slowly through the region in the coming days. Forecasters are watching the potential for Eta to reemerge over the Gulf of Mexico late in the week, becoming a danger once again to areas farther north, though the Hurricane Center noted there is considerable uncertainty regarding its path. Eta is the …

The United States formally exited the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, fulfilling a years-long promise by President Donald Trump to withdraw the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter from the global pact to fight climate change. But the outcome of the tight U.S. election contest will determine for how long. Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden, has promised to rejoin the agreement if elected.  “The U.S. withdrawal will leave a gap in our regime, and the global efforts to achieve the goals and ambitions of the Paris Agreement,” said Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).   The United States still remains a party to the UNFCCC. Espinosa said the body will be “ready to assist the U.S. in any effort in order to rejoin the Paris Agreement.”   Trump first announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the pact in June 2017, arguing it would undermine the U.S. economy. But he was unable to formally do so until now because of the requirements of the deal. The departure makes the United States the only country of 197 signatories to have withdrawn from the agreement, hashed out in 2015. Obama’s White House had pledged to cut U.S. emissions 26-28% by 2025 from 2005 levels under the deal. Biden is broadly expected to ramp up those goals if elected. He has promised to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 under a sweeping $2 trillion plan to transform the economy. The Rhodium Group said that in 2020, the United States will be at around 21% below 2005 levels. It …

The United States contributes much more to ocean plastic pollution than previously estimated, according to a In this April 23, 2019, aerial photo, plastic bottles and other garbage float in river Drina near Visegrad, eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina.In 2016, the U.S. recycled just 9% of its total plastic waste. About half of this was recycled domestically and half was shipped overseas. The researchers estimate that up to 1 million metric tons of U.S. plastic waste entered the environment from these exports in 2016.“For years, so much of the plastic we have put into the blue bin has been exported for recycling to countries that struggle to manage their own waste, let alone the vast amounts delivered from the United States,” said Kara Lavender Law, research professor of oceanography at Sea Education Association and lead A man scavenges along a river for household plastic waste to be sold for recycling in Jakarta on Sept. 23, 2020.To help tackle ocean plastic pollution, the U.S. Senate passed the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act earlier this year.“The Save Our Seas 2.0 is a key stepping stone in the right direction toward comprehensive solutions that address marine debris. But in its current form, however, it does not address the reduction step that is critically needed … for us to get a handle on this,” said Nick Mallos, senior director of Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas program and a co-author of the study, during a press conference. “Reducing plastic waste is critical to avoiding an unmanageable plastic future globally.”Although …

The U.S. National Football League, after at least three weeks with no new COVID-19 cases, saw three teams with positive cases, this time including two senior management officials. A statement from the Denver Broncos said General Manager John Elway and team Chief Executive Officer Joe Ellis each tested positive for the virus early this week. The team said after their review of contact-tracing data with the league, they “are confident these cases originated independently outside team facilities.” Both executives are reported to have minor symptoms. The Baltimore Ravens and the Green Bay Packers each had a player with a positive test result Monday, though the tests for both players were given before they played in games Sunday. Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey and Packers running back A.J. Dillion each were tested before their respective games Sunday. Through contact tracing, two other Packers players — running back Jamaal Williams and linebacker Kamal Martin — were determined to be high-risk after close contact with Dillion. All three will be quarantined and ineligible to play in the Packers game with the San Francisco 49ers scheduled for Thursday night. That game will be played as scheduled. Humphrey will not play in Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts. NFL reporter Tom Pelissero says the team noted Tuesday that six players were found to have had game-day contact with Humphrey and have been added to the team’s COVID-19 list. They also will not play in Sunday’s scheduled game. The team has not yet released the other players’ names. After …

A key member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force says the nation is entering a “deadly phase” of the nearly year-long COVID-19 pandemic.  News outlets say Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force’s coordinator, issued a memo Monday urging administration officials to undertake “an aggressive balanced approach” between lockdowns and taking steps to control the virus, including urging Americans to wear masks, observe social distancing and launch an aggressive testing program.  FILE – Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator speaks during press briefing with the Coronavirus Task Force, at the White House, March 18, 2020, in Washington.Dr. Birx’s memo contradicts President Trump’s assertions during his re-election campaign speeches that the country is “rounding the corner” of the pandemic, which has claimed more than 230,000 lives and sickened more than 9.2 million citizens, including 84,089 new cases and 557 deaths on Monday, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Pregnant women at greater risk Pregnant women are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than nonpregnant women, according to a new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   The CDC found that expectant women infected with the novel coronavirus are more likely than non-pregnant women to require intensive care and are at increased risk of death.  They are also most likely to need the use of a mechanical ventilator to help them breathe and to be connected to a specialized heart-lung bypass machine.   The CDC study also discovered that minority pregnant women were at greater risk of being …

Nicaragua is bracing for the imminent arrival of Hurricane Eta. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the potentially catastrophic hurricane could make landfall early Tuesday, with winds in excess of 248 kilometers per hour.  Thousands of people on Monday began evacuating Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast, where a hurricane warning is posted from the Honduras-Nicaragua border to Sandy Bay Sirpi.  The hurricane is located 75 kilometers east of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.  Forecasters warn of flooding and landslides, especially in central and northern Nicaragua and most of Honduras.  Eastern Guatemala, southern Belize and Jamaica are also expected to get heavy rain. Eta is already impacting life in Honduras. Cancellations are said to be coming in ahead of a five-day national vacation aimed at bolstering tourism and bringing some financial help to the pandemic weary economy.  Eta is the eighth Atlantic storm of the hurricane season, which ends November 30.  …

A key member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force says the nation is entering a “deadly phase” of the nearly year-long COVID-19 pandemic.  News outlets say Dr. Deborah Birx, the task force’s coordinator, issued a memo Monday urging administration officials to undertake “an aggressive balanced approach” between lockdowns and taking steps to control the virus, including urging Americans to wear masks, observe social distancing and launch an aggressive testing program.  FILE – Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator speaks during press briefing with the Coronavirus Task Force, at the White House, March 18, 2020, in Washington.Dr. Birx’s memo contradicts President Trump’s assertions during his re-election campaign speeches that the country is “rounding the corner” of the pandemic, which has claimed more than 230,000 lives and sickened more than 9.2 million citizens, including 84,089 new cases and 557 deaths on Monday, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Pregnant women at greater risk Pregnant women are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than nonpregnant women, according to a new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   The CDC found that expectant women infected with the novel coronavirus are more likely than non-pregnant women to require intensive care and are at increased risk of death.  They are also most likely to need the use of a mechanical ventilator to help them breathe and to be connected to a specialized heart-lung bypass machine.   The CDC study also discovered that minority pregnant women were at greater risk of being …

Nicaragua is bracing for the imminent arrival of Hurricane Eta. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the potentially catastrophic hurricane could make landfall early Tuesday, with winds in excess of 248 kilometers per hour.  Thousands of people on Monday began evacuating Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast, where a hurricane warning is posted from the Honduras-Nicaragua border to Sandy Bay Sirpi.  The hurricane is located 75 kilometers east of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.  Forecasters warn of flooding and landslides, especially in central and northern Nicaragua and most of Honduras.  Eastern Guatemala, southern Belize and Jamaica are also expected to get heavy rain. Eta is already impacting life in Honduras. Cancellations are said to be coming in ahead of a five-day national vacation aimed at bolstering tourism and bringing some financial help to the pandemic weary economy.  Eta is the eighth Atlantic storm of the hurricane season, which ends November 30.  …

The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 1.2 million people as many countries around the world contend with rising infection rates from the virus.  The fatalities are among the 46.8 million total cases compiled in the ongoing pandemic collected by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center and comes as the European continent reaches its own grim threshold of more than 10 million confirmed coronavirus cases.  Europe is in the grip of a second wave of the virus, with a number of nations, including Belgium, Britain, France and Germany, imposing a new set of lockdowns in an effort to contain the surge.  In Spain, the number of coronavirus infections rose by 55,019 on Monday, the biggest increase since the start of the pandemic, according to health ministry data. FILE – Guardia Civil officers stop vehicles at a checkpoint in Somosierra, Spain, Oct. 30, 2020.Greece said it would shut restaurants and bars in the most populous areas of the country, including capital Athens, for one month, beginning Tuesday, to try to stem a rising number of coronavirus cases.  Italy announced a tightening of restrictions Monday, including a nighttime curfew and limited regional travel, but stopped short of reintroducing a nationwide lockdown.  “The evolution of the epidemic in the last few days is very worrying,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.  Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said on Monday he was considering declaring a state of emergency to counteract the spread of the coronavirus, while the Hungarian government said it …

Britain is set to go into lockdown for a second time Thursday amid a surge in coronavirus infections, with over 20,000 new cases reported daily.  It’s the latest European country to impose strict measures, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell    Producer: Luis da Costa …

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is defending plans to impose a nationwide lockdown beginning Thursday, warning that a failure to act could cause up to twice as many deaths this winter as during the first wave in the spring. The country is recording several hundred COVID-19 deaths and at least 20,000 new coronavirus infections every day. Government scientists say infection rates are exceeding worst-case scenarios modeled just weeks ago.  Johnson offered a stark warning to British lawmakers in Parliament Monday. “To those in this House who believe we should resist further national measures, let me spell out the medical and moral disaster we face,” Johnson told members of Parliament. “If we allow our health system to be overwhelmed, exactly as the data now suggests, then that would not only be a disaster for thousands of COVID patients, because their survival rates would fall, we would also reach a point where the NHS was no longer there for everyone. The sick would be turned away because there was no room in our hospitals — that sacred principle of care for anyone who needs it, whoever they are and wherever, whenever they need it, could be broken for the first time in our lives.” Johnson said Britain’s lockdown would end as soon as the data allowed. FILE – Pedestrians walk near public health signs in London, September 11, 2020.“Let me stress that these restrictions are time-limited. After four weeks on Wednesday, the 2nd of December, they will expire, and we intend to return to a tiered …

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Monday she would not rule out shutting down all or part of the country to address a recent surge in new COVID-19 cases. At a news conference in Edinburgh, Sturgeon reminded reporters that when she laid out the nation’s five-tiered (0-4) alert system last week, she said she would not rule out a move to level four — a shutdown of all bars and restaurants and a ban on indoor socializing, among other restrictions — for all or parts of Scotland. According to the government’s website, no area of Scotland is currently at an alert level higher that three, which still allows for hospitality businesses to be open, though on a limited basis.   Sturgeon stressed the need for everyone to follow the restrictions that apply to their area so they can drive down the spread of the virus. She said the government is very concerned about the rise in hospital and intensive care admissions around the country, and an increase in those numbers could prompt new restrictions. Sturgeon expressed some frustration about the uncertainty regarding financial assistance Scotland would receive from Britain should the country be forced to impose tougher measures outside the period where government support was available. A government program that has paid the wages of millions of furloughed employees during the pandemic was due to end Saturday but will be extended during the new British lockdown which is set to end on December 2. Sturgeon urged people to continue to comply with current …

More than 3.6 million Slovaks — around two thirds of the population — took part in a widely-watched nationwide coronavirus testing scheme over the weekend, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on Monday.   The scheme to test the bulk of the country in a matter of days is being studied by other nations looking for ways to slow the virus and avoid overwhelming their health systems.   A total of 38,359 people or 1.06% of those who took part tested positive and must quarantine, Matovic told a news conference.   “I deeply believe that this solution will work in Slovakia on the condition that those who received certification that they are negative will continue to act responsibly and those who got a positive result will remain in quarantine with their families,” he added.   The premier has been pushing the voluntary program as a decisive way to halt the spread of the virus – though he met opposition from the president and others who balked at movement restrictions imposed on people who do not take part.   More than 40,000 medics, troops, administrative personnel and volunteers fanned across 5,000 testing sites over the weekend.   The scheme used antigen swab tests, which return results in 15-30 minutes but are less accurate than standard PCR tests. Young children were exempt. People who chose not to take part must now also go into a lockdown, according to the rules.   Compared with other parts of Europe, Slovakia recorded relatively few cases after the pandemic …

The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 1.2 million people, according to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.  The fatalities are among the 46.5 million total cases compiled in the nearly year-long pandemic, and comes as the European continent reaches its own grim threshold of more than 10 million confirmed coronavirus cases.   Europe is in the grips of a second wave of the virus, with a number of nations, including Belgium, Britain, France and Germany, imposing a new set of lockdowns in an effort to contain the surge.   Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director of the World Health Organization, announced Sunday that he is in self-quarantine after he was identified as a contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.  Dr. Tedros said in a tweet that he is well “and without symptoms” but will sequester himself “in line with @WHO protocols, and work from home.”  I have been identified as a contact of someone who has tested positive for #COVID19. I am well and without symptoms but will self-quarantine over the coming days, in line with @WHO protocols, and work from home.— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 1, 2020 “It is critically important that we all comply with health guidance,” Dr. Tedros wrote.  “This is how we will break chains of #COVID19 transmission, suppress the virus, and protect health systems.” It is critically important that we all comply with health guidance. This is how we will break chains of #COVID19 transmission, suppress the virus, …

The death toll from a super typhoon that struck the main Philippine island of Luzon Sunday has risen to 16. Typhoon Goni made landfall on Luzon carrying maximum sustained winds of 225 kilometers per hour, making it the strongest typhoon to hit the Pacific archipelago this year. Goni’s arrival comes a week after Typhoon Molave hit the same region, killing 22 people. Richard Gordon, the chief of the Philippine Red Cross, says up to 90% of homes across Catanduanes Island, which was in the path of Typhoon Goni on its way to Luzon were damaged or destroyed.  Goni caused power outages, infrastructure damage and major floods.  Video footage from local and social media showed rivers overflowing and some dikes destroyed, submerging villages and damaging farmland. Officials also say a landfall of volcanic ash destroyed hundreds of homes located near the active Mayon volcano in the province of Albay. Nearly 350,000 people were in evacuation centers, the Philippine Disaster Management Agency said Sunday, lowering the figure of nearly a million reported Saturday. Reuters news agency says President Rodrigo Duterte will make an aerial inspection of the typhoon damage on Monday. Goni weakened as it made its way past Manila on a path to the South China Sea. But forecasters are warning that another Pacific storm, dubbed Atsani, is on a path towards the Philippines.  …

Britain Sunday became the ninth country with more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases. According to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, as of early Sunday, Britain had 1,014,794 infections and 46,645 deaths. After resisting mounting calls for weeks to impose a national lockdown as COVID-19 cases were rising, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Saturday joined his counterparts in France, Germany and Belgium in ordering a nationwide shutdown. New national lockdown restrictions will go into effect across England Thursday and last for a month. Wales announced a lockdown last week, and Scottish leaders say the next few days will be critical for Scotland to avoid a lockdown.   However, schools and universities as well as courts are to stay open. The construction industry will also be allowed to operate. There will, however, be no household mixing, and nonessential stores as well as pubs and restaurants are to close. Employers will be asked to encourage their employees to work from home where possible.  Meanwhile, the United States remains the country with the highest number of infections and deaths. As of Sunday morning, the U.S. had 9,127,100 cases of the coronavirus, an increase of nearly 80,000 in 24 hours, and at least 230,566 deaths, with over 850 dead in the last 24 hours. according to Johns Hopkins. The U.S. is followed by India, Brazil, Russia, France, Spain, Argentina, Colombia and the most recent one, Britain, with 1 million or more cases of the coronavirus each. The rising tide of new coronavirus cases worldwide is forcing leaders …

Iran’s daily tally of coronavirus deaths hit a record high of 434 on Sunday, the Health Ministry announced, and the head of a top medical body said the actual toll was at least three times higher than the official count.  The deaths, announced by Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari on state TV, take the official toll to 35,298 in the Middle East’s worst-hit country. She said the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 7,719 to 620,491. The head of Iran’s Medical Council, Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, doubted the accuracy of the official toll and warned that Iran had reached a “catastrophic mortality rate”, the Students News Agency ISNA reported on Sunday. “The official death toll is only based on the number of registered patients,” Zafarghandi told ISNA. “Through field surveys in hospitals and cemeteries, our Council has obtained a figure at least three times higher than the official death toll.” The medical council is a non-governmental organisation that is responsible for licensing doctors in Iran. “Thousands of our health workers were infected with the virus and according to our statistics, 300 of them had died,” Zafarghandi said. A report by the Iranian parliament’s research centre in April suggested that the coronavirus toll might be almost twice as high as announced by the Health Ministry. To stem a third wave of the virus in Iran, the government has shut schools, mosques, shops and restaurants in most of the country. President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday new restrictions will take effect on Wednesday in 25 of Iran’s 31 …

Britain Sunday became the ninth country with more than 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases. According to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, as of early Sunday, Britain had 1,014,794 infections and 46,645 deaths. After resisting mounting calls for weeks to impose a national lockdown as COVID-19 cases were rising, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Saturday joined his counterparts in France, Germany and Belgium in ordering a nationwide shutdown. New national lockdown restrictions will go into effect across England Thursday and last for a month. Wales announced a lockdown last week, and Scottish leaders say the next few days will be critical for Scotland to avoid a lockdown.   However, schools and universities as well as courts are to stay open. The construction industry will also be allowed to operate. There will, however, be no household mixing, and nonessential stores as well as pubs and restaurants are to close. Employers will be asked to encourage their employees to work from home where possible.  Meanwhile, the United States remains the country with the highest number of infections and deaths. As of Sunday morning, the U.S. had 9,127,100 cases of the coronavirus, an increase of nearly 80,000 in 24 hours, and at least 230,566 deaths, with over 850 dead in the last 24 hours. according to Johns Hopkins. The U.S. is followed by India, Brazil, Russia, France, Spain, Argentina, Colombia and the most recent one, Britain, with 1 million or more cases of the coronavirus each. The rising tide of new coronavirus cases worldwide is forcing leaders …

FILE – Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalyov (Top), Yuri Gidzenko and U.S. astronaut Bill Shepherd (C) wave hands before the launch at Baikonur.Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL who served as the station commander, likened it to living on a ship at sea. The three spent most of their time coaxing equipment to work; balky systems made the place too warm. Conditions were primitive, compared with now.   Installations and repairs took hours at the new space station, versus minutes on the ground, Krikalev recalled.   “Each day seemed to have its own set of challenges,” Shepherd said during a recent NASA panel discussion with his crewmates.   The space station has since morphed into a complex that’s almost as long as a football field, with eight miles (13 kilometers) of electrical wiring, an acre of solar panels and three high-tech labs.   “It’s 500 tons of stuff zooming around in space, most of which never touched each other until it got up there and bolted up,” Shepherd told The Associated Press. “And it’s all run for 20 years with almost no big problems.”   “It’s a real testament to what can be done in these kinds of programs,” he said.   Shepherd, 71, is long retired from NASA and lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Krikalev, 62, and Gidzenko, 58, have risen in the Russian space ranks. Both were involved in the mid-October launch of the 64th crew.   The first thing the three did upon arriving at the darkened space station on Nov. 2, 2000, was turn on the lights, which Krikalev recalled as “very memorable.” …