Month: February 2021

Spacewalking astronauts ventured out Sunday to install support frames for new, high-efficiency solar panels arriving at the International Space Station later this year.NASA’s Kate Rubins and Victor Glover put the first set of mounting brackets and struts together, then bolted them into place next to the station’s oldest and most degraded solar wings. But the work took longer than expected, and they barely got started on the second set before calling it quits.Rubins will finish the job during a second spacewalk later this week.The spacewalkers had to lug out hundreds of pounds of mounting brackets and struts in 2.5-meter (8-foot) duffel-style bags. The equipment was so big and awkward that it had to be taken apart like furniture, just to get through the hatch.Some of the attachment locations required extra turns of the power drill and still weren’t snug enough, as indicated by black lines. The astronauts had to use a ratchet wrench to deal with the more stubborn bolts, which slowed them down. At one point, they were two hours behind.”Whoever painted this black line painted outside the lines a little bit,” Glover said at one particularly troublesome spot.”We’ll work on our kindergarten skills over here,” Mission Control replied, urging him to move on.With more people and experiments flying on the space station, more power will be needed to keep everything running, according to NASA. The six new solar panels — to be delivered in pairs by SpaceX over the coming year or so — should boost the station’s …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration formally authorized the use of the Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine Saturday, clearing the way for shots to go into arms as early as Monday.The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is 85% effective against serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to data from a study that spanned three continents. The shot kept its protection even in the countries where the South African variant is spreading.The one-and-done inoculation has been eagerly awaited by health officials who want to speed vaccinations in a race against the coronavirus and its worrisome mutations. As of Saturday evening, more than 28.5 million Americans have had COVID-19 and nearly 512,000 have died from the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Biden: Don’t let upPresident Joe Biden praised the “exciting news for all Americans” in a statement Saturday evening but urged Americans not to let their “guard down now.”“I want to be clear: This fight is far from over,” he said. “I urge all Americans — keep washing your hands, stay socially distanced and keep wearing masks. As I have said many times, things are still likely to get worse again as new variants spread, and the current improvement could reverse.”An FDA advisory panel unanimously endorsed the vaccine Friday, paving the way for the agency’s authorization.Edmond Lomas III receives his COVID-19 vaccination at Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit, Feb. 27, 2021.The one-dose vaccine is the third coronavirus inoculation approved by the FDA, after …

The U.S. moved a step closer Friday to having another vaccine in its coronavirus arsenal, after an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously endorsed Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID vaccine.Formal authorization for the vaccine could come in the next few days. The one-dose vaccine would become the third coronavirus inoculation approved by the FDA after the two-dose vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.Members of the Congressional Black Caucus went on television Friday to encourage African Americans to receive the COVID-19 inoculations.“We’re looking at historic fear of vaccines and a fear of the health care industry,” said Rep. Barbara Lawrence, a Democrat from Michigan.Black and Latino communities are being inoculated at lower rates in the U.S. than their white counterparts, public health officials say.Meanwhile, Britain’s Trades Union Congress says in a study that the pandemic has provided a “mirror to the structural racism” in Britain, with the unemployment rate for communities of color double that of their white contemporaries during the pandemic.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reports early Saturday more than 113 million global COVID infections with more than 2.5 million deaths.The U.S. continues to lead the world in the number of coronavirus infections with more than 28 million cases, followed by India with over 11 million infections and Brazil with more than 10 million.Former British prime minister Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change has issued a report titled The New Necessary: How We Future-Proof for the Next Pandemic that calls for international cooperation in the future to …

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Friday her government is supporting a new project using drones designed to monitor and protect the Maui dolphin, one of the world’s rarest marine mammals.  Maui dolphins are found only in a small stretch of ocean off the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, and current estimates suggest there are only 63 adult members of the species left.  The new Māui Drone Project is a one-year collaboration between the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), nonprofit wildlife technology organization MAUI63 and the World Wildlife Fund-New Zealand.  The project is designed to use the small, unmanned vehicles to find and track Maui dolphins, fly over them without disturbing them, and collect data on their habitat, population size and other behaviors.  Ardern told reporters the drones will allow government agencies and others to focus conservation efforts where they are needed most to protect the animals.”We have drawn basically geographical areas where we have restricted certain types of fishing, but this will help us understand where they are, their movements, where the extra protections are required,” she said. Maui dolphins are the smallest of the world’s dolphin species, measuring less than two meters long, and weighing up to 50 kilograms. Unlike other dolphins, they have distinctive round dorsal fins, and short snouts. They breed slowly, adding only one individual dolphin per year, and have relatively short lifespans, facts which may have contributed to their decline.    …

U.S. health advisers endorsed a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson on Friday, putting the nation on the cusp of adding an easier-to-use option to fight the pandemic. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to quickly follow the recommendation and make Johnson & Johnson’s shot the third vaccine authorized for emergency use in the U.S. Vaccinations are picking up speed, but new supplies are urgently needed to stay ahead of a mutating virus that has killed more than 500,000 Americans. After daylong discussions, the FDA panelists voted unanimously that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks for adults. If the FDA agrees, shipments of a few million doses could begin as early as Monday. More than 47 million people in the U.S., or 14% of the population, have each received at least one shot of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which FDA authorized in December. But the pace of vaccinations has been strained by limited supplies and delays because of winter storms.While early Johnson & Johnson supplies will be small, the company has said it can deliver 20 million doses by the end of March and a total of 100 million by the end of June. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine protects against the worst effects of COVID-19 after one shot, and it can be stored up to three months at refrigerator temperatures, making it easier to handle than the previous vaccines, which must be frozen. EffectivenessOne challenge in rolling out the new vaccine will be explaining how protective the Johnson …

Three new British studies show the Pfzier-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which is considered a two-dose vaccine, reduced transmission of the virus after one dose, particularly in people who had previously tested positive. One study conducted by Britain’s University of Cambridge Hospital and published Friday suggests a single dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine can reduce by four times the number of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections. According to researchers, that indicates the vaccine could significantly reduce the risk of transmission of the virus from people who are asymptomatic, as well as protecting others from getting ill. Lead researcher on the study, Cambridge University Hospital Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Mike Weekes, said, “This is great news – the Pfizer vaccine not only provides protection against becoming ill from SARS-CoV-2 but also helps prevent infection, reducing the potential for the virus to be passed on to others.” The study has not been peer reviewed but researchers say they published ahead of that review because of the urgent need to share information relating to the pandemic. Two other studies, published late Thursday in the British medical journal The Lancet, indicate a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is enough to protect people who have had COVID-19 from getting it again.   The studies were conducted by the University College London and Public Health England, and the Imperial College of London. In other news regarding the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug administration late Thursday said the vaccine can be kept at conventional freezer temperatures for …

International crime fighting agencies say organized crime groups have all the networks and methods needed to smuggle falsified, substandard and stolen COVID-19 vaccines across Africa.     Interpol crime intelligence analyst John-Patrick Broome said, as is the case in the rest of the continent, criminal gangs in East Africa import fake medicines from Asia, mostly China and India. The fake drugs often lack any active ingredients and many actually have harmful substances, he said.     “Illicit medications are primarily entering the market in eastern Africa through … avoidance of regulations, there’s violence-based criminality and there’s corruption as well, and corruption which is at a number of different levels,” Broome said.     China and India are expected to produce much of Africa’s vaccine supply.  That’s already a “big red flag,” says Nigerian journalist Ruona Meyer, whose work has exposed government officials and pharmaceutical company executives working with criminals to distribute falsified medicines in West Africa. Both countries are known as sources for faked pharmaceuticals.  Meyer says there won’t be enough vaccines, and as infection rates and deaths spike in some countries, criminals will introduce fakes into supply chains.  FILE – A chemist displays hydroxychloroquine tablets in New Delhi, India, April 9, 2020.She points out they did that easily with chloroquine, when demand for the anti-malarial drug skyrocketed last year after it was touted as a coronavirus treatment.     “So, you had people who started producing fakes. You had people who started breaking down these routes. You had cases …

The World Health Organization on Friday said there is low risk of human-to-human spread of the H5N8 strain of bird flu, after a case of the virus being transmitted to people was recorded Feb. 20 in Russia.     The WHO statement comes after seven workers were infected at a poultry plant in Astrakhan, near the Volga river. According to Russian state media, the workers became mildly unwell with sore throats.     “All seven people… are now feeling well,” said the Anna Popova, head of Russia’s consumer health watchdog.   She added that adequate measures were taken quickly to stop the spread of the virus and that there were no signs of transmission between humans.   “All close contacts of these cases were clinically monitored, and no one showed signs of clinical illness,” said Popova.     According to WHO, outbreaks of the same strain were reported last year in poultry or wild birds in Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Russia.     Avian flus typically only affect birds and there are multiple strains of bird flu.     A separate strain, H1N1, spread worldwide among humans in 2009 and 2010, leading to the WHO declaring it an influenza pandemic. The outbreak was mild among humans but deadly among poultry.     Most cases of human infection come from contact with infected poultry or surfaces contaminated with infected bird saliva, nasal secretions, or feces.  …

A former British prime minister has prepared a blueprint for world leaders to use to manage the next pandemic.     Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change has issued a report titled The New Necessary: How We Future-Proof for the Next Pandemic that calls for international cooperation in the future to identify and test for any new outbreak.  The report also called on countries to work together to produce vaccines.       Blair told The Guardian, “Had there been global coordination a year ago, I think we could have shaved at least three months off this virus,” in a reference to the outbreak of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.     Blair also called on Britain to take a leadership role in establishing an international health security infrastructure to ensure global cooperation for any future pandemics.     South Korea began its coronavirus vaccine campaign Friday, focusing its initial inoculation efforts on nursing home residents and staff.     U.S. President Joe Biden hosted an event at the White House Thursday honoring the 50 millionth coronavirus vaccination administered in the country.   “Fifty million shots in just 37 days since I’ve become president,” Biden told reporters at the event, noting that despite extreme weather conditions, the United States is on track to surpass his promise to vaccinate 100 million people in his first 100 days in office.  Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 8 MB480p …

Violet light bathed the club stage as 300 people, masked and socially distanced, erupted in gentle applause. For the first time since the pandemic began, Israeli musician Aviv Geffen stepped to his electric piano and began to play for an audience seated right in front of him.“A miracle is happening here tonight,” Geffen told the crowd.Still, the reanimating experience Monday night above a shopping mall north of Tel Aviv night was not accessible to everyone. Only people displaying a “green passport” that proved they had been vaccinated or had recovered from COVID-19 could get in.The highly controlled concert offered a glimpse of a future that many are longing for after months of COVID-19 restrictions. Governments say getting vaccinated and having proper documentation will smooth the way to travel, entertainment and other social gatherings in a post-pandemic world.But it also raises the prospect of further dividing the world along the lines of wealth and vaccine access, creating ethical and logistical issues that have alarmed decision-makers around the world.’Left behind’Other governments are watching Israel churn through the world’s fastest vaccination program and grapple with the ethics of using the shots as diplomatic currency and power.Inside Israel, green passports or badges obtained through an app are the coin of the realm. The country recently reached agreements with Greece and Cyprus to recognize each other’s green badges, and more such tourism-boosting accords are expected.Anyone unwilling or unable to get the jabs that confer immunity will be “left behind,” said Health Minister Yuli Edelstein.“It’s really …

US President Joe Biden commemorated on Thursday the 50 millionth shot of the COVID-19 vaccine since his swearing-in, just days after the nation passed 500,000 coronavirus deaths. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story.Producer: Barry Unger …

As countries kick off vaccination campaigns in Africa amid mistrust over COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, health ministers are among the first ones to take the shots. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports on Senegal and Zimbabwe, two countries that began inoculating their populations using Sinopharm — the Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine. …

U.S. President Joe Biden hosted an event at the White House Thursday honoring the 50 millionth coronavirus vaccination administered in the country.Four people — an elementary school counselor, a grocery store employee and two firefighter EMTs — were vaccinated against the virus at the White House Thursday afternoon to commemorate the milestone..@POTUS watching vaccination to commemorate 50 million #COVID19 shots under his watch. pic.twitter.com/CizKLRlXYv— Patsy Widakuswara (@pwidakuswara) February 25, 2021 “Fifty-million shots in just 37 days since I’ve become president,” Biden told reporters at the event, noting that despite extreme weather conditions, the United States is on track to surpass his promise to vaccinate 100 million people in his first 100 days in office.Almost half of Americans over the age of 65 have received at least one of two shots of the vaccine, according to the White House.50 million shots in the past 37 days — no other country has done it.There are about 55m Americans who are over 65:– Six weeks ago, only 8% had gotten a shot– Today, almost 50% have gotten at least one shotLong way to go, but what a change these past weeks!— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) February 25, 2021But U.S. officials have warned that there is still a long road ahead. Biden urged Americans to continue wearing masks and said Thursday he cannot provide a date for when things will return to “normal.”The president’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also cautioned, “We are still at …

At a dog training center in Myakka City, Florida, Heather Junqueira, founder of BioScent, brings a four-year-old beagle, Noel, into a room with stainless-steel canisters, several containing samples of COVID-19.   Noel springs into action as she tries to find the ones with a smell that she knows will earn her praise and dog treats. It only takes Noel only a few seconds to figure out which ones contain gauze pads wiped with sweat or surgical masks worn by people infected with COVID.  Heather Junqueira, founder of BioScent in Myakka City, Florida, gives a reward treat to Noel, a beagle, after she successfully detects a sample of COVID-19 in a canister. (Courtesy of BioScent)BioScent, which trains medical detection dogs, was focusing on research with canines sniffing out certain cancers. But Junqueira switched gears last April after the coronavirus pandemic hit. “I realized the importance of this research,” she told VOA, “and how we might save a lot of lives.” Junqueira discovered it is easier for her dogs to detect COVID-19 than cancer.  “The virus must have a much stronger odor, which is really the body’s response to the virus,” she said, which humans cannot smell.  Dogs have up to 300 million scent receptors as compared to about 6 million in humans. Hounds, including beagles like Noel, have famously sensitive snouts. The results of her study have been “incredibly successful,” Junqueira said, with the dogs recognizing the COVID samples about 95 percent of the time.  This is in line with the high success rates …

The huge parachute used by NASA’s Perseverance rover to land on Mars contained a secret message, thanks to a puzzle lover on the spacecraft team.   Systems engineer Ian Clark used a binary code to spell out “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange and white strips of the 70-foot (21-meter) parachute. He also included the GPS coordinates for the mission’s headquarters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Clark, a crossword hobbyist, came up with the idea two years ago. Engineers wanted an unusual pattern in the nylon fabric to know how the parachute was oriented during descent. Turning it into a secret message was “super fun,” he said Tuesday. Only about six people knew about the encoded message before Thursday’s landing, according to Clark. They waited until the parachute images came back before putting out a teaser during a televised news conference Monday. It took just a few hours for space fans to figure it out, Clark said. Next time, he noted, “I’ll have to be a little bit more creative.” “Dare Mighty Things” — a line from President Theodore Roosevelt — is a mantra at JPL and adorns many of the center’s walls. The trick was “trying to come up with a way of encoding it but not making it too obvious,” Clark said.   As for the GPS coordinates, the spot is 10 feet (3 meters) from the entrance to JPL’s visitor center. Another added touch not widely known until touchdown: Perseverance bears a plaque depicting …

The U.S. government has determined that a one-shot COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson is safe and offers partial protection against the disease.In an analysis released Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the vaccine was about 66% effective during global trials in preventing moderate to severe cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.The American company said last month that nearly 44,000 people participated in the trial. Its effectiveness was between 66% and 72% in the United States, 57% in Latin America and in South Africa, where a new variant of the virus has spread.Data Inconclusive on Efficacy of Moderna Vaccine Against COVID-19 VariantsMore clinical evidence is needed to know whether the two-dose regimen of the vaccine protects against the coronavirus variants, experts sayAlthough the vaccine’s effectiveness appears less robust than Moderna’s and Pfizer’s, the results pave the way for final government approval for emergency use of a third vaccine that is easier to administer. The FDA analysis also said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could help accelerate vaccinations because, unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, two doses are not required.  Israel Starts to Reopen as Study Shows Pfizer Vaccine Works Study suggests vaccines are even better than clinical trials showedAn FDA panel of independent experts meet on Friday to decide whether to approve the vaccine. The FDA then weighs whether to authorize it, as it did before approving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. A final decision is expected within days.The addition of a third vaccine to combat …

The French government Wednesday said the COVID-19 situation is deteriorating in about 10 French regions, including the Paris-Ile-de-France area around the capital, and said it is considering additional restrictions to address the situation. At a news conference in Paris, government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters infection numbers and infection rates have started to climb over the past week after declining the week before. He said some regions “require rapid and strong measures.”  He said the regions of most concern are the northern Hauts-de-France region, the Ile-de-France or Paris region, the eastern Grand Est region and the southern PACA region surrounding the city of Marseille. Officials in the Alpes-Maritimes Mediterranean coastal region around the cities of Nice and Cannes on Monday announced a partial lockdown, to last during the daytime over the next two weekends. The region already has a 12-hour nightly curfew. French Health Minister Olivier Veran and French Junior Minister of Autonomy Brigitte Bourguignon visit the coronavirus disease emergency and intensive care units of the Hospital Centre in Dunkirk, Feb. 24, 2021.Health Minister Olivier Veran was in the northern port of Dunkirk on Wednesday, and was expected to discuss possible measures to limit infections with local officials. Attal told reporters that Prime Minister Jean Castex would hold a news conference Thursday to further discuss the overall COVID-19 situation. Attal said the government was doing all it could to avoid a new national lockdown. Unlike some of its neighbors, France has resisted a new national lockdown to control more contagious variants, hoping a curfew in place …

A study suggests a key environmental system that affects how water circulates in the Atlantic Ocean and effects the climate could be on the verge of collapse due to the rapid melting of glaciers and sea ice. The study, published Tuesday in the scientific journal Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) used a global ocean model to study the effects of melting ice on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a large system of ocean currents that carry warm water from the tropics northward into the North Atlantic.   The system includes the Gulf Stream, of the eastern U.S. coast, which carries warm tropical water north and helps moderate temperatures in much of Europe, considering its high latitude.  The current has been under intense scrutiny in recent years because cold, fresh water from melting Greenland glaciers has essentially been causing the current to slow down, though not stop completely. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen – who conducted the study – said their model indicates the AMOC could reach a “tipping point” or, crucial threshold, sooner than earlier predicted because of the speed at which glacial ice is melting.   In an interview, one of the study’s authors, Johannes Lohmann, said it has been predicted, based on previous climate models, the AMOC could reach its tipping point when a certain level of freshwater flowed into the North Atlantic from ice melt in Greenland. He said those models were based on a very slow melting of ice. Lohmann …

Ghana has received the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines through the World Health Organization’s global vaccine-sharing program. A flight carrying 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine arrived Wednesday in the capital, Accra, according to a joint statement from WHO and UNICEF, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. The vaccines were manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.  The vaccines sent to Ghana were purchased through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, an initiative launched by WHO in cooperation with  Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates to vaccinate children in the world’s poorest countries. The project purchases vaccines with the help of wealthier countries and distributes them equitably to all countries. U.S. President Joe Biden pledged $4 billion to the COVAX program last week.  WHO announced in December that COVAX has secured agreements for nearly two billion doses of several “promising” vaccine candidates.A pack of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines is seen as the country receives its first batch of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines under COVAX scheme, in Accra, Feb. 24, 2021.A new variant of the novel coronavirus recently discovered in the western U.S. state of California is more contagious than other versions, according to two new preliminary studies. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco discovered the new variant, called B.1.427/B.1.429, as they were tracking the possible spread of the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first detected in Britain last year.  The team found B.1.427/B.1.429  had become the predominant …

The number of people going hungry in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua has nearly quadrupled in the last two years, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as Central America has been battered by an economic crisis. New data released by the U.N.’s World Food Program showed nearly 8 million people across the four countries are experiencing hunger this year, up from 2.2 million in 2018. “The COVID-19-induced economic crisis had already put food on the market shelves out of reach for the most vulnerable people when the twin hurricanes Eta and Iota battered them further,” Miguel Barreto, WFP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a statement.   He was referring to two hurricanes that hit Central America in November. “We’re eating the little food that people give to us,” said Marina Rosado, 70, who along with her son and grandchildren live along a boulevard in the Honduran city of Lima that was inundated by flooding last year. The storms that destroyed their home were the latest blow pushing the family further into hunger, Rosado said, after pandemic-related restrictions limited their ability to collect bottles and cans in the streets to sell to recycling companies.   The WFP also noted that 15% of those surveyed by the organization in January 2021 said that they were making concrete plans to migrate — nearly double the percentage in 2018.  …

The European Union and the World Health Organization teamed with the international advocacy organization Global Citizen on Tuesday to host a virtual panel discussion on global recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic.The webcast included leaders from the United States and the African Union, as well as actors and musicians seeking to solicit donations from organizations and individuals. The effort aims to set the stage for the world to bounce back from the pandemic, addressing issues such as vaccine equity, world hunger, the climate crisis and international aid.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a news conference on COVID-19 vaccination plan at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Jan. 8, 2021.In her comments, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed a call by French President Emmanuel Macron’s to donate vaccines to health care workers in Africa.”Vaccines must reach all corners of the planet as soon as possible,” she said.The EU has contributed an additional $606.3 million to the WHO-backed COVAX vaccine cooperative program to supply COVID-19 shots to emerging economies, doubling the bloc’s contribution. Last week, the Biden administration pledged $4 billion to the program.U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry made comments from his office in Washington, saying the recovery discussion represents a “bold plan of action” to get the world through and beyond the pandemic. He said protecting the planet should be part of that plan.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa receives the Johnson and Johnson coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination at the Khayelitsha Hospital near Cape Town, South Africa, …

U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry urged the U.N. Security Council Tuesday to start treating the climate crisis like the “urgent security threat” that it is.“The climate threat is so massive, so multifaceted, that it is impossible to disentangle it from other challenges that the Security Council faces,” Kerry told a virtual summit on climate and conflict.“We bury our heads in the sand at our peril,” he cautioned.His participation at the summit comes just days after the United States officially rejoined the Paris Agreement, reversing a Trump administration decision to leave the landmark pact. Kerry said that was “an inexcusable absence by our country from this debate.”The main international instrument for mitigating climate change is the 2015 Paris Agreement. Signed by virtually every country in the world, it aims to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and limit the planet’s temperature increase during this century to 2 degrees Celsius, while working to limit the increase even further to 1.5 degrees. Most of the international climate debate focuses on the environmental impact of global warming, but Tuesday’s meeting was intended to highlight the ripple effect that it has on peace and security.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Dec. 18, 2020.“Climate disruption is a crisis amplifier and multiplier,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the 15-nation council. “Where climate change dries up rivers, reduces harvests, destroys critical infrastructure and displaces communities, it exacerbates the risks of instability and conflict.”A Swedish study found in …

Orangutans are a critically endangered species and the coronavirus pandemic halted efforts to protect and increase their population. But as VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, rescue efforts in Indonesia are back under way.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi    …

The U.S. space agency NASA has released the first sounds ever recorded on Mars — a light gust of wind on the planet’s surface — along with panoramic views from its Perseverance Mars rover.In a remote news briefing late Monday, NASA scientists released video taken by Perseverance as it descended to the surface of Mars last Thursday, deploying its red-and-white supersonic parachute by way of a rocket-powered hovercraft and lowering its wheels to the ground in a plume of dust and smoke.The footage was captured by cameras mounted at different angles of the landing craft as it passed through the planet’s thin atmosphere to gently touch down inside a basin called the Jezero Crater.Along with the video and still photos, NASA scientists also released the first ever audio recordings of wind from the surface. NASA scientist Dave Gruel noted the microphone picked up a gust of wind, along with a gentle “whir” sound from the rover itself. Gruel said their analysis indicated the sound came from a gust traveling about five meters per second.The chief imaging scientist behind the project, Justin Maki, told reporters, “This is it. This is Mars. We’re here in our place that we’re going to be exploring over the next months and coming years.”Perseverance reached Mars last week after a nearly seven-month journey covering 472 million kilometers.Scientists hope to find biosignatures embedded in samples of ancient sediments that Perseverance is designed to extract from Martian rock for future analysis back on Earth — the first such …