Month: May 2021

Australia’s southern state of Victoria will enter into a one-week “circuit breaker” lockdown beginning Thursday as it deals with a new and growing outbreak of COVID-19 cases.  The lockdown was ordered after health authorities announced 12 new confirmed cases in Melbourne, bringing the total number of infections in the state capital to 26.   Acting state Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne the new outbreak is due to “a highly infectious strain of the virus, a variant of concern, which is running faster than we have ever recorded.” The new cases are linked to an overseas traveler who became infected with a variant first detected in India during his mandatory hotel quarantine phase. Residents will only be allowed to leave their homes during their new lockdown for essential work, school, shopping, caregiving, exercise and medical reasons, including receiving their scheduled coronavirus vaccinations. The new lockdown is the fourth one imposed on Victoria state since the start of the pandemic.  The most severe period occurred in mid-2020, which lasted more than three months as Victoria was under the grip of a second wave of COVID-19 infections that killed more than 800 people. Acting Premier Merlino had already imposed a new set of restrictions for Australia’s second-most populous state, including limits on public gathering sizes and mandatory mask wearing in restaurants, hotels and other indoor venues until June 4. New vaccine late-stage clinical trial Two European pharmaceutical giants, France’s Sanofi and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline, announced Thursday that they are beginning a late-stage clinical trial of their experimental, recombinant …

Some of the world’s biggest oil companies are under pressure to take more action to address climate change.ExxonMobil shareholders Wednesday elected at least two members proposed by hedge fund Engine No. 1 to serve on the company’s 12-member board of directors.The fund said in a statement earlier this week that the board needed “directors with experience in successful and profitable energy industry transformations who can help turn aspirations of addressing the risks of climate change into a long-term business plan, not talking points.”ExxonMobil shareholders also voted in favor of a proposal requiring the company to report on its climate change lobbying activities.”We’ve heard from shareholders about their desire to catalyze further progress at ExxonMobil and we are well prepared to deliver,” chief executive Darren Woods said Wednesday.Also Wednesday, Chevron shareholders approved a proposal to cut Scope 3 emissions, which are those generated by the use of a company’s products.The proposal did not set specific targets for how much to cut emissions or any deadline.Wednesday also brought a ruling from a Dutch court ordering Royal Dutch Shell to cut its carbon emissions by a net 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.Seven environmental groups filed the lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell arguing the company was in breach of its obligation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.In her decision, Hague District Court Judge Larissa Alwin ruled that since Royal Dutch Shell currently has a plan to reduce emissions and was still developing it, it is not currently in breach of its obligation, as …

Videos of Navy pilots pursuing flying objects with amazing capabilities have struck a nerve in Washington. Matt Dibble looks into the latest UFO mystery. Producer: Matt Dibble …

Kenya’s Department of Gender says reported cases of gender-based violence have nearly quintupled during the COVID-19 pandemic. But campaigners note that stigma and fear of reporting abuse means the number of cases that go unreported is many times higher. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi.  Camera: Robert Lutta …

A former chief aide to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a parliamentary committee Wednesday the government failed the British people in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a statement Johnson rejects.   Dominic Cummings, who left the government in December, explained to a select committee investigating the government’s pandemic response how Johnson failed to take the pandemic seriously early on, dismissing it as a “scare story.”  He said ministers and officials literally went on vacation in February of 2020. Cummings said, “When the public needed us most the government failed. And I’d like to say to all the families of those who have died unnecessarily how sorry I am for the mistakes that were made and my own mistakes of that.” The former aide said Johnson had been told Britain needed to be locked down on March 14, 2020, but there was no plan to do so.  He said the prime minister had been advised the peak of the pandemic would be in June, when, in fact, the National Health Service was already in danger of being overwhelmed. Cummings had been a chief strategist behind the 2016 Brexit campaign and Johnson’s landslide election win in 2019. Since leaving Johnson’s team late last year, Cummings has become one of his former boss’s most vocal critics over how the prime minister led his team in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, describing it as “disastrous.” Johnson responded to his former aide’s testimony from the floor of the lower …

In a landmark case brought by seven environmental groups, a Dutch court Wednesday ordered energy company Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) to cut its carbon emissions by net 45% from 2019 levels by 2030.The ruling could set a precedent for similar cases against polluting multinationals, particularly petroleum companies, around the world.The environmental groups, which included the Dutch chapter of Greenpeace, filed the suit in 2019 on behalf of 17,000  Dutch citizens. The groups had argued RDS was in breach of its obligation to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.In her decision, Hague District Court Judge Larissa Alwin ruled that since the Anglo-Dutch energy giant currently has a plan to reduce emissions and was still developing it, it is not currently in breach of its obligation, as the groups argued.But the judge said a violation of that obligation is imminent, as the company’s policy “is not concrete, has many caveats and is based on monitoring social developments rather than the company’s own responsibility for achieving a CO2 reduction.She ordered the company to make the 45% cuts by 2030, which would be in line with the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change.The case in the Netherlands is the latest in a string of legal challenges filed around the world by climate activists seeking action to rein in emissions, but it is believed to be the first targeting a multinational company.In statement ahead of the ruling, RDS has said litigation will do little to accelerate the world’s transition away from fossil fuels.   …

A new algorithm tool is helping social workers better detect kids who are in high-risk child abuse situations. Deana Mitchell reports …

The first total lunar eclipse in more than two years coincides with a “supermoon” Wednesday, putting on a cosmic show for at least half the world.A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes completely through the Earth’s dark shadow, or umbra. During this type of eclipse, the moon will gradually get darker, taking on a rusty or blood-red color. The color is so striking, lunar eclipses are sometimes called blood moons.This lunar eclipse coincides with the moon’s nearest approach to Earth, making it appear as the closet and largest full moon of the year. This is what is commonly referred to as a supermoon.The super “blood” moon will be visible Wednesday across the Pacific — offering the best viewing — as well as the western half of North America, bottom of South America and eastern Asia. Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii, will also see the eclipse in its entirety.The total eclipse will last about 15 minutes as Earth passes directly between the moon and the sun. But the entire show will last five hours, as Earth’s shadow gradually covers the moon, then starts to ebb. The reddish-orange color is the result of all the sunrises and sunsets in Earth’s atmosphere projected onto the surface of the eclipsed moon.May’s full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the flower moon because this was the time of year when spring flowers appeared in abundance. …

The situation in pandemic-ravaged South Asia is “unlike anything our region has seen before,” the regional director of UNICEF said Tuesday.”The sheer scale and speed of this new surge of COVID-19 is outstripping countries’ abilities to provide life-saving treatment,” George Laryea-Adjei told reporters Monday in Geneva.Laryea-Adjei said that while India recorded the highest-ever single-day death toll from COVID-19 – 4,529 deaths in one day last week – an estimated 228,000 children and 11,000 mothers across the region died due to disruptions in essential health care services.“With a surge that is four times the size of the first, we are facing a real possibility of a sever spike in child and maternal deaths in South Asia,” he said.India has recorded nearly 27 million cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Many believe the number is much higher because of a lack of testing.Olympic warningWith less than two months remaining before the opening ceremony, the Tokyo Olympics received another jolt Monday when the U.S. government issued a warning for its citizens not to travel to Japan due to rising rates of new COVID-19 cases.The State Department issued its highest travel advisory warning, Level 4, citing Japan’s slow vaccination rate and the country’s own restrictions on travelers from the United States.People wearing masks to help protect against the spread of the coronavirus walk in front of a screen showing the news on U.S. warning against visits to Japan, May 25, 2021, in Tokyo.A …

Regional officials reported strong earthquakes Tuesday in the area surrounding the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Mount Nyiragongo volcano, three days after it erupted, killing 32 people, destroying villages, and displacing at least 5,000 residents.The Rwanda Seismic Monitor reported on its Twitter account several quakes Tuesday, including a 5.3-magnitude quake in the borderlands between Rwanda and the eastern DRC, near Mount Nyiragongo. The quakes have raised fears among locals that the volcano could erupt again.Mount Nyiragongo — one of Africa’s most active — erupted Saturday for the first time since 2002, sending a river of lava downhill toward Goma, a city of some 2 million people 13 kilometers away. The molten rock stopped a few hundred meters short of city limits, but not before it destroyed about 1,000 homes, officials said.At a briefing in Geneva, U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesman Boris Cheshirkov told reporters that 32 people died in incidents related to the eruption, including seven people killed by lava and five asphyxiated by gas.He said two villages on Goma’s northern tip were destroyed, and two others were partially covered by lava. Several neighborhoods were left without electricity, and there are fears of water shortages.Cheshirkov briefed reporters following a joint evaluation involving the DRC government, the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies. UNICEF reported that more than 150 children were separated from their families amid the chaos and more than 170 children are feared missing.Along with the tremors, the UNHCR reports the lava lake in the volcano’s crater appears to …

Some might put off a visit to the eye doctor, but one company has come up with a way for patients to administer their own vision exam at home, using a smartphone. Tina Trinh reports. …

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated Tuesday in low-lying areas of two Indian states and moved to cyclone shelters to escape a powerful storm barreling toward the eastern coast. Cyclone Yaas is set to turn into a “very severe cyclonic storm” with sustained wind speeds of up to 177 kilometers per hour (110 miles per hour), the India Meteorological Department said. The cyclone is expected to make landfall early Wednesday in Odisha and West Bengal states. The cyclone coming amid a devastating coronavirus surge complicates India’s efforts to deal with both just 10 days after Cyclone Tauktae hit India’s west coast and killed more than 140 people. Thousands of emergency personnel have been deployed in coastal regions of the two states for evacuation and any possible rescue operations, said S.N. Pradhan, director of India’s National Disaster Response Force. India’s air force and navy were also on standby to carry out relief work. Fishing trawlers and boats have been told to take shelter until further notice as forecasters warned of high tidal waves. In West Bengal, authorities were scrambling to move tens of thousands of people to cyclone shelters. Officials said at least 20 districts in the state will feel the brunt of the storm. Last May, nearly 100 people died in Cyclone Amphan, the most powerful storm in more than a decade to hit eastern India, including West Bengal state. It flattened villages, destroyed farms and left millions without power in eastern India and Bangladesh. “We haven’t been able to fix the damage to our home from the last cyclone. Now …

Ahead of what is forecast to be an above-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin, the U.S. government is doubling funding to prepare communities for such storms or other extreme weather events.  “We have to be ready when disaster strikes,” President Joe Biden said on a visit to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters Monday afternoon.  “Today’s briefing is a critical reminder that we don’t have a moment to lose in preparing for 2021,” the president said at FEMA, just prior to being briefed on this year’s hurricane season.  Biden also noted the risks from wildfires in California and other Western states.  “I’m here today to make it clear that I want nothing less than readiness for all these challenges,” the president said.  FEMA employees listen to President Joe Biden talk at FEMA headquarters, in Washington, May 24, 2021. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting a 60% chance of an above-normal Atlantic storm season with six to 10 likely hurricanes.  Last year was a record hurricane season in the United States with 30 named storms — five of those making landfall just in the state of Louisiana.   In all, according to government officials, 22 separate weather and climate-related disasters caused nearly $100 billion worth of damage.  “FEMA will provide $1 billion in 2021 for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, a portion of which will be targeted to disadvantaged communities,” according to the White House statement announcing the funding.  Earlier in the day, the White House also …

Taiwan has criticized what it calls the “indifference” of the World Health Organization to the health rights of the island’s people, according to Reuters. The WHO’s decision-making body, the World Health Assembly, begins its A man reacts as a health worker in protective suit takes his nasal swab sample to test for COVID-19 in New Delhi, India, May 22, 2021.India became the third country Monday to surpass 300,00 deaths related to COVID, after the health ministry reported more than 4,000 COVID deaths in the previous 24 hours. The U.S. has recorded nearly 590,000 deaths, while Brazil is approaching 450,000. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reports 3.4 million global COVID deaths.   Also Monday, India reported 222,315 new COVID cases in the past 24-hour period, a significant drop for the South Asian nation that was experiencing more than 400,000 new daily infections just a few weeks ago. However, public health officials believe that India’s toll is likely undercounted because of limited testing resources.  The Indian government said Saturday that while COVID-19 infections remain high as they spread to overburdened rural areas, the infections are stabilizing in some parts of the country. While a new variant of the virus first found in India has raised alarm around the world, a new study found Saturday that vaccines by Pfizer and AstraZeneca are effective against it after two doses. The study by Public Health England found that Pfizer’s vaccine is 88% effective against B.1.617.2, or the Indian variant, and 93% effective against B.1.1.7, now known as the Kent variant. AstraZeneca’s vaccine is 60% effective against the Indian variant and 66% effective against the English variant. In both cases, the effectiveness was measured …

The Australian government is being urged to offer citizens cash and lottery tickets as incentives to boost slow rates of COVID-19 vaccinations. Public health and advertising experts say more needs to be done to counter mounting hesitancy and confusion about a mass inoculation program. Research commissioned by two Australian newspapers found a third of respondents don’t intend to get vaccinated soon. There are community-wide doubts about potential side effects of vaccines. The survey has also shown that many Australians believe there is no rush to receive a dose while the country’s international borders remain closed. Demand for injections has been far lower than expected. At the current pace of about 500,000 doses a week, Australia’s adult population would not be fully vaccinated until October 2022. But the authorities are warning that “complacency can kill,” pointing to the “resurgence of this deadly virus in countries like Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea” which, like Australia, had appeared to have suppressed community spread of COVID-19.A new mass COVID-19 vaccination hub opens in Sydney, May 10, 2021.Australia’s federal government recently responded to hesitancy about the vaccines with a new public health campaign. Experts believe that offering Australians lottery tickets or cash after being vaccinated could boost injection rates. Similar measures, along with free beer and donuts, have been used in other countries, including the United States, where critics said vaccine payments might “unfairly exploit” people who have lost jobs during the pandemic. A major incentive for Australians could be linked to overseas travel. Officials have said the reopening of international borders, which have been closed for more than a year, could be dependent on high rates of coronavirus vaccinations. Julian Savulescu is a bioethicist at the …

For the family of the retired diplomat, the terror struck as they tried desperately to get him past the entrance doors of a private hospital. For the New Delhi family, it came when they had to create a hospital room in their ground-floor apartment. For the son of an illiterate woman who raised her three children by scavenging human hair, it came as his mother waited days for an ICU bed, insisting she’d be fine. Three families in a nation of 1.3 billion. Seven cases of COVID-19 in a country facing an unparalleled surge, with more than 300,000 people testing positive every day. When the pandemic exploded here in early April, each of these families found themselves struggling to keep relatives alive as the medical system neared collapse and the government was left unprepared. Across India, families scour cities for coronavirus tests, medicine, ambulances, oxygen and hospital beds. When none of that works, some have to deal with loved ones zippered into body bags. The desperation comes in waves. New Delhi was hit at the start of April, with the worst coming near the end of the month. The southern city of Bengaluru was hit about two weeks later. The surge is at its peak now in many small towns and villages, and just reaching others. But when a pandemic wave hits, everyone is on their own. The poor. The rich. The well-connected bureaucrats who hold immense sway here, and the people who clean the sewers. Wealthy businessmen fight for …

The Australian government is being urged to offer citizens cash and lottery tickets as incentives to boost slow rates of COVID-19 vaccinations. Public health and advertising experts say more needs to be done to counter mounting hesitancy and confusion about a mass inoculation program. Research commissioned by two Australian newspapers found a third of respondents don’t intend to get vaccinated soon. There are community-wide doubts about potential side effects of vaccines. The survey has also shown that many Australians believe there is no rush to receive a dose while the country’s international borders remain closed. Demand for injections has been far lower than expected. At the current pace of about 500,000 doses a week, Australia’s adult population would not be fully vaccinated until October 2022. But the authorities are warning that “complacency can kill,” pointing to the “resurgence of this deadly virus in countries like Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea” which, like Australia, had appeared to have suppressed community spread of COVID-19.A new mass COVID-19 vaccination hub opens in Sydney, May 10, 2021.Australia’s federal government recently responded to hesitancy about the vaccines with a new public health campaign. Experts believe that offering Australians lottery tickets or cash after being vaccinated could boost injection rates. Similar measures, along with free beer and donuts, have been used in other countries, including the United States, where critics said vaccine payments might “unfairly exploit” people who have lost jobs during the pandemic. A major incentive for Australians could be linked to overseas travel. Officials have said the reopening of international borders, which have been closed for more than a year, could be dependent on high rates of coronavirus vaccinations. Julian Savulescu is a bioethicist at the …

An investigation was underway Monday into the deaths of 21 runners during a mountain ultra-marathon in northwest China, as harrowing testimony emerged from survivors who battled to safety through freezing temperatures and bone-chilling winds. The extreme weather struck a high-altitude section of the 100-kilometer (62-mile) race held in the scenic Yellow River Stone Forest in Gansu province Saturday afternoon. Provincial authorities have set up an investigation team to look into the cause of the incident, state media reported, as questions swirled over why organizers apparently ignored extreme weather warnings from the city’s Early Warning Information Center in the lead up to the race, which attracted 172 runners. China’s top sports body also vowed to tighten safety rules on holding events across the country. Survivors gave shocking testimony of events on the rugged mountainside, where unconfirmed meteorological reports to local media said temperatures had plunged to as low as minus 24 degrees Celsius (minus 11 degrees Fahrenheit). “The wind was too strong, and I repeatedly fell over,” wrote race participant Zhang Xiaotao in a Weibo post. “My limbs were frozen stiff, and I felt like I was slowly losing control of my body… I wrapped my insulation blanket around me, took out my GPS tracker, pressed the SOS button and lost consciousness.” He said when he came round he discovered a shepherd had carried him to a cave, placed him by the fire and wrapped him in a duvet. ‘Foaming at their mouths’Marathon survivor Luo Jing told state broadcaster CCTV she saw runners struggling back down the mountain wearing only T-shirts and shorts. They “described to us people foaming at their mouths, and urged us to quit the race as soon as possible,” she said. Other survivors …

India is nearing 300,000 recorded deaths from the coronavirus, after adding more than 3,700 deaths in the last 24 hours.   The country reported more than 240,000 new infections Sunday – a number that many believe is an undercount because of limited testing resources.   The Indian government said Saturday that while COVID-19 infections remain high as they spread to overburdened rural areas, the infections are stabilizing in some parts of the country.   While a new variant of the virus first found in India has raised alarm around the world, a new study found Saturday that vaccines by Pfizer and AstraZeneca are effective against it after two doses.   The study by Public Health England found that Pfizer’s vaccine is 88% effective against B.1.617.2, or the Indian variant, and 93% effective against B.1.1.7, now known as the Kent variant. AstraZeneca’s vaccine is 60% effective against the Indian variant and 66% effective against the English variant.   In both cases, the effectiveness was measured two weeks after the second shot and against symptomatic disease. Both vaccines had limited effectiveness after just one dose.     The Kent variant is the dominant strain in England, but health officials fear the Indian strain may outpace it.   On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that three scientists from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, or WIV, in Wuhan, China were admitted to the hospital in November 2019 – a month before China confirmed its first coronavirus case.   The news, which cites a …

Ending the COVID-19 pandemic and preventing future pandemics is expected to dominate discussions during this week’s 74th World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization.  The session will also address other pressing global health issues.The 2021 World Health Assembly will be held virtually, from tomorrow (May 24) through June 1. This in and of itself is aimed at sending a strong message that it still is not safe for large groups of people to gather physically. More than 2,750 people so far have registered to attend the virtual event. WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic and a global International public health emergency on March 11, 2020. Since then, COVID-19 cases have increased fortyfold to 162 million, including more than 3.3 million deaths. Discussions on a so-called pandemic treaty to better prepare for and prevent global infectious outbreaks is expected to take center stage at the global assembly. WHO chief legal officer Steven Solomon says drafting a treaty would be a long process. He says delegates have not decided whether negotiations on a treaty should be started. He says a legally binding pandemic convention would cover both substantive issues, which include equitable sharing of materials such as vaccines and diagnoses, and structural ones. “Structurally, the elements that often come up are issues of enforcement mechanisms, compliance mechanisms, monitoring mechanisms, incentives and disincentives. There are clearly issues of governance and how that would work under treaty institutions, and financing,” he said.The assembly will face the largest agenda ever over the coming eight days, …