Year: 2021

A nationwide eviction moratorium is set to expire Saturday after President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress worked furiously but ultimately failed to align on a long-shot strategy to prevent millions of Americans from being forced from their homes during a COVID-19 surge.More than 3.6 million Americans are at risk of eviction, some in a matter of days, as nearly $47 billion in federal housing aid to the states during the pandemic has been slow to make it into the hands of renters and landlords owed payments.Tensions mounted late Friday as it became clear there would be no resolution in sight. Hours before the ban was set to expire, Biden called on local governments to “take all possible steps” to immediately disburse the funds. Evictions could begin as soon as Monday.”There can be no excuse for any state or locality not accelerating funds to landlords and tenants that have been hurt during this pandemic,” Biden said in a statement.”Every state and local government must get these funds out to ensure we prevent every eviction we can,” he said.The stunning outcome, as the White House and Congress each expected the other to act, exposed a rare divide between the president and his allies on Capitol Hill, and one that could have lasting impact as the nation’s renters face widespread evictions.Biden set off the scramble by announcing he would allow the eviction ban to expire, rather than challenge a recent Supreme Court ruling signaling this would be the last deadline. He called …

Two lakes in a far-flung coastal region of Patagonia, in Argentina, have turned fluorescent pink, an as-of-yet unexplained phenomena that local environmentalists fear could be harmful and caused by industrial contamination.The lakes, located near an industrial park on the outskirts of the Argentine city of Trelew, sprawl across a dusty, desertlike plain and are largely undeveloped. Officials with the municipality of Trelew recently discovered a truck dumping waste in the watershed, according to posts made by the city on social media.Authorities gave conflicting views to local media, however, on whether the sudden change in color of the lakes was harmful. Environmentalists were more concerned.Local activist Pablo Lada, a member of Argentina’s National Ecological Network (RENACE), told Reuters in an interview that the pink color could potentially be the result of a dye typically used to give prawns raised nearby their typically rose-colored hue.”I think that the pink lagoon uncovered a … lack of treatment of this waste that has become a big problem,” Lada said.Local and regional environmental officials are investigating the cause and potential damage to the lakes but have yet to arrive at any conclusions.  …

Russian space officials said Friday that a software malfunction had caused the unexpected firing of thrusters on a newly arrived module, moving the International Space Station out of its intended attitude.The incident occurred Thursday, hours after the long-delayed Russian laboratory module, known as Nauka, docked with the ISS.  It took mission controllers nearly an hour to reposition the ISS, which had been bumped 45 degrees out of alignment.  Ground controllers fired Russian thrusters on other Russian elements at the station to fix the positioning.In a statement Friday, ISS Russian segment flight director Vladimir Solovyov said the software failure had prompted a direct command to turn on the module’s engines.Communications between the ground and the crew went out twice for several minutes, but in a statement, the U.S. space agency NASA said the ISS crew was never in danger.On Twitter Friday, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky said not to worry and the work to integrate the new module into the ISS was continuing as scheduled.The Russian unmanned, 20-ton, nearly 13-meter-long Nauka module — also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module — docked with the ISS following a long and, at times, uncertain journey.Nauka is now the first new module in the Russian segment of the station since 2010.The troubled trip to the orbiting space station followed years of problems getting the module off the ground. Nauka — designed to provide more room for scientific experiments and space for the crew — was initially scheduled to launch in 2007 but was repeatedly delayed because of …

The WHO said Friday that Japan was doing its best to minimize the risk of Covid-19 spreading during the Tokyo Olympics but stressed there was no such thing as zero risk.The World Health Organization’s warning came as Japan extended a virus state of emergency in Tokyo and expanded the measure to four more regions as it battles a record surge in infections a week into the pandemic-postponed Games.”There is no zero risk. There could be less or more risk. And then, for things to happen with low risk, you try your best,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference from the UN health agency’s Geneva headquarters.Japan and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) “did their best to minimise risk, because nobody should expect zero risk”, he said.World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, center, arrives for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, on July 23, 2021.”I know that they have done their best, and we have supported them all along.”Across Japan, new virus cases topped 10,000 for the first time on Thursday, and a string of government officials and health experts have warned that the more contagious Delta variant is fuelling a dangerous surge.Tedros went to the Olympics opening ceremony and also addressed the IOC in Tokyo.On Friday he called on the world to draw on the Olympic spirit of unity to bring the pandemic to an end, and said his IOC speech was aimed at using the Games …

Lebanon is running desperately short of life-saving medicines to treat cancer, heart ailments, or even of basic vitamins needed by expectant mothers. It is all a direct result of Lebanon’s deepening political and economic crisis which has led to severe shortages hard currency and fuel. Anchal Vohra has this report for VOA from northern Lebanon.Videographer and producer: Tilo Gummel …

According to reports in The Washington Post and The New York Times, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to make public Friday an internal federal health document about the delta variant of the coronavirus that can be spread “as easily as chickenpox” by vaccinated and unvaccinated people.The newspapers reported the document is a slide presentation distributed to CDC officials. The presentation details the difficulties the agency has experienced in convincing some populations to get vaccinated and wear masks.The presentation urges CDC officials to develop public service messages that “emphasize vaccination as the best defense against a variant so contagious that it acts almost like a different novel virus, leaping from target to target more swiftly than Ebola or the common cold.”With the delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 rapidly spreading across the country, U.S. President Joe Biden has announced civilian federal government employees must be vaccinated or submit to regular testing and wear masks.“Every federal government employee will be asked to attest to their vaccination status,” Biden said Thursday in a speech from the White House East Room. “Anyone who does not attest or is not vaccinated will be required to mask, no matter where they work, test one or two times a week to see if they’ve acquired COVID, socially distance, and generally will not be allowed to travel for work.”Nurse Darryl Hana prepares a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a three-day vaccination clinic at Providence Wilmington Wellness and Activity Center …

Once seen as a vaccine hoarder, the U.S. is now sharing its COVID-19 doses, acting on the Biden administration’s pledge to deliver a half-billion doses around the world over the next year. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports on some of the countries that have received their first batches. Producer: Bakhtiyar Zamanov …

A long-delayed Russian laboratory module docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, but hours later the Russian lab knocked the orbiting station out of position when the lab’s thrusters accidentally fired.It took mission controllers nearly an hour to reposition the ISS, which had been bumped 45 degrees out of alignment.  Ground controllers fired Russian thrusters on other Russian elements at the station to fix the positioning.During the repositioning, communications between the ground and the crew went out twice for several minutes.It was “a pretty exciting hour,” according to Kathy Lueders, NASA’s human spaceflight chief.“We haven’t noticed any damage,” space station program manager Joel Montalbano said. “There was no immediate danger at any time to the crew.”The complication forced NASA to delay a Boeing test flight to the ISS that had been scheduled to take off from Florida Friday.The Russian unmanned, 20-ton, nearly 13-meter-long Nauka module — also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module — docked with the ISS following a long and, at times, uncertain journey.The European Space Agency says shortly after its July 21 launch from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the module deployed its solar panels and antennas as scheduled. But soon after, Russia’s mission control center in Moscow said the craft did not receive proper automated data commands and failed to complete an initial burn to raise its orbit.The ESA says flight engineers spent the week running critical propulsion tests and carrying out orbital corrections on the module, which is designed to rendezvous and dock automatically …

With the delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 rapidly spreading across the country, U.S. President Joe Biden has announced civilian federal government employees must be vaccinated or submit to regular testing and wear masks.“Every federal government employee will be asked to attest to their vaccination status,” the president said Thursday in a speech from the White House East Room. “Anyone who does not attest or is not vaccinated will be required to mask, no matter where they work, test one or two times a week to see if they’ve acquired COVID, socially distance, and generally will not be allowed to travel for work.”The federal government employs more than 4 million Americans, including over 2 million in the federal civilian workforce, a White House statement said.The same standards will apply to federal contractors, Biden added.”If you want to do business with the federal government, get your people vaccinated,” he said.Reporters raise their hands as they shout questions to President Joe Biden after speaking about COVID-19 vaccinations in the East Room of the White House in Washington, July 29, 2021.Labor unions representing federal workers are reacting cautiously.“We expect that the particulars of any changes to working conditions, including those related to COVID-19 vaccines and associated protocols, be properly negotiated with our bargaining units prior to implementation,” said Everett Kelley, the head of the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the largest union of federal workers, representing a workforce of 700,000.“Forcing people to undertake a medical procedure is not the …

Experts say in a few years, billionaires and their friends won’t be the only ones who can afford to go to space. Plus, the Mars rover begins the search for ancient life, and new hardware arrives at the International Space Station. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the Week in Space …

A long-delayed Russian laboratory module docked with the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday, eight days after it was launched from Russia’s space facility in Kazakhstan.The unmanned, 20-ton, nearly 13-meter-long Nauka (Science) module — also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) — docked with the ISS following a long and, at times, uncertain journey.The European Space Agency (ESA) says shortly after July 21 its launch from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the module deployed its solar panels and antennae as scheduled. But soon after, Russia’s mission control center in Moscow said the craft did not receive proper automated data commands and failed to complete an initial burn to raise its orbit.The ESA says flight engineers spent the week running critical propulsion tests and carrying out orbital corrections on the module, which is designed to rendezvous and dock automatically with the ISS using its own engines.  The ESA monitored the module launch as it carried with it a robotic arm developed by the agency.The troubled trip to the orbiting space station follows years of problems getting the module off the ground at all. The Nauka — designed to provide more room for scientific experiments and space for the crew — was initially scheduled to go up in 2007 but was repeatedly delayed because of technical problems. Contamination had been found in its fuel system, resulting in a long and costly replacement and other systems underwent modernization or repairs.The Nauka is now the first new module in the Russian segment of the …

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has stretched people’s mental health everywhere and Zimbabwe is no exception. But some Zimbabweans hit hard by the stress have found unique support at the “Friendship Bench,” now the country’s biggest counseling service. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare.Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe  …

Nearly a year’s worth of rain fell on the Chinese city of Zhengzhou over four days this month. Flooding killed 71 people, including 14 trapped in a subway station as waters rose.Zhengzhou is part of a Chinese government initiative to build “sponge cities” in response to increasing urban flooding across the country. These cities aim to use natural processes to soak up rainwater rather than sending it coursing through concrete drainage pipes and channels that can get overwhelmed or cause other problems.These systems are catching on around the world as city planners embrace the benefits they provide, such as stormwater management, urban cooling and aesthetic appeal.But experts say the storm that drowned Zhengzhou was more than any city’s drainage system could handle. And because of climate change, these kinds of storms are becoming increasingly common around the world.”The intensity, the frequency of the storm events is much greater than we’ve been used to,” said Neil Weinstein, executive director of the Low Impact Development Center, a nonprofit group focused on sustainable stormwater management techniques.”The sponge city concept … is really good at slowing down modest-sized storms,” said David Sedlak, civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “But it’s not a replacement for the flood control infrastructure that many of our cities need to protect us from these super big floods and storms that arrive in a short period.”Rapid urbanizationChina launched its sponge city project in 2015 with 16 pilot cities. Another 14 were added the next year.The …

Six months after its coup, Myanmar now faces a mushrooming COVID-19 pandemic.Deaths have risen sharply daily during the third, delta variant, infection wave that began May 25; 326 deaths were reported July 23, bringing the coronavirus death toll to 6,459. Myanmar reported 5,506 new infections out of 13,487 samples, a 40% infection rate.  Actual numbers may be higher because of those unable to get into hospitals.Cemeteries struggle to dispose of bodies quickly, without safety measures, and hearses carry three or more bodies, also transported by taxis and cars.  Social media videos and photos show bodies piled for cremation at Yangon cemeteries. Volunteers and staff since the coup wear no protective equipment other than masks.Out of capacityFree funeral operators and aid workers in Yangon say they cannot keep up with a death toll they claim is now around 1,000 a day.Sein Win Than, whose charity service transports bodies, told VOA his organization must transport at least 40 bodies to cemeteries daily but cannot keep up with requests.“We cannot take over 50 bodies a day. We have to wait for hours at the cemetery to drop off the bodies but we cannot wait anymore because of high demand. When we get to the cemetery, we must quickly leave for another trip,” he said.The situation is not unique to Yangon.In Mandalay, the death toll has risen daily because of a hospital doctor and nurse shortage.“About 60 patients die per day, but we can take only 30 dead bodies to the cemetery,” an aid …

Big tech companies are making it mandatory for employees in the United States to get COVID-19 vaccinations before entering campuses, as the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus drives a resurgence in cases.Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. said on Wednesday all U.S. employees must get vaccinated to step into offices. Google is also planning to expand its vaccination drive to other countries in the coming months.According to a Deadline report, streaming giant Netflix Inc. has also implemented a policy mandating vaccinations for the cast and crew on all its U.S. productions.Apple Inc. plans to restore its mask requirement policy at most of its U.S. retail stores, both for customers and staff, even if they are vaccinated, Bloomberg News reported.Apple and Netflix did not immediately respond to requests for comments.Many tech companies, including Microsoft Corp. and Uber, have said they expect employees to return to their offices, months after pandemic-induced lockdowns forced them to shift to working from home.In April, Salesforce said it would allow vaccinated employees to return to some of its offices.Google also said on Wednesday it would extend its global work-from-home policy through Oct. 18 due to a recent rise in cases caused by the delta variant across different regions.”We’ll continue watching the data carefully and let you know at least 30 days in advance before transitioning into our full return-to-office plans,” the company said.    …

A scientist says fossils she collected from an ancient seabed in the mountains of northwestern Canada may be the earliest evidence of animal life on Earth ever discovered. In a study published Wednesday in the science journal Nature, Laurentian University geologist Elizabeth Turner detailed how she found fossilized three-dimensional structures that resemble modern sponge skeletons in thin sections of rocks taken from the remnants of a prehistoric ocean reef.Turner said the surrounding rock was 890 million years old, which would make the fossils she discovered about 350 million years older than the oldest undisputed sponge fossils previously found.Many scientists believe Earth’s first animal groups included simple, soft sponges or sponge-like creatures that lack muscles and nerves but have other features of simple animals, including cells with differentiated functions. But scientists often disagree on specifically what the earliest animal life might have looked like.Turner’s discovery will be carefully vetted by other scientists, and it has been greeted with excitement and skepticism.Paleobiologist Graham Budd of Sweden’s Uppsala University told The New York Times the problem was the 350 million-year gap between Turner’s discovery and the next most recently discovered fossil. “It would be sensational. It would be like finding a computer chip in a 14th-century monastery,” he said.Turner herself told the Times she could be wrong. But other researchers said her study was important.University of Southern California paleobiologist David Bottjer said he thought Turner had a pretty strong case. “I think this is very worthy of publishing – it puts the evidence out …

As Britons celebrate the lifting of coronavirus lockdown restrictions earlier this month, some scientists warn that the country risks becoming a breeding ground for new variants of the virus that could be more resistant to vaccines.Most restrictions were removed July 19, including social distancing regulations and the compulsory wearing of face masks. Indoor venues such as nightclubs reopened for the first time since March 2020.For many young people in Britain, the changes marked the return of longed-for socializing and partying, a chance to forget the misery of lockdown.“We’ve been the last ones to get the vaccine, we’ve always been to blame, we’ve been blamed for the spread of the COVID. And it’s just nice to get freedom and just brush it all off,” said one clubgoer in the northern city of Leeds, who did not want to give her name.People walks past shops and restaurants at Leadenhall Market in the City of London on July 27, 2021.But those freedoms could bring added dangers, according to some scientists.While infection rates have declined in recent days, the relaxation of lockdown rules will likely lead to an increase in transmission, says Emilia Skirmuntt, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Oxford.“I think there will be more infections than we have seen in the last days. With more infections, there is a bigger chance that we will see a new variant which might be even more infectious,” Skirmuntt told VOA.Britain has rolled out one of the fastest vaccination programs in the world. Just over …

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to recommend that vaccinated people in parts of the country wear masks while indoors, reversing a decision it made two months ago.Federal officials with knowledge of the decision told news agencies the CDC is expected to make the announcement later Tuesday, based on surging numbers of new cases in regions with low vaccination rates.   The rising caseload is driven by the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.  There has also been a rise in cases of so-called breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated people, suggesting the delta variant may be able to cause such infections more often than previous strains of the virus.  Health officials say vaccines remain effective against the worst outcomes of infection with the virus, including those involving the delta variant.In televised interviews Sunday, White House medical advisor and top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said the mask guidelines were under review, as new infections in areas with low vaccination rates have been surging. The CDC says 30 states have less than half their residents fully vaccinated.In May, the CDC said fully vaccinated people no longer would be required to wear masks or maintain social distancing of six feet from other people.  The agency still suggested people remain masked on public transportation and at crowded outdoor events.  For months, COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations in the U.S. fell steadily, but those trends reversed over the past two months as the delta variant …

Cameroonian authorities are urging the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19, following a U.S. donation Monday of 300,000 Johnson & Johnson doses.  Cameroonians can now choose between the Chinese Sinopharm, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson jabs but vaccine hesitancy remains high.Just 10 civilians have visited the Biyem Assi hospital in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde today to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Among them is Olivia Forbi, a 38-year-old vegetable seller.Forbi said she wants the Johnson & Johnson vaccine she heard about from Cameroon state radio.”I have learnt that Johnson & Johnson is more than 75 percent effective in stopping the spread of the coronavirus and secondly, you take it in one dose. Sinopharm and AstraZeneca, you take in two doses. You spend more time going for the second dose,” said Forbi.On July 21, President Joe Biden announced the U.S. was shipping 1.3 million vaccine doses to Africa. Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gambia, Lesotho, Niger, Senegal and Zambia are the seven beneficiaries.Mary Daschbach is in charge of mission at the U.S. embassy in Yaounde. She says she handed over 303,050 Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to the government of Cameroon on Monday.”We don’t want to see people dying in Cameroon from the variant that is raging round the rest of the world. We have seen what it has done in Indonesia, we have seen what it has done in Tunisia and we see what it is doing in the United States to people who have chosen not to get vaccinated. It is very …