Mar82021 by DmediaNo Comments

Australia Urged to Ensure Undocumented Workers Receive COVID-19 Vaccine

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There is a call for an amnesty for the estimated 100,000 undocumented workers in Australia because of fears they could miss out on the coronavirus vaccine.They are an unseen workforce in Australia, from cleaning to hospitality and farm work. Of the estimated 100,000 undocumented workers, about two-thirds are employed in agriculture. Without a valid working visa, they are in jobs illegally.Australia’s Department of Home Affairs said they were “unlawful non-citizens.” But farmers, unions and some politicians are now calling for an amnesty to allow undocumented workers to be given employment visas.The federal government has promised a vaccine for everyone in Australia, regardless of their visa status, including asylum seekers awaiting the outcome of their refugee claims. But there are concerns undocumented workers will not come forward fearing deportation.Dr. Joanna Howe,…


Mar82021 by DmediaNo Comments

Canada Post Responds to Pandemic with Postcard Program

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Canada’s postal service is trying to bridge the socially distanced gap of the coronavirus pandemic by encouraging people to send postcards to loved ones.To facilitate that effort, Canada Post is delivering a postcard to every residential address in the country that people can then send to anyone they want at no charge.The postcards come in one of six different designs with messages such as “Sending hugs” and “Wishing I were there.”Doug Ettinger, Canada Post’s president and CEO, said in a video describing the program that “everyone is missing someone.”“We want all Canadians to send these postcards to loved ones to remind them that they’re missed, they’re special and they matter,” he said. ...


Mar82021 by DmediaNo Comments

A Year of the Pandemic: In Middle East, Coronavirus Compounds Conflict

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March 11 marks a year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. The Middle East was one of the first regions to be hit outside China – and as Henry Ridgwell reports, the pandemic has exacerbated existing crises caused by conflict and forced migration. Camera: Henry Ridgwell    Producers: Henry Ridgwell and Jon Spier  ...


Mar82021 by TechmanNo Comments

White House Cites ‘Active Threat,’ Urges Action Despite Microsoft Patch

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The White House on Sunday urged computer network operators to take further steps to gauge whether their systems were targeted amid a hack of Microsoft Corp's Outlook email program, saying a recent software patch still left serious vulnerabilities."This is an active threat still developing and we urge network operators to take it very seriously," a White House official said, adding that top U.S. security officials were working to decide what next steps to take following the breach.CNN reported Sunday that the Biden administration was forming a task force to address the hack. The White House official, in a statement, said the administration was making "a whole of government response."While Microsoft released a patch last week to shore up flaws in its email software, the remedy still leaves open a so-called…


Mar82021 by DmediaNo Comments

Cameroon Reports Polio Cases Amid COVID Scare

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Cameroon says two polio cases discovered in the capital, Yaoundé, three weeks ago are a consequence of people refusing to inoculate their children for fear of being infected by COVID-19. The central African state has redeployed health teams to all towns and villages to ask parents to vaccinate their children.Cameroon says it has dispatched health workers to 360 hospitals as part of an awareness campaign against polio. Tetanye Ekoe, president of Cameroon’s National Polio Certification Commission, said the awareness teams will teach communities to observe hygiene and to intensify routine immunization, and epidemiological surveillance.He said the discovery of two type 2 polio cases in Yaoundé three weeks ago should serve as a wake-up call for people who have turned their backs on polio vaccination. He said it is an illusion…


Mar72021 by DmediaNo Comments

Africa’s Pandemic Year Full of Tragic Twists, Turns and … Now, Hope

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In recent weeks, as Africa prepared to mark the milestone of one year since the coronavirus reached its shores, millions of doses of long-awaited vaccine finally began to arrive across the continent. Most were provided by the global COVAX Facility, which distributes vaccine to lower income countries.That, officials say, has flipped this tale from one of despair to one of optimism.And, says South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Africans played a valuable part in turning the tide.“South Africa's scientists and research institutions have made an important contribution to these efforts and have contributed to global knowledge about the disease, including on the emergence of new variants,” he said this week, addressing his nation on television. “And in this regard, our scientists who we should be proud of, have really led the…


Mar72021 by DmediaNo Comments

Pandemic Forces Route Change, Other Precautions for Iditarod Sled Dog Race

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Traveling across the rugged, unforgiving and roadless Alaska terrain is already hard enough, but whatever comforts mushers previously had in the world’s most famous sled dog race will be cast aside this year due to the pandemic.In years past, mushers would stop in any number of 24 villages that serve as checkpoints, where they could get a hot meal, maybe a shower and sleep — albeit “cheek to jowl” — in a warm building before getting back to the nearly 1,609-kilometer Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. When the race starts Sunday, north of Anchorage, they will spend the next week or so mostly camping in tents outside towns, and the only source of warmth — for comfort or to heat up frozen food and water — will come from their…


Mar72021 by DmediaNo Comments

Europe Staggers as Infectious Variants Power Virus Surge

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The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.Genetic analysis confirmed what officials suspected: The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in England was racing through the community, a densely packed city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and a Pirelli bicycle tire factory a 15-minute drive from the heart of Milan."This demonstrates that the virus has a sort of intelligence. ... We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine that they work, but in the end, it adapts and penetrates them,'' lamented Bollate Mayor Francesco Vassallo.Bollate was the first city in Lombardy, the northern region that has…


Mar72021 by TechmanNo Comments

Twitter Founder’s Auction of First Tweet Draws $2 Million Bid 

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is selling his first tweet at auction, with bidding Saturday reaching $2 million in a sign of the appetite for virtual objects authenticated through blockchain technology."just setting up my twttr," Dorsey tweeted on March 21, 2006.On Friday he posted a link to "Valuables @Cent," an online marketplace for tweets where, the site says, investors or collectors can "buy and sell tweets autographed by their creators."The top bid Saturday for Dorsey's tweet — $2 million — came from Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, a platform for blockchain, the technology underlying cryptocurrencies. He also heads the BitTorrent streaming platform."The creator of a tweet decides if they would like to mint it on the blockchain, creating a 1-of-1 autographed version," Valuables explained.Buying 'a digital certificate'Buying a tweet means…


Mar62021 by DmediaNo Comments

What You Need to Know About the $1.9T COVID Bill 

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U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday came one step closer to his first major political victory: passage of his coronavirus economic relief package.What is it? A $1.9 trillion bill that Democrats said would help the country defeat the coronavirus and repair the economy. Republicans say it is more expensive than necessary. The measure follows five earlier virus bills totaling about $4 trillion that Congress has enacted since last spring.What is the latest? The Senate approved the pandemic relief package over Republican opposition Saturday by a party-line vote of 50-49.What’s next? The Senate made several changes to the bill, which was passed earlier by the U.S. House. Now the bill returns to the House for final passage, which could come early next week.How does it fight the pandemic? The bill contains…


Mar62021 by DmediaNo Comments

US Researchers Say COVID-19 Antiviral Shows Promise

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Pharmaceutical giant Merck and an American laboratory announced progress Saturday in the design of an oral drug against COVID-19. Their antiviral has shown positive effects in reducing the viral load in current tests."Knowing that there is an unmet need for antiviral therapy for SARS-CoV-2, we are encouraged by these preliminary results," Wendy Painter, chief drug officer at Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, said in a statement.Merck interrupted its work on two potential COVID-19 vaccines at the end of January but continues its research on two treatments against the disease, including molnupiravir, developed with the American company Ridgeback Bio.The drug significantly reduced the viral load in patients after five days of treatment, the company said Saturday in a meeting with infectious-disease specialists.Phase 2a of the test — the trials have three phases before possible…


Mar62021 by DmediaNo Comments

Stop ‘Fussing and Whining’ Over COVID Response, Says Brazil President

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Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center has recorded more than 116 million global coronavirus cases. The U.S. is on the verge of having 30 million infections, followed by India with 11 million and Brazil with 10.8 million.Earlier this week, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had callous words for fellow Brazilians unhappy with the president's response to the pandemic.“Stop all this fussing and whining,” the president said. “How long are you going to keep on crying?” Bolsonaro was speaking in the Brazilian state of Goiás, where almost 9,000 people have died.Only the U.S. has more COVID deaths than Brazil. According to Hopkins, the U.S. has more than 522,000 COVID deaths, while Brazil has reported more than 262,000.Russia’s statistics agency said Friday more than 200,000 Russians diagnosed with COVID-19 have died, more than double…


Mar62021 by DmediaNo Comments

COVID Plunging Many Kenyans Deeper into Poverty

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One year into the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya, thousands of families are struggling with deepening poverty and unemployment.  A survey by the charity Twaweza shows 60% of Kenyan families can no longer afford three meals per day.  Brenda Mulinya reports from Nairobi. Camera: Amos Wangwa       Producer: Henry Hernandez ...


Mar62021 by DmediaNo Comments

NASA’s New Mars Rover Hits Dusty Red Road, 1st Trip 6.6 Meters

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NASA's newest Mars rover hit the dusty red road this week, putting 6.5 meters on the odometer in its first test drive.The Perseverance rover ventured from its landing position Thursday, two weeks after setting down on the Red Planet to seek signs of past life.The roundabout, back and forth drive lasted just 33 minutes and went so well that more driving was on tap Friday and Saturday for the six-wheeled rover."This is really the start of our journey here," said Rich Rieber, the NASA engineer who plotted the route. "This is going to be like the Odyssey, adventures along the way, hopefully no Cyclops, and I'm sure there will be stories aplenty written about it."In its first drive, Perseverance went forward 4 meters, took a 150-degree left turn, then backed…


Mar52021 by DmediaNo Comments

White House COVID Team: Take Any Vaccine You Can Get 

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The White House COVID-19 response team said Friday that all coronavirus vaccines currently available were safe and effective and urged Americans to take whichever one they had access to, after the mayor of Detroit reportedly declined an allocation of the Johnson & Johnson drug.At a news briefing Thursday, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he was declining a shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, adding that while it was a very good vaccine, he felt the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were better and he wanted to get the people of Detroit “the best.”At a virtual news briefing Friday, coronavirus special adviser Andy Slavitt said that the White House reached out to the mayor and that there had been a misunderstanding. It was not Duggan’s intent to refuse the vaccine, said…


Mar52021 by DmediaNo Comments

Effort to Curb Ebola in Guinea, DR Congo Gathering Steam

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The World Health Organization says it is using every measure it has to curb the spread of parallel Ebola outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the biggest lessons learned from the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa — the largest in history — is the critical importance of acting quickly to contain the deadly disease.  World health officials began marshaling staff and working on a strategy to combat the disease as soon as the first cases of the Ebola virus were detected in Guinea on February 14. A rapid assessment conducted by the WHO in the country and in the region found the risk level to be very high. WHO Representative in Guinea, Georges Alfred Ki-Zerbo, said the WHO and partners have been stepping up efforts to…


Mar52021 by DmediaNo Comments

Rwanda Begins COVID-19 Vaccinations

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The east-central African nation of Rwanda began its COVID-19 vaccination program Friday, using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, making it the first African nation to administer the drug. The nation received 102,960 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and 240,000 doses of AstraZeneca through the international vaccine cooperative, COVAX facility earlier this week. Rwandan health authorities began transporting both shots around the hilly nation of 12 million people using helicopters to reach far-flung areas.  Earlier this week, Minister of Health Dr. Daniel Ngamije said the nation's vaccination plan would prioritize high-risk groups first, including the sick and the elderly, as well as front-line medical workers. He said the government's goal was to vaccinate 30% of Rwandans by the end of 2021, and 60% by the end of 2022. The government of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, which prides…


Mar52021 by DmediaNo Comments

WHO Cancels Interim Report on Origins of COVID in China

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A Wall Street Journal report says World Health Organization investigators who recently visited China to determine the origins of the emergence of the COVID-19 virus will not release a promised interim report of their findings.The Journal account, published Thursday, said the WHO team decided not to release its interim account “amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington.” Another international group of scientists has called for the WHO to conduct a new inquiry into COVID’s origins.The scientists calling for a new probe said in an open letter Thursday that the WHO team “did not have the mandate, the independence, or the necessary accesses to carry out a full and unrestricted investigation.”The scientists also noted in their letter that the WHO investigators in China were joined by their Chinese counterparts.A report in…


Mar52021 by TechmanNo Comments

World Semiconductor Shortage Raises Taiwan’s Bargaining Power with US

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U.S. President Joe Biden’s order to secure semiconductor supply chains for high-tech hardware production offers a commercial boost to Taiwan, one of the world’s biggest providers of chips, and gives Taipei new weight in any free-trade talks, analysts say.Biden signed an executive order Feb. 24 for the United States to start overcoming a chip shortage that has hobbled the manufacturing of vehicles, consumer electronics and medical supplies. It will trigger a review process leading to policy recommendations on how to bolster supply chains.Taiwan comes into play as the home of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which spins out more chips than any other contract manufacturer in the world and has some of the most advanced production processes. Those advances generate semiconductors that run on relatively little power without sacrificing the speed…


Mar52021 by DmediaNo Comments

WHO Cancels Interim Report on China COVID Investigation

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A Wall Street Journal report says World Health Organization investigators who recently visited China to determine the origins of the emergence of the COVID-19 virus will not release a promised interim report of their findings.The Journal account, published Thursday, said the WHO team decided not to release its interim account “amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington.” Another international group of scientists has called for the WHO to conduct a new inquiry into COVID’s origins.The scientists calling for a new probe said in an open letter Thursday that the WHO team “did not have the mandate, the independence, or the necessary accesses to carry out a full and unrestricted investigation.”The scientists also noted in their letter that the WHO investigators in China were joined by their Chinese counterparts.A report in…


Mar52021 by TechmanNo Comments

US Tech Competition With China Draws Bipartisan Support

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This week a U.S.-government backed commission of technology experts completed a three-year review of the country’s artificial intelligence capabilities, urging the development of a new national technology strategy to stay competitive with China.The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) has been studying how artificial intelligence and machine learning can address U.S. national security and defense needs. It recommended spending billions of dollars more on research, diversifying the American industrial supply chain for microchips and other high-tech products, and reforming immigration policies to attract talented researchers and workers.Some of those steps are under way. Republican and Democratic lawmakers are now focusing more on ways to address technological competition with China, following years in which officials say China carried out corporate espionage and forced technology transfers to rapidly advance its technological…


Mar52021 by DmediaNo Comments

COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Grows as Side Effect Worries Fade

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Confidence in COVID-19 vaccines is growing, with people's willingness to have the shots increasing as they are rolled out across the world and concerns about possible side effects are fading, a 14-country survey showed on Friday.Co-led by Imperial College London's Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) and the polling firm YouGov, the survey found trust in COVID-19 vaccines had risen in nine out of 14 countries covered, including France, Japan and Singapore, which had previously had low levels of confidence.The latest update of the survey, which ran from Feb. 8-21, found that people in Britain are the most willing, with 77% saying they would take a vaccine designed to protect against COVID-19 if one was available that week.This is up from 55% in November, shortly before the first COVID-19 vaccine…


Mar42021 by DmediaNo Comments

WHO Reports Rise of New COVID-19 Cases in Europe

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The World Health Organization’s Europe director reported Thursday that new COVID-19 cases rose 9% to just over a million in the region last week.     Hans Kluge said it was the first increase in new infections after six weeks of decline.   At a virtual news briefing from his headquarters in Copenhagen, Kluge told reporters that more than half the region saw increases in new cases.   Kluge said most of the resurgence was seen in central and eastern Europe, although new cases were also on the rise in several western European countries where rates were already high.      “Over a year into the pandemic, our health systems should not be in this situation. We need to get back to the basics," he said.   He said the…


Mar42021 by DmediaNo Comments

SpaceX Takes Flight With and Without Success

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Astronauts aboard the International Space Station this week built the bones for much-needed power upgrades.  Also, SpaceX took flight with and without success, and flaming space junk lights up Australian skies.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space. ...


Mar42021 by DmediaNo Comments

Kenyan Women’s Rights Groups Hail Lifting of US Abortion Funding ‘Gag Rule’

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Women's rights activists in Kenya have welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s order revoking the ban blocking U.S. funding to women’s health organizations that provide abortion or abortion-related services. Critics say the so-called gag rule left women uninformed about safe options to end a pregnancy.       Forty-five-year-old Najma Wangoi lost her sister in 2018 after she bought medicine from a drug store to induce an abortion and it led to her death.      The mother of two says her sister didn’t know there was a better way to end a pregnancy.         “She didn’t know because she bought those medicines for 3,500 shillings ($35). If she knew there was a place to do a safe abortion, she would still be alive. She should have explained her…