Cyberattacks Increasingly Hobble Pandemic-Weary US Schools

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For teachers at a middle school in New Mexico's largest city, the first inkling of a widespread tech problem came during an early morning staff call. On the video, there were shout-outs for a new custodian for his hard work, and the typical announcements from administrators and the union rep. But in the chat, there were hints of a looming crisis. Nobody could open attendance records, and everyone was locked out of class rosters and grades. Albuquerque administrators later confirmed the outage that blocked access to the district's student database — which also includes emergency contacts and lists of which adults are authorized to pick up which children — was due to a ransomware attack. "I didn't realize how important it was until I couldn't use it," said Sarah Hager,…
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US FDA Gives Full Approval to Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ((FDA)) Monday gave full approval to U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, which will be marketed under the name Spikevax. The vaccine has been widely distributed in the United States and around the world under the FDA’s emergency use authorization since December of 2020. It is the second COVID-19 vaccine the agency has fully approved, after Pfizer’s vaccine received the designation in August of 2021. In a statement, acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said full authorization of the vaccine is an important step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. She said that while hundreds of millions of doses of the Moderna shot have been administered under the emergency use authorization, she understands “for some individuals, FDA approval of this vaccine may instill additional…
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Military to Aid Outback Town Cut Off by Australian Floods

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The Australian air force is preparing to deliver 20 tons of emergency supplies to remote communities cut off by flood waters. Traffic has been disrupted on the main highway and railway between Adelaide in South Australia and Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory.     Heavy rain and storms in recent days have damaged freight routes in South Australia.  A 14-day major emergency was declared Friday by state authorities. It gives the police special powers to ensure food reaches isolated communities.  South Australia has a population of 1.7 million who are already under a major emergency declaration for COVID-19. The state was also badly impacted by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, although the floods have occurred away from the areas worst-hit by the fires.  The area is expected…
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Beijing Seals Off More Residential Areas, Reports 12 Cases

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Beijing officials said Sunday they sealed off several residential communities in the city’s northern district after two cases of COVID-19 were found. Residents in the Anzhenli neighborhood in Chaoyang district were sealed off on Saturday, and will not be allowed to leave their compound. Beijing is on high alert as it prepares to host the Olympic Games opening on Friday. While the cases are low compared to other countries in the region, China has double down on its “zero-tolerance” policy, which includes breaking the chain of transmission as soon as it is found. The city is also setting up 19 points in the area to test residents every day until Friday, officials said at a briefing on the pandemic, according to state-backed Beijing News. The Chinese capital reported a total…
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2 NY Nurses Allegedly Forged COVID Vaccination Cards, Made $1.5 Million

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New York authorities have arrested two Long Island nurses who officials say made more than $1.5 million by forging COVID-19 vaccination cards. Julie DeVuono, the owner of Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare and her employee, Marissa Urraro, have been charged with felony forgery, authorities say. DeVuono was also charged with offering a false instrument for filing. Officials say the two women entered the false information on the cards into New York’s immunization database. The Suffolk County district attorney’s office said the women sold the fake cards for $220 for adults and $85 for children. Officials say about $900,000 in cash was seized from DeVuono’s home. Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, is in self-isolation until Tuesday after a possible COVID exposure on a flight to Auckland, officials said Saturday. “The prime…
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Myanmar Cybersecurity Law ‘Days’ Away as Coup Anniversary Nears

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Myanmar’s military government is set to pass a new cybersecurity law that will ban the use of internet services, a move that has been condemned by digital rights activists and business groups. The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since a coup by the military last February. A widespread grassroots movement has seen thousands refuse to accept military rule, with anti-coup communications and demonstrations now largely mobilized online. But a draft bill released by the junta, if passed, would criminalize the use of virtual private networks and online gambling, carrying a punishment of one to three years’ imprisonment and fines of up to $2,800. The first draft of the bill was released last year, but progress on the legislation slowed after substantial public outcry and industrywide criticism. The legislation…
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Hong Kong Allows Pet Stores to Resume Hamster Sales After COVID Cull

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Dozens of pet stores that sold hamsters in Hong Kong may resume business starting Sunday, Hong Kong's government said, after being shuttered last week and culling thousands of hamsters over coronavirus fears. Authorities enraged pet lovers with an order to cull more than 2,200 hamsters after tracing an outbreak to a worker in a shop where 11 hamsters tested positive. Imported hamsters from Holland into the Chinese territory had been cited as the source. All hamster imports remain banned. The city's Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in a statement late Saturday that it collected 1,134 samples from animals other than hamsters including rabbits and chinchillas, which were all negative. Five stores, including the Little Boss pet shop, where authorities traced the outbreak, remained closed until they pass “the virus…
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Australia Promises Multimillion Dollar Plan to Tackle Great Barrier Reef Pollution

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There has been a mixed response to Australia’s $700 million plan to combat water pollution on the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest reef system. The nine-year Australian plan promises to fund projects that reduce erosion and pesticides and fertilizers running off farmland into the sea.  There will be other conservation efforts, including combating coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish and illegal fishing. The Australian Marine Conservation Society has welcomed the initiative.  It said that curbing pollution was essential to build the reef’s “resilience to climate change.”  Environment Minister Sussan Ley says the plan will help protect one of the country’s great natural treasures.   “This is an extraordinary investment in a reef.  I don’t think there has ever been one as large anywhere in the world," said Ley. "The reef economy is…
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Scientists Call Rich Nations’ Failure to Provide Vaccines to World ‘Reckless’

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A group of 300 scientists say wealthy nations’ failure to provide the rest of the world with access to COVID-19 vaccines is a “reckless approach to public health” that results in conditions that allow for variants, such as the highly contagious omicron variant, to emerge. In a letter to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the scientists said Britain’s people and the National Health Service have been placed at risk because of the UK’s global vaccination policy, according to a report in The Telegraph. Reuters reports that the letter urges Britain to support the waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-17 vaccines, tests and treatments. The scientists who signed the letter include a Nobel prize winner and a former National Health Service chief executive, The Telegraph reported. Three billion people worldwide…
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Omicron Drives US Deaths Higher Than in Fall’s Delta Wave

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Omicron, the highly contagious coronavirus variant sweeping across the country, is driving the daily American death toll higher than was the case during last fall's delta wave, with deaths likely to keep rising for days or even weeks.  The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has been climbing since mid-November, reaching 2,267 on Thursday and surpassing a September peak of 2,100 when delta was the dominant variant.  Now omicron is estimated to account for nearly all the virus circulating in the nation. And even though it causes less severe disease for most people, the fact that it is more transmissible means more people are falling ill and dying.  "Omicron will push us over a million deaths," said Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the…
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Toyota Heading to Moon with Cruiser, Robotic Arms, Dreams

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Toyota is working with Japan's space agency on a vehicle to explore the lunar surface, with ambitions to help people live on the moon by 2040 and then go live on Mars, company officials said Friday. The vehicle being developed with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is called Lunar Cruiser, whose name pays homage to the Toyota Land Cruiser sport utility vehicle. Its launch is set for the late 2020's. The vehicle is based on the idea that people eat, work, sleep and communicate with others safely in cars, and the same can be done in outer space, said Takao Sato, who heads the Lunar Cruiser project at Toyota Motor Corp. "We see space as an area for our once-in-a-century transformation. By going to space, we may be able to…
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FAA, Telecom Companies to Turn On More 5G Towers

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The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday U.S.-based telecommunications companies AT&T and Verizon can activate more of their fifth-generation, or 5G, transmitters after consultation with the agency.  Earlier this month, the telecommunication companies agreed they would delay launching the new wireless service near key airports after weeks of legal wrangling with the nation's largest airlines and U.S. government regulators that feared the 5G service would interfere with aircraft technology and cause massive flight disruptions.  But in its release Friday, the FAA said both companies provided additional data about the exact location of wireless transmitters and supported more thorough analysis of how 5G C-band signals interact with aircraft instruments.  The agency said it used that data to precisely map the size and shape of the areas around airports where 5G signals…
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CDC: Immunocompromised Could Benefit From Extra Shot of Moderna, Pfizer Vaccines

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday a third primary shot of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for immunocompromised people could significantly reduce their need for hospitalization.  The CDC said the recommendation of a third shot, not a booster, is the result of a study of immunocompromised people in which the third shot proved to be about 88% effective against hospitalization. The two-shot regime proved to be 69% effective in avoiding hospitalization among that group. The government authorized the third shots of Pfizer or Moderna for people with compromised immune systems in August.  Later, in October, regulators said the immunocompromised who had gotten their third shots would be eligible for boosters early this year for even more protection.  However, that information has not trickled down to…
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6 Cancer Patients Sue Utility Over Fukushima Radiation 

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Six people who were children living in Fukushima at the time of the 2011 nuclear disaster and have since developed thyroid cancer filed a lawsuit Thursday demanding a utility pay compensation for their illnesses, which they say were triggered by massive radiation spewed from the Fukushima nuclear plant.  The people, now aged 17-27 and living in and outside of Fukushima, demand the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings pay a total of 616 million yen ($5.4 million) in compensation.  One of the plaintiffs, identified only as a woman in her 20s, said she has had to prioritize her health over her career and has seen prejudice against thyroid cancer patients.  “But I decided to come forward and tell the truth in hopes of improving the situation for nearly 300 other people…
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Nigerian Authorities Raise Concerns Over Low Life Expectancy

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Nigerian health authorities say the country's life expectancy is among the worst in the world, with influenza and pneumonia leading causes of death. In southern Nigeria's Cross River state, severe air pollution is increasing the cases of respiratory diseases. Port Harcourt resident David Tolu-Adamu knows. Before leaving for work each day, he dons his face mask. Tolu-Adamu says it's a measure he has been taking since long before the coronavirus pandemic to filter out the sooty air. "Constantly on a daily basis, year in year out, we have issues with black soot,” he says. “We breathe in this harmful substance in our day in, day out, in our sleep, while we work, when we exercise." Wearing a face mask is a common practice for many in the oil-rich city polluted…
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Fighting Taliban and Mistrust, Pakistan Marks One Year Polio-Free

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Bathed in crisp morning light, Sidra Hussain grips a cooler stacked with glistening vials of polio vaccine in northwest Pakistan.  Watching over Hussain and her partner, a policeman unslings his rifle and eyes the horizon.  In concert they begin their task — going door-to-door on the outskirts of Mardan city, dripping bitter doses of rose-colored medicine into infants’ mouths on the eve of a major milestone for the nation’s anti-polio drive.  The last infection of the wild poliovirus was recorded on January 27, 2021, according to officials, and Friday marks the first time in Pakistan’s history that a year has passed with no new cases.  To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years — but even 12 months is a long time in a…
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Astronomers Predict SpaceX Space Junk Will Crash Into Moon

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A chunk of a SpaceX rocket that blasted off seven years ago and was abandoned in space after completing its mission will crash into the moon in March, experts say.  The rocket was deployed in 2015 to put into orbit a NASA satellite called the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR).  Since then, the second stage of the rocket, or booster, has been floating in what mathematicians call a chaotic orbit, astronomer Bill Gray told AFP on Wednesday.  It was Gray who calculated the space junk's new collision course with the moon.  The booster passed quite close to the moon in January in a rendezvous that altered its orbit, he said.  He is behind Project Pluto, software that allows for calculating the trajectory of asteroids and other objects in space and…
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Only 14 Cases of Guinea Worm Infection Reported Globally in 2021

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The Atlanta-based Carter Center is making dramatic progress in the eradication of Guinea worm disease. VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports that if the remaining endemic countries in Africa - Chad, South Sudan, Mali, Ethiopia and border areas of Cameroon - rid the parasite completely, it would become the first disease in human history eradicated through prevention and not vaccination ...
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Nigerian Language Advocates Seek Inclusion of African Languages in Tech Devices

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Voice-activated virtual assistant technologies, such as Siri and Alexa, are becoming increasingly common around the world, but in Africa, with its many languages, most people are at a digital disadvantage. To address the problem, some African researchers are creating translation tools to recognize and promote indigenous languages, such as Yoruba.  Yoruba language teacher Oluwafemi Awosanya resumes a day's classes with his students. He has been teaching the language for 10 years, but says he often struggles to migrate his class modules to an online students' blogsite he created because there is no speech recognition technology for Yoruba.   "Yoruba language is a language that has to do with signs at the top, so I need to go (the) extra mile. When typing my notes, I have to first type on Microsoft…
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Nigerian Language Advocates Call for Including African Languages in High Tech Devices

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Voice activated virtual assistant technologies, such as Siri and Alexa, are becoming increasingly common around the world but in Africa, with its many languages, most people are at a digital disadvantage.  To address the problem, some African researchers are creating translation tools to recognize and promote indigenous languages, such as Yoruba. Timothy Obiezu in Abuja has details. Camera: Emeka Gibson   ...
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Solar-Powered Oxygen Saving the Lives of Somali Children

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The installation of a solar-powered medical oxygen system at a hospital in central Somalia is proving effective in saving lives, Somali and World Health Organization doctors said.  The innovative solar oxygen system, the first of its kind in Somalia, was installed at Hanaano hospital, in the central town of Dhusamareb a year ago. Doctors say the system is having an impact and helping save the lives of very young patients.     “This innovation is giving us promise and hopes,” says Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik, WHO Somalia Representative.   Malik says 171 patients received oxygen at the hospital from the solar-powered system from February to October last year. Of these 163 patients (95.3%) fully recovered and were discharged from the hospital. Only three patients died, and five other patients were referred to other…
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Explainer: What’s Known About ‘Stealth’ Version of Omicron?

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Scientists and health officials around the world are keeping their eyes on a descendant of the omicron variant that has been found in at least 40 countries, including the United States.  This version of the coronavirus, which scientists call BA.2, is widely considered stealthier than the original version of omicron because certain genetic traits make it somewhat harder to detect. Some scientists worry it could also be more contagious. But they say there's a lot they still don't know about it, including whether it evades vaccines better or causes more severe disease.  Where has it spread?  Since mid-November, more than three dozen countries have uploaded nearly 15,000 genetic sequences of BA.2 to GISAID, a global platform for sharing coronavirus data. As of Tuesday morning, 96 of those sequenced cases came…
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Mekong Region Sees 224 New Species, Despite ‘Intense Threat,’ Report Says 

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A devil-horned newt, drought-resilient bamboo and a monkey named after a volcano were among 224 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region in 2020, a conservation group said on Wednesday, despite the "intense threat" of habitat loss.  The discoveries listed in a report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) include a new rock gecko found in Thailand, a mulberry tree species in Vietnam, and a big-headed frog in Vietnam and Cambodia that is already threatened by deforestation.  The 224 discoveries underlined the rich biodiversity of the Mekong region, which encompasses Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and was testament to the resilience of nature in surviving in fragmented and degraded natural habitats, WWF said.  "These species are extraordinary, beautiful products of millions of years of evolution, but are under…
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 Uganda Ends COVID Curfew, and Nightlife Reopens

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Uganda on Monday lifted its two-year COVID-19 curfew, allowing bars and nightspots to re-open. Excited revelers celebrated the end of one of the world's longest lockdowns. A reveler who only identified herself as Peace said she has been drinking every night of the lockdown.  Uganda imposed the nighttime curfew in March 2020 in a bid to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which has led to about 3,500 deaths in the country.  Every night, businesses had to shut down at 7, and no cars were allowed on the streets.  Peace tells VOA that during the lockdown, she ventured into bars owned by government employees that continued to operate in secret but charged high prices for beer.  Excited, she said she is happy she can now drink at her favorite local bar.  “But…
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