Month: November 2022

Delegates at a global summit on trade in endangered species were scheduled to decide Thursday whether to approve a proposal to protect sharks, a move that could drastically reduce the lucrative and often cruel shark fin trade. The proposal would place dozens of species of the requiem shark and the hammerhead shark families on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The appendix lists species that may not yet be threatened with extinction but may become so unless trade in them is closely controlled. If Thursday's plenary meeting gives the green light, "it would be a historic decision," Panamanian delegate Shirley Binder told AFP. "For the first time, CITES would be handling a very large number of shark species, which would be approximately 90% of…

Canadian-American eco-warrior Paul Watson, ousted from the Sea Shepherd conservationist organization he founded, says he is back in business with a new ship and crew and is ready to resume tormenting the world’s whalers and others he sees as despoilers of the world’s oceans.  “After being knocked down, we have fully recovered and we’re ready to return to battle on the high seas,” Watson declared in a digital announcement earlier this month. “The new Captain Paul Watson Foundation is here and it’s ready to aggressively take on all enemies that look to do harm to our ocean and our planet.” Watson is among the most controversial figures in the environmental movement, in and out of legal trouble on several continents over aggressive tactics, which have included ramming and sinking or…

Abbas Hashem fixed his worried gaze on the horizon — the day was almost gone and still, there was no sign of the last of his water buffaloes. He knows that when his animals don't come back from roaming the marshes of this part of Iraq, they must be dead. The dry earth is cracked beneath his feet and thick layers of salt coat shriveled reeds in the Chibayish wetlands amid this year's dire shortages in fresh water flows from the Tigris River. Hashem already lost five buffaloes from his herd of 20 since May, weakened with hunger and poisoned by the salty water seeping into the low-lying marshes. Other buffalo herders in the area say their animals have died, too, or produce milk that's unfit to sell. "This place…

Every few minutes, 14-month-old Awa coughs, the phlegm rising from deep within her chest. Her mother, Meta Ba, says Awa's been coughing that way for as long as she can remember. Ba, who suffers from chronic migraines, works as an artisanal gold miner in Senegal's far eastern region of Kedougou, near the borders of Mali and Guinea. Gold mining in Senegal plays a key role in the country's economy, but the use of mercury during the treatment process is harming the environment and the health of the miners. In Kedougou, home to 98% of Senegal's gold mines, more than five tons of mercury are used annually. Health experts say the heavy metal attacks the nervous, digestive and immune systems. It can harm the lungs and kidneys and impair hearing, balance,…

China's daily COVID cases have climbed to the highest since the pandemic began, official data showed Thursday, despite the government persisting with a zero-tolerance approach involving grueling lockdowns and travel restrictions. The numbers are relatively small when compared with China's vast population of 1.4 billion and the caseloads seen in Western countries at the height of the pandemic. But under Beijing's strict zero-COVID policy, even small outbreaks can shut down entire cities and place contacts of infected patients into strict quarantine. The country recorded 31,454 domestic cases -- 27,517 without symptoms -- on Wednesday, the National Health Bureau said. The unrelenting zero-COVID push has caused fatigue and resentment among swathes of the population as the pandemic's third anniversary approaches, sparking sporadic protests and hitting productivity in the world's second-largest economy.…

More than 40 million children missed getting vaccinated against measles last year, prompting a significant setback in global efforts to eradicate the highly contagious disease worldwide, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a joint report Wednesday. Vaccination campaigns were disrupted in several countries because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, dropping global measles-containing vaccine (MCV) coverage from 86% in 2019 to 81% in 2021, the lowest coverage rate since 2008.    Now, nearly all of the 40 million children who missed their first or second doses of the MCV are “dangerously susceptible to [a] growing measles threat,” the report warned.     “The paradox of the pandemic is that while vaccines against COVID-19 were developed in record time and deployed in the largest…

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake left more than 260 dead and hundreds injured as buildings crumbled and terrified residents ran for their lives on Indonesia's main island of Java. Bodies continued to be pulled from the debris on Tuesday morning in the hardest-hit city of Cianjur, located in the country's most densely populated province of West Java and some 217 kilometers (135 miles) south of the capital, Jakarta. A number of people are still missing. While the magnitude would typically be expected to cause light damage to buildings and other structures, experts say proximity to fault lines, the shallowness of the quake and inadequate infrastructure that cannot withstand earthquakes all contributed to the damage. Here's a closer look at the earthquake and some reasons why it caused so much devastation: Was…

The White House brought out two of the nation's top doctors Tuesday to urge all Americans to update their COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations in the next six weeks as the holiday season approaches. The nearly $500 million effort will focus on reaching older Americans and communities hardest hit by the virus, which has killed more than 1 million and infected nearly 100 million in the U.S. since the pandemic began.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently reporting a "substantial" decrease in weekly deaths, which it attributes to two factors. The first is high levels of population immunity, which are a result of either vaccination or prior infection. The second is improvements in early treatment for high-risk patients. The White House said it would increase vaccination efforts over…

A few weeks ago, Lebanon detected its first cases of cholera in 30 years. The highly contagious disease has since spread and officials in the cash-strapped country fear there is a high risk of it becoming endemic if they are unable to tackle the root causes of the outbreak. Jacob Russell reports from the town of Bebnine, in northern Lebanon. ...

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. health official celebrated and vilified as the face of the country's COVID-19 pandemic response, used his final White House briefing on Tuesday to denounce division and promote vaccines. Fauci, who plans to retire soon as President Joe Biden's top medical adviser and top U.S. infectious disease official, has dealt with the thorny questions around health crises from HIV/AIDS to avian flu and Ebola. But it was his handling of COVID — and his blunt assessments from the White House podium that Americans needed to change their behavior in light of the pandemic — that made him a hero to public health advocates while serving under President Donald Trump, a villain to some on the right and an unusual celebrity among bureaucratic officials used to toiling…

Botswana has approved the use of injectable anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to improve adherence to HIV treatment. Minister of Health Edwin Dikoloti says the injections, given every two months, are more convenient than daily pills, which patients sometimes skip.  Health Minister Edwin Dikoloti said the use of injectable ARV medication will start next year, after the recent approval of the drug. “(The) government is working on introducing the injectable anti-retroviral medication soon. Botswana has, through the professional guidance of the clinical guidelines committee, adopted the use of injectable antiretroviral medicines given every two months, for both prevention and treatment,” said Dikoloti. Minister Dikoloti said the move will help alleviate concerns that patients are skipping their daily oral dose. “The injectable ARVs, for both prevention and treatment, will no doubt improve adherence…

Five months after Thailand became the first country in Asia to legalize cannabis, boosters of the hot-button herb are fighting to keep it that way amid mounting calls to re-list the plant as a narcotic. Cannabis sellers, growers and smokers rallied outside the national government’s headquarters in the capital, Bangkok, Tuesday to discourage authorities from placing the plant back on the country’s controlled narcotics list, with stiff penalties for possession and distribution. “There is a very high chance that cannabis may end up being illegal again, so it’s quite a very high stake right now,” said Chokwan Chopaka of the People's Network for Cannabis Legislation in Thailand, which organized the event. The government’s Narcotics Control Board was meeting Tuesday to discuss concerns about the reported spike in the recreational use…

Bacterial infections are the second leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for one in eight of all deaths in 2019, the first global study of their lethality revealed on Tuesday. The massive new study, published in The Lancet journal, looked at deaths from 33 common bacterial pathogens and 11 types of infection across 204 countries and territories. The pathogens were associated with 7.7 million deaths — 13.6% of the global total — in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic took off. That made them the second-leading cause of death after ischemic heart disease, which includes heart attacks, the study said. Just five of the 33 bacteria were responsible for half of those deaths: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. S. aureus is a bacterium…

The World Health Organization said Monday it was thrashing out a new list of priority pathogens that risk sparking pandemics or outbreaks and should be kept under close observation.  The WHO said the aim was to update a list used to guide global research and development (R&D) and investment, especially in vaccines, tests and treatments.  As part of that process, which started Friday, the United Nations' health agency is convening more than 300 scientists to consider evidence on more than 25 virus families and bacteria.  They will also consider the so-called Disease X, an unknown pathogen that could cause a serious international epidemic.  "Targeting priority pathogens and virus families for research and development of countermeasures is essential for a fast and effective epidemic and pandemic response," said WHO emergencies director…

NASA’s Orion capsule reached the moon Monday, whipping around the back side and passing within 80 miles (128 kilometers) on its way to a record-breaking lunar orbit.  The close approach occurred as the crew capsule and its three test dummies were on the far side of the moon. Because of the half-hour communication blackout, flight controllers in Houston did not know if the critical engine firing went well until the capsule emerged from behind the moon, more than 232,000 miles (375,000 kilometers) from Earth.  It’s the first time a capsule has visited the moon since NASA’s Apollo program 50 years ago, and represented a huge milestone in the $4.1 billion test flight that began last Wednesday. Orion's flight path took it over the landing sites of Apollo 11, 12 and…

Beijing's most populous district urged residents to stay at home Monday, extending a request from the weekend as the city's COVID-19 case numbers rose, with many businesses shut and schools in the area shifting classes online. Nationally, new case numbers held steady on Sunday near April peaks as China battles outbreaks in cities across the country, from Zhengzhou in central Henan province to Guangzhou in the south and Chongqing in the southwest. In the capital, two COVID-19 deaths were reported Sunday. Authorities earlier reported the death of an 87-year-old Beijing man, the country’s first official COVID-19 fatality since May 26, raising China's coronavirus death toll to 5,227. It is unclear if his death is one of the two reported Sunday. In addition to the deaths, the city reported 154 symptomatic…

U.S. Army veteran Matt Schermerhorn couldn’t give blood for years because he was stationed in Europe during a deadly mad cow disease scare there. Now, he’s proud to be back in the donor’s chair. Schermerhorn, 58, is among thousands of people, including current and former military members, who have returned to blood donation centers across the country after federal health officials lifted a ban that stood for more than two decades. “It’s a responsibility. It’s a civic duty,” said Schermerhorn, who donated on Veterans Day at the ImpactLife center in Davenport, Iowa. “You really don't have to go out of your way too much to help your fellow man.” Blood collectors nationwide are tracking down people like Schermerhorn, U.S. citizens who lived, worked or vacationed in the United Kingdom, France,…

Negotiators early Sunday approved a historic deal that would create a fund for compensating poor nations that are victims of extreme weather worsened by rich countries’ carbon pollution, but an overall larger agreement still was up in the air because of a fight over emission reduction efforts. After the decision on the fund was approved, talks were put on hold for 30 minutes so delegates could read texts of other measures they were to vote on. The decision establishes a fund for what negotiators call loss and damage. It is a big win for poorer nations which have long called for cash — sometimes viewed as reparations — because they are often the victims of climate worsened floods, droughts, heat waves, famines and storms despite having contributed little to the…

What is bigger: A ronna or a quetta? Scientists meeting outside of Paris on Friday — who have expanded the world’s measuring unit systems for the first time this century as the global population surges past 8 billion — have the answer. Rapid scientific advances and vast worldwide data storage on the web, in smartphones and in the cloud, mean that the very terms used to measure things in weight and size need extending too. And one British scientist led the push to incorporate bold new, tongue-twisting prefixes on the gigantic and even the minuscule scale. “Most people are familiar with prefixes like milli- as in milligram. But these are prefixes for the biggest and smallest levels ever measured,” Richard Brown, head of Metrology at the U.K.’s National Physical Laboratory…

A last-minute fight over emissions cutting and the overall climate change goal is delaying a potentially historic deal that would create a fund for compensating poor nations that are victims of extreme weather worsened by rich countries' carbon pollution. "We are extremely on overtime. There were some good spirits earlier today. I think more people are more frustrated about the lack of progress," Norwegian climate change minister Espen Barth Eide told The Associated Press. He said it came down to getting tougher on fossil fuel emissions and retaining the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times as was agreed in last year's climate summit in Glasgow. "Some of us are trying to say that we actually have to keep global warming under 1.5…

Wildlife conservationists are heartened by a rare sighting of a snow leopard in what they say is the first member of the endangered species to be captured on camera in Indian-administered Kashmir. The adult animal was identified from images taken last month using infrared camera traps in a remote region some 3,500 to 3,800 meters above sea level. The trap was installed earlier this year in an effort by the Jammu and Kashmir government to determine how many of the cats exist in the territory. "In coming days more such findings from the ongoing surveys are expected from these landscapes," said Munib Sajad Khanyari, high altitude program manager of India's Nature Conservation Foundation, who explained that the enigmatic animals can serve as a "flagship" for the promotion of conservation and…

China’s zero-COVID policy prompted hundreds of Chinese citizens to march in the streets in Guangzhou this week after hearing that ongoing lockdowns had been extended. In videos shared on Chinese social media and later on Twitter, demonstrators were seen tearing down COVID lockdown barriers in the streets and chanting slogans such as “don’t test anymore” and “open up.” Such protests in China are not unusual, according to Freedom House, a Washington-based watchdog organization. Its latest initiative, called China Dissent Monitor (CDM), is a database that tracks the frequency and type of dissent in China. CDM’s report released this week documented 668 cases of dissent from June to September this year. Issues that motivated dissent included stalled housing projects, job grievances, and COVID-19, among other reasons. Most of the events happened…

Pfizer said Friday that its updated COVID-19 booster may offer some protection against newly emerging omicron mutants, even though it's not an exact match. Americans have been reluctant to get the updated boosters rolled out by Pfizer and rival Moderna, doses tweaked to target the BA.5 omicron strain that until recently was the most common type. With relatives of BA.5 now on the rise, the question is how the new boosters will hold up. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said their updated booster generated virus-fighting antibodies that can target four additional omicron subtypes, including the particularly worrisome BQ.1.1. The immune response wasn't as strong against this alphabet soup of newer mutants as it is against the BA.5 strain. But adults 55 and older experienced a nearly ninefold jump in antibodies…

As Americans head into the holiday season, a rapidly intensifying flu season is straining hospitals already overburdened with patients sick from other respiratory infections.  More than half the states have high or very high levels of flu, unusually high for this early in the season, the government reported Friday. Those 27 states are mostly in the South and Southwest but include a growing number in the Northeast, Midwest and West.  This is happening when children's hospitals already are dealing with a surge of illnesses from RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be serious for infants and the elderly. And COVID-19 is still contributing to more than 3,000 hospital admissions each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  In Atlanta, Dr.…

NASA's Webb Space Telescope is finding bright, early galaxies that until now were hidden from view, including one that may have formed a mere 350 million years after the cosmic-creating Big Bang. Astronomers said Thursday that if the results are verified, this newly discovered throng of stars would beat the most distant galaxy identified by the Hubble Space Telescope, a record-holder that formed 400 million years after the universe began. Launched last December as a successor to Hubble, the Webb telescope is indicating stars may have formed sooner than previously thought — perhaps within a couple million years of creation. Webb's latest discoveries were detailed in the Astrophysical Journal Letters by an international team led by Rohan Naidu of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The article elaborates on two exceptionally…

A global wildlife summit in Panama took an important step Thursday toward upgrading protection for sharks, the ancient ocean vertebrates targeted for their fins used in a status-symbol soup.  A committee voted to approve a proposal to include requiem and hammerhead sharks on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).    The appendix lists species that may not yet be threatened with extinction but may become so unless their trade is closely controlled.    The Wildlife Conservation Society, advocating for the sharks' inclusion on the appendix, said the requiem shark family makes up at least 70% of the fin trade.  According to Luke Warwick of the Wildlife Conservation Society, "we are in the middle of a very large shark extinction crisis."   He said sharks, which are vital…