Category: News

Scientists are watching a giant iceberg in the southern Atlantic Ocean saying it appears to be on a collision course with South Georgia Island and could devastate wildlife there, including penguins, seals and albatross.      Britain’s Royal Air Force, or RAF, Tuesday released video taken by an aircraft that flew last week over the 4,200-square-kilometer iceberg — roughly the size of the U.S. state of Delaware — and known as A68a. In the video, cracks and fissures can be seen on its surface, with a number of smaller ice chunks floating nearby.      The British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, reports the iceberg is now within 150 kilometers of the British Overseas Territory.   Researchers have spent weeks watching the iceberg on its potential collision course with the remote…

British regulators warned Wednesday that people with a history of allergic reactions not to get inoculated with a coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by U.S. drug maker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency issued the warning after two people reported adverse reactions to the vaccine on Tuesday, the first day of the vaccine’s rollout in Britain.National Health Service medical director Stephen Powis said two employees reported severe allergic reactions linked with receiving the vaccination.  He said both are recovering.Experts: Vaccines Appear Safe, But Some Questions RemainWith the pandemic raging, regulators allow shorter safety testsPfizer and BioNTech did not immediately comment on the warning in Britain, the first country to administer a fully examined vaccine for emergency use.MHRA Chief Executive June Raine told a parliamentary committee in London…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday called for tougher COVID-19 restrictions as the nation set daily record for deaths from the virus and infection numbers continue to rise.Speaking in the Bundestag – the lower house of the German parliament - a sometimes-emotional Merkel told lawmakers the nation was in a decisive period of fighting the pandemic, with the second wave far more demanding than the first.  Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases reported Wednesday 590 deaths related to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours - more than 100 higher than the week-old previous record – and 20,815 new daily infections, compared with 17,270 a week earlier.Chinese-made COVID-19 Vaccine Nearly 90% Effective, UAE Says Gulf Arab state participated in late-stage clinical trial of vaccine developed by state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm Germany is…

One day after Britain became the first Western nation to begin mass COVID-19 vaccinations, the United Arab Emirates says a Chinese-made vaccine has proven to be 86% effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of the disease. The Emirates’ Health Ministry announced the news Wednesday about the vaccine developed by China’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.  FILE - A box for a COVID-19 vaccine is displayed at an exhibit by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm at the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, China, Sept. 5, 2020.The Gulf Arab state participated in a late-stage clinical trial launched by Sinopharm in September involving 31,000 volunteers across 125 nations.  The UAE had also granted emergency use approval for the Sinopharm vaccine back in September.The ministry says the vaccine had no serious…

Deforestation has wiped out 8% of the Amazon rainforest in just 18 years, according to a study released Tuesday. The swath of land destroyed between 2000 and 2018 is the size of Spain, according to a study by Amazon Geo-Referenced Socio-Environmental Information Network (RAISG). "The Amazon is far more threatened than it was eight years ago," RAISG said in a statement. The organization’s last map tracking deterioration of the forest was published in 2012. FILE - An employee uses heavy machinery to stack logs at the Serra Mansa logging and sawmill company, in Moraes Almeida district, Itaituba, Para state, Brazil, in the Amazon rainforest, Sept. 12, 2019.The current map, a collaboration between 10 organizations, shows 513,016 square kilometers of the rainforest have been lost since 2000. According to the report, the latest data shows a…

Four lions have tested positive for COVID-19 at Barcelona Zoo in Spain, veterinary authorities announced Tuesday.Veterinarians are unsure how the lions were infected, although two zookeepers have also tested positive.The infection in three female cats and one male is only the second documented case of the coronavirus in big cats since four tigers and three lions tested positive in April at the Bronx Zoo in New York.The lions, Zala, Nima and Run Run, all 16 years old, and 4-year old Kiumbe, underwent a PCR test. This is the same type of test carried out on the staff members in November after they showed mild symptoms of the disease.In a statement, the zoo said the “lions were given veterinary care for their mild condition,” which they explained is “similar to a…

Vaccines against COVID-19 may begin arriving within days in the United States, as the fastest-ever vaccine development reaches a conclusion. Experts say no corners have been cut. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering authorizing the vaccines after a shorter-than-normal safety testing period.  Nothing sinister has turned up in clinical trials so far, but there are still unknowns. With the COVID-19 pandemic killing more than 2,000 Americans every day on average, health officials must walk a fine line between urging people to get vaccinated and acknowledging what they do not know about the vaccines' safety. "Communication is really critical here. We don't want to scare people, but we also don't want to lie to people," said Rupali Limaye, a vaccine behavior expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public…

Corruption has made Nigeria the biggest smuggler of ivory and pangolin scales from central and West Africa to Asia, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency. The London-based group says in the past five years, Nigeria has been implicated in global seizures equating to 4,400 elephants and hundreds of thousands of endangered pangolins.Aaron Olamilekan, a Nigerian wildlife advocate, spoke as he held a dead pangolin he bought from a group of local hunters arriving from a hunt on the outskirts of Abuja."They tell me why most of them hunt. It's based on poverty; there's no good job for them, there's no government support for them. So, they have no choice than to go into the wild," Olamilekan said.The hunters sell the animals in exchange for cash.But Olamilekan sometimes…

The World Health Organization is calling on governments around the world to ensure their citizens have resources and tools to help them give up tobacco smoking as it launches a yearlong campaign aimed at helping 100 million people quit.The campaign, Commit to Quit, is focusing on 22 countries including the United States, and it officially got under way Tuesday ahead of World No Tobacco Day 2021, in May.A WHO statement said the Commit to Quit campaign is aimed at creating “healthier environments that are conducive” for people who want to give up smoking.The WHO hopes to capitalize on users who have decided to quit since the novel coronavirus pandemic began by creating communities of peer quitters, according to the statement.FILE - Bystanders look a replica of human skeleton smoking cigarette during…

Researchers at Britain’s Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca published a study Tuesday showing their COVID-19 vaccine candidate to be “safe and effective” at fighting the virus.The peer-reviewed study was published Tuesday in the British medical journal The Lancet. The data showed the drug had an overall efficacy rate of 70.4%, higher than the 50% minimum set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, Andrew Pollard speaks during a virtual press conference inside 10 Downing Street in London on Nov. 23, 2020.In an interview with reporters, Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the difference in efficacy rates among the vaccines currently being reviewed will make little difference in the long term. He said what is important is getting vaccines to people and…

As Britain’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign began Tuesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told parliament that "the start of the fight back against our common enemy, coronavirus," had begun, adding there is still "much work to be done."Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine Proves 'Safe and Effective' Potential vaccine would be cheaper and easier to handle; questions remain about efficacyA 90-year-old retired British shop clerk received the first shot in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program in the unprecedented global immunization effort intended to offer a route out of a pandemic that currently has killed 1.5 million people.Hancock said the vaccine has been initially rolled out in 70 hospitals equipped to handle the complicated logistics that involve storage in sub-freezing temperatures. He said one of the biggest challenges will be getting the vaccine into homes that care…

Anxious researchers with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Tuesday said they have received a capsule containing samples collected from an asteroid after traveling five billion kilometers back to Earth.The capsule, from Japan's spacecraft Hayabusa2, blasted off for the asteroid Ryugu in December 2014, overcoming an unexpectedly rough landing surface to collect samples of asteroid dust in a capsule. That capsule plunged to Earth in Australia on Sunday and was flown to Japan where it was delivered to the agency’s scientists.At a news conference at JAXA in Sagamihara, about 51 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, space again scientists said the capsule is now secured safely in a curation facility at its research center.Project manager Yuichi Tsuda acknowledged he became a little emotional when the capsule was delivered to the facility, saying,…

Morocco is gearing up for an ambitious COVID-19 vaccination program, aiming to vaccinate 80% of its adults in an operation starting this month that's relying initially on a Chinese vaccine that has not yet completed advanced trials to prove it is safe and effective. The first injections could come within days, a Health Ministry official told The Associated Press. Facing a public skeptical about the vaccines' safety and effectiveness, medical experts and health officials have appeared on television in recent weeks to promote the COVID-19 vaccines and encourage Moroccans to get immunized. While Britain began its vaccination program Tuesday with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the U.S. and European Union are racing to approve a series of Western-made vaccines, other governments are looking to use vaccines from China and Russia. The…

The Trump administration opted last summer not to lock in a chance to buy millions of additional doses of one of the leading coronavirus vaccine contenders, a decision that could delay the delivery of a second batch of doses until manufacturer Pfizer fulfills other international contracts. The revelation, confirmed Monday by people familiar with the matter, came a day before President Donald Trump aimed to take credit for the speedy development of forthcoming coronavirus vaccines at a White House summit Tuesday. Pfizer's vaccine is expected to be endorsed by a panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers as soon as this week, with delivery of 100 million doses — enough for 50 million Americans — expected in coming months.  Under its contract with Pfizer, the Trump administration committed to buy an initial…

The Trump administration is aiming to instill public confidence as well as claim major credit for the forthcoming coronavirus vaccines with a White House summit Tuesday featuring experts who will outline distribution plans in detail. Officials from President-elect Joe Biden's transition team are not invited, even though they will oversee the continuation of the largest vaccination program in the nation's history once he takes office January 20. President Donald Trump is trying to frame vaccine development as a key component of his legacy. The Operation Warp Speed summit will feature Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and a host of government experts, state leaders and business executives, as the White House looks to explain that the vaccine is safe and lay out the administration's plans to bring it to the American people. Senior administration officials…

The top infectious disease expert in the U.S. warned Monday of a “surge upon a surge” of coronavirus cases as Americans travel for holidays.“If we don’t listen to the public health measures that we need to follow, then we could start to see things get really bad in the middle of January. Not only for New York state, but for any state or city that is facing similar problems," Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a press conference in New York alongside state Governor Andrew Cuomo.Millions of Americans traveled across the country for the Thanksgiving holiday, despite warnings from health experts. As case numbers continue to rise, experts worry that surges will increase if Americans gather with family for Hannukah and Christmas.New York is no exception to an upward trend in…

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday the agency will maintain an air quality standard governing soot pollution for five years rather than tighten it as agency scientists had recommended, a move that will harm low-income communities that tend to be most exposed to the pollutant.The agency is required to review the National Ambient Air Quality Standards regulation, which sets limits on the concentrations of pollutants like soot from coal-fired power plants and vehicle tailpipes every five years and has tended to tighten them regularly after scientific review.At a news briefing alongside Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia, a coal-producing state, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the agency is preserving the current soot pollution standard of 12 millionths of a gram per cubic meter of air.He said…

Authorities in Pakistan suspended seven senior officers at a government hospital Monday after an inquiry found their “criminal negligence” resulted in the disruption of oxygen supply to the facility, killing six coronavirus patients.   The deaths occurred the previous day in Peshawar, capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as the country of about 220 million people battles a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.   "The incident took place due to system failure” said the inquiry report, noting that patient care “badly suffered” in Khyber Teaching Hospital, the city’s largest. The report found that at the time of incident 90 patients were admitted in the coronavirus isolation ward who were left for hours without sufficient oxygen.     The depletion of oxygen supply "went unnoticed, unsupervised and unchecked” and…

Britain is on the eve of launching a COVID-19 vaccination campaign.   Staffers with the nation’s National Health Service, nursing home residents and their caregivers on Tuesday will begin to receive the first of two doses of a vaccine jointly developed by U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.  The initiative will start nearly a week after the government’s medical regulatory agency granted emergency approval for the vaccine, making Britain the first western nation ready to begin mass inoculations.  The approval came weeks after Pfizer announced the vaccine had been shown to be over 90% effective after its final, widespread clinical trial. The entrance to the Pfizer UK headquarters is seen in Tadworth, Britain, Dec. 2, 2020.Britain received 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Sunday, the first of a total of 40…

At least one person has died and 200 others have been hospitalized due to an unidentified illness in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, reports said Monday. The illness was detected Saturday evening in Eluru, an ancient city famous for its hand-woven products. Since then, patients have experienced symptoms ranging from nausea and anxiety to loss of consciousness, doctors said. A 45-year-old man who was hospitalized with symptoms similar to epilepsy and nausea died Sunday evening, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Officials are trying to determine the cause of the illness. So far, water samples from impacted areas haven't shown any signs of contamination and patients have tested negative for COVID-19. State chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy visited a government hospital and met patients who…

President-elect Joe Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration's coronavirus response.  Separately, Biden picked a Harvard infectious disease expert, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra, 62, will be the first Latino to head the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1-trillion-plus agency with 80,000 employees and a portfolio that includes drugs and vaccines, leading-edge medical research and health insurance programs covering more than 130 million Americans. Biden's selection of Becerra was confirmed by two people familiar with the decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement anticipated Tuesday. Two people also anonymously confirmed…

Wood and charcoal burning account for 50% of Senegal’s household energy consumption, contributing to air pollution and deforestation. To reduce ecological damage, an association called Nebeday, which means "tree" in Wolof, the predominant local language in Senegal, hires villagers to produce an innovative energy alternative. Half of Senegal’s households rely on wood or wood charcoal. To combat air pollution and deforestation, a cooperative of women produce biochar, an energy source made from straw. They burn it and mix the charred straw with clay and water. The end result is a carbon-neutral organic charcoal that does not involve chopping down trees. The mixture is pressed and stored, resulting in about 150 pallets of biochar per day. The initiative is diversifying the economy of a rural region where many eke out a living from…

The Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine against the coronavirus must be stored at extremely cold temperatures, raising some concerns about the difficult task of moving it across the United States for inoculations. But dry ice companies across the U.S. say they’re up for the challenge. Esha Sarai spoke with one such company in Baltimore, Maryland. ...