One of nine drones tracking a herd of elephants crossing through China’s south-western Yunnan province has filmed them taking a rest. All but one baby elephant can be seen lying flat out on the ground asleep. Last week, images of the herd of 15 Asian elephants walking through a residential area appeared on social media and sparked intense media interest. Chinese authorities dispatched a taskforce to track them. State TV has spent days following their every footstep
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‘On a rampage’: the African women fighting to end FGM
Female genital mutilation has revived under Covid but activists are pushing hard to save girls at risk
It was when the phone started ringing with calls from worried mothers in Somalia that Ifrah Ahmed knew she was making an impact. The women told her their daughters had been bleeding for hours after undergoing female genital mutilation and asked what to do. Ahmed told them to seek medical attention, and probably saved lives by doing so.
The mothers called because they had heard the story of a 10-year-old girl who had bled to death after being cut in central Galmudug state in July 2018. It was the first confirmed death in years in a country where any complications arising from FGM are generally denied and it gained worldwide attention. The death was first revealed by a local activist who had been trained by Ahmed’s foundation in how to use the media to publicise her work.
Continue reading...Jerusalem sinkhole swallows up parked cars – video
A Jerusalem hospital parking lot has collapsed into a sinkhole, Israeli police say, but no casualties have been reported. Security video distributed by the Jerusalem Shaare Zedek Medical Center, showed cars falling into the sinkhole. Israeli police, backed by fire and rescue services, blocked the roads surrounding the hospital to conduct searches in the area. Hospital officials said they believed the collapse to have been triggered by a highway tunnel being dug nearby.
Continue reading...Revert to type: how Goa’s last typewriter repair shop defied the digital age
Luis Abreu once thrived on servicing India’s many typewriters but computers are eclipsing his trade
In Goa’s capital, Panaji, on Rua São Tomé, not far from the main post office, is a shop that offers packaging services. For a small fee, they will wrap your parcel in a sheet of muslin sewn with precise stitches to protect its contents from being damaged in the post.
It started as a sideline to the main business of the store, but now it is the main earner for Luis Francisco Miguel de Abreu as he struggles to maintain one of the last typewriter repair shops in this Indian state.
Continue reading...Can we vaccinate the world against Covid by the end of 2022?
Achieving herd immunity is possible – and necessary – but requires quick action, say experts
As ambitious declarations go – even for Boris Johnson – it was a big one. At the weekend, the UK prime minister said he would urge the G7 leaders to vaccinate the world against Covid by the end of next year.
But is this feasible? That rather depends on your definition. No country will vaccinate every adult. Vaccinating enough to achieve herd immunity, which could be 60% or 70%, is the real aim. It is possible to achieve that by December 2022, say experts, but only if the G7 leading economies move immediately to make it happen.
Continue reading...Kamala Harris tells migrants ‘do not come’ during talks in Guatemala – video
The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, said she had held 'robust' talks with the Guatemalan president, Alejandro Giammattei, as she sought to find ways of deterring undocumented immigration from Central America to the United States. Speaking during a news conference with Giammattei, Harris delivered a blunt message to people thinking of making the dangerous journey north: 'Do not come'
- Kamala Harris faces doubts over retooled US policy in Central America
- Kamala Harris takes on a new role as she heads on her first overseas trip
US recovers millions in ransom paid to hackers after pipeline attack – live
- Colonial Pipeline paid $4.4m to hackers after ransomware attack
- Global US standing harmed by Covid reponse, study finds
- Joe Biden to meet world leaders at G7 in Cornwall this week
- Climate crisis ‘to shrink G7’s economies twice as much as Covid’
Newly released audio from a 2019 phone call between Rudy Giuliani, US diplomats and a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has added credence to the claims that Trump’s longtime adviser pressured the Ukrainians to help the former president politically.
In the call — which occurred prior to the infamous conversation between Trump and Zelensky that led to his first impeachment — Giuliani pushes the Ukrainians to publicly announce unfounded investigations into Joe Biden.
So @CNN got audio of @RudyGiuliani pressuring Ukrainian officials into announcing a fake investigation into @JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/OJljFCcH6h
Related: Giuliani pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden family, new transcript reveals
The new audio demonstrates how Giuliani aggressively cajoled the Ukrainians to do Trump’s bidding. And it undermines Trump’s oft-repeated assertion that “there was no quid pro quo” where Zelensky could secure US government support if he did political favors for Trump.
The call was one of the opening salvos in the years-long quest by Trump and his allies to damage Biden and subvert the 2020 election process — by soliciting foreign meddling, lying about voter fraud, attempting to overturn the results, and inciting the deadly January 6 assault on the Capitol”.
A Republican representative in Oregon may be ousted from his seat after video footage was published Friday showing he let violent protesters into the state capitol late last year.
On 21 December, far-right rioters descended on the statehouse, attacking police officers and assaulting journalists as lawmakers inside were meeting to discuss how to respond to the Covid crisis. Many of the demonstrators would also be among the mob that attacked the US Capitol on 6 January.
Update: Rep. Mike Nearman "willing to have some consequences for what I did" but says OSP and Salem police also to blame for not keeping armed demonstrators out of the Capitol after Nearman opened a door for the demonstrators. https://t.co/zd68zviL5Z #orleg #orpol
In her resolution, Kotek said personnel who were authorized to be in the Oregon Capitol described the events on Dec. 21 as intense and stressful, terrifying and distressing.
‘Law enforcement officers were visibly injured and shaken due to the demonstrators’ action,’ Kotek added.
Continue reading...Canadian man charged with murder after allegedly driving into Muslim family
Two women, a man and a girl were killed on Sunday when Nathaniel Veltman drove a pickup truck into pedestrians, police say
A 20-year-old Canadian man has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder after driving his pickup truck into a Muslim family in what police described as “a premeditated attack”.
Two women, aged 74 and 44, a 46-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl – a grandmother, mother, father and their teenage daughter – were killed on Sunday night when Nathaniel Veltman ploughed his black pickup truck into a group of pedestrians in the city of London, Ontario, police said.
Continue reading...DoJ reclaims millions paid to hackers after attack that hobbled US pipeline
Operation to recover cryptocurrency from Russia-based hacking group is first undertaken by new ransomware taskforce
The US Justice Department has recovered the majority of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment to hackers after a cyberattack that caused the operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline to halt its operations last month, officials said Monday.
The operation to recover the cryptocurrency from the Russia-based hacker group is the first undertaken by a specialized ransomware taskforce created by the Biden administration, and reflects what US officials say is an increasingly aggressive approach to deal with a ransomware threat that in the last month has targeted critical industries around the world.
Continue reading...24,000-year-old organisms found frozen in Siberia can still reproduce
Russian scientists find bdelloid rotifers deep in remote permafrost
A microscopic worm-like creature, labelled an “evolutionary scandal” by biologists for having thrived for millions of years without having sex, has now been shown to persist for at least 24,000 years in Siberian permafrost and then reproduce, researchers have found.
Multicellular invertebrates that are solely female, bdelloid rotifers are already renowned for their resistance to radiation and ability to withstand rather inhospitable environments: drying, starvation and low oxygen. They’ve also existed for at least 35m years – and can be found today in freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and moist terrestrial habitats such as moss, lichen, tree bark and soil.
Continue reading...Mexico elections: President Amlo fails to win super-majority in midterms
But president’s Morena party keeps its majority in the lower house of congress
Mexican voters have denied President Andrés Manuel López Obrador a mega-majority in midterm elections, though his Morena party kept its majority in the lower house of congress with the support of a controversial ally.
Voters also showed little enthusiasm for Mexico’s rightwing opposition, which remains reviled after its decisive 2018 defeat by López Obrador, who swept to power promising to curb corruption and put the poor first.
Continue reading...Leftist teacher holds razor-thin lead in Peru presidential election
Pedro Castillo is about 0.2% ahead of his far-right opponent, Keiko Fujimori, with more than 94% of the vote counted
The scion of a jailed autocrat and the son of illiterate peasant farmers are fighting vote by vote for the presidency of Peru, in an election which has thrown into sharp relief the Andean country’s deep fault lines of class and geography.
Related: Peru faces poll dilemma: a leftist firebrand or the dictator’s daughter?
Continue reading...Third wave sweeps across Africa as Covid vaccine imports dry up
WHO says continent urgently needs more jabs as eight countries report rise of 30% in cases in a week
African countries face a last-ditch battle against a third wave of Covid infections, as the supply of vaccines to the continent “grinds to a halt”, top health officials have warned.
“The threat of a third wave in Africa is real and rising. Our priority is clear – it’s crucial that we swiftly get vaccines into the arms of Africans at high risk of falling seriously ill and dying of Covid-19,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa.
Continue reading...FDA approves first new Alzheimer’s drug in almost 20 years
Usefulness of aducanumab is disputed but US approval will trigger push to make it available globally
A controversial new drug for Alzheimer’s disease, the first in nearly 20 years, was approved in the US on Monday, which will trigger pressure to make it available worldwide in spite of mixed evidence over its efficacy.
While doctors, patients and the organisations that support them are desperate for treatments that can slow mental deterioration, the usefulness of the new drug, aducanumab, is disputed by scientists. Two trials were stopped in March 2019 because the drugs appeared not to work. The manufacturer, Biogen, said the drugs were unlikely to improve people’s memory and thinking.
Continue reading...Israeli police stop far-right march through Jerusalem
Plans blocked after a similar parade stoked tensions that contributed to last Gaza conflict
Israeli police have blocked a planned march by Jewish nationalists through Palestinian neighbourhoods of Jerusalem after a similar parade last month played a key role in building the tensions that led to the latest Gaza conflict.
In a statement, police said a permit for a different time or route might be considered.
Continue reading...Thailand starts Covid vaccine drive using jabs made by king’s firm
Country aims to vaccinate 70% of people this year but experts express doubts amid supply concerns
Thailand has started its Covid vaccination campaign amid concerns over the supply of doses, which are mainly being produced locally by a royal-owned company that has no prior experience of making vaccines.
Thailand aims to vaccinate 70% of the population before the end of the year, and is relying primarily on AstraZeneca doses produced by Siam Bioscience, a company owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The company is also due to supply vaccines to eight other countries in the region.
Continue reading...Body found in Norway of 15-month-old boy who died crossing Channel
Artin, previously listed as missing, died alongside his Iranian-Kurdish relatives when boat sank last October
A body that was found on a Norwegian shore several months ago has been identified as that of a 15-month-old child named Artin, who died alongside his relatives as they tried to cross the Channel to start a new life in the UK last October, local police have said.
The body was found near Karmøy in south-west Norway on New Year’s Day – more than two months after the vessel carrying the Iranian Kurds Rasul Iran Nezhad, Shiva Mohammad Panahi and their three children sank.
Continue reading...A victim of its own success: how Taiwan failed to plan for a major Covid outbreak
Once a poster child for blocking coronavirus, Taiwan failed to fully prepare a pandemic response or vaccination rollout
While most of the world suffered through hundreds of millions of cases and millions of deaths from Covid-19, the 23.5 million people in Taiwan largely lived a normal life, thanks to a well-documented strong and early response that saw it go 250 days without a single local case. It lobbied for inclusion in the World Health Organization’s decision-making body off the back of its undeniable success and expertise under the slogan “Taiwan can help”.
But now the tables have turned and the island itself is in need of assistance, after an outbreak that started among airline staff in April spread across the island. The government appears to have been caught short by something it thought would never happen: the poster child for outbreak prevention had apparently failed to fully prepare an outbreak response.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: tests of new antibody drug on mice show promise; Czech Republic to reopen border with EU
India announces free jabs for over-18s; Norway to shorten vaccine interval
- A victim of its own success: how Taiwan failed to plan for major outbreak
- Third wave sweeps across Africa as Covid vaccine imports dry up
- Graça Machel: global solidarity disappeared once vaccines arrived
- Could a third wave of Covid be more serious than UK’s first two?
- People in England aged 25 and over to be invited for jab this week
Brazil’s health ministry has reported 37,156 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 1,010 deaths, according to Reuters:
The South American country has now registered 16,984,218 cases since the pandemic began, while the death toll has risen to 474,414, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest.
Portugal’s foreign minister has said that Spain’s decision to require a negative coronavirus test for people crossing the border must be “a mistake”, Reuters reported Lusa news agency saying on Monday:
Portugal had asked Spanish authorities for clarification on “what could only have been a mistake”, Portugal’s foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said.
“We have asked Spanish authorities for clarification and await it being granted as quickly as possible, because if not we will need to adopt equivalent reciprocal measures,” Santos Silva said, adding that “the epidemiological situation in Spain is, at the moment, worse than what we are living in Portugal.”
Continue reading...Boko Haram leader killed on direct orders of Islamic State
Isis ordered death of Abubakar Shekau over concerns about indiscriminate targeting of ‘believers’
The death of the leader of the Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram has been confirmed by a rival extremist faction that said it carried out the killing on the direct orders of Islamic State’s leadership thousands of miles away in the Middle East.
Abubakar Shekau, one of the most infamous leaders of Islamic militant groups anywhere in the world, died last month after detonating an explosive device while being pursued by fighters from the Islamic State West African Province (Iswap). The Iswap fighters had stormed the Sambisa forest, a swath of strategically important, dense forest in Nigeria’s north-east, which was Shekau’s base.
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