Infographics

Major outage hits Australian telecoms giant

SYDNEY, Nov 8, 2023 (AFP) – Nationwide outages hit a major Australian communications company Wednesday, disrupting phone lines, crashing payment systems and impacting millions of customers. Optus said it was scrambling to restore its mobile and internet services to more than 10 million customers across Australia. Company chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin told national broadcaster ABC there was “no indication” the outage was the result of hacking or a cyber attack — but that engineers […]

Steps to follow when voting in the May 9, 2022 elections

  (Eagle News) — On May 9, 2022, the first national and local elections in the country that will happen amid the Covid-19 pandemic, begins. Here are the steps to follow for voters who will troop to the polls to exercise their right to vote.  It would help for the voter to check his precinct number before going to the voting center, by checking the Commission on Elections’ precinct finder (See link here:  https://voterverifier.comelec.gov.ph/voter_precinct) Click […]

First image of Omicron shows many more mutations than Delta

    ROME, Italy (AFP) — The new Covid variant Omicron has many more mutations than the Delta variant, according to a first “image” of this new variant initially detected in South Africa, produced and published by the prestigious Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome. On the three-dimensional “image”, which looks like a map, “we can clearly see that the Omicron variant presents many more mutations than the Delta variant, concentrated above all in one area […]

What is known so far about new Covid variant Omicron

  JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South African scientists have discovered a new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, with multiple mutations that is thought to be highly contagious. The World Health Organization has designated it a variant of concern and many countries are racing to try and contain it, banning flights from southern Africa. Scientists are working round-the-clock to dissect the variant and try understand its behaviour. Here is a brief explainer of what is known so […]

Violence against women rising amid pandemic, says UN on Int’l Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

  (Eagle News) – “Nearly 1 in 3 women have been abused in their lifetime,” according to the United Nations as it marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Thursday, November 25. In fact, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from the UN Women, cited data from 13 countries that 2 in 3 women reported that they or a woman they know experienced some form of violence.” “Only 1 […]

Covax: the global plan to share Covid vaccines

  by Agnès PEDRERO Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Covax programme, bolstered by the new US presidency on Thursday, aims to secure enough Covid-19 vaccines this year for the most vulnerable 20 percent in every country, rich or poor. Top US government scientist Anthony Fauci told the World Health Organization (WHO) that the United States intends to join Covax, the globally-pooled coronavirus vaccine procurement and equitable distribution effort. The move should give […]

What we know so far about the new China virus

  by Helen ROXBURGH Agence France Presse As China locks down the city at the epicentre of a new viral outbreak, countries around the world are scrambling to prevent the spread of the deadly disease. Here’s what we know so far about the illness that has killed 17 people and infected at least 570, mostly in Wuhan: – It’s entirely new – The pathogen appears to be a never-before-seen strain of coronavirus — a family […]