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NEW YORK, United States (AFP) – Poet and activist Maya Angelou has become the first Black woman to appear on the US quarter, in a new version of the coin unveiled by the US Mint on Monday. Angelou, author of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” will also be the first figure commemorated through the American Women Quarters Program, which was signed into law in January 2021. The US Mint “has begun shipping the […]
ISRAEL (AFP) – Israel’s government on Wednesday sought to ease tensions with Bedouin over a tree-planting project in the Negev desert, where unrest has continued for days in the latest test for a fragile coalition. About 200 Bedouin protesters in southern Israel’s arid Negev desert on Wednesday clashed with security officers, who tried to disperse them with stun grenades, an AFP journalist said. “Sixteen suspects who threw stones at the police have been arrested and […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A preliminary US study of nearly 70,000 Covid positive people showed a substantially reduced risk of hospitalization and death from Omicron even after controlling for growing population immunity levels. People infected with Omicron were half as likely to be hospitalized, about 75 percent less likely to need intensive care, and around 90 percent less likely to die compared to those infected with the formerly dominant Delta variant, according to the […]
by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — WHO experts warned Tuesday that repeating booster doses of the original Covid vaccines is not a viable strategy against emerging variants and called for new jabs that better protect against transmission. An expert group created by the World Health Organization to assess the performance of Covid-19 vaccines said simply providing fresh jabs of existing Covid vaccines as new strains of the virus emerge was not the best way […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Experts said Monday that an alleged hybrid coronavirus mutation dubbed “Deltacron” reportedly discovered in a Cyprus lab is most likely the result of a lab contamination, and not a new worrying variant. Cypriot media reported the discovery Saturday, describing it as having “the genetic background of the Delta variant along with some of the mutations of Omicron”. While it is possible for coronaviruses to genetically combine, it is rare, and […]
(Eagle News) – The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) pushed for the administration of booster shots to minors or children aged 12 to 17 years old five months after the administration of the Pfizer primary vaccination series. This was in view of the rising COVID-19 cases in the US due to the highly infectious Omicron variant. US CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said giving a booster dose to children aged […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Pfizer expects a Covid-19 vaccine targeting the Omicron variant to be ready in March, the company’s head said Monday. Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla told CNBC that Pfizer is already manufacturing doses due to keen interest from governments, as authorities contend with huge Covid-19 infection counts, including large numbers of “breakthrough” Omicron cases in vaccinated populations. “This vaccine will be ready in March,” Bourla told the network. “I […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — What’s in a name? For Indian travel start-up founder Kovid Kapoor, it has made him a social media sensation. The 31-year-old’s Twitter profile declares: “My name is Kovid and I am not a virus.” He posted this week that he had travelled outside India for the first time since the onset of the pandemic “and got a bunch of people amused by my name”. “Future foreign trips are going to […]
https://youtu.be/BgxmhTHnvbQ by Lucie AUBOURG The most powerful space telescope ever built completed a tricky two-week-long deployment phase Saturday, unfolding its final golden mirror panel, as it readies to study every phase of cosmic history. Engineering teams in the James Webb Space Telescope’s control room cheered as confirmation came back that its final wing was deployed and latched into place. “I’m emotional about it — what an amazing milestone,” Thomas Zurbuchen, a senior NASA engineer, said […]
by Tomohiro OSAKI TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said Friday his trip into space had given him a new appreciation for Earth, and he now hopes to plunge into the ocean’s forbidding Mariana Trench. Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano spent 12 days on the International Space Station last month, where they documented life in space for one million YouTube subscribers. Speaking Friday for the first time since his return to […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is killing people across the globe and should not be dismissed as mild, the World Health Organization insisted Thursday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the record numbers of people catching the new variant — which is rapidly out-competing the previously-dominant Delta variant in many countries — meant hospitals were being overwhelmed. “While Omicron does appear to be less severe […]
by Julie JAMMOT LAS VEGAS, United States (AFP) — A ring shimmers on display at the Consumer Electronics Show, but this is no mere piece of jewelry — it’s packed with sensors capable of detecting body temperature, respiration and much more. Startups at the annual gadget extravaganza in Las Vegas touted technology-enhanced accessories designed to look fetching on the outside while scrutinizing what is happening on the inside of wearers. “We want to democratize personal […]
