The Inter-American Development Bank pledged $1 billion Wednesday to help Central American and Caribbean nations fight the coronavirus pandemic.The IDB will devote the money to purchasing vaccines, strengthening national institutions distributing the shots and building immunization capacity.The pledge is in addition to $1.2 billion the bank already mobilized in the region to pay for testing and treatment.Wednesday’s announcement came as Latin America reported surges in COVID-19 cases and deaths. According to the Reuters news agency, roughly 33% of the world’s COVID-19 deaths were recorded in Latin America, though the region accounts for only 9% of the global population.Around the worldAbout a quarter of Mexico’s population has been exposed to the virus, officials said. Over 115,000 Mexicans have died of the virus, according to the Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.A new set of tight restrictions took effect Wednesday in Germany to try to curb a rising number of coronavirus infections and deaths.The hard lockdown mandated the closing of all nonessential businesses and limiting private gatherings to no more than five people. The restrictions, which will remain in effect until January 10, were imposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday after talks with Germany’s 16 regional governors.The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s central disease control center, reported 952 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, shattering the previous single-day record of 598 posted just last Friday.Germany’s seven-day incidence of new cases has also set a record, rising to nearly 180 per 100,000 people.Health Minister Jens Spahn called on the European Union’s regulatory agency late Tuesday to give final approval of the vaccine jointly developed by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech by Christmas. The vaccine is being administered to health care workers in Britain and the United States, after government regulators quickly approved its use after a thorough review process.Meanwhile, in the U.S., the White House announced Wednesday that Vice President Mike Pence would receive the vaccine on Friday.President-elect Joe Biden will be vaccinated next week, according to the transition team.Regulators with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Tuesday that its preliminary analysis of a second vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health confirmed its safety and effectiveness.The report revealed that four volunteers in the late-stage clinical trial developed Bell’s palsy, a condition that involves temporary paralysis or weakness in facial muscles. Three of those participants had received the two-dose vaccine, while the other one was given a placebo.The approval process of the Moderna vaccine is now in the hands of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which meets Thursday. If the committee gives its approval, the FDA would the grant the vaccine an emergency use authorization.The FDA granted emergency approval Tuesday of an over-the-counter COVID-19 test developed by Ellume, an Australian-based health care technology company. The self-administered home kit returns test results within 15 to 20 minutes through a smartphone application. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.As the United States, Britain and other nations escalate efforts to vaccinate citizens against the virus that has sickened more than 73.5 million people worldwide, causing more than 1.6 million deaths, a new study says at least one-fifth of the world’s population may not have access to a vaccine until 2022, as wealthier nations buy more than half of next year’s potential doses.The study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health came just days after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned about the rise of “vaccine nationalism” among the world’s richest nations at the expense of much poorer countries.Separately, two of the world’s biggest annual New Year’s celebrations are either being curtailed or canceled because of the pandemic. New York City is banning visitors from the city’s historic Times Square to witness the iconic “ball drop” that counts down the final seconds of the year.In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, officials announced Tuesday that the city is calling off its annual New Year’s Eve beach party, which normally attracts hundreds of thousands of people with live music and a spectacular fireworks display.
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Month: December 2020
Chinese state media says a lunar probe containing the first samples of moon rocks and soil since the moon missions of the 1970s has returned to Earth.Quoting China’s space agency, Xinhua news agency on Thursday said the capsule carrying the samples collected by the Chang’e-5 space probe landed in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region.With this mission, China became only the third country to have retrieved samples from the moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.China Space Agency: Lunar Probe Successfully Lands on MoonProbe is expected to gather lunar soil and rock samples and return them to EarthTwo of the four modules that made up the Chang’e-5 probe, named after a mythical Chinese moon goddess, landed on the moon Dec. 1. They collected about 2 kilograms of samples, by scooping and drilling about 2 meters into the moon’s crust. The space agency said it also planted a Chinese flag at the landing site.The probe loaded the samples into a capsule on the ascent module that, two days later, blasted off from the moon’s surface and linked up with the orbiter module that brought it back to Earth.The samples are the first gathered for study on Earth since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.Scientists hope the samples will help them learn about the moon’s origins, formation and volcanic surface activity.
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The Czech Republic Wednesday launched nationwide COVID-19 testing in hopes of slowing the spread of virus in the country, which, like much of Europe, has seen a surge of infections in recent weeks.The Czech Health Ministry is offering the free antigen tests at about 170 testing sites around the country. The antigen tests are cheaper and faster but somewhat less accurate than standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) laboratory tests with results taking about 15 minutes. If someone tests positive, the ministry will administer a PCR test.The Health Ministry hopes to conduct 60,000 tests per day. The ministry’s web site says people can get tested repeatedly, every five days. Thousands registered for the first day of tests Wednesday.The Czech Republic experienced Europe’s biggest per-capita spikes in cases in October and November, and nearly 10,000 deaths in the country of 10.7 million. Criticized for its slow response to the pandemic, the government recently implemented COVID-19 restrictions, closing bars, restaurants and hotels, and imposing an overnight curfew.The country reported 5,315 new cases a day on average in the past week using the standard PCR tests, while the number of hospitalized patients grew to 4,632 from 4,475 a week ago.
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A new set of tight restrictions took effect Wednesday in Germany in an attempt to curb a rising number of coronavirus infections and deaths. The hard lockdown mandates the closing of all non-essential businesses and limits private gatherings to no more than five people. The restrictions, which will remain in effect until January 10, were imposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday after talks with Germany’s 16 regional governors. The government’s Robert Koch Institute, the country’s central disease control center, reported 952 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, shattering the previous single-day record of 598 posted just last Friday. Germany’s seven-day incidence of new cases has also set a record, rising to nearly 180 per 100,000. Health Minister Jens Spahn called on the European Union’s regulatory agency late Tuesday to give final approval of the vaccine jointly developed by U.S. drug maker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech by Christmas Day. The vaccine is currently being administered to health care workers in Britain and the United States, after government regulators quickly approved its use after a thorough review process. Meanwhile, the United States is on the cusp of getting a second coronavirus vaccine.Regulators with the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that its preliminary analysis of a vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health confirmed its safety and effectiveness. US Gives Favorable Review to Second COVID-19 VaccinePositive FDA review of Moderna vaccine comes as US hospitals ramp up inoculations with shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech The report did reveal that four volunteers in the late-stage clinical trial developed Bell’s palsy, a condition that involves temporary paralysis or weakness in a person’s facial muscles. Three of those participants had received the vaccine, while the other was given a placebo, or a false version of the vaccine. The approval process of the two-dose vaccine is now in the hands of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, which meets Thursday. If the committee gives its stamp of approval, the FDA would then grant an emergency use of authorization for the Moderna vaccine. White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Tuesday 6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine could be shipped out to the public by next week after the FDA grants approval. The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed jointly by U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech were administered to health care workers across the U.S. this week. Ahead of a final decision on the Moderna vaccine, the FDA granted emergency approval Tuesday of an over-the-counter COVID-19 test developed by Ellume, an Australian-based health care technology company. The self-administered home kit returns the test results within 15-20 minutes through a smartphone application. US FDA Announces New, Prescription-free At-home COVID Test Users can get results in as little as 20 minutes, the FDA said As the United States, Britain and other nations escalate their efforts to vaccinate their citizens against a virus that has sickened over 73.5 million people worldwide, including over 1.6 million deaths, a new study says at least a fifth of the world’s population may not have access to a COVID-19 vaccine until 2022, as wealthier nations buy more than half of next year’s potential doses. The study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health comes just days after United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned about the rise of “vaccine nationalism” among the world’s richest nations at the expense of much poorer nations. While First COVID-19 Vaccines Arrive, Much of the World Will Have to Wait Limited manufacturing capacity and wealthy-country preorders mean many may not see a vaccine until 2022Two of the world’s biggest annual New Year’s celebrations are either being curtailed or cancelled due to the pandemic. New York City is banning visitors from the city’s historic Times Square to witness the iconic “ball drop” that counts down the final seconds of the previous year. In Brazil, officials in Rio de Janeiro announced Tuesday that it is calling off its annual New Year’s Eve beach party, which normally attracts hundreds of thousands of people with live music and a spectacular fireworks display.
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The Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act have just been presented in Brussels. These proposed policies aim to revise all the principles that apply to digital services within the 27 member states — from the publication of illegal content on social networks to the sale of products online.Big Tech companies will not be allowed, for example, to stop users from uninstalling preinstalled software or apps, nor will they be able to use data from business users to compete against them.To do so, the European Union governing body would allow fines of up to 10% of annual global revenue. Another part of the European plan is to make sure e-commerce platforms take more responsibility for their goods and services.European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said these new regulations are the right tools to bring “order to chaos” on the internet and to rein in the online “gatekeepers” that dominate the market.“The two proposals, they serve one purpose: to make sure that we, as users, customers, businesses, have access to a wide choice of safe products and services online, just as well as we do in the physical world,” Vestager said. “Whether from our streets or from our screens, we should be able to do our shopping in a safe manner. Whether we turn pages or we just scroll down, we should be able to choose and trust the news that we read. Of course, what is illegal offline is equally illegal online.”After the announcement, some companies criticized the move. A spokesperson for Google said the company was concerned that the measures “seem to specifically target a handful of companies.”Thierry Breton, European commissioner for internal market, denied those allegations.“We respect companies, but we say the bigger they are, the more obligations they may have to fulfill,” Breton said. “What is important to us is that everybody is welcome in Europe, but our responsibility is to decide and give directions and rules to protect what is important to us. These are not two acts where we would say that these companies are too big, and we propose a dismantle. Not here, not on this side of the ocean.”The coming new regulations announced in Brussels echoed the concerns over the world about the influence of big technology companies. In the United States, regulators have increased scrutiny on Google and Facebook, and antitrust cases are looming.
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The U.S. government’s suit against Facebook for illegally stifling competition and limiting consumer choice will be watched worldwide, particularly by the social network’s more than two billion users. Tina Trinh reports.
Produced by: Tina Trinh
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On an earnings call two months ago, SolarWinds Chief Executive Kevin Thompson touted how far the company had gone during his 11 years at the helm. There was not a database or an IT deployment model out there to which his Austin, Texas-based company did not provide some level of monitoring or management, he told analysts on the October 27 call. “We don’t think anyone else in the market is really even close in terms of the breadth of coverage we have,” he said. “We manage everyone’s network gear.” Now that dominance has become a liability – an example of how the workhorse software that helps glue organizations together can turn toxic when it is subverted by sophisticated hackers. On Monday, SolarWinds confirmed that Orion – its flagship network management software – had served as the unwitting conduit for a sprawling international cyberespionage operation. The hackers inserted malicious code into Orion software updates pushed out to nearly 18,000 customers. SolarWinds Corp. CEO Kevin Thompson celebrates his company’s IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, Oct. 19, 2018.And while the number of affected organizations is thought to be much more modest, the hackers have already parlayed their access into consequential breaches at the U.S. Treasury and Department of Commerce. Three people familiar with the investigation have told Reuters that Russia is a top suspect, although others familiar with the inquiry have said it is still too early to tell. A SolarWinds representative, Ryan Toohey, said he would not be making executives available for comment. He did not provide on-the-record answers to questions sent via email. In a statement issued Sunday, the company said, “we strive to implement and maintain appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards, security processes, procedures, and standards designed to protect our customers.” Cybersecurity experts are still struggling to understand the scope of the damage. Sending the malicious updates from March to June, when America was hunkering down to weather the first wave of coronavirus infections, was “perfect timing for a perfect storm,” said Kim Peretti, who co-chairs Atlanta-based law firm Alston & Bird’s cybersecurity preparedness and response team. Assessing the damage would be difficult, she said. “We may not know the true impact for many months, if not more – if not ever,” she said. US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency logoThe impact on SolarWinds was more immediate. U.S. officials ordered anyone running Orion to immediately disconnect it. The company’s stock has tumbled more than 23% from $23.50 on Friday – before Reuters broke the news of the breach – to $18.06 on Tuesday. SolarWinds’ security, meanwhile, has come under new scrutiny. In one previously unreported issue, multiple criminals have offered to sell access to SolarWinds’ computers through underground forums, according to two researchers who separately had access to those forums. One of those offering claimed access over the Exploit forum in 2017 was known as “fxmsp” and is wanted by the FBI “for involvement in several high-profile incidents,” said Mark Arena, chief executive of cybercrime intelligence firm Intel471. Arena informed his company’s clients, which include U.S. law enforcement agencies. Security researcher Vinoth Kumar told Reuters that, last year, he alerted the company that anyone could access SolarWinds’ update server by using the password “solarwinds123.” “This could have been done by any attacker, easily,” Kumar said. Neither the password nor the stolen access is considered the most likely source of the current intrusion, researchers said. Others – including Kyle Hanslovan, the cofounder of Maryland-based cybersecurity company Huntress – noticed that, days after SolarWinds realized their software had been compromised, the malicious updates were still available for download. The firm has long mooted the idea of spin-off of its managed service provider business and on Dec. 9 announced that Thompson would be replaced by Sudhakar Ramakrishna, the former chief executive of Pulse Secure. Three weeks ago, SolarWinds posted a job ad seeking a new vice president for security; the position is still listed as open. Thompson and Ramakrishna could not be reached for comment.
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The hunger relief organization Feeding America says more people are seeking help at food banks nationwide. More with VOA’s Mariama Diallo.
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While the first shots against COVID-19 are rolling out in the United States, Britain and Canada, nearly a quarter of the world’s population likely will not have access to a vaccine until at least 2022, according to Epidemiologist Hilda Aleman reacts upon receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dec. 15, 2020.A second vaccine from biotech firm Moderna is expected to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization this week. The World Health Organization is reviewing these vaccines, along with a third from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Oxford University. While these and other vaccines were still in clinical trials, countries committed billions of dollars to secure hundreds of millions of doses for their residents. According to the new study, 13 manufacturers have signed preorder deals for nearly 7.5 million vaccine doses. Just over half of those preorders are from high-income countries, though they account for less than 14% of the world’s population. Canada has secured enough vaccines to immunize its population nearly five times over, while the United States has reserved just over one vaccine course per person. Brazil and Indonesia have not ordered enough to fully immunize even half their populations. Uncertainty According to the study, the leading vaccine manufacturers have said they will have the combined capacity to produce enough vaccines to immunize 6 billion people by the end of 2021. A box of Pfizer/BioNTEch COVID-19 vaccine is delivered from a UPS truck past news photographers to the Maimonides long term care home in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Dec. 14, 2020. (Courtesy Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services)That means in a best-case scenario, in which every vaccine candidate works and there are no financing shortfalls or manufacturing glitches, supplies would be more than 1.6 billion courses short. While most of the world’s manufacturing capacity will be tied up with preorders next year, up to 40% may still be available for low- and middle-income countries that have not reserved doses, the study says. However, some of the countries that preordered vaccines have the option to buy more. Because the details of the deals are not public, it is not clear whether those countries would get priority. “What these agreements between vaccine manufacturers and countries really entail is the uncertainty factor that makes many (other) countries wonder whether or not they will be at the front of the line or the back of the line,” said study co-author Anthony So, director of the Johns Hopkins University Innovation+Design Enabling Access (IDEA) Initiative. With low- and middle-income countries at risk of being left out, WHO helped put together a system, called COVAX, to ensure more equitable COVID-19 vaccine access. Countries put money into COVAX to support development of several vaccines at once. Since some are likely to fail, backing more than one raises the odds that a country will have access to at least one successful vaccine. A dose of the coronavirus disease vaccine is prepared at UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin, Dec. 14, 2020. (Courtesy UW Health)COVAX members get access to enough vaccines for up to 20% of their populations. The organization aims to deliver 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. At least 184 countries have joined COVAX, including 92 donor-funded, low- and middle- income countries. Not included The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are not part of COVAX. Some middle-income countries are signing bilateral agreements for these shots outside COVAX, “but this is all done through untransparent backdoor deals,” said Elder, of Doctors Without Borders. As for when these vaccines might arrive in the rest of the world, she added, “I think a lot of us are scratching our heads.” Of the 13 manufacturers that have signed preorder deals, COVAX has agreements with three. That includes 300 million doses from AstraZeneca and 200 million from Novavax, which has a product in late-stage clinical trials. COVAX also committed to buy 200 million doses of a vaccine from drugmaker-collaborators Sanofi and GSK. That vaccine suffered a setback Friday, when early data showed it fell short in older adults. Sanofi and GSK said they are continuing their studies with a reformulated vaccine.
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In what is usually a festive Hanukkah holiday season, Israelis are facing a tough reality. The country may be heading toward a third COVID-19 lockdown and a fourth national election within the past two years. But even in these troubled times, Israelis enjoy their Hanukkah tradition of elaborate and fancy doughnuts. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem.Videographer: Ricki Rosen
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Scientists at Japan’s space agency on Tuesday confirmed the capsule they recovered last week from their Hayabusa2 probe that had landed on an asteroid did indeed contain samples collected from that heavenly body.The Hayabusa spacecraft was launched in 2014 and arrived at the near-Earth asteroid called Ryugu in 2018. The probe spent about a year and a half orbiting, observing and eventually landing on the asteroid, where it collected samples.It headed back toward Earth last year, finally dropping its collection capsule into Earth’s atmosphere December 5. It was recovered in a remote area of Australia and delivered to the Tokyo-based Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) last week.At a press conference on Tuesday, JAXA scientists said they took their time and great care to open the capsule, to preserve any gases and other materials collected on Ryugu. Until it was opened, they could not be sure they obtained what they were after.In this photo provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), a member of JAXA retrieves a capsule dropped by Hayabusa2 in Woomera, southern Australia, Dec. 6, 2020.JAXA’s Hayabusa project manager Yuichi Tsuda said the capsule contained plenty of soil samples and gas.”It has been more than 10 years since we started this project, and six years have passed since we launched it,” he told reporters. “The asteroid soils that we dreamed of are finally in our hands.”Scientists say they believe the samples, especially ones taken from under the asteroid’s surface, contain valuable data unaffected by space radiation and other environmental factors that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on our planet.They are particularly interested in analyzing organic materials in the samples. JAXA hopes to find clues about how the materials are distributed in the solar system and are related to life on Earth. They intend to distribute portions of their samples to other researchers around the world, including scientists with the U.S. space agency, NASA.
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President-elect Joe Biden’s Presidential Inaugural Committee announced measures Tuesday to protect public health during an inauguration that will take place in the midst of a coronavirus crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States. The committee said in a statement it is collaborating with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies “to ensure that the inauguration … honors and resembles sacred American traditions while keeping Americans safe and preventing the spread of COVID-19.” On January 20, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take oaths of office at the U.S. Capitol with “vigorous health and safety protocols,” followed by Biden’s inaugural address, the committee said. “The ceremony’s footprint will be extremely limited, and the parade that follows will be reimagined,” it added. President-elect Joe Biden speaks after the Electoral College formally elected him as president, Dec. 14, 2020, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del.The committee is calling on Americans to remain at home as they celebrate the day’s inaugural activities. “The pandemic is continuing to have a significant public health impact across the nation. Americans everywhere must do their part to slow the spread of the virus: wear masks, stay home and limit gatherings. We are asking Americans to participate in inaugural events from home to protect themselves, their families, friends and communities,” said Dr. David Kessler, the committee’s chief medical adviser. President Donald Trump’s presence at the inauguration has yet to be determined. When asked during an interview broadcast Sunday with Fox News if he would attend the ceremony, Trump, still waging an unsuccessful battle to overturn election results, replied, “I don’t want to talk about that.” As it has for months, the U.S. continues to lead the world in coronavirus infections and related deaths. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 16.5 million of the world’s 73 million coronavirus cases were in the U.S., home to more than 301,200 COVID-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.
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Lawmakers in Britain have proposed legislation that would fine social media companies if they do not quickly take action to remove illegal content like child pornography or terrorist materials. U.S. based Facebook and Twitter and China-owned TikTok could be fined up to 10% of turnover, according to Reuters. CNBC reported that Ofcom, a British media watchdog, would have the power to enforce the laws if they are enacted. Under the proposal, which will be introduced next year, social media companies must establish clear terms and conditions about content, CNBC reported. FILE – Britain’s Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden arrives for a Cabinet meeting, at Downing Street in London, Britain, July 21, 2020.”We are entering a new age of accountability for tech to protect children and vulnerable users, to restore trust in this industry and to enshrine in law safeguards for free speech,” Britain’s Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said Tuesday. In addition to fines, some sites could be blocked from the British market if they fail to act. Dowden left open the possibility for criminal charges against companies that permit illegal content, according to Reuters. “These measures make this the toughest and most comprehensive online safety regime, and they will have a clear and immediate effect,” he told lawmakers. But the proposals don’t stop at illegal content. According to Reuters, the proposed legislation would require companies to have clear policies against misinformation that could cause “harm,” such as information about COVID-19 vaccines. “We already have strict policies against harmful content on our platforms, but regulations are needed so that private companies aren’t making so many important decisions alone,” said Rebecca Stimson, Facebook’s head of Britain public policy. Other Big Tech companies echoed Facebook. Under the proposed laws, online journalism and user comments on news sites would be exempt to “safeguard freedom of expression,” Reuters reported. Britain’s move comes as the European Union was also set to unveil a slate of similar proposals on December 15.
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Apple on Monday began adding labels that reveal what user data is gathered by games, chat or other software offered in the App Store for its popular mobile devices. The iPhone maker announced plans for such privacy labels when it first unveiled the new version of its iOS mobile operating system, which it released in September. “App Store product pages will feature summaries of developers’ self-reported privacy practices, displayed in a simple, easy-to-read format,” Apple said in a blog post when iOS 14 launched. “Starting early next year, all apps will be required to obtain user permission before tracking.” Apple began pushing out the labels Monday, with the rule applying to new apps for iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac computers. The labels will contain information provided by developers when they submit apps for approval to appear on the App Store’s virtual shelves, according to the Silicon Valley-based company. Apple last week began requiring developers to submit privacy information for use in labels. “Apple recently required that all apps distributed via their App Store display details designed to show people how their data may be used,” Facebook-owned smartphone messaging service WhatsApp said in a blog post explaining what data the app gathers. “We must collect some information to provide a reliable global communications service,” it said. The aim, according to Apple, is for users to be able to easily see and understand what apps do with their data, from lists of contacts to where they are. Data types added to labels will include tracking in order to target advertising or sharing with data brokers, as well as information that could reveal user identity. Apple and Android mobile operating systems provide tools for controlling the kinds of data apps can access once they are installed.
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Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians will be changing the team’s name after years of criticism and objections from Native American groups. The team has not officially announced the move, but multiple news organizations cited people familiar with the matter saying that could happen as early as this week. Cleveland had already taken the step of eliminating its use of a Native American caricature as the team’s logo during the 2019 season. In July, it pledged to examine the issue of the team name in light of local and national social justice protests. Renaming teams and ending the use of Indigenous mascots in both professional and scholastic sports in the United States have drawn praise from those saying their use is racist. The National Football League’s team in Washington changed its name this year, becoming the Washington Football Team after ending its use of the long-criticized Redskins name and logo. “Redskin” is a pejorative term for a Native American commonly used during America’s frontier period when settlers and Native Americans competed for land and resources. Such changes have drawn some criticism from people who defended the use of Indigenous names and imagery, and said the changes served to eliminate team history. President Donald Trump tweeted his objection to Cleveland’s change, calling it “Cancel culture at work!” Cleveland has used the Indians name since 1915. It is not clear how quickly the name will be changed, or what the replacement will be. There are other high-profile teams that have faced calls to change their names, including baseball’s Atlanta Braves, football’s Kansas City Chiefs and the National Hockey League’s Chicago Blackhawks. Each of those teams has said it has no plans to change its name.
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A beloved meeting spot for generations of New Yorkers, the Waldorf Astoria clock has recently undergone a meticulous restoration and is on view at the New York Historical Society. Vladimir Lenski has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Max Avloshenko
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