Officials in Australia’s New South Wales state have ordered a week-long extension of Sydney’s strict coronavirus lockdown as the city of five million residents struggles to contain an growing outbreak of the delta variant of COVID-19.The latest lockdown was imposed on June 26 after a Sydney airport limousine driver who had been transporting international air crews tested positive for the variant. More than 300 people have since been infected.The outbreak has grown to more than 300 people, including 27 new cases reported Wednesday.“This delta strain is a game-changer,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. “We don’t want to be in a situation where we are constantly having to move between lockdown, no lockdown, lockdown, no lockdown.”Australia has been largely successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 due to aggressive lockdown efforts, posting just 30,861 total confirmed cases and 910 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. But it has proved vulnerable to fresh outbreaks due to a slow rollout of its vaccination campaign and confusing requirements involving the two-shot AstraZeneca vaccine, which is the dominant vaccine in its stockpile.The new extension for Sydney is set to expire July 16.South Korea is also undergoing a new wave of COVID-19 infections, with authorities reporting 1,212 new cases on Wednesday, its highest one-day total since Christmas Day, when 1,240 new infections were reported. The 1,212 new cases, the majority from heavily populated Seoul, marks a huge jump from the previous three days, when more than 700 new cases were reported each of those days.Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said officials will maintain current social distancing rules in Seoul for another week, including a ban on private gatherings of five or more people.President Moon Jae-in has also ordered the military, police officers and other civil servants to take part in an extensive contact tracing effort.Health experts say a premature easing of social distancing guidelines, despite a steady increase in new cases, led the public to become complacent and lower its guard.South Korea and Israel reached an agreement for an even swap of COVID-19 vaccines as both countries seek to jump-start their vaccination campaigns.The deal calls for Israel to send 700,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to South Korea later this month, with South Korea sending back an equal amount of the Pfizer vaccine it has already ordered as soon as September.“This is a win-win deal,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a written statement Tuesday.As many countries ease pandemic restrictions amid rising vaccination rates, Bangladesh and Russia both broke one-day COVID-19 records.Moscow announced it would ease travel restrictions on Russians who had been vaccinated as it also reported over 700 deaths from COVID-19 — a one-day record for the country — on Tuesday.Some 140,000 Russians have died from the virus, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. But observers say the death toll is believed to be much higher.Bangladesh reported 11,525 positive cases Tuesday, the highest one-day case number since the beginning of the pandemic. The country also saw 163 deaths in the past 24 hours, the government reported.The country shares a border with India, where the more contagious and serious delta variant emerged. Health experts in Bangladesh believe infection and death numbers are likely higher.More than 184.6 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in late 2019, including 3.9 million fatalities, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center figures. The United States has 33.7 million confirmed infections, followed by India with 30.6 million and Brazil with 18.8 million. The U.S. leads with 605,905 deaths, with Brazil second with 526,892 and India with 404,211.More than 3.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered.This report includes information from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Month: July 2021
Bollywood icon Dilip Kumar, hailed as the “Tragedy King” and one of Hindi cinema’s greatest actors, died Wednesday in a Mumbai hospital after a prolonged illness. He was 98.The “Tragedy King” title came from Kumar’s numerous serious roles. In several, his character died as a frustrated lover and a drunkard. He also was known as Bollywood’s only Method actor for his expressive performances identifying a character’s emotions.Kumar was hospitalized twice last month after he complained of breathlessness, and his family tweeted “with a heavy heart and profound grief” the announcement of his passing.”Dilip Kumar will be remembered as a cinematic legend. He was blessed with unparalleled brilliance, due to which audiences across generations were enthralled. His passing away is a loss to our cultural world,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that also offered his condolences to Kumar’s family and admirers.”An institution has gone,” Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan tweeted. “Whenever the history of Indian Cinema will be written, it shall always be ‘before Dilip Kumar, and after Dilip Kumar’ ..””It’s the end of an era,” filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar said.He was born Muhammad Yusuf Khan, a Muslim, on Dec. 11, 1922. His Pathan family hailed from Peshawar, in what became Pakistan after Partition, and he visited his ancestral home in the late 1980s.He changed his name as he debuted in Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry centered in Mumbai, with Jwar Bhata, or Sea Tides, in 1944.Saira Banu, wife of Indian actor Dilip Kumar, wearing blue mask, center, mourns near his body at a hospital in Mumbai, India, July 7, 2021.His career spanned over six decades with more than 60 films. His first major box-office hits were Jugnu, or Firefly, in 1947 in which he starred alongside Noor Jehan, and the 1948 film Shaheed, or Martyr.He played a variety of characters — a romantic hero in Andaz, a swashbuckler in Aan, a dramatic drunkard in Devdas, a comic role in Azaad, a Muslim prince in the historical epic Mughal-e-Azam and a robber in the social movie Ganga Jamuna.Mehboob Khan’s blockbuster Aan in 1952 was his first film in Technicolor and was among a string of light-hearted roles he took at the suggestion of his psychiatrist to shed his “Tragedy King” image.He starred in many social drama films like Footpath, Naya Daur (New Era), Musafir (Traveller) and Paigham (Message) in the 1950s.His top female co-stars included Madhubala, Nargis, Nimmi, Meena Kumari, Kamini Kaushal and Vyjanthimala.In 1966, Dilip Kumar married Saira Banu, who was 22 years younger than him, and the couple acted in “Gopi,” Sagina Mahato and Bairaag. They had no children.In 1961, he produced and starred in Ganga Jamuna in which he and his brother Nasir Khan played the title roles. It was the only film he produced. Indian media reports say he declined the role of Sherif Ali in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia in 1962. The role went to Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.He took a break in the late ’70s but returned with a character role in the successful Kranti, or Revolution in 1981. He continued playing key roles in films such as Shakti, Karma and Saudagar. His last film was Qila (Fort) in 1998.In 1994, he was given the Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest honor for contributions to Indian cinema. He also served in the upper house of Indian Parliament after being nominated for a six-year term.
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At a workshop in Kullu district in North India, dozens of artisans bend over hand-operated looms, deftly weaving a garment called the sari in vibrant shades of pink and orange.The sari is an unstitched, flowing garment worn by women in India and in South Asian countries like Bangladesh. It is a new addition to the hilly region’s handloom industry, which for decades focused on making shawls and stoles with traditional patterns from woolen yarn.The hope is that adding the handwoven sari to shop shelves will draw in new customers and boost incomes for hundreds of women in the region, who have very few employment avenues available in the primarily rural district.Looms have long been a part of many village homes nestled on hilly slopes, where women use yarn from sheep to make traditional woolen wraps known as “pattu” for the family.In recent decades, they made a living weaving shawls to sell to the tens of thousands of tourists who came to the Himalayan district. But it was becoming harder to attract a younger, more fashion-conscious generation that now prefers coats to the traditional shawl.“I just wanted that this art should not die, this handloom art. So, we thought let us give them some new ideas,” said Richa Verma, the Deputy Commissioner of Kullu. “We are very hopeful that the tourist who is coming to this district will take the sari as a souvenir and boost income opportunities for local people.”They will be among the country’s first woolen saris, which are usually made of cotton and silk. The artisans are optimistic because saris are an intrinsic part of most women’s wardrobes in the country.At the workshops, broader looms have replaced the old, narrower ones because the fabric for saris is woven in a wider width compared to shawls and stoles.“This work is very good for women. We educate our children, and we are managing to live well,” said Vimla Devi, a resident.Saris are hung out to dry in Lalitpur, Nepal, April 17, 2019.Sales of handwoven garments, often made from local yarn, have been growing in recent years as people begin to appreciate their qualities, said Paljor Bodh, the head of Bodh Shawl Weavers, one of the region’s well-known manufacturers of shawls who has lent his support to the sari project. His workshop employs about 60 artisans. Boutique stores in large cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, have helped market their product and boost sales among a niche, upmarket clientele that is willing to spend money on.“Handloom fabrics have more warmth because they are uneven and trap the air,” Bodh said. “Fabric made on power looms . . . does not have any gaps, so it cannot trap body heat.”The challenge, however, has been to enhance the appeal of the traditional handmade garments to a more fashion-conscious public and present them in a new avatar, according to experts. Traditional patterns have been enhanced with motifs that represent the region such as trout fish, local flowers and cedar trees.“To keep up with the times and to raise demand, we have consulted fashion institutes and followed global fashion forecasting trends,” said Ramesh Thakur, the General Manager of the Bhutti Weavers Cooperative Society. Designers have also been involved with the project and training programs organized for artisans.They have adapted to a new format quickly.“We don’t have to teach them much. They are expert in making motifs on the fabric. So, we have to just train them in the length and breadth of the sari plus the weight of the sari,” said Verma. “It should not be very heavy, otherwise it will be very uncomfortable to wear.”While an ancient tradition is getting a new spin, much will depend on luring young people to learn the painstaking art. The craft has been passed down generations, but there is a question mark on how many want to continue working with their hands, said 76-year-old Bodh, who learned the art from his father.“Now computers and phones have captured their attention. So, sometimes local people are hesitant to come thinking that their efforts may not fetch much value. Most of those working here are 40 or 50 years old,” Bodh said. “That is why the future of this art will depend on how much support the government extends.”However, some artisans are weaving dreams into a project. Javitri Thakur, who started weaving in traditional designs into the hand spun shawls to support her family, hopes making saris will open new avenues for her. Over the last four years she has mastered the craft. “Maybe I can start my own business one day,” she said, displaying a new garment she has made.
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The Biden administration announced shipments of millions of Moderna vaccine donations for Guatemala and Vietnam on Tuesday, after pledging to donate 4 million doses to Indonesia last week. But overall, the U.S. fell short of its target of sending 80 million doses to countries in need by the end of June. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report on the challenges facing the U.S. effort to help vaccinate the world.
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Britney Spears’ court-appointed attorney on Tuesday filed documents to resign from her conservatorship, the latest of several such moves that have come in the fallout from the pop singer’s comments in court decrying the legal arrangement that controls her money and affairs. Samuel Ingham III filed documents in Los Angeles Superior Court requesting that the court appoint Spears a new attorney and saying his resignation would take effect as soon as that happened. During her June 23 speech in court, in which she condemned the conservatorship and asked Judge Brenda Penny to end it, Spears was critical of Ingham, and said she wished the court would allow her to hire a lawyer of her choice. Last week, Bessemer Trust, the estate-management company that Spears had requested replace her father as conservator of her finances, filed its own documents withdrawing from the case. The filing said that circumstances had changed after Spears’ comments in court on June 23. At a hearing in November, Penny denied Spears’ request to have her father replaced entirely but said James Spears and Bessemer Trust could work together as co-conservators of her finances. And on Monday, in a letter obtained by entertainment industry publication Deadline, Britney Spears’ longtime manager Larry Rudolph also resigned, saying she had no intention of resuming her career after a 2½-year hiatus that has left him with no work to do for her. A veteran probate attorney, Ingham was for years a largely silent figure in the conservatorship, at least publicly, but became a more vocal advocate for Britney Spears starting last year. His statements in court that she feared her father and would not resume her career so long as he had power over it were an early crack in the presumed consensus among the figures involved in the conservatorship. At the June 23 hearing, Ingham said that Britney Spears had not asked him to file a petition to end the conservatorship, but said he expected she might do so soon. In her remarks critical of Ingham, Spears said during the hearing that she hadn’t known she could file such a petition, and she still has not.
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Indonesia has prepared backup medical facilities for a worst-case scenario where daily coronavirus infections reach 40,000 to 50,000, an official said on Tuesday, as the country reported another day of record fatalities from its worst outbreak so far.Indonesia has one of Asia’s most severe COVID-19 epidemics, exacerbated by the highly infectious Delta variant, with hospitals overstretched, oxygen supply problems and a growing number of sick unable to receive medical attention.Southeast Asia’s largest and most populous country has seen record daily infections in 11 of the past 16 days, with 31,189 new cases and 728 fatalities on Tuesday.Just 1.6% of its more than 270 million population have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.Senior Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government has plans to increase oxygen supplies and has identified accommodation infrastructure that can be converted into isolation facilities in the worst-case scenario.”The number can go up to 40,000 or more, that’s why we have prepared scenarios – when it comes to medications, oxygen, and also hospitals,” Luhut said, adding that help had been sought from countries like China and Singapore.Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government was adding nearly 8,000 new beds in Greater Jakarta, and was closely watching Sumatra and Kalimantan, which were seeing a rise in cases of the Delta variant.As of Monday, 76% of beds in Indonesian hospitals were occupied, health ministry data showed, though some regions on Java island have reported a rate higher than 85%.Indonesia on Saturday tightened curbs on movement, office work, dining and air travel on Java and Bali islands and on Tuesday tightened measures in 20 other provinces.Authorities have voiced concern about reports of heavy traffic in Jakarta and the city’s governor Anies Baswedan said on Twitter his inspection of office buildings on Tuesday found a number of non-essential businesses still operating.”We bury more than 300 people per day, those are our brothers and sisters,” he said in an accompanying video. “This is all about protecting them.”
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Germany announced Tuesday it is lowering travel restrictions on Britain and four other European nations imposed due to the appearance of the more contagious delta variant of COVID-19. Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s public health agency, said it has downgraded Britain, Portugal, Russia, India and Nepal from its highest risk category of “areas of variant concern” to “high-incidence areas.” The change means travelers from those countries can avoid going into mandatory quarantine if they can prove they have received a COVID-19 vaccine, while those who have not been vaccinated must enter a 10-day isolation period. The quarantine period can be shortened to five days if a person tests negative for COVID-19.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday that the government is aiming to end its latest lockdown on July 19, despite a growing number of coronavirus cases caused by the highly transmissible delta variant. FILE – Commuters cross the London Bridge, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, July 6, 2021.Johnson said the mandatory mask wearing indoors and social distancing requirements will end, but said businesses could still mandate them along with facemasks. He said a final decision on the reopening date would take place next week. Meanwhile, Britain’s royal palace said Monday that Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, is self-isolating after coming into contact last week with someone who later tested positive for the coronavirus. Vaccine donations
On the vaccine front, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said his country will donate another 1.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Taiwan later this week. The new shipment comes a month after Tokyo donated 1.24 million doses of the two-shot AstraZeneca vaccine to the self-ruled island. FILE – People line up to get their coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at Songshan airport following an increasing number of locally transmitted cases in Taipei, Taiwan, June 2, 2021.Taiwan had been held up as one of the world’s fewest success stories in containing the spread of the coronavirus at the start of the pandemic, but it has been dealing with a sudden outbreak of new infections that authorities have connected to outbreaks among flight crews with state-owned China Airlines and a hotel at Taoyuan International Airport. Taiwan has 15,061 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 689 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Japan will also donate 1 million AstraZeneca doses to both Thailand and the Philippines this week, following similar donations to Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. Meanwhile, Israel and South Korea have announced an even swap of COVID-19 vaccines as both countries seek to jumpstart their vaccination campaigns. The deal calls for Israel to send 700,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to South Korea later this month, with South Korea sending back an equal amount of Pfizer vaccines it has already ordered as soon as September. “This is a win-win deal,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a written statement Tuesday announcing the deal. Delta variant
The spread of the delta variant, first identified in India, has led to a jump in cases in countries around the world, including in South Korea. Health officials in Seoul reported 711 new cases in the county on Monday, the third consecutive day of more than 700 cases. Most cases came from the populated Seoul metropolitan area. Indonesia said Monday that it is seeking more oxygen supplies as it battles a surge of COVID-19 cases, fueled by the spread of the Delta variant. The government said it is asking oxygen producers to allocate their entire supply for use by COVID-19 patients and said it will import more oxygen if needed. In Luxembourg, officials said Monday that Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is in serious but stable condition after contracting COVID-19 and will remain hospitalized for now. Bettel was admitted to the hospital on Sunday after testing positive for the virus following a two-day EU summit in Brussels. International sports affected
The pandemic continues to affect the international sports world, with organizers of the Australian Grand Prix auto racing announcing Tuesday that it is cancelling the Formula One race for the second year in a row due to Australia’s strict travel and quarantine issues. The race was initially scheduled for March 21, but was pushed back to November 21, just two weeks after the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, making it impossible for the drivers and their teams to complete Australia’s mandatory 14-day quarantine and prepare for the race. The 2020 race at Melbourne’s Albert Park street circuit was abruptly cancelled as the pandemic began to take hold globally. The Australian MotoGP, scheduled to be held in October on Phillip Island’s street circuit, has also been scrapped for a second consecutive year. As of early Tuesday, there are more than 185.1 million global COVID cases, including 3.9 billion deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. The United States continues to lead both categories with 33.7 million total cases and 605,567 deaths. Johns Hopkins is also reporting more than 3.2 billion vaccine doses have been administered around the world.This report includes information from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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North India’s Kullu district is famed for its ancient tradition of spinning hand-woven stoles and shawls with designs that have been passed down for generations. Now artisans, many of them women, are learning to make another traditional Indian garment called the sari, under a program sponsored by the local government and private sector that aims to reach new markets and enhance income opportunities for women. Anjana Pasricha reports.
Camera: Rakesh Kumar Video editor: Rod James
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A breakthrough safety feature being developed for vehicles is designed to potentially save the 10,000 lives lost to drunk driving in the U.S. each year. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
Camera: Mike Burke Footage: DADSS Program, WMUR
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The number of spectators at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics will be limited to a handful of VIP, or Very Important Persons dignitaries, and Olympic officials due to concerns over the rising number of new COVID-19 cases in the capital, according to a Japanese newspaper.A report in Tuesday’s edition of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper says the idea is part of a larger plan that would also include banning visitors from attending events at large venues and at night.Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics announced back on June 21 that it would allow just 10,000 people, or 50% of a venue’s capacity, at all events, despite health experts advising the government that banning all spectators was the “least risky” option for holding the Games.The Asahi Shimbun reported the revised changes to the number of spectators allowed would be negotiated between the government and officials with the International Olympic Committee.Tokyo and several other prefectures were initially placed under a state of emergency in April due to a surge of new COVID-19 infections in the Japanese capital and across the country. The surge prompted staunch public opposition against staging the Olympics, especially among a prominent group of medical professionals that urged Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to call off the Games. The prefectures transitioned last month from the state of emergency into “quasi-emergency” measures that are set to expire on July 11, just 12 days before the Olympics opening ceremonies. But the government is expected to extend the quasi-emergency after a meeting on Thursday, with a decision about the Olympics to follow. Prime Minister Suga has previously said he would not rule out banning all spectators from attending the Olympics if the situation takes a turn for the worse.The Tokyo Olympics are set to take place after a one-year postponement as the novel coronavirus pandemic began spreading across the globe. Foreign spectators have already been banned from attending the event.
This report includes information from the Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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“The Voice” coaches Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton celebrated their nuptials over the Fourth of July holiday during a weekend wedding in Oklahoma. Shelton, a country singer, and Stefani, a pop star, posted photos on Monday of their wedding including an image of the couple posing over a twilight sky. A representative for Shelton did not return messages from the AP, but the No Doubt singer tagged the wedding photos with Saturday’s date. In one photo, Shelton was dressed in jeans and driving a golf cart decorated with white tulle, while Stefani showed off her white boots under her wedding dress and held up a bouquet of white flowers. The two singers announced their engagement in October. The two stars met as judges on the singing competition show years ago. After Shelton divorced Miranda Lambert and Stefani divorced her husband Gavin Rossdale in 2015, the two later began dating. They have released a couple of duets together, including “Nobody But You” and “Happy Anywhere.”
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Between 800 and 1,500 businesses around the world have been affected by a ransomware attack centered on U.S. information technology firm Kaseya, its chief executive said Monday. Fred Voccola, the Florida-based company’s CEO, said in an interview that it was hard to estimate the precise impact of Friday’s attack because those hit were mainly customers of Kaseya’s customers. Kaseya provides software tools to information technology outsourcing shops: companies that typically handle back-office work for companies too small or modestly resourced to have their own tech departments. One of those tools was subverted Friday, allowing the hackers to paralyze hundreds of businesses on five continents. Although most of those affected have been small concerns such as dentists’ offices or accountants, the disruption has been felt more keenly in Sweden, where hundreds of supermarkets had to close because their cash registers were inoperative, or New Zealand, where schools and kindergartens were knocked offline. FILE – A sign reads: “Temporarily Closed. We have an IT-disturbance and our systems are not functioning”, posted in the window of a closed Coop supermarket store in Stockholm, Sweden, July 3, 2021.The hackers who claimed responsibility for the breach have demanded $70 million to restore all the affected businesses’ data, although they have indicated a willingness to temper their demands in private conversations with a cybersecurity expert and with Reuters. “We are always ready to negotiate,” a representative of the hackers told Reuters earlier Monday. The representative, who spoke via a chat interface on the hackers’ website, didn’t provide their name. Voccola refused to say whether he was ready to take the hackers up on the offer. “I can’t comment yes, no or maybe,” he said when asked whether his company would talk to or pay the hackers. “No comment on anything to do with negotiating with terrorists in any way.” Voccola said he had spoken to officials at the White House, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security about the breach, but so far, he was not aware of any nationally important business being affected. “We’re not looking at massive critical infrastructure,” he said. “That’s not our business. We’re not running AT&T’s network or Verizon’s 911 system. Nothing like that.” Because Voccola’s firm was in the process of fixing a vulnerability in the software that was exploited by the hackers when the ransomware attack was executed, some information security professionals have speculated that the hackers might’ve been monitoring his company’s communications from the inside. Voccola said neither he nor the investigators his company had brought in had seen any sign of that. “We don’t believe that they were in our network,” he said. He added that the details of the breach would be made public “once its ‘safe’ and OK to do that.” About a dozen different countries have been affected by the breach, according to research published by cybersecurity firm ESET.
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Tropical Storm Elsa made landfall in Cuba on Monday, charting a course toward Florida after causing at least three deaths elsewhere in the Caribbean. Elsa swept over Cuba’s south-central coast on Monday with sustained winds near 95 kph, according to Cuba’s Meteorology Institute. It brought a storm surge to the southern coast, along with heavy rains. Cuban officials said they had evacuated 180,000 people from homes in flood-prone areas. Most of the evacuated went to relatives’ homes, while others took refuge in government shelters. Antony Exilien secures the roof of his house in response to Tropical Storm Elsa, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 3, 2021.The Associated Press, citing the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, reported that the storm had killed one person on St. Lucia and that two people were killed in separate building collapses in the Dominican Republic. The storm also hit Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, as well as Haiti and Jamaica. Cuba’s Meteorology Institute predicted that the storm would weaken while passing over central Cuba but could strengthen again slightly when it emerges over the Florida Straits and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in 15 counties. Elsa is expected to pass near the Florida Keys early Tuesday and move over parts of Florida’s west coast Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. FILE – Hurricane Elsa approaches Argyle, St. Vincent, July 2, 2021.”All Floridians should prepare for the possibility of heavy rain, flooding and potential power outages,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter. Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane until Saturday, when it was downgraded to a tropical storm. It is the fifth named storm of the season and also the earliest one on record. Anticipation of the storm prompted Florida officials to demolish the remaining portion of a residential building in a Miami suburb that partially collapsed nearly two weeks ago. Twenty-seven people were killed in the collapse, and 118 are still missing. This report includes information from the Associated Press and Reuters news agency.
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Raffaella Carrà, for decades one of Italian television’s most beloved entertainers, a woman affectionately nicknamed the “queen of Italian TV,” died Monday at 78, Italian state TV quoted her family as saying. Rai state TV read a statement from the star’s family, announcing that she died in Rome after a long illness. No further details were released. With her energetic presence and strong, almost husky, singing voice, the trim Carrà was a wildly popular staple in the early heyday decades of Rai, especially when it was the only nationwide TV broadcaster. With often sexy costumes — daring by state TV standards in a country where the Vatican wields considerable influence — Carrà also was credited with helping Italian women become more confident with their bodies and their sexuality, once even baring her belly button during a TV performance. FILE – Raffaella Carra smiles as she poses for photographers during a press conference at Rome’s Foro Italico, Sept. 30, 1999.But she could also be devastatingly classy in her dress and manners. The La Repubblica newspaper wrote that she managed to pull off being provocative but still familiar and reassuring to millions of TV viewers. She also was considered an icon for gay fans due to her joyful performances. Her trademark bouncy blond haircut and bangs — dubbed the helmet look — were imitated by many fans. TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian premier, mourned Carrà’s passing, calling her “one of the symbols of Italian television, perhaps the most beloved personality.” In a post on Facebook, Berlusconi said that with her TV programs, “she knew how to speak to various different generations, having the ability to always remain current with the times and without ever descending into vulgarity.” “She was the lady of Italian television,” Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said. President Sergio Mattarella recalled Carrà as the “face of television par excellence — she transmitted, with her talent and her likeability, a message of elegance, kindness and optimism.” In one of her last interviews, Carrà told an Italian magazine that “Italian women found me greatly likable because I am not a man-eater — you can have sex appeal together with sweetness and irony.” FILE – Italian singer Raffaella Carra, center, performs during the Italian State RAI TV program “The Voice of Italy”, in Milan, Italy, May 28, 2014.She scandalized conservative TV viewers with her 1971 hit song Tuca, Tuca, a playful corruption of the Italian words “touch, touch,” which she sang while moving her hands up and down various men’s bodies. She performed the number many times with different stars, including one classic version with comedian Alberto Sordi. A 1980s TV show she starred in, Fantastico, drew 25 million viewers, nearly a half of what was then Italy’s population. But it was the 1970s TV variety program Canzonissima — roughly, “full of song” — that sealed her reputation as a star. Italians would be glued to their black-and-white TV sets every Saturday night to enjoy the musical variety show, which launched hit songs year after year. FILE – English actress Joan Collins, right, and Italian TV star Raffaella Carra record a new TV show in Milan, Italy, Jan. 23, 1988.Affectionately known as Raffa, Carrà was born Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni in Bologna on June 18, 1943. She started her career as a singer, dancer, TV presenter and actress when still a child. Later shows included a noon talk program called Pronto Raffaella (Hello, Raffaella). Some shows were tailor-made for her exuberant performing style, including Carramba! Che Sorpresa, (Carramba! What a Surprise) which debuted in 1995 and whose title played off her name and her years of being a presenter in Spain. Carrà became popular in Spain and Latin America in the mid-1970s, especially because of translations of some of her catchy hits — Fiesta and Caliente, Caliente, among others, that she recorded in Spanish. With a fondness for tight dresses and jumpsuits, the singer brought a breath of fresh air to Spanish television sets with novel choreography to disco beats at a time when the heavily Catholic country was just emerging from four decades of a strict conservative dictatorship. That’s when Carrà made her Spanish debut with a 10-minute performance in a musical program called Ladies and Gentlemen! (Señoras y señores!), enough for the Italian singer to seduce many Spaniards with her spontaneity. Carrà wasn’t married. She had no children, but a former companion, TV director and choreographer Sergio Japino, quoted her as often saying, “I didn’t have children, but I had thousands of them,” according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper. That referred to the 150,000 needy children over the years that she helped generate financial sponsors for through one of her TV programs called Amore (Love).
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After his administration fell short of its Independence Day vaccination goal, U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday will again appeal to uninoculated Americans to get the shots to protect themselves and others against the coronavirus, especially the latest worrying variant.
Biden is scheduled to make remarks at the White House on the COVID-19 response and the vaccination program as concern increases about the delta variant of the virus spreading across the country.
The Biden administration aimed to have 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19 by July 4. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection said Friday that 67% have received one dose of a COVID vaccine; 47% have received two doses.
The president declared a partial victory during Independence Day festivities Sunday evening at the White House, where he and first lady Jill Biden personally greeted many of the 1,000 invited first responders, essential workers and military service members.
“We’re back traveling again. We’re back seeing one another again. Businesses are opening and hiring again,” Biden told the attendees during a 15-minute speech in which he declared near independence from the pandemic. “Today, all across this nation we can say with confidence: America is coming back together.”FILE – People wait to get a free COVID-19 vaccine at Penn Station, in New York City, June 8, 2021.The president cautioned, however, the battle against the virus – which has killed more than 600,000 Americans, is not yet over.
“Don’t get me wrong — COVID-19 has not been vanquished,” said Biden. “We all know powerful variants have emerged. But the best defense against these variants is to get vaccinated.
Getting the shot, the president said, is the “most patriotic” thing that can be done.There is a stark regional contrast in vaccination rates. In the Northeast, more than half of adults are fully vaccinated.
In contrast, Southern states are performing poorly. In Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, 35% or less of adults have received full doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is also a political divide.
Only 45% of Republican have received their first dose, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.FILE – Anti-vaccine protesters confront people as they queue to enter a concert which requires proof of vaccination to enter, at the Madison Square Garden, in New York City, June 20, 2021.Those who hesitate to get vaccinated, for whatever reason, need to reassess their thinking, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief medical advisor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“We’re dealing with a historic situation with this pandemic and we do have the tools to counter it,” said Fauci on Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’ “So for goodness sake, put aside all of those differences and realize the common enemy is this virus and we do have the tool, a highly effective tool, against this virus.”
Fauci said 99% of recent coronavirus deaths in the United States involved unvaccinated people.
Amid the spread of the delta variant of the virus, believed to be more infectious, the federal government is preparing to send surge response teams to Southern and Western states seeing outbreaks.
“The federal government stands ready with a whole-of-government effort to work with local officials to increase vaccinations, to provide increased testing and also therapeutics to ensure that people don’t get sick who have contracted the disease,” said White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeffrey Zients on the CBS program “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
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An Asian industry group that includes Google, Facebook and Twitter has warned that tech companies could stop offering their services in Hong Kong if the Chinese territory proceeds with plans to change privacy laws.
The warning came in a letter sent by the Asia Internet Coalition, of which all three companies, in addition to Apple Inc, LinkedIn and others, are members.
Proposed amendments to privacy laws in Hong Kong could see individuals hit with “severe sanctions”, said the June 25 letter to the territory’s privacy commissioner for personal data, Ada Chung Lai-ling, without specifying what the sanctions would be.
“Introducing sanctions aimed at individuals is not aligned with global norms and trends,” added the letter, whose contents were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
“The only way to avoid these sanctions for technology companies would be to refrain from investing and offering their services in Hong Kong, thereby depriving Hong Kong businesses and consumers, whilst also creating new barriers to trade.”
In the six-page letter, AIC managing director Jeff Paine acknowledged the proposed amendments focus on the safety and personal data privacy of individuals. “However, we wish to stress that doxxing is a matter of serious concern,” he wrote.
During anti-government protests in Hong Kong in 2019, doxxing – or publicly releasing private or identifying information about an individual or organisation – came under scrutiny when police were targeted after their details were released online.
The details of some officers’ home addresses and children’s schools were also exposed by anti-government protesters, some of who threatened them and their families online.
“We … believe that any anti-doxxing legislation, which can have the effect of curtailing free expression, must be built upon principles of necessity and proportionality,” the AIC said.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Twitter referred questions to the AIC.
Google declined to comment.
The former British colony of Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of continued freedoms. Pro-democracy activists say those freedoms are being whittled away by Beijing, especially with a national security law introduced last year cracking down on dissent. China denies the charge.
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North Korea’s coronavirus lockdown has taken a major toll on its economy. Its leader, Kim Jong Un, has hinted at a humanitarian crisis. Some fear the situation could get much worse, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Seoul.
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A However, 64% of vaccinated Americans believe the government is accurately describing the dangers of the delta variant.Iran fighting COVID 5th wave
The variant is having a global impact. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has warned that the country is on the brink of a “fifth wave” of a COVID-19 outbreak. The delta variant of the virus, first identified in India, is largely responsible for the rising number of hospitalizations and deaths in Iran, officials say.All non-essential businesses have been ordered closed in 275 cities, including Tehran, the capital. Travel has also been restricted between cities that are experiencing high infection rates.Reports say only about 5% of Iranians have been vaccinated. Women hold their arms after receiving the Covishield vaccine against the coronavirus at a vaccination center in Mumbai, India, July 4, 2021.India may be undercounting COVID casesOn Monday, India’s health ministry reported 39,796 new COVID cases in the previous 24-hour period. Just a few weeks ago India was reporting a daily tally of a least 50,000 new cases. Public health officials have warned, however, that the country is likely undercounting its COVID cases. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Monday that there are 183.8 million global COVID cases. The U.S. has the most with 33.7 million, followed by India with 30.6 million and Brazil with 18.8 million. Johns Hopkins said more than 3 billion vaccines have been administered. This report includes information from the Associated Press.
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Experts say coronavirus lockdowns anywhere in the world can trigger stress, irritability, fear and fatigue. There can be a disconnection from extended family and friends, causing loneliness. Uncertainty is another corrosive factor.In Australia, mental health charities estimated that about a third of people in Melbourne suffered some sort of depression during the nation’s longest and strictest lockdown last year. Research has also found that lockdowns are making some Australian children too anxious to go to school.Life in Australia was beginning to return to normal. But recently, the highly contagious delta variant was detected in several states and territories threatening progress. Lockdowns were imposed in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Darwin — subjecting millions of Australians to stay-at-home orders.Professor Susan Rossell, a cognitive neuropsychologist at Swinburne’s Centre for Mental Health, compares mental health consequences of the coronavirus crisis to a conflict.“There are very few pandemics that have lasted this long. So, the comparison to wars, especially wars that last a very long time, is a good one,” Rossell said. “During the conflict times, so, during the pandemic time, it elevated stress and anxiety, loneliness, confusion, poorer quality of life — all the things that we are seeing at the moment.” Mental health experts have said anxiety will “haunt” many Australians in the future as uncertainty surrounds a slow vaccination rollout and the likelihood that international borders will stay closed for another year, separating families from relatives overseas.The lockdowns in Perth, Brisbane and Darwin were lifted in recent days, but Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, remains under a stay-at-home order until at least Saturday. Authorities are racing to contain a COVID-19 outbreak linked to a limousine driver thought to have been infected with the delta variant after transporting an international flight crew at Sydney Airport.Residents in lockdown can leave their homes for work, to buy groceries, to exercise, care for a relative or to receive a coronavirus vaccine.Australia has recorded just under 31,000 COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began. 910 people have died.Only about 7% of the population of 25 million are fully vaccinated.
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Dozens of COVID-19 patients died in Indonesia over the weekend when a hospital in Yogyakarta ran out of oxygen.
The Dr. Sardjito General Hospital tried switching oxygen cylinders during the outage but failed to save 63 of its COVID patients as cities across the country are facing a surge in coronavirus cases.
“The hospital switched to oxygen cylinders, including the 100 cylinders donated by the Yogyakarta regional police. However, all efforts were too late,” hospital director Rukmono Siswishanto said in a statement Sunday morning.
Siswishanto said that he had informed multiple authorities including the minister of health that the hospital was due to run out of oxygen on Saturday evening.
The surge of daily new cases in Indonesia has pushed hospitals to build makeshift intensive care units and dedicate new quarantine centers. At least three new cemeteries for those who had COVID-19 have been set up in the capital of Jakarta.
In one neighborhood of Jakarta, residents in need of oxygen line up as early as 6 a.m. to fill tanks for their loved ones.Indonesians, fortunate to have their own oxygen tanks, line up at an oxygen supply station in Tebet, Jakarta, July 4, 2021, after a hospital ran out of supplemental oxygen, asking patients’ families to bring their own. (Indra Yoga/VOA-Jakarta)Over the past week, Indonesia has seen its highest number of new cases and deaths from the coronavirus. The country recorded 3,298 deaths over the past week, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
In India, officials have announced that thousands of residents have been given fake vaccines. Officials say the shots were given in fake vaccine camps set up in several cities, including Mumbai and Kolkata. Officials say six people, so far, have been arrested in connection with the fake shots.
India’s health ministry said Sunday that it had recorded more than 43,000 new COVID-19 cases in the previous 24-hour period.
In Iran, officials are shutting down a number of businesses as the Delta variant continues to spread and vaccination rates continue to lag. Barely a third of Iran’s population has been vaccinated against the virus.
Meanwhile, Britain, which has fully vaccinated nearly half of its population, is expected to announce an end to mask requirements.
British media reported Sunday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans for “Freedom Day” on July 19th will scrap legal mask requirements, in addition to fully opening businesses and social interactions currently restricted.
VOA’s Indonesian Service contributed to this story. Some information came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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A car with wings recently completed a test flight in Slovakia. Its designers say the successful journey brings us one step closer to flying cars, but experts aren’t so sure that’s happening any time soon. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
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This could be it for Caster Semenya and the Olympics. Forced out of her favorite race by World Athletics’ testosterone rules, the two-time Olympic champion in the 800 meters took a late shot at qualifying for Tokyo in the 5,000 meters, an event not affected by the hormone regulations. She came up short. Now 30, Semenya’s hopes of making it back to the Olympics are dwindling. The South African once said she wanted to run at top track events until she was 40. Now, her future ambitions depend on a final, long-shot legal appeal of the testosterone rules or transforming from the world’s dominant middle-distance runner into a successful long-distance athlete. That’s going to be hard for her. Semenya is the athlete that has perhaps stoked the most controversy in track and field over the last decade. If there are no more appearances on the biggest stage, it’s been a career like no other. In 12 years at the top, Semenya has won two Olympic golds and three world championship titles, but her success has come amid near-constant interference by track authorities. She has only competed free of restrictions of one type or another for three of those 12 years. Why can’t Semenya defend her 800 title in Tokyo In 2018, world track and field’s governing body introduced rules it said were aimed at female athletes with conditions called differences of sex development, or DSDs. The key for World Athletics is that these athletes have testosterone levels that are higher than the typical female range. The track body argues that gives them an unfair advantage. Semenya is the highest-profile athlete affected by the regulations, but not the only one.The rules demand that Semenya lower her testosterone levels artificially — by either taking birth control pills daily, having hormone-blocking injections or undergoing surgery — to be allowed to run in races from 400 meters to one mile. Semenya has simply refused to do that, pointing out the irony that in a sport where doping is such a scourge, authorities want her to take drugs to be eligible to run at the Olympics. “Why will I take drugs?” Semenya said in 2019. “I’m a pure athlete. I don’t cheat. They should focus on doping, not us.” But she can run the 5,000? Yes. Strangely, World Athletics decided to only enforce the testosterone rules for track events from 400 meters to one mile, raising criticism from Semenya’s camp that the regulations were specifically designed to target her because of her dominance.It means Semenya can compete in the 100 and 200 meters and long-distance races without lowering her testosterone levels. Field events are also unregulated. After a brief go at 200 meters, Semenya attempted to qualify for Tokyo in the 5,000 meters, running races in Pretoria and Durban in South Africa and, most recently, at international meets in Germany and Belgium last month. She never came within 20 seconds of the Olympic qualifying mark. The court battle Semenya continues to fight against the testosterone regulations in court. She has launched three legal appeals against the rules, calling them unfair and discriminatory, and appears determined to wage her legal fight to the very end. Having failed in appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss supreme court, Semenya has now lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights. Semenya’s first appeal at sport’s highest court revealed a bitter battle between her and track authorities, centered on World Athletics’ claim in the closed-doors hearing that she was “biologically male.” Semenya angrily refuted that, having been identified as female at birth and having identified as female her whole life. She called the assertion “deeply hurtful.” Other athletes affected The issue won’t disappear with Semenya. Just this week, two 18-year-old female athletes from Namibia were barred from competing in the 400 meters at the Tokyo Olympics after they underwent medical tests and it was discovered they had high natural testosterone levels. One of them, Christine Mboma, is the world under-20 record holder. The two runners that finished second and third behind Semenya at the 2016 Olympics, Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi and Margaret Wambui of Kenya, have said publicly they also are affected by the testosterone regulations and have been banned from the 800, too, unless they undergo medical intervention. Niyonsaba has qualified for the Olympics in the 5,000 meters. What now? Semenya has been clear that the rules won’t force her out of track and she’ll keep running and keep enjoying the sport, even if she can’t go to the biggest events. “Now is all about having fun,” she said at a meet in South Africa in April. “We’ve achieved everything that we wanted‚ all the major titles‚ inspiring the youth.” “For me, it’s not about being at the Olympics,” she said. “It’s being healthy and running good times and being in the field for the longest.”
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The young midshipman needed a date one evening while he was home from the U.S. Naval Academy, so his younger sister paired him with a family friend who already had a crush.Nearly eight decades later, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are still together in the same tiny town where they were born, grew up and had that first outing. In between, they’ve traveled the world as Naval officer and military spouse, American president and first lady, and finally as human rights and public health ambassadors.“It’s a full partnership,” the 39th president told The Associated Press during a joint interview ahead of the couple’s 75th wedding anniversary on July 7.It will be another milestone for the longest-married presidential couple in American history. At 96, Carter also is the longest-lived of the 45 men who’ve served as chief executive. Yet even having reached that pinnacle, Carter has said often since leaving the Oval Office in 1981 that the most important decision he ever made wasn’t as head of state, commander in chief or even executive officer of a nuclear submarine in the early years of the Cold War.Rather, it was falling for Eleanor Rosalynn Smith in 1945 and marrying her the following summer. “My biggest secret is to marry the right person if you want to have a long-lasting marriage,” Carter said.The nonagenarians — she’s now 93 — offered a few other tips for an enduring bond.“Every day there needs to be reconciliation and communication between the two spouses,” the former president said, explaining that he and Rosalynn, both devout Christians, read the Bible together aloud each night — something they’ve done for years, even when separated by their travels. “We don’t go to sleep with some remaining differences between us,” he said.Rosalynn Carter noted the importance of finding common interests. Even now, she said, “Jimmy and I are always looking for things to do together.” Still, she emphasized a caveat: “Each (person) should have some space. That’s really important.”As first lady, Rosalynn Carter carved her own identity even as she supported her husband. Building on her predecessors’ efforts to highlight special causes, she went to work in her own East Wing office, setting a standard for first ladies by working alongside her husband’s West Wing aides on key legislation, especially dealing with health care and mental health. She continued that focus as the couple built the Carter Center in Atlanta after their White House years.Certainly, a 75-year marriage hasn’t been seamless, the couple acknowledges. Jimmy was initially on course to be an admiral, not commander in chief, and Rosalynn appreciated their life beyond Plains, home to fewer than a thousand people, then and now. But when James Earl Carter Sr. became sick and died in 1953, his son cut short his Navy career and decided the family would return to rural Georgia.The former president has written that in retrospect he finds it inconceivable not to discuss such a life-changing decision with his wife, who was unhappy with the move. Now, they see the blossoming of their partnership in that challenging juncture.“We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business, and it continued when Jimmy got involved in politics,” Rosalynn Carter told AP. “I knew more on paper about the business than he did. He would take my advice about things,” she added, drawing a laugh and affirmation from her husband.Jimmy Carter also didn’t seek Rosalynn’s permission to make his first bid for office a few years later. In that instance, she was on board anyway.“My wife is much more political,” he said.She interjected: “I love it. I love campaigning. I had the best time. I was in all the states in the United States. I campaigned solid every day the last time we ran.”That didn’t help avoid a rout by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980. But it further cemented Rosalynn — who’d originally given up her own opportunity to go to college when she married at age 18 — as equal partner to the leader of the free world. And it marked Jimmy Carter’s evolution as a spouse.He’s since been an outspoken voice for women’s rights, including within Christianity. Carter left the Southern Baptist Convention in 2006, denouncing what he called “rigid” views that “subjugated” women in the church and in their own marriages.The former president ratified those views again, as well as his support for the church recognizing same-sex marriage. “It will continue to be divisive,” he said. “But the church is evolving.”The Carters plan to celebrate their own marriage milestone a few days after their anniversary with a party in Plains. Decades removed from inaugural balls and state dinners, the most famous residents of Sumter County said they have mixed feelings about the spotlight.“We have too many people invited,” Rosalynn Carter said with a laugh. “I’m actually praying for some turndowns and regrets.
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Two astronauts made the first space walk on Sunday outside China’s new orbital station to work on setting up a 15-meter-long robotic arm.Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo were shown by state TV climbing out of the airlock as Earth rolled past below them. The third crew member, commander Nie Haisheng, stayed inside.The astronauts arrived June 17 for a three-month mission aboard China’s third orbital station, part of an ambitious space program that landed a robot rover on Mars in May. Their mission comes as the ruling Communist Party celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding.The station’s first module, Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, was launched April 29. That was followed by an automated spacecraft with food and fuel. Liu, Nie and Tang arrived June 17 aboard a Shenzhou capsule.On Sunday, Liu and Tang were completing installation of a robotic arm that will be used to assemble the rest of the station, according to state media. State TV said their space suits are designed to allow them to work in the vacuum of space for up to six hours if needed.The space agency plans a total of 11 launches through the end of next year to add two more modules to the 70-ton station.Liu is a veteran of the Shenzhou 7 mission in 2008, during which Zhai Zhigang made China’s first space walk. Nie is on his third trip into space while Liu is making his first. All are military pilots.
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