The World Today

29/10/2021

03/01/2021

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo reported 816 new daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, a day after governors from the capital and neighboring prefectures called on the Japanese government to announce a state of emergency to combat a recent surge in cases.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has resisted calls for a second national state of emergency; the government first introduced that measure in April during an earlier wave of the pandemic. Suga is scheduled to speak publicly on Jan. 4.

Japan’s economy minister told reporters on Saturday the government needed to consult with health experts before deciding on a new declaration.

Tokyo reported 816 new daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, a day after governors from the capital and neighboring prefectures called on the Japanese government to announce a state of emergency to combat a recent surge in cases.

11/11/2020

YEREVAN/BAKU (Reuters) - Thousands of Armenian demonstrators, chanting “Nikol is a traitor”, demanded Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resign on Wednesday over a ceasefire that secured territorial advances for Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh after six weeks of fighting.

Thousands of Armenian demonstrators, chanting "Nikol is a traitor", demanded Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resign on Wednesday over a ceasefire that secured territorial advances for Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh after six weeks of fighting.

21/10/2020

BENI, Congo -- More than 1,300 inmates have escaped from the central prison of Beni in eastern Congo after an attack by rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces, the town's mayor said Tuesday.

An official in eastern Congo says more than 1,300 inmates have escaped from the central prison in Beni after an attack by rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces

21/10/2020

Today, Armenia and Azerbaijan stand on the precipice of a dramatic escalation in fighting which will generate even greater human suffering and risks triggering significant military involvement by outside powers. Russia maintains a mutual defence pact with Armenia and Turkey is a close ally of Azerbaijan. A military misstep here could have consequences that stretch far beyond the Caucasus. While a major clash between Russia and Turkey is unlikely, this tangled web of relationships sparks concerns that a proxy fight might emerge (as in Syria) where Russian and Turkish rivalries play out in this corner of Europe to the detriment of all.

Only diplomacy will work.

19/09/2020

OrCam's MyEye has the ability to attach to the frame of any set of eyeglasses using a magnetic connector, and can read text gathered from both printed and digital surfaces into the ear of the wearer in real time. Seamless facial recognition improves social situations by letting the user know who that person is walking toward them or sitting in front of them.

OrCam's MyEye attaches to the frame of any set of eyeglasses, and can read text gathered from both printed and digital surfaces into the ear of the wearer in real time.

19/09/2020

A tropical storm made landfall in central Vietnam on today, killing one person, while seven people died in a lightning strike in neighboring Cambodia.
The lightning struck a wooden stilt house under which people were eating in Cambodia's northwestern Battambang province on Thursday evening. The dead included a family of four and three other relatives, said Keo Vy, the spokesperson for the National Committee for Disaster Management.
After hitting Vietnam, tropical storm Noul weakened into a depression, national television VTV reported.
The storm caused heavy rain and strong winds in several coastal provinces, uprooting trees and blowing away roofs.

A tropical storm made landfall in central Vietnam on today, killing one person, while seven people died in a lightning strike in neighboring Cambodia.The lightning struck a wooden stilt house under wh...

17/08/2020

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The leader of Australia’s New South Wales state apologised on Monday for failing to stop people carrying the novel coronavirus from disembarking from a cruise ship in Sydney in March, triggering what was at the time Australia’s worst outbreak.

The apology from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian for her government’s poor handling of the outbreak aboard the Ruby Princess came as the number of deaths from a second wave of infection in Victoria state hit a record 25.

Australia has reported 23,500 COVID-19 cases and 421 deaths, far fewer than many other developed nations, but missteps in the handling of the Ruby Princess and possibly also with hotel quarantine in Victoria have proven costly.

“The lessons weren’t learnt soon enough and again I apologise unreservedly on behalf all of those individuals and agencies who made those mistakes,” Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

The leader of Australia's New South Wales state apologised on Monday for failing to stop people carrying the novel coronavirus from disembarking from a cruise ship in Sydney in March, triggering what was at the time Australia's worst outbreak.

16/08/2020

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea accused the leader of a religious sect on Sunday of violating self-isolation rules and obstructing investigations into the country’s biggest outbreak of new coronavirus in five months.

South Korea on Sunday reported 279 new cases on Sunday, more than double the 103 reported on Friday, with most of the new infections found in and around Seoul.

The capital posted a record 146 new cases, out of which 107 were linked to Sarang Jeil Church led by Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, a controversial pastor and an outspoken government critic.

The health ministry said it will file a complaint against Jun later on Sunday, accusing him of violating self-isolation rules by participating in a rally on Saturday and “obstructing” epidemiological investigation by failing to submit a full list of church members for testing and tracing.

South Korea accused the leader of a religious sect on Sunday of violating self-isolation rules and obstructing investigations into the country's biggest outbreak of new coronavirus in five months.

25/07/2020

HOW THE STRESS OF COVID-19 AFFECTS OUR EMOTIONS
While we may not be able to currently identify the words to describe the devastating effects that this has had on our psychological well-being, we may be able to identify the emotions. Below is a list of a few emotions along with their purpose:

• Sadness – emotion of loss. The loss of our normal day-to-day activities and livelihood comes with grave sadness.

• Anxiety – emotion of worry or fear. There may be uncertainties of what tomorrow will bring; we may experience fearful thoughts of an impending negative outcome.

• Anger – emotion used in an attempt to regain control. When we are not earning and others are depending on us to provide for them, we feel like things are out of our control.

Emotions are key to our very existence, but sometimes we struggle to recognise, tolerate or may even blow them out of proportion. This is what psychologists refer to as ‘emotional suffering’. In emotional suffering, we may visit the hospital because we think we are having a heart attack, withdraw from others, eat too much to find comfort, or too little because we have no appetite. We may find ourselves lashing out or acting out of character.

COVID-19 HAS created complete chaos for our external and internal worlds. This pandemic is likely to stir up some strong emotions, particularly for those among us who already struggle with mental illnesses such as depression, eating disorders,...

25/07/2020

ISLAMABAD - A 103-year-old man has recovered from COVID-19 in Pakistan to become one of the oldest survivors of the disease in the world, beating the odds in a country with a weak healthcare system, his relatives and doctors said.
Aziz Abdul Alim, a resident of a village in the mountainous northern district of Chitral, was released last week from an emergency response center after testing positive in early July.

Aziz Abdul Alim, a resident of a village in the mountainous northern district of Chitral, was released last week from an emergency response center after testing positive in early July.

22/07/2020

Psychologists now know that there are at least five types of boredom, including “calibrating boredom”, where you have wandering thoughts and a feeling of not knowing what to do; “reactive boredom”, where you feel aggressive towards your captor – a teacher or workplace, for instance – and ruminate on the things you would rather be doing; “searching boredom”, where you feel restless and search for a way out; “indifferent boredom”, where you feel relaxed and detached from the world around you; and a newly discovered kind, “apathetic boredom”, where you feel neither good nor bad, but helpless to escape.

Some people are a lot more susceptible to boredom. And from 'covert narcissism' to low self-control, the reasons why can teach us about the origins of this mysterious emotion.

11/07/2020

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Five people were killed and hostages were being held at a church west of Johannesburg, South African police said on Saturday.

Police said in a statement on Twitter that they were alerted to a “hostage situation and shooting” in the early hours of the morning at the International Pentecost Holiness Church in Zuurbekom.

Thirty arrests were made and more than 25 fi****ms seized, police said, adding hostage negotiators were still at the scene.

Five people were killed and hostages were being held at a church west of Johannesburg, South African police said on Saturday.

10/07/2020

The WHO has long said the new coronavirus spreads mainly through small droplets released from the mouth and nose that fall from the air in a short period.

But some scientists and researchers are increasingly pointing out to evidence that the virus can also be transmitted by even smaller droplets called aerosols. Usually generated when people are shouting and singing, these remain suspended in the air for longer and can travel farther.

We answer some questions about the transmission of COVID-19 through the air, the risks and ways to protect yourself.

10/07/2020

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia’s President Jeanine Anez said on Thursday she has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Anez said in a tweet she was “well” and continuing to work while in isolation. “Together, we will come out of this,” she said.

The Bolivian government confirmed that at least seven ministers, including its health minister, had tested positive and were either undergoing treatment or recuperating at home.

Anez said she had conducted a test given that many of her team had fallen ill.

“I feel well, I feel strong, I am going to keep working remotely from my isolation, and I want to thank all the Bolivians who are working to help us in this health crisis,” she said.

Bolivia is due to hold general elections on Sept. 6. The elections were originally planned for May but delayed due to the pandemic.

Bolivia's President Jeanine Anez said on Thursday she has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

09/07/2020

One of the lessons the current coronavirus pandemic has taught us is that we depend on electronic devices more than ever, not least during prolonged periods of self-isolation. Smartphones, laptops, television sets, e-readers, refrigerators, air-conditioners - they've all been supremely useful.

The trouble is what happens to them once they are replaced by newer models. The answer: millions of electronic devices end up in the trash heap each year, adding to the already acute problem of electronic waste. Last year alone a staggering 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste was generated globally, which was 21% more than just five years ago, according to a report by the United Nations.

Worse: the amount of discarded products with a battery or plug will reach 74 million tons by the end of the decade, which means that in just 16 years the rate of electronic waste will have doubled.

One of the lessons the current coronavirus pandemic has taught us is that we depend on electronic devices more than ever, not least during prolonged period

09/07/2020

TOKYO - A Tokyo woman was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of leaving her 3-year-old daughter alone at their home for more than a week and letting her starve to death, police said.

Saki Kakehashi, 24, admitted to the allegations, the police said, adding they believe she had routinely neglected and abused the daughter, Noa.

Autopsy results showed Noa died from severe dehydration and hunger, they said. The mother is suspected of leaving her alone at home for eight days in early June while visiting her boyfriend in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, according to an investigative source.

She made an emergency call upon her return from the trip, claiming Noa was not breathing, and the daughter was pronounced dead later at a hospital.

The victim had thymic atrophy, typically observed among abused or neglected children, and her stomach was almost empty, the source said.

During voluntary questioning before her arrest, Kakehashi initially said Noa became ill several days before her death but she had no money to take her to a hospital for treatment.

TOKYO - A Tokyo woman was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of leaving her 3-year-old daughter alone at their home for more than a week and letting her starve to death, police said.

08/07/2020

MANILA, Philippines — A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck Cabangan, Zambales on Wednesday morning, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

Information from Phivolcs showed the tectonic quake occurred at 8:28 a.m., with its epicenter located seven kilometers northwest of Cabagan town.

It had a depth of 55 kilometers.

Intensity IV was felt in San Felipe, Zambales, while intensity III was observed in Quezon City and Malabon City in Metro Manila.

Instrumental intensity III was likewise felt in Olongapo City, Zambales, and intensity I was registered also in Quezon City, Marikina City, Malolos City in Bulacan; Gapan City in Nueva Ecija, and Guagua town in Pampanga.

No damage or aftershock was expected from the tremor, according to Phivolcs.

MANILA, Philippines — A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck Cabangan, Zambales on Wednesday morning, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs). Information

08/07/2020

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization on Tuesday acknowledged “evidence emerging” of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people.

“We have been talking about the possibility of airborne transmission and aerosol transmission as one of the modes of transmission of COVID-19,” Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic at the WHO, told a news briefing.

The WHO has previously said the virus that causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease spreads primarily through small droplets expelled from the nose and mouth of an infected person that quickly sink to the ground.

But in an open letter to the Geneva-based agency, published on Monday in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal, 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined evidence that they say shows floating virus particles can infect people who breathe them in.

Because those smaller exhaled particles can linger in the air, the scientists in the group had been urging WHO to update its guidance.

“We wanted them to acknowledge the evidence,” said Jose Jimenez, a chemist at the University of Colorado who signed the paper.

The World Health Organization on Tuesday acknowledged "evidence emerging" of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people.

04/07/2020

WHO ignores aerosol risk: Aussie scientist
Six months into a pandemic that has killed more than half a million people, more than 200 scientists from around the world are challenging the official view of how the coronavirus spreads.

The World Health Organisation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintain that you have to worry about only two types of transmission: inhaling respiratory droplets from an infected person in your immediate vicinity or - less common - touching a contaminated surface and then your eyes, nose or mouth.

But other experts contend that the guidance ignores growing evidence that a third pathway also plays a significant role in contagion.

They say multiple studies demonstrate that particles known as aerosols - microscopic versions of standard respiratory droplets - can hang in the air for long periods and float for several metres, making poorly ventilated rooms, buses and other confined spaces dangerous even when people stay 1.8 metres from one another.

Six months into a pandemic that has killed more than half a million people, more than 200 scientists from around the world are challenging the official view o...

04/07/2020

(Reuters) - University student Saw Myint Tun travelled hundreds of miles from home in February to work the jade mines of northern Myanmar in search of gems that might transform his family’s modest fortunes.

Instead, they offered funeral prayers for him there on Saturday, lighting candles on a plywood coffin and chanting Buddhist sutras for the 21-year-old, one of more than 170 people killed in a landslide on Thursday.

The miners were hunting for precious stones in Hpakant - the centre of Myanmar’s secretive billion-dollar jade industry - when a wave of mud and water crashed onto them, entombing them under a layer of mud.

More than a dozen miners were cremated in Hpakant on Saturday, while 41 were buried in a mass grave. Seventy-seven were buried on Friday.

University student Saw Myint Tun travelled hundreds of miles from home in February to work the jade mines of northern Myanmar in search of gems that might transform his family’s modest fortunes.

02/07/2020

More than 100 people have tested positive for coronavirus in India after attending a wedding followed by a funeral for the groom, who reportedly tied the knot while ill with COVID-19.

Officials in Bihar state said on Wednesday the 26-year-old groom had symptoms of the virus when he got married in a village of Patna district on June 15. He died two days later and was cremated before a coronavirus test could be carried out.

"So far 111 people who either attended the wedding or the funeral have tested positive," said Raj Kishor Chaudhary, chief medical officer in Patna, the state capital. "All others have been identified and isolated."

Doctors are not certain the unnamed groom, an engineer, was the source of the infection, but Chaudhary said some 400 people who attended the wedding or funeral would be isolated following a spike in infections.

The groom, a software engineer who returned home from the capital, New Delhi, a week before the wedding, had shown symptoms before the nuptials.

He was briefly admitted to the hospital, but his family had him discharged and hosted the wedding for more than 300 guests.

Bride not among 111 people who have tested positive after attending wedding, where groom showed COVID-19 symptoms.

02/07/2020

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - To eliminate the risk of contagious human beings, a Mexican company has launched a drone delivery service to get clean medical supplies to hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mexico-City based firm Sincronia Logistica has begun deploying unmanned drones to deliver personal protective gear and other essential equipment to public hospitals in the central state of Queretaro, north of the capital.

Mexican healthcare workers have staged protests nationwide over the lack of personal protective equipment. The drones help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus by allowing for quick, contact-free drop-offs.

“In addition to reducing time, we’ve also reduced human contact,” said Diego Garcia, director of business excellence at Sincronia Logistica.

To eliminate the risk of contagious human beings, a Mexican company has launched a drone delivery service to get clean medical supplies to hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic.

27/06/2020

The yen becomes the new form of currency in Japan.

27/06/2020

At least 107 people died from lightning strikes in northern and eastern India, officials said, during the early stages of the annual monsoon season.

Some 83 people were killed in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar after being struck by lightning, and another 24 died in northern Uttar Pradesh state on Thursday. Dozens more were injured, officials said.

Lightning strikes during the June-September annual monsoon are fairly common in India.

But Bihar's Disaster Management Minister Lakshmeshwar Rai told the AFP news agency that this was one of the highest daily tolls from lightning the state had recorded in recent years.

Some 83 people killed in the state of Bihar after being struck by lightning, and another 24 died in Uttar Pradesh state.

27/06/2020

Milton Glaser, creator of the iconic “I ♥ NY” logo — and a Manhattan graphic designer who revolutionized the visuals of advertising in the 1960s and ’70s — died on Friday on his 91st birthday, according to reports.

The cause of death was a stroke, his wife of more than 50 years, Shirley, told The New York Times.

While his local claim to fame was the graphically catchy, and emoji-prescient, 1977 New York state tourism logo — imparting the message “I Love New York” using just three letters and a heart — the Bronx native was a prolific designer.

His noteworthy designs include a psychedelic poster of Bob Dylan that combined Islamic imagery with the art of Marcel Duchamp.

Glaser died Friday on his 91st birthday.

26/06/2020

KENT, England (Reuters) - Five-year-old Tony Hudgell has raised more than 1 million pounds ($1.24 million) for the London hospital that saved his life by walking 10 km on his new prosthetic legs after being inspired by Captain Tom’s record-breaking challenge.

Tony suffered near-fatal abuse from his birth parents when he was a baby that resulted in the amputation of his legs.

His adoptive mother Paula Hudgell said he received a set of new limbs in February, and from walking barely a step a month ago he could now power through hundreds of metres every day.

Five-year-old Tony Hudgell has raised more than 1 million pounds ($1.24 million) for the London hospital that saved his life by walking 10 km on his new prosthetic legs after being inspired by Captain Tom's record-breaking challenge.

24/06/2020

Christmas isn’t canceled.

Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, there will still be a Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center for the 2020 holiday season — but maybe not the traditional crowds.

Tishman Speyer, the real estate firm that owns the Manhattan landmark, has confirmed that the beloved annual happening will go on this year, even if changes need to be made in the name of public safety.

“Of course the Christmas tree will go up this year, and we will do a terrific and phenomenal tree,” the property’s managing director, EB Kelly, tells Crain’s. “We may need to reimagine what the tree lighting itself looks like.”

Christmas isn't canceled.

24/06/2020

Perhaps one of the biggest questions new parents face is what to name their little one. And with babies out there called X Æ A-Xii, North West and Apple, there's apparently no limit to parents' creativity when it comes to names.

One place parents are drawing inspiration is how the names are spelled.

According to Names.org, a popular database, plenty of parents are opting to name their babies palindromes. To dust off your memory from English class, a palindrome is a word spelled the same backward as forward. (Think Hannah, Anna and Bob.)

And that's not the only way parents are naming their babies.

Remember when Sonny Sandoval named his daughter Nevaeh in 2000? Many scratched their heads, as the rock star explained on MTV that the unconventional name was "heaven" spelled backward.

These names are "never odd or even." Check out the 10 most popular palindrome names and backward and forward name pairings, according to Names.org.