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August
Russia says July was the deadliest month of the pandemic
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: A woman receives a dose of Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a vaccination centre in Gostiny Dvor in Moscow, Russia July 6, 2021. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva -
Russia saw the highest monthly coronavirus death toll of the pandemic in July, with 50,421 people dying from COVID-19 or related causes during the month, state statistic service Rosstat said on Friday (Aug 27).
The death toll exceeded the number of coronavirus deaths in December, hitherto the deadliest month of the pandemic in Russia.
Russian authorities blame the spread of the more contagious Delta variant and a low vaccination rate for the third wave of coronavirus infections, which peaked in July.
Moscow's city hall also reported the worst COVID-19 death toll in July, when the mortality rate in the city was 70per cent higher than before the pandemic in 2019.
Overall, Russia recorded around 365,000 deaths related to COVID-19 between April 2020 and July, data from Rosstat showed.
The number exceeds the official total death toll of around 180,000, published by the Russian coronavirus task force earlier on Friday.
Some epidemiologists say that measuring excess mortality is the best way to assess the death toll during a pandemic. Based on the new data, Reuters calculated that the number of excess deaths in Russia between April 2020 and July had reached 528,000 in comparison to the average mortality rate in 2015-2019//CNA
August
US officials weigh shorter timeline for COVID-19 booster shots: Biden
Written by nuke
Jane Nickert, director of nursing for the Washtenaw County Health Department converses with a person getting ready to receive their COVID-19 vaccine during an event hosted by Southeast Michigan Pull Over Prevention at Grace Fellowship Church in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on Aug 7, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Emily Elconin) -
Federal health authorities are discussing shortening the timeline for COVID-19 booster shots to allow additional doses sooner than the eight-month window officials are targeting, President Joe Biden said on Friday (Aug 27).
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that US health regulators could approve a third COVID-19 shot for adults beginning at least six months after full vaccination, instead of the previously announced eight-month gap.
"The question raised is: should it be shorter than eight months, should it be as little as 5 months? That's being discussed," Biden told reporters at the White House, adding that he had discussed the issue with his chief medical officer, Dr Anthony Fauci, earlier on Friday.
Biden noted that the US booster program was "promising" and on track to start in mid-September, pending regulatory approval.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said later that official US guidance remains at eight months after the last vaccine shot.
Nothing has changed related to the eight-month timeline, Psaki said during a briefing with reporters.
Top US health officials, in a separate COVID briefing on Friday, said US cases of the novel coronavirus continue to rise amid the fast-spreading Delta variant. Vaccination rates were also higher, they said, with half of children aged 12 to 17 having received at least one shot as schools begin the new academic year.
Deaths and hospitalisations up 11 per cent and 6 per cent respectively over the past 7 days nationwide, with cases up 3per cent over the past week, said US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr Rochelle Walensky//CNA
August
Greenland expedition discover 'world's northernmost island'
Written by nuke
An aerial view of a tiny island off the coast of Greenland revealed by shifting pack ice. (Photo: Julian Charriere/via Reuters TV) -
Scientists last month set foot on a tiny island off the coast of Greenland which they say is the world's northernmost point of land and was revealed by shifting pack ice.
The discovery comes as a battle is looming among Arctic nations the United States, Russia, Canada, Denmark and Norway for control of the North Pole about 700km to the north and of the surrounding seabed, fishing rights and shipping routes exposed by melting ice due to climate change.
"It was not our intention to discover a new island," polar explorer and head of the Arctic Station research facility in Greenland, Morten Rasch, told Reuters. "We just went there to collect samples."
The scientists initially thought they had arrived at Oodaaq, an island discovered by a Danish survey team in 1978. Only later, when checking the exact location, they realized they had visited another island 780 metres northwest.
"Everybody was happy that we found what we thought was Oodaaq island," said Swiss entrepreneur Christiane Leister, creator of the Leister Foundation that financed the expedition.
"It's a bit like explorers in the past, who thought they'd landed in a certain place but actually found a totally different place."
The small island, measuring roughly 30m across and a peak of about 3m, consists of seabed mud as well as moraine - soil and rock left behind by moving glaciers. The team said they would recommend it is named "Qeqertaq Avannarleq", which means "the northernmost island" in Greenlandic.
Several US expeditions in the area have in recent decades searched for the world's northernmost island. In 2007, Arctic veteran Dennis Schmitt discovered a similar island close by.
Though it was exposed by shifting pack ice, the scientists said the island's appearance now was not a direct consequence of global warming, which has been shrinking Greenland's ice sheet.
Rene Forsberg, professor and head of geodynamics at Denmark's National Space Institute, said the area north of Greenland has some of the thicket polar sea ice, though he added it was now 2-3m thick in summer, compared with 4m when he first visited as part of the expedition that discovered Oodaaq in 1978.
Any hope of extending territorial claims in the Arctic depends on whether it is in fact an island or a bank that may disappear again. An island need to remain above sea level at high tide.
"It meets the criteria of an island," said Forsberg. "This is currently the world's northernmost land."
But Forsberg, an advisor to the Danish government, said it was unlikely to change Denmark's territorial claim north of Greenland.
"These small island come and go," he said.
The discovery was first reported earlier on Friday by Danish newspaper Weekendavisen//CNA
August
Climate activists deface City of London buildings in intensifying campaign
Written by nuke
Extinction Rebellion climate activists take part in a protest in London on Aug 27, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/May James) -
Climate change activists daubed red paint on the glass facade of the London headquarters of bank Standard Chartered and on the medieval Guildhall building nearby on Friday (Aug 27) as they ramped up a two-week campaign focused on the capital's financial district.
Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion protesters marched through central London carrying banners saying "People over Profit" and "Built on Blood Money". Demonstrators had gathered near the Bank of England before moving to streets in the area.
A line of police officers stood in front of the Guildhall, home of the City of London Corporation which governs the city's historic financial centre, after protesters sprayed red paint on the stone and glass front of the building.
At the Standard Chartered building, two men sat above its revolving doors. Bright red paint was daubed on the facade and on the large blue letters spelling out the bank's name.
Extinction Rebellion, which caused days of traffic chaos in London two years ago, said it is targeting the city's financial district. It accuses the industry of funding climate change.
The group wants an emergency response from governments and a mass move away from polluting industries to avert the worst scenarios of devastation outlined by scientists.
Extinction Rebellion's two-week campaign has prompted banks and buildings in London's other financial district, Canary Wharf, to increase security after its supporters previously smashed large glass panels on the buildings of banks there.
A Standard Chartered spokesperson said the bank's security team worked with police to protect the safety of staff.
"We have been clear that we intend to remain leaders in articulating a path to net zero by 2050 and are committed to detailed transparency on our transition strategy and plan to put it to a shareholder advisory vote in 2022," the spokesperson said//CNA
August
Vietnam reports record 12,920 new COVID-19 cases, 356 deaths
Written by nuke
A Vietnamese soldier delivers food in a strict lockdown area amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, on Aug 24, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Stringer) -
Vietnam's health ministry reported a record 12,920 new COVID-19 infections and 356 deaths on Friday (Aug 27). Most of the cases were in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbouring industrial province of Binh Duong. Vietnam has recorded more than 410,000 cases and 10,000 deaths to date.
On Thursday, the government said it is expecting 50,000 coronavirus infections in Binh Duong, adding that 2,000 troops, 50 mobile medical stations and 15 ambulances will be deployed to the province.
The Southeast Asian country has already deployed soldiers to the streets of Ho Chi Minh City to help enforce the country's strictest movement curbs yet which prevent people from leaving home, even for food.
Ordinary residents who need to travel in the event of a medical emergency can still do so, but the military has taken over the distribution of food in most parts of the city.
Provincial authorities are preparing for a worst-case scenario within which cases could exceed 150,000, the government said in a statement on its website. The number refers to a contingency plan, and is not a projection.
Binh Duong is home to production facilities for dozens of major firms, including South Korea's Kumho Tire and Tetra Pak, the world's largest food packaging company. The province also hosts a string of suppliers for Samsung Electronics and Pegatron, a key supplier for Apple.
It is one of Vietnam's largest recipients of foreign investment after Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
After successfully containing the pandemic for much of last year, Vietnam has been battling a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.
The country has one of Asia's lowest inoculation rates, with just more than 2 per cent of its 98 million people fully vaccinated as of Thursday.
Italy will send Vietnam 801,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine via the COVAX Facility, the Vietnam news agency reported.
The batch of vaccine is expected to be delivered in early September//CNA
August
US economy on track for strong jobs market despite Delta variant: Fed's Powell
Written by nuke
The US economic recovery is on track to return to a strong labour market, said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Aug 27, 2021. (Photo: AFP) -
The US economic recovery is on track to return to a strong labour market, and the central bank could begin to withdraw its stimulus measures by year-end, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday (Aug 27).
But the Fed leader stressed that there was no hurry to raise the benchmark lending rate in response to temporary inflation pressures.
In his highly anticipated speech to the annual Jackson Hole central banking symposium, Powell said despite the impact of the Delta variant of COVID-19, the economy has continued to recover and show strong job growth.
While inflation is currently running at a high 4.2 per cent annually as of July, Powell said it was likely to decline as temporary pressures, like skyrocketing prices for used cars, recede.
He warned that moving to respond to temporary inflation pressures "may do more harm than good".
"The ill-timed policy move unnecessarily slows hiring and other economic activity and pushes inflation lower than desired," he said, warning that with the labour market still recovering, "Such a mistake could be particularly harmful."
Any move to taper the pace of bond buying would still leave a large amount of stimulus in place, he added.
Powell did not provide details of the taper plans, but instead repeated the Fed's stance that "it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year"//CNA
August
UN warns of up to 500,000 more Afghan refugees by year-end
Written by nuke
An Afghan man carries a boy on his shoulders upon arrival at a processing center for refugees evacuated from Afghanistan at the Dulles Expo Center near Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, US, on Aug 24, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque) -
The United Nations said on Friday (Aug 27) it was bracing for a possible exodus from violence-ravaged Afghanistan of up to half a million more refugees by the end of 2021.
As a crisis unfolds in the country, a few thousand Afghans have been recorded as entering Iran daily, while traders continue going back and forth from Afghanistan to Pakistan, said Kelly Clements, deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
"While we have not seen large outflows of Afghans at this point, the situation inside Afghanistan has evolved more rapidly than anyone expected," Clements told a Geneva news briefing.
"In terms of numbers we are preparing for around 500,000 new refugees in the region. This is a worst-case scenario," she added.
She stressed in particular the need to boost support for neighbouring countries that already host more than 2.2 million Afghan refugees, and which could soon see the fresh influx.
Even before the Taliban swept into power in Afghanistan nearly two weeks ago, the humanitarian situation in the country had deteriorated dramatically.
Half of the population was already in need of humanitarian assistance, and half of all children under five were estimated to be acutely malnourished.
The UN on Friday presented a plan for UN agencies and partner NGOs to prepare for and respond to the unfolding crisis within Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries.
It urgently appealed for nearly US$300 million to fund the plan.
"We are appealing to all countries neighbouring Afghanistan to keep their borders open so that those seeking safety can find safety," Clements said.
In particular Iran and Pakistan, who together host 90 per cent of the Afghan refugees in the region, along with about 3 million other Afghans without refugee status, "will need a lot of support", she said.
So far, the overwhelming majority of people fleeing the surge in violence in Afghanistan have remained inside the country.
About 7,300 Afghans crossed into neighbouring countries seeking refugee status between Jan 1 and Aug 20, a UNHCR spokesman told AFP.
During the same period, nearly 560,000 Afghans fled within the country, joining some 2.9 million internally displaced people already registered there at the end of 2020, the agency said.
More than 80 per cent of those displaced in 2021 have been women and children.
People are calling an Afghan crisis helpline, reporting "executions and beatings and clampdowns on media and radio stations", said Najeeba Wazedafost, CEO of the Asia Pacific Refugee Network, who voiced special concern for women's safety.
"They tell us their fear of being killed simply for being a female," she said//ANT
August
Kabul attacks put bitter adversary Islamic State back into U.S. sights
Written by Nur Yasmin
U.S. military commanders vowed to hunt down the leaders of Islamic State after Thursday's suicide bomb attack on Kabul airport, pledging to exact revenge on the long-time U.S. adversary for the deaths of dozens of Afghans and U.S. troops.
"We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," U.S. President Joe Biden said in emotional remarks at the White House, promising that group's actions would not stop a mass evacuation airlift.
Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), an affiliate of militants who previously battled U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq, said it had carried out the attack, which killed dozens of people - including Afghans who were trying to leave the country and at least a dozen U.S. service members.
In claiming responsibility, Islamic State said a suicide bomber "managed to reach a large gathering of translators and collaborators with the American army at 'Baran Camp' near Kabul Airport and detonated his explosive belt among them, killing about 60 people and wounding more than 100 others, including Taliban fighters."
A Taliban official told Reuters the group arrested an ISIS fighter at the airport a few days ago and under interrogation he told them about plans for attacks. In response, the Taliban said it postponed gatherings in public places and advised its top leaders not to gather.
Biden said he had ordered military commanders to develop plans to strike ISIS assets, leaders and facilities. "We will respond with force and precision at our time at a place we choose in a moment of our choosing," he said.
He said the United States had an idea of who had ordered the attacks, although it was not certain.
ISIS-K is a sworn enemy of the Taliban. But U.S. intelligence officials believe the movement used the instability that led to the collapse of Afghanistan's Western-backed government this month to strengthen its position and step up recruitment of disenfranchised Taliban members.
'NOBLE MISSION'
Thousands of U.S. troops have deployed to Kabul's airport to conduct a massive airlift of U.S. citizens, Afghans who helped U.S. forces and others who fear for their freedom and safety now that the Taliban has seized power in Afghanistan.
"We have put more than 5,000 U.S. service members at risk to save as many civilians as we can. It's a noble mission. And today, we have seen firsthand how dangerous that mission is," Marine General Frank McKenzie of U.S. Central Command told reporters at the Pentagon. "ISIS will not deter us from accomplishing the mission, I can assure you of that."
He warned more attacks were expected, although the military was doing everything possible to prepare.
McKenzie said the United States was prepared to use attack aircraft to defend the airport if necessary, including with AC-130 gunships. "We'll be prepared to do that, should it become necessary to defend the base," he said.
Thursday's attack also underscored concerns over the U.S. counterterrorism capability in Afghanistan, with no U.S. troops or reliable partners left, jails emptied of militants and the Taliban in control. read more
Washington went to war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by militants who had found safe harbor in the country when it was last ruled by the Taliban.
Independent U.N. experts had already told the Security Council in a report published last month that ISIS-Khorasan had expanded its presence to several provinces, including Kabul, and that fighters had formed sleeper cells.
"The group has strengthened its positions in and around Kabul, where it conducts most of its attacks, targeting minorities, activists, government employees and personnel of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces," the report said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reported to the Security Council in June that attacks claimed or attributed to ISIS-Khorasan increased to 88 between March and June, compared with 16 during the same period in 2020. (Reuters)
August
Norway halts Kabul evacuation, says foreign minister
Written by Nur Yasmin
Norway can no longer assist in evacuating remaining citizens from Afghanistan's capital, Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said on Thursday.
"The doors at the airport are now closed and it is no longer possible to get people in," Soereide told broadcaster TV2.
Suspected suicide bombers struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport with at least two explosions on Thursday, killing dozens of people and injuring scores more. read more
A U.S. State Department report on the Afghan crisis said Norway had agreed to provide airlift support for Afghan evacuees from the Gulf region to follow-on points in Europe. The report, reviewed by Reuters, gave no details. (Reuters)
August
Malaysia's new PM retains finance minister, senior figures in cabinet
Written by Nur Yasmin
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob unveiled his cabinet on Friday, re-appointing the finance minister and several others from the previous administration, in the hope of restoring political stability amid a COVID-19 crisis.
Ismail Sabri was sworn in as prime minister last week, succeeding Muhyiddin Yassin who had resigned after failing to cling onto a razor-thin majority in parliament. read more
He takes charge as public anger grows over the government's floundering attempts to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases and revive an economy battered by extended lockdowns, with the central bank slashing its 2021 growth forecast twice this year.
Ismail Sabri named as finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, who had held the post in Muhyiddin's administration.
He also named four senior ministers to head the international trade, defence, works and education portfolios, all of whom had served in the previous government.
"The formation of this cabinet is a re-formulation based on the current situation, in order to maintain stability and prioritising the interests and safety of the Malaysian people above all," Ismail Sabri said in a televised address.
He said each ministry will need to prove its early achievements within the first 100 days, adding that the government aimed to reopen economic activities in stages with the coronavirus expected to become endemic.
The Southeast Asian nation has the highest per capita COVID-19 infection rate in the region, with more than 1.6 million reported cases, including 15,211 deaths.
On Thursday, it reported a daily record of 24,599 new coronavirus cases and 393 fatalities.
Vaccination rates, however, have ramped up. Nearly half of Malaysia's 32 million population are fully vaccinated, including 60.2% of all adults.
Khairy Jamaluddin, who had spearheaded Malaysia's inoculation programme as science minister, will now be in charge of the health ministry, swapping portfolios with Adham Baba, who will oversee the vaccine roll-out next, Ismail Sabri said.
The presence of familiar figures in the cabinet line-up raised doubts on whether the new administration will be up to the task of avoiding the previous government's mistakes, amid public fury over its flip-flopping lockdown policies and failure to act against politicians who violated rules.
"It's not a reformulated cabinet, it's a sort of mutually reshuffled cabinet in the sense with the same old faces, mutually exchanging some ministerial portfolios," said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with Singapore's Institute of International Affairs.
"I don't keep a lot of hope on this new cabinet being able to perform any better than the last cabinet, because they are the same old people."
Ismail Sabri's appointment saw the return of his party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), to the top office, after it was toppled in an election three years ago amid widespread corruption allegations.
He is Malaysia's third prime minister since the 2018 polls, after UMNO pulled its backing for Muhyiddin last month, citing his failure to manage the pandemic.
Analysts have said Ismail Sabri could face instability as well, with continued infighting within UMNO while coalition partners such as Muhyiddin's alliance have said its support for the new premier was conditional on him taking a strong stand against graft.
Several UMNO leaders were charged with corruption after the election, including president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former premier Najib Razak, who remain influential figures within the party. Both deny wrongdoing. (Reuters)