Daily Archives: July 7, 2020


WHO Experts Admit COVID-19 Can Spread Through Air

Experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday acknowledged there is growing evidence the coronavirus can spread through the air and said they are preparing a brief on the subject.At the U.N. agency’s regular briefing in Geneva, WHO technical committee head Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove said the WHO was contacted in April by a group of than 200 scientists who have called for the world body and others to acknowledge that the coronavirus can spread in the air.Kerkhove said her committee is working with the group and are producing a …


Brazil Man May Be Cured of HIV

Doctors in Brazil say an experimental treatment given to a man known as the Sao Paulo Patient may have cured him of HIV.     The man, who was subjected to intensive anti-retroviral drug therapy with the purpose of removing all traces of the AIDS virus from his body, shows no signs of the virus after more than a year since he stopped receiving the treatment.   In an interview with The Associated Press, the patient said he was “very moved, because it’s something that millions of people want. It’s …


Novavax Awarded $1.6 Billion to Develop US COVID-19 Vaccine

The U.S. government has awarded a $1.6 billion contract to Novavax, Inc. to develop a coronavirus vaccine.The award to the Maryland-based company is the largest to date from the government’s “Operation Warp Speed” initiative to fast-track the development of vaccines and other treatments for COVID-19.   Chief Executive Stanley Erck said the company aims to begin delivering 100 million doses of a vaccine in the fourth quarter of this year, an endeavor he said that “may be completed by January or February of next year.”Report: Britain Nears $625 mln Sanofi/GSK …


Depp Takes Stand in Libel Trial, Claims Amber Heard Hit Him 

Johnny Depp gave evidence in a London court on Tuesday, denying claims that he hit ex-wife Amber Heard and accusing her of assaulting him and depicting him as a “monster.” Depp sat in the witness box in a wood-paneled High Court courtroom on the first day of his libel case against The Sun over an article that branded him a “wife-beater.” The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star began by taking the court oath and giving his full name: John Christopher Depp II. Depp is suing the tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and …


TikTok to Exit Hong Kong Market Over New National Security Law 

TikTok, the popular short-form video app, says it will exit the Hong Kong market in response to the new national security law for the semi-autonomous city recently enacted by Beijing. A spokesman for the company issued a statement Tuesday saying it was ending operations in Hong Kong “in light of recent events.”   TikTok’s announcement it would cease operating in Hong Kong coincides with the decisions by U.S. tech giants Facebook, Google and Twitter that they will suspend processing requests by the central government in Beijing for user data in Hong Kong …


Facebook, Others Block Requests on Hong Kong User Data

Social media platforms and messaging apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Google and Twitter will deny law enforcement requests for user data in Hong Kong as they assess the effect of a new national security law enacted last week.Facebook and its messaging app WhatsApp said in separate statements Monday that they would freeze the review of government requests for user data in Hong Kong, “pending further assessment of the National Security Law, including formal human rights due diligence and consultations with international human rights experts.”The policy changes follow the rollout last …


Fossils Reveal Dinosaur Forerunner Smaller Than a Cellphone

Meet Kongonaphon kely, a pocket-sized dinosaur forerunner that was smaller than your cellphone.  The creature, which predated dinosaurs and flying pterosaurs, was just shy of 4 inches (10 centimeters) tall, according to a study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Some of these things would have been quite cute animals,” said study lead author Christian Kammerer, a paleontology researcher at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Looking like a small dinosaur that could fit in your hand, Kammerer mused that it “would probably make a great pet.”  Of …


US Drive-In Theaters Making a Comeback Amid COVID Pandemic

Hungry for a night out of the house, people are turning to the nostalgia of drive-in movie theaters as a safe entertainment option amid coronavirus social distancing orders.Today’s total of 305 drive-in locations is minimal compared with the more than 4,000 drive-in locations in the United States during the 1950s, but the attention they are receiving recently as a safe way to go out while practicing social distancing is something not seen in recent decades.The 1952 Haar’s Drive-In Movie Theater in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, is one of the few original theaters …