Daily Archives: August 24, 2020

COVAX Program is Evaluating 9 Potential Coronavirus Vaccines, WHO Says

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The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday nine vaccines are being evaluated by its cooperative COVAX facility which now has 172 nations as contributing partners. The FILE – World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, July 3, 2020.Speaking at his usual briefing at the agency’s Geneva headquarters, WHO director- general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the facility is critical to efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Tedros said making sure all nations have access to any viable vaccine makes the most economic …

Zoom Suffers Worldwide Outages

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Videoconferencing platform Zoom experienced worldwide outages Monday morning, coinciding with the first day of remote classes for many schools and universities. On its status page, Zoom reported partial outages for its website, meetings and webinars. By Monday afternoon, all systems were reported as operational. Downdetector recorded a spike in issue reports, mostly from North America and western Europe, which peaked at nearly 17,000 complaints at 9 a.m. EST. Lighter areas on Downdetector’s map Monday morning also showed complaints in China, India, Mexico and other countries, although most had faded by the afternoon. The company’s …

Apple CEO Tim Cook is Fulfilling Another Steve Jobs Vision

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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, was a tough act to follow. But Tim Cook seems to be doing so well at it that his eventual successor may also have big shoes to fill. Initially seen as a mere caretaker for the iconic franchise that Jobs built before his 2011 death, Cook has forged his own distinctive legacy. He will mark his ninth anniversary as Apple’s CEO Monday — the same day the company will split its stock for the second time during his reign, setting up the …

Burkina Faso is Facing a Hunger Catastrophe

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The World Food Program reports Burkina Faso is facing an acute shortage of food, with more than 3.2 million people going hungry in this conflict-ridden country.There has been a 50 percent rise in the number of people struggling to feed themselves and their families since March. The World Food Program warns the situation is likely to worsen in the current lean season – the period when food stocks are at their lowest ahead of the September harvest. WFP reports people in two provinces in the Sahel region, Oudalan and Soum, have reached near starvation level. It says fighting …

Online Campaign Saves ‘Space Camp’

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The U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama – home to “Space Camp” – faced permanent closure as COVID-19 forced the internationally popular science and technology center to turn students and visitors away. But as VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, an online campaign to “Save Space Camp” is providing a lifeline to get through the pandemic.  …

What Explains Vietnam’s Bid to Buy Russia’s Virus Vaccine?

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A lot of eyebrows were raised when Russia announced it was the first to approve a vaccine for the coronavirus, and even more so when Vietnam said it would buy up to 150 million doses.  Not many were expecting the news, but if it comes to pass, a few factors would explain how Vietnam and Russia got here. The two sides have a long history, from founding father Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary years in Moscow, to their membership in a modern trade deal. Vietnam has also been more aggressive than most other nations …