Daily Archives: June 22, 2021


World Bank, African Union Partner to Buy, Distribute 400 Million COVID-19 Shots

The World Bank announced a partnership with the African Union Tuesday to finance the acquisition and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine for 400 million people in Africa.In a remote news conference via Zoom, World Bank Managing Operations Director Axel van Trotsenburg said the World Bank is providing $12 billion to not only acquire but deploy 400 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — a single dose shot — in support of the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) initiative.The announcement comes a day after African finance ministers and the …


US to Miss July 4 COVID Vaccination Goal of 70% 

The United States will miss President Joe Biden’s goal of having 70% of U.S. adults partially or fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by the July 4 Independence Day holiday, but the White House says it expects to hit that mark “in a few extra weeks.”In a new assessment Tuesday of the country’s vaccination effort, COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said the federal government expects that 70% of those 27 and older will have gotten at least one vaccination shot by the July 4 holiday, which he described as “a remarkable …


EU Investigates Google’s Advertising Business

The European Union announced Tuesday it is once again investigating Google for what could be anti-competitive activities in digital advertising.The investigation will try to determine if Google is harming competitors by restricting third party access to user data that could better target advertising.”We are concerned that Google has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.Google said it would cooperate in the investigation.”Thousands of European businesses use our advertising products to reach new …


Nassib Becomes First Active NFL Player to Come Out as Gay

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib on Monday became the first active NFL player to come out as gay.   Nassib, who is entering his sixth NFL season and second with the Raiders, announced the news on Instagram, saying he wasn’t doing it for the attention but because he felt representation and visibility were important. “I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay,” Nassib said in his video message from his home in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “I’ve been meaning to do this for a …


STEM Jobs Lead List of Fastest-Growing Occupations

The number of STEM jobs — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — have sped past the number of non-STEM jobs by three times since 2000. And experts say there might not be enough graduates in those fields to fill the jobs.  “Look around at how many times a day you touch a computer, tablet, phone … these industries are accelerating so much that these high school kids will have jobs that don’t even exist yet,” said Kenneth Hecht, the leader of the National STEM Honor Society, an membership program that engages students from kindergarten into their career in STEM project-based learning (NSTEM). STEM covers both …


Duterte Threatens to Arrest Filipinos Who Refuse COVID Vaccination

The Philippine president has threatened to order the arrest of Filipinos who refuse COVID-19 vaccination and told them to leave the country if they would not cooperate with efforts to end a public health emergency.President Rodrigo Duterte, who is known for his public outbursts and brash rhetoric, said in televised remarks Monday night that he has become exasperated with people who refuse to get immunized amid a health crisis then help spread the coronavirus.”Don’t get me wrong. There is a crisis being faced in this country. There is a national …


Angelina Jolie Visits Burkina Faso as UN Special Envoy

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has visited war-weakened Burkina Faso to show solidarity with people who continue to welcome the displaced, despite grappling with their own insecurity, and said the world isn’t doing enough to help.   “The humanitarian crisis in the Sahel seems to me to be totally neglected. It is treated as being of little geopolitical importance,” Jolie told the Associated Press. “There’s a bias in the way we think about which countries and which people matter.” While Burkina Faso has been battling a five-year Islamic insurgency linked to …


Younger US Adults Less Likely to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine, CDC Study Reveals

 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that younger Americans are less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 than older Americans. The federal health agency issued a report Monday revealing that just 38% of adults between 18 and 29 years of age had received at least one dose of a vaccine by May 22, compared to 80% of adults older than 65.   The report also found that the percentage of 18- to 29-year-old Americans who were vaccinated between April 19, when all adults in the United States became …


UNESCO Panel Recommends Listing Australia’s Great Barrier Reef as ‘In Danger’

A special committee with the United Nations’s cultural agency says Australia’s Great Barrier Reef should be placed on a list of World Heritage sites that should be designated as “in danger.” The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage Committee, or UNESCO, recommended the 2,300-kilometer-long coral reef system should be placed on the list because it has deteriorated due to climate change.  Australian officials denounced the recommendation. Environment Minister Sussan Ley said Tuesday that Canberra opposes the designation and accused the World Heritage Committee of “a backflip on previous assurances” and that it would not take such an …


STEM Jobs Lead Fastest-Growing Occupations

The number of STEM jobs — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — have sped past the number of non-STEM jobs by three times since 2000. And experts say there might not be enough graduates in those fields to fill the jobs.  “Look around at how many times a day you touch a computer, tablet, phone … these industries are accelerating so much that these high school kids will have jobs that don’t even exist yet,” said Kenneth Hecht, the leader of the National STEM Honor Society, an membership program that engages students from kindergarten into their career in STEM project-based learning (NSTEM). STEM covers both …


Japan Begins Workplace Vaccination Program

Thousands of Japanese companies began the rollout of their workplace vaccine programs Monday, inoculating company workers and their families.  Some of the companies had been critical of what they said was the government’s slow pace of Japan’s COVID-19 inoculation campaign.   Toyota and Suntory are among the companies participating in the workplace program with vaccines provided by the government.   Thousands of people are expected to receive shots through the initiative, which is beginning just weeks before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics.   Organizers of the Olympics announced Monday that they will …