Daily Archives: July 8, 2021


Billionaires Gear Up for Space as the Arab World Names First Female Astronaut 

It seems Richard Branson, and not Jeff Bezos, will be the first billionaire in space.  Plus, a new robot could make work safer on the International Space Station, while the UAE names its first female astronaut.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the Week in Space.Camera:  AP/NASA/EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA)/REUTERS/VIRGIN GALACTIC/SPACE X/GSMA/ESA Produced by : Arash Arabasadi   …


US COVID Cases, Hospitalizations Rise Again

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday new cases of COVID-19 were up in the United States by nearly 11 percent in the past week, driven by the prevalence of the delta variant in areas with the nation’s lowest vaccination rates. During the regular weekly White House COVID Response Team briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said hospitalizations were also up in the past week by about seven percent, while deaths from COVID-19 continued to fall.   Walensky said the statistics show “two truths” that exist in …


UN Chief Calls for Better Global COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts  

As the world surpassed four million coronavirus-related deaths, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that millions more remain at risk “if the virus is allowed to spread like wildfire.” The head of the world body said in a written statement that most of the world is “still in the shadows” due to the inequitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine between the world’s richest and poorest nations and the rapid global spread of the more contagious delta variant of COVID-19.  Guterres called for the creation of an emergency task force, composed of vaccine-producing …


UNICEF to Ship 220 Million Doses of J&J COVID-19 Vaccine to African Union

UNICEF said Thursday it has signed a deal to provide up to 220 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to African Union member states by the end of 2022.   The child humanitarian group announced in a statement the agreement was reached with Belgium-based and J&J-owned Janssen Pharmaceutica NV.   An additional 35 million doses of the single-dose vaccine could be delivered to the African Union’s 55-member states by the end of this year and another 180 million doses could be ordered by year’s end, UNICEF said. …


Japan to Declare New COVID-19 State of Emergency for Tokyo Through Olympics

The Japanese government is expected to announce Thursday that it will impose a new state of emergency for Tokyo due to the rise of new COVID-19 cases across the country.Yasutoshi Nishimura, the government’s economy minister and head of its coronavirus response efforts, told reporters the state of emergency will begin Monday and last until Aug. 22 — a period that will cover the duration of the Tokyo Olympics, which will take place between July 23 and Aug. 8.The new state of emergency will likely prompt the government to either scale …


South Korea on Verge of Major Lockdown, Amid Infection Spikes

South Korea’s capital is on the verge of perhaps its most intense lockdown yet, after the country reported its largest daily surge of coronavirus cases.Officials on Thursday recorded 1,275 new infections, the vast majority of which were in the Seoul area, where over half of South Koreans live.That is South Korea’s largest number of confirmed daily cases since the pandemic began.Seoul may soon impose the toughest restrictions under a four-tier social distancing system, said Sohn Young-rae, a senior Health and Welfare Ministry official, according to the Yonhap news agency.Level 4 …


Study: Northwest Heat Wave Impossible Without Climate Change

The deadly heat wave that roasted the Pacific Northwest and western Canada was virtually impossible without human-caused climate change that added a few extra degrees to the record-smashing temperatures, a quick new scientific analysis found.An international team of 27 scientists calculated that climate change increased chances of the extreme heat occurring by at least 150 times, but likely much more.The study, not yet peer reviewed, said that before the industrial era, the region’s late June triple-digit heat was the type that would not have happened in human civilization. And even …