Junior Digest

Jerusalem, Jan 28 ,2021: Israel’s Ministry of Health reported 7,412 new Coronavirus cases, bringing the tally in the country to 620,698.

The death toll from the COVID-19 in Israel reached 4,574 after 73 new fatalities were added, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 1,173 to 1,160, out of 1,763 hospitalized patients.

The total recoveries rose to 541,339, with 6,877 newly recovered cases, while the active cases totalled 74,785.

According to the ministry, the number of people vaccinated against the COVID-19 in Israel has surpassed 2.8 million, or 30.1 percent of its total population, since the vaccination campaign began on Dec. 20, 2020.

The ministry also reported three new cases of a new COVID-19 strain.

Dantewada (Chhatisgarh) , January 27,2021: Residents of Pahunhar village in a Maoist-affected area across the Indravati river had earlier put up black flags on Republic Day, but this year they hoisted the tricolor.
The entire area across the Indravati river is the hotbed of Maoism. The people living in this part of Dantewada have been deprived of the fruits of government’s schemes and the village sarpanch lost his life when he took initiatives for development.
Speaking to ANI, Abhishek Pallav, Superintendent of Police (SP), Dantewada, said, “Maoists have always hoisted black flags in presence of the villagers on Republic Day and Independence Day in this village. But not this year.”

In an encouraging gesture, the administration decided to let the national flag be hoisted by the late Sarpanch’s son, Kesav Kashyap. The village echoed with patriotic songs and the SP distributed study materials to children and essential items to the villagers.
The people of Dantewada district have always been seen taking out rallies in protest against police camps, road and bridge construction under pressure from Maoist outfits. This year, the villagers took out a 2-3 km-long rally holding national flags in their hands. This was the first time a rally like this has been held in the Naxal belt.
Pallav said, “This is the changing face of Dantewada. A bridge is being constructed joining this village to the urban, more developed areas. The people are jubilant about these changes.”

Dubai [UAE], January 26,2021: A new Hindu temple is likely to be open for visitors at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates around Diwali in October next year.
The upcoming temple, located in Jebel Ali, is an extension of the Sindhi Guru Darbar Temple, one of the oldest Hindu temples in the UAE, Khaleej Times reported.
Raju Shroff, who is one of the trustees of the Sindhi Guru Darbar Temple, said that the temple’s architecture will have a distinct Arabian aesthetics and will be home to 11 Hindu deities. He said that the temple is still under construction.
“Piling, shoring and casting of basements one and two are complete as of now. We are on track to open during Diwali 2022,” said Shroff, as quoted by the Khaleej Times.
The temple’s foundation was laid in February 2020. “Once complete, there will be several churches, the Sikh Guru Nanak Darbar, and a Hindu temple in the same location,” Shroff added.
“We want to give back to the local economy and this is our way to repay the gratitude we have for the UAE leadership for celebrating religious tolerance,” Shroff said.
Furthermore, he said that visitors will be able to use the banquet hall for cultural events, religious gatherings and other community events.

Buenos Aires [Argentina], January 26,2021: Argentine President Alberto Fernandez on Monday called for a greater commitment against climate change from developed countries at the opening session of the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021.
“We have the opportunity to act collectively in response to climate change,” said Fernandez virtually at the high-level United Nations global conference, which is being hosted by the Netherlands on January 25-26, and seeks to promote an agenda to adapt societies and economies to climate effects in the next decade.
The Argentine President pointed out a need for a “greater commitment from developed countries to supply technical and financial resources.”

It is also necessary “to act with solidarity in the face of a problem that affects us all, but whose worst consequences are felt by vulnerable sectors,” he continued.
Adaptation is a priority for Argentina’s climate policy, “even though we are a developing country and particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change,” he said.
Fernandez pointed out that Argentina’s emissions mitigation goal for 2030 “represents an unconditional commitment, which includes all sectors of the economy,” and is more ambitious than the previous one.
Last month, Fernandez announced the country’s new commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Within the goals proposed for 2030, Argentina will limit its greenhouse gas emissions to 25.7 per cent, a number lower than the one committed to in 2015.

Jan 25,2021:Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has won a second term as Portugal’s president, in an election marked by record abstentions as the country battles a third wave of coronavirus cases.

The 72-year-old former leader of the Social Democratic Party, known for his warm persona and habit of taking selfies with supporters, won 61 percent of the vote, improving on the 52 percent he secured in 2016.

Still, 60 percent of voters abstained – the highest figure in Portuguese history – in part because 1.1 million voters from abroad were added to the electoral register for the first time, but also because hundreds of thousands of people are in quarantine.

“The most urgent of tasks is to combat the pandemic. This is my priority, in total solidarity with parliament and government,” Rebelo de Sousa said in his victory speech.

Socialist candidate Ana Gomes came second with 13 percent, while right-wing populist Andre Ventura came third with 12 percent. A close ally of European far-right parties, Ventura dubs himself ‘anti-system’.
The polls took place as the number of COVID-19 deaths broke records for the seventh day in a row on Sunday, at 275. The number of people in hospital is also at an all-time high.

Portugal has the world’s highest rates of new daily infections and deaths per 100,000 population, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Down to earth

Rebelo de Sousa has worked closely with the centre-left minority Socialist government, supporting its pandemic efforts. The president holds a largely ceremonial role but can veto certain laws and decree states of emergency, a power Rebelo de Sousa has deployed often since the pandemic began, taking parliament’s lead.

He also has endeared himself to the Portuguese with his easy-going manner. Photographs taken by passers-by of him in public places, such as one last year of him queuing up at a supermarket, routinely go viral.

With the country in lockdown, the election campaign featured none of the usual flag-waving rallies, but restrictions on movement were lifted for polling day.

Almost two-thirds of Portuguese thought the election should have been postponed because of the pandemic, a poll last week by research institute ISC/ISCTE showed.

Authorities increased the number of polling stations and allowed for early voting to reduce crowding. In other precautions, mask-wearing voters were asked to bring their own pens and disinfectant to polling stations.

“Since the date of the elections wasn’t changed, I decided to come early,” said Cristina Queda, 58, who arrived at her polling station in Lisbon as soon as it opened to “avoid groups and queues”.

Casting his vote at a Lisbon school, centre-left Prime Minister Antonio Costa acknowledged the grave stage of the pandemic, but said that “everything was done for people to be able to exercise their democratic right to vote”.

BEIJING ,Jan 26,2021: China said on Tuesday it will conduct military exercises in the South China Sea this week, just days after Beijing bristled at a U.S. aircraft carrier group’s entry into the disputed waters.

A notice issued by the country’s Maritime Safety Administration prohibited entry into a portion of waters in the Gulf of Tonkin to the west of the Leizhou peninsula in southwestern China from Jan. 27 to Jan. 30, but it did not offer details on when the drills would take place or at what scale.

A U.S. carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt entered the South China Sea on Saturday to promote “freedom of the seas,” the U.S. military said, days after Joe Biden began his term as president.

The contested waters have become another flashpoint in the increasingly testy bilateral relationship between Beijing and Washington. The U.S. military has steadily increased its activities there in recent years as China asserts its territorial claims in the area in conflict with neighbouring countries including Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan.

China on Monday complained that the United States frequently sends aircraft and vessels into the South China Sea, through which trillion dollars in trade flow every year, to “flex its muscles” and said such actions are not conducive to peace and stability in the region.

Moscow, Jan 26,2021: India plans to register the Russian vaccine against Coronavirus, Sputnik V, after completion of phase three clinical trials within the next few weeks, Indian Ambassador to Moscow Venkatesh Varma told Sputnik news agency.

According to Varma, the Moscow-Delhi cooperation in the health sector is at a very good level during the pandemic, including no vaccines against COVID-19.

The diplomat added that Indian companies and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) regularly exchange information.

Varma said that the first two phases of clinical trials were successfully completed, and the third one is underway.

According to the ambassador, the vaccine will be registered as soon as the last phase is completed, likely in the next few weeks.

Varma also recalled that the RDIF is cooperating with Indian companies to produce the Russian vaccine in India.

San Francisco [US], January 27,2021: For Dr Narinder Singh Kapany who has been awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award means much more than even the Nobel Prize, according to the kin of the man who is known as the ‘Father of Fiber Optics’.
Kapany who passed away in the US last month will be posthumously awarded the prestigious Padma Vibhushan, for his trailblazing work in the field of fiber optics. The second highest Indian civilian award recognized Kapany for his “exceptional and distinguished service” in the field of science and engineering.
Kapany’s son Rajinder and daughter Kiran Kaur Kapany told ANI, “This award provides our father the recognition he wanted from his homeland and means more to him than receiving the Nobel Prize from Sweden. He would have loved to receive the award and shake hands with all the dignitaries and his people and bask in the glory of being home being recognized and being honored, alongside his ancestors and family, by the country that matters most to him.”
In 1954, the Indian American physicist through his path-breaking research demonstrated for the first time the transmission of images over a bundle of optical fibres.
The pioneer proved that light can travel in bent glass fibres and was the first to even coin the word – fibre optics. This remarkable revelation half a century ago, laid the groundwork for today’s high-speed broadband internet that allows unfathomable volumes of text, images and video data to be transmitted around the globe in an instant.
Born in 1927 to a Sikh family in Moga, Punjab, Kapany studied in Dehradun. It was here that Kapany’s science teacher told him that light always travelled in straight lines. But the young boy was determined to learn how to bend light. After completing his education at Agra University, he first started work in technology and it was in India at an Ordnance factory he learned how to design and manufacture optical instruments.
At 31, Kapany’s quest took him to graduate school in London, at the Imperial College he began working with Professor Harold Hopkins on his project attempting to transmit light through flexible glass fibers. They became a powerful team: Hopkins provided the theory and Kapany with grit put that theory in practice, and together they were among the first to create fiber optics.

Kapany’s heart was set on coming back to India after completing his PhD in 1955 and setting up his own venture. In fact, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted Kapany to work for the Indian government as a Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Defence. “Our father waited five months and the offer never came through. So he settled in the Bay Area (San Francisco, California). A year after the PM’s recommendation, the offer from Union Public Service Commission finally arrived!” Kiran told ANI.
Kiran further added how different their lives would have been if Nehru’s offer had come through earlier. “He may not have had such a global impact had he resided in his homeland, so he gave up the comfort and beauty of being home, with his dear family and friends, to, in fact, make a greater impact abroad”.
Kapany settled in the US and started a number of businesses as well as teaching at colleges including the University of Rochester, Illinois Institute of Technology, and the University of California, Santa Cruz and Berkeley.
Kapany, an ace physicist, gathered more than 100 patents, turned into a noted philanthropist, deeply committed to championing Sikh culture and language Most notably, his daughter said, he has held a world renowned collection of Sikh Art which he has displayed all over the world in tremendous Sikh exhibits at the most prestigious museums including the Victoria Albert Museum in London, The Royal Ontario in Canada, the Smithsonian in DC, and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.”
“Our father was a devout Sikh always – a significant tenet of the religion is sewa or selfless service. Our mother, a huge follower of Mother Teresa, was a huge proponent of giving and giving back for all you receive. Our father realized that in doing so, the country would realize who the Sikhs were. And in giving to the country, he was actually educating the country,” Rajinder told ANI.
In 2009 when Charles Kuen Kao bagged the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to Fiber optics., the scientific community were perplexed that Kapany was overlooked for the award. In fact, the Nobel Committee had even acknowledged Kapany’s work in a detailed publication. The man himself, however, wasn’t too perturbed by this oversight.
” Charles Kao did specific work for Bell Labs that related to the telecommunications/optical fiber field…our father proved the concept of capturing and bending light through fiber which informed transmission for purposes of biotech, sensors, telecom and data comm…he provided leadership for a broader base of usage of fiber optics.” Rajinder added.
The Wall of Inventions at the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology even today lists Kapany as the inventor of fibre optics and he was hailed by Fortune magazine in 1999 as one of the seven unsung heroes who have changed the face of the 20th century.
The Kapany siblings will release their father’s memoirs in June 2021 with the works that he was proud to be able to complete prior to his passing in December last year.

Washington , January 25,2021: Researchers have identified why some people experience abdominal pain when they eat certain foods. The finding paves the way for more efficient treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and other food intolerances.
The study, carried out in mice and humans, was published in the journal ‘Nature’.
Up to 20 per cent of the world’s population suffers from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which causes stomach pain or severe discomfort after eating. This affects their quality of life.
Gluten-free and other diets can provide some relief, but why this works is a mystery, since the patients are not allergic to the foods in question, nor do they have known conditions such as coeliac disease.
“Very often these patients are not taken seriously by physicians, and the lack of an allergic response is used as an argument that this is all in the mind, and that they don’t have a problem with their gut physiology,” said Professor Guy Boeckxstaens, a gastroenterologist at KU Leuven and lead author of the new research.
“With these new insights, we provide further evidence that we are dealing with a real disease,” Boeckxstaens added.
His team’s laboratory and clinical studies reveal a mechanism that connects certain foods with activation of the cells that release histamine (called mast cells), and subsequent pain and discomfort. Earlier work by Professor Boeckxstaens and his colleagues showed that blocking histamine, an important component of the immune system, improves the condition of people with IBS.

In a healthy intestine, the immune system does not react to foods, so the first step was to find out what might cause this tolerance to breaking down. Since people with IBS often report that their symptoms began after a gastrointestinal infection, such as food poisoning, the researchers started with the idea that an infection, while a particular food is present in the gut, might sensitise the immune system to that food.
They infected mice with a stomach bug, and at the same time fed them ovalbumin, a protein found in egg white that is commonly used in experiments as a model food antigen. An antigen is any molecule that provokes an immune response.
Once the infection cleared, the mice were given ovalbumin again, to see if their immune systems had become sensitised to it. The results were affirmative: the ovalbumin on its own provoked mast cell activation, histamine release, and digestive intolerance with increased abdominal pain. This was not the case in mice that had not been infected with the bug and received ovalbumin.
The researchers were then able to unpick the series of events in the immune response that connected the ingestion of ovalbumin to activation of the mast cells. Significantly, this immune response only occurred in the part of the intestine infected by disruptive bacteria. It did not produce more general symptoms of a food allergy.
Professor Boeckxstaens speculated that this points to a spectrum of food-related immune diseases. “At one end of the spectrum, the immune response to a food antigen is very local, as in IBS. At the other end of the spectrum is a food allergy, comprising a generalised condition of severe mast cell activation, with an impact on breathing, blood pressure, and so on.”
The researchers then went on to see if people with IBS reacted in the same way. When food antigens associated with IBS (gluten, wheat, soy, and cow milk) were injected into the intestine wall of 12 IBS patients, they produced localised immune reactions similar to that seen in the mice. No reaction was seen in healthy volunteers.
The relatively small number of people involved means this finding needs further confirmation, but it appears significant when considered alongside the earlier clinical trial showing improvement during treatment of IBS patients with antihistaminics. “This is further proof that the mechanism we have unravelled has clinical relevance,” Professor Boeckxstaens said.
A larger clinical trial of the antihistamine treatment is currently underway.

ashington , January 25,2021: Researchers have identified why some people experience abdominal pain when they eat certain foods. The finding paves the way for more efficient treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and other food intolerances.
The study, carried out in mice and humans, was published in the journal ‘Nature’.
Up to 20 per cent of the world’s population suffers from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which causes stomach pain or severe discomfort after eating. This affects their quality of life.
Gluten-free and other diets can provide some relief, but why this works is a mystery, since the patients are not allergic to the foods in question, nor do they have known conditions such as coeliac disease.
“Very often these patients are not taken seriously by physicians, and the lack of an allergic response is used as an argument that this is all in the mind, and that they don’t have a problem with their gut physiology,” said Professor Guy Boeckxstaens, a gastroenterologist at KU Leuven and lead author of the new research.
“With these new insights, we provide further evidence that we are dealing with a real disease,” Boeckxstaens added.
His team’s laboratory and clinical studies reveal a mechanism that connects certain foods with activation of the cells that release histamine (called mast cells), and subsequent pain and discomfort. Earlier work by Professor Boeckxstaens and his colleagues showed that blocking histamine, an important component of the immune system, improves the condition of people with IBS.

In a healthy intestine, the immune system does not react to foods, so the first step was to find out what might cause this tolerance to breaking down. Since people with IBS often report that their symptoms began after a gastrointestinal infection, such as food poisoning, the researchers started with the idea that an infection, while a particular food is present in the gut, might sensitise the immune system to that food.
They infected mice with a stomach bug, and at the same time fed them ovalbumin, a protein found in egg white that is commonly used in experiments as a model food antigen. An antigen is any molecule that provokes an immune response.
Once the infection cleared, the mice were given ovalbumin again, to see if their immune systems had become sensitised to it. The results were affirmative: the ovalbumin on its own provoked mast cell activation, histamine release, and digestive intolerance with increased abdominal pain. This was not the case in mice that had not been infected with the bug and received ovalbumin.
The researchers were then able to unpick the series of events in the immune response that connected the ingestion of ovalbumin to activation of the mast cells. Significantly, this immune response only occurred in the part of the intestine infected by disruptive bacteria. It did not produce more general symptoms of a food allergy.
Professor Boeckxstaens speculated that this points to a spectrum of food-related immune diseases. “At one end of the spectrum, the immune response to a food antigen is very local, as in IBS. At the other end of the spectrum is a food allergy, comprising a generalised condition of severe mast cell activation, with an impact on breathing, blood pressure, and so on.”
The researchers then went on to see if people with IBS reacted in the same way. When food antigens associated with IBS (gluten, wheat, soy, and cow milk) were injected into the intestine wall of 12 IBS patients, they produced localised immune reactions similar to that seen in the mice. No reaction was seen in healthy volunteers.
The relatively small number of people involved means this finding needs further confirmation, but it appears significant when considered alongside the earlier clinical trial showing improvement during treatment of IBS patients with antihistaminics. “This is further proof that the mechanism we have unravelled has clinical relevance,” Professor Boeckxstaens said.
A larger clinical trial of the antihistamine treatment is currently underway.

Geneva, Jan 26,2021: A senior World Health Organization (WHO) official warned of the risk of continued transmission of the Novel Coronavirus even after large-scale vaccinations in the foreseeable future.

Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, told a virtual press conference that he doesn’t believe the world should start setting elimination or eradication of this virus as the bar for success.

“That is not the bar for success. The bar for success is reducing the capacity of this virus to kill, to put people in hospital, to destroy our economic and social lives,” Ryan said.

Asked whether COVID-19 will become an endemic, he emphasized that “for the foreseeable future, the coverage of vaccines will not reach a point where it will stop transmission. So we’re likely to have continued transmission.”

Noting that countries should probably not expect to get rid of the virus by 2021, Ryan reminded that so far in human history “we’ve only ever eradicated one disease on this planet: smallpox.”

“We have to reach a point where we’re in control of the virus,” he said.

New Delhi, Jan 26,2021: Republic Day celebration in the National Capital was marred by violence as thousands of farmers protesting against agriculture reforms breached the security cordon at the borders and clashed with police in an failed attempt to reach historic Rajpath for their tractor parade.

At least one person died while scores were injured.

However, hundreds of protestors managed to enter the Red Fort breaching police security and planted a religious and farm union flag on the pole where Tri-Colour is hoisted on Independence Day. The flag was later removed and the area cleared by the police.

The violence began at Singhu and Tikri border, when the protestors, who were massed in thousands, broke the police barricades before the scheduled time, to take out the tractor parade.

Police had to resort to lathi charge and fire tear gas shells to stop the rally, but failed as they were outnumbered. The cordon was broken at Ghazipur border as well.

A fierce battle took place at three places–Mukarba Chowk, Nangloi and ITO. The police and protestors attacked each other with sticks and stones. A 25-year-old protestor was killed in the ITO protest while scores of both– policemen and civilians– were injured. The police buses parked to stop the protestors were also vandalised.

At Nangloi, female constables formed a human chain to stop the protestors from moving ahead.

The protestors were seen pushing through all the borders of the National Capital and Akshardham and Pragati Maidan road dotted with tractors.

The Delhi-Noida Chilla border was closed for traffic and metro services suspended at various routes in central Delhi and other places. The Connaught Place was out of bounds for business.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah called a high-level meeting at his residence to take stock of the situation and ordered deployment of additional central security forces in various sensitive areas of Delhi, including Nangloi.

The Union Home Ministry suspended internet services in parts of the National Capital and surrounding areas to maintain public safety.

As per the order, the services have been suspended at Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri, Mukarba Chowk and Nangloi and their adjoining areas in the NCT from 1200 hrs to 2359 hrs.

A high alert was later issued in Haryana and Punjab by the authorities.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body representing farmers, disassociated themselves from those who indulged in acts of violence.

“We condemn and regret the undesirable and unacceptable events that have taken place today and dissociate ourselves from those indulging in such acts, the body said in a press statement.

The farmer’s body appealed the protestors not to indulge in any violent action or anything that taints national symbols and dignity.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh urged the protesting farmers to vacate the National Capital and return to the borders. “The violence by some elements is unacceptable. It’ll negate goodwill generated by peacefully protesting farmers. Kisan leaders have disassociated themselves & suspended #TractorRally,” CM said.

Yogendra Yadav, national president of pro-farmer party Swaraj India, through a video appealed to the protestors to return and warned that violence can harm their nearly two-month old protest against the farm laws.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi too condemned the violence but asked the central government to repeal the farm laws.

“Underlining violence is not the solution to any problem,” Mr Gandhi wrote on his official twitter handle.

Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP from Kerala, expressed his sadness over the flags being hoisted from Red Fort.

“Most unfortunate. I have supported the farmers’ protests from the start but I cannot condone lawlessness. And on #RepublicDay no flag but the sacred tiranga should fly aloft the Red Fort,” Mr Tharoor tweeted.

The Aam Aadmi Party said that it is regrettable that the Central government allowed the situation to deteriorate to such an extent.

“We strongly condemn the violence seen in today’s protest. It is regrettable that the Central govt allowed the situation to deteriorate to such an extent. The movement has been peaceful for the last two months,” AAP said in a statement.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra said those who were seen as ‘annadata’ (food providers) for so many days have turned out to be extremists.

“Those we had been calling annadata (food providers) for so many days have turned out to be extremists. Don’t defame annadata, call an extremist an extremist only,” Mr Patra tweeted.

Left leaders condemned the violence, but squarely blamed the government for letting the situation deteriorate.

“The situation has been brought to this pass by the Modi government. Farmers have been protesting peacefully in the cold for more than 60 days, not allowed to come into Delhi and more than 100 kisans are dead,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a tweet.

As per the plan approved by the police, the farmers were allowed to take a parade at three circular routes from Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri border only after the Republic Day parade at Rajpath.

The parade planned by farmers was to show their unity against the three recently passed farm laws which allows private players to enter the agriculture sector.

The farm unions called off the rally later in the evening.

Genoa [Italy], January 27,2021: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has officially stepped down in order to try to form a government with wider support, and the consultations with the parties with a view to finding a new parliamentary majority will start on Wednesday afternoon, according to the official statement from the presidential palace.

“President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella received this morning the President of the Council of Ministers Giuseppe Conte, who handed in the resignation of the government that he presides. The president of the republic has decided to invite the government to remain in charge to handle the current affairs. The consultations [with the parties] will start in the afternoon of tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27,” Ugo Zampetti, secretary of the presidency of the republic, said in a press statement.

Jan 27,2021:A tropical cyclone that struck central Mozambique last week has affected 250,000 people, a sharp increase over initial estimates, according to a UN official.

Myrta Kaulard, the UN’s resident coordinator in Mozambique, added on Tuesday that 18,000 people were internally displaced after Cyclone Eloise made landfall in the early hours of Saturday.

“Yesterday, we were mentioning 170,000 people affected. Today, the official figures have climbed to 250,000,” Kaulard said in a video call with reporters at the UN, adding that 76 health centres and hundreds of classrooms were damaged.

“We also see widespread floods that are still there and a lot of people trying still to get out of the flooded areas,” she said.

Eloise brought winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour (90 miles per hour) followed by torrential rain over the port city of Beira, the capital of Mozambique’s Sofala province, and the adjacent Buzi district.

It weakened into a tropical storm as it moved inland to Zimbabwe, South Africa, eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland and Botswana.

The death toll across the region rose to 14 on Tuesday after South Africa reported one more death.

In Mozambique, the cyclone hit an area already devastated by two successive super-storms in March and April 2019.

The first, Cyclone Idai, left more than 1,000 dead and caused damage estimated at about $2bn.
An international aid group warned on Tuesday that crowded centres for storm survivors created ideal conditions for the coronavirus to spread.

In the port city of Beira alone, 8,700 people are living in 16 temporary shelters after their homes were destroyed by the cyclone.

“Each tent I saw had at least 10 people packed into it and families are lacking access to safe water and essential items like soap and face masks,” said Marcia Penicela, project manager at ActionAid Mozambique following a visit to sites.

Espinola Caribe, head of the World Food Programme’s Beira sub-office, also said COVID-19 was a concern and people had to be moved out of danger.

“This was not a planned evacuation … this was running for your life,” he said.

Jan 27,2021: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 100 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University data, just over a year since the first cases of the then ‘mysterious’ new illness were reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

During the past 12 months, the pandemic has forced governments to order shutdowns, curfews, travel bans and other public health restrictions to try and stem the spread of infections. Economies have been hard hit and inequalities of all types have been exacerbated.

More than 2.1 million people around the world have died from COVID-19, and more than 55 million people have recovered from the disease.

Despite the development of more effective treatments for the coronavirus and the roll out of vaccines across dozens of countries, mutant strains of the virus recently detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil have created uncertainty about when the pandemic will end.

“Today the world crossed 100 million reported cases,” Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said on Tuesday.

“A year ago, the novel coronavirus was barely making headlines. Where do we want to be a year from now? Let’s aim for robust vaccination coverage worldwide, and a transition from community mitigation to case-based management,” she tweeted.
‘Beat COVID-19’

The US has recorded the most cases of any country to date at more than 25.3 million – approximately one-quarter of the global total. With more than 424,000 deaths recorded, the US also has the highest death toll in the world.

US President Joe Biden, who officially took office last week and has promised to get surging infection rates under control, said in a news conference on Tuesday that his administration plans to buy 200 million more vaccine doses.

“The end goal is to beat COVID-19, and the way we do that is to get more people vaccinated,” Biden told reporters.

India has confirmed the second-highest total number of cases in the world, with more than 10.6 million infections reported. More than 153,000 people have died from the virus there.

Brazil has confirmed more than 8.8 million cases and has the second-highest death toll, with 217,000 fatalities.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the threat of the virus, has faced growing protests over his government’s handling of the pandemic – and the particularly devastating toll it has taken on the Amazonian city of Manaus, where oxygen is in short supply and hospitals are full.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also under pressure over his government’s handling of the pandemic. On Tuesday, the country became the first in Europe – and the fifth in the world – to record more than 100,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

“I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and, of course, as prime minister, I take full responsibility for everything that the government has done,” Johnson said.
New variants

The discovery of new variants of the virus has caused governments around the world to impose fresh restrictions.

US pharmaceutical company Moderna said it believes its COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the new variants, although it will test a new booster shot aimed at the strain discovered in South Africa after tests showed the antibody response could be reduced.

The vaccine developed by American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech works against 15 possible virus mutations. However, E484K, another mutation in South Africa, is not among those tested, according to a study released on January 7.

US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said earlier this month that vaccines are designed to recognise multiple parts of the spike protein, which makes it unlikely a single mutation could be enough to prevent them from being effective.

However, he warned last week that current vaccines may not be as effective in protecting against the new and more contagious strains.

Dr Eric Feigl-Ding, a US-based epidemiologist and adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, said while vaccine releases worldwide have been “the most positive news in this pandemic”, the new COVID-19 variants create new challenges.

He told Al Jazeera that mass vaccination programmes are critical, and that even if the virus mutates further, “we will eventually be able to get this under control”.

“The question is the final mile of eradication,” Feigl-Ding said. “It takes a lot of work and focus, control and discipline for countries and the world to eradicate it.”

Meanwhile, concerns are also mounting in Europe about delayed shipments of COVID-19 vaccines, with governments saying the supply issues were costing critical time during the early stages of the roll out to care homes and hospital staff.

The European Union on Tuesday warned pharmaceutical giants that have developed coronavirus vaccines with EU aid that it must get its shots on schedule, a day after the bloc threatened to impose export controls on vaccines produced within its borders.

The head of the World Health Organization has also called for more equitable vaccine distribution between nations, as wealthier countries have been accused of “hoarding” doses.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this month that prospects for equitable distribution are at “serious risk” as the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme aims to start distributing inoculations to developing nations in February.

He said a “me-first approach” to distribution places the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities at risk and “will only prolong the pandemic”.

WASHINGTON Jan 26,2021: Janet Yellen won overwhelming Senate confirmation as the first woman to lead the U.S. Treasury on Monday, setting her quickly to work with Congress on coronavirus relief, reviewing U.S. sanctions policy and strengthening financial regulation.

The Senate voted 84-15 to confirm Yellen, with all opposition coming from Republicans, several of whom have expressed concerns about President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid plan, tax hikes and other spending initiatives.

Shortly after the vote, House of Representatives Democrats delivered to the Senate a charge of impeachment against former President Donald Trump, accusing him of inciting insurrection in a speech to supporters before the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. The planned February trial has stoked some partisan divisions in the chamber, but those were largely absent on Monday.

“Secretary Yellen’s confirmation shatters another glass ceiling,” Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said in a statement. “In a field dominated by men, it’s refreshing to finally see a woman leading the Treasury Department.”

Yellen, 74, made history in 2014 when she became the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve. A portrait of the economist and daughter of a Brooklyn, New York, family doctor will join those of 76 other secretaries in Treasury’s hallways, dating back to the first, Alexander Hamilton.

The White House had no immediate comment on when Yellen would be sworn in, or by whom.

She won the votes of 34 Republicans in a strong bipartisan vote, with a number of them pledging to work with her.

Davos [Switzerland], January 26,2021: Launching a scathing attack on world leaders and organisations over the issue of climate change, environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Monday said that world leaders speak of an existential climate emergency and yet instead of taking action, they set up “hypothetical distance targets, way into the future.”
Speaking at the Davos Agenda Summit, the young climate activist said, “My name is Greta Thunberg and I am not here to make deals. You see, I don’t belong to any financial interest or political party so I can’t bargain or negotiate. I am here to once again remind you of the emergency we are in. The crisis that you and your predecessors have inflicted upon us.”
“The crisis that you continue to ignore. I am here to remind you of the promises that you have made to your children and grandchildren and to tell you that we are not willing to compromise on the minimum safety levels that still remain,” she said.

Citing the current scientific knowledge on climate change, she said: “The climate and ecological crisis can no longer be solved within today’s systems. According to the current best available science that’s no longer an opinion, it’s a fact. And we need to keep this in mind as countries, businesses and investors now rush forward to present their ambitious climate targets and commitments.”
“The longer we avoid this uncomfortable truth and longer we pretend that we can solve the climate and ecological emergency without treating it as an emergency, the more precious time we will lose. And this is time we do not have,” she added.
Over the emission targets set by the world bodies, Greta said, “Today, we hear leaders all over the world speak of an existential climate emergency and yet instead of taking action you would in an emergency, they set up vague, hypothetical distance targets, way into the future. Target based on loopholes and incomplete numbers. Target like net-zero emissions 2050. Targets that equal surrender.”
“We understand that the world is a complex place and that change doesn’t happen overnight. But you now have had more than three decades of blah blah blah. How many more do you need?” she asked.