The United States on Monday welcomed the Taliban’s declaration of a nationwide cease-fire in Afghanistan over this week’s Eid-al-Fitr festival, reiterating Washington’s call for the Islamist insurgency and Afghan leaders to negotiate an end to the “senseless violence.”
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Month: May 2021
Afghan cease-fire called for as Ramadan comes to a close
The United States on Monday welcomed the Taliban’s declaration of a nationwide cease-fire in Afghanistan over this week’s Eid-al-Fitr festival, reiterating Washington’s call for the Islamist insurgency and Afghan leaders to negotiate an end to the “senseless violence.”
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Ransomware Attack That Halted US Fuel Pipeline a ‘Criminal Act,’ Biden Says
A Russia-linked cyberattack targeting the largest U.S. fuel pipeline system is a “criminal act, obviously,” President Joe Biden said Monday.“The agencies across the government have acted quickly to mitigate any impact on our fuel supply,” the president said at the White House at the start of remarks about his economic agenda.Biden, responding to a reporter’s question after he concluded his prepared statement about whether there is any evidence of involvement of Russia’s government, replied: “I’m going to be meeting with President (Vladimir) Putin. And so far, there is no evidence based on — from our intelligence people that Russia is involved.”Biden added, however, with evidence that the ransomware actors are based in Russia, the government in Moscow has “some responsibility to deal with this.”Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., asks a question during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing, July 28, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington.A member of the House Armed Services Committee, Arizona Democrat Ruben Gallego, said, “The Russian government cannot give refuge to these cyber terrorists without repercussions.”Colonial Pipeline, headquartered in the state of Georgia, proactively shut down its operations on Friday after ransomware hackers broke into some of its networks, according to U.S. officials.“Colonial is currently working with its private cybersecurity consultants to assess potential damage and to determine when it is safe to bring the pipeline back online,” homeland security adviser and deputy national security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall told reporters during a briefing prior to the president’s remarks.“While this situation remains fluid and continues to evolve, the Colonial operations team is executing a plan that involves an incremental process that will facilitate a return to service in a phased approach,” the company said in a FILE – The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building is pictured in Washington, Nov. 30, 2017.“The FBI confirms that the Darkside ransomware is responsible for the compromise of the Colonial Pipeline network,” said the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a statement midday Monday. “We continue to work with the company and our government partners on the investigation.”The FBI has previously advised against paying ransomware. White House officials on Monday said it was up to companies to make that decision and declined to say whether Colonial Pipeline had made a payment to the hackers.”Typically, that is a private sector decision, and the administration has not offered further advice at this time,” deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies Anne Neuberger told White House reporters. “Given the rise in ransomware, that is one area we are definitely looking at now to say what should be the government’s approach.”Some lawmakers have been calling for stronger protections of critical U.S. energy infrastructure and that has been mentioned as a priority by the Biden administration, which last month launched a new public-private initiative to enhance cybersecurity in the electricity sector.“And we’ll follow that with similar initiatives and natural gas pipelines, water and other sectors,” said Biden on Monday.The emergency declaration, issued by the Transportation Department, effective through at least June 8, calls for increasing alternative transportation routes in the United States for oil and gas and eased driver regulations for overtime hours and minimum sleep for carrying fuel in 17 states across southern and eastern states, as well as the District of Columbia.“We are closely monitoring the ongoing situation involving Colonial Pipeline,” Suzanne Lemieux, operations security and emergency response policy manager for the American Petroleum Institute, told VOA.“Cybersecurity is a top priority for our industry, and our members are engaged on a continuous basis with government agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Department of Energy in order to mitigate risk and fully understand the evolving threat landscape,” she added. Concerning speculation that there are links between the hackers and the Russian government, “we can assume anything we want to, which is part of the gamesmanship in cyberwar,” said Justin Pelletier, director of Rochester Institute of Technology’s Global Cybersecurity Institute Cyber Range and Training Center.“I think a better question to ask is who we can cross off the list. There are many beneficiaries of cyber sell-sword (mercenary) activity and probably everyone can think of several organizations that would like to see an America in decline,” Pelletier told VOA.According to Bryson Bort, senior fellow for cybersecurity and emerging threats at the nonprofit R Street public policy research organization, the malicious code used by Darkside “actively checks that the Russian language package isn’t loaded on a host before it ransoms the computer. Clearly, there is a reason the gang is doing that. Is it just to avoid local enforcement?”Bort, an adviser to the Army Cyber Institute, told VOA it is an open question whether Russian intelligence is using the cybercriminals as a proxy.“Considering this was the fourth U.S. company hit in the energy sector in the last six months by this group, it sure looks like a targeted attack to me,” he said.
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Zimbabwe Clinic Helps Couples Overcome Infertility, Stigma
In much of Africa, including Zimbabwe, women struggling to have children often face stigma and ridicule. To help overcome the problem, two Zimbabwean doctors in 2017 re-opened the country’s only in vitro fertilization clinic.Since the clinic re-opened in 2017, several years after its previous owner retired, IVF Zimbabwe says it has helped about 120 women have babies through in vitro fertilization.Dr. Sydney Farayi, who runs the clinic with Dr. Tinovimba Mhlanga, said some couples struggle to have children and turn to the wrong sources for help.”The most hindering obstacle people from seeking assistance is lack of knowledge…. Imagine how many people have stayed together for one year and still failing to conceive, but do not know where to go and get assistance. People are not sure where to go. Normally people will turn to go to traditional, faith healers which are cheap or easy to get but without any good outcomes from there,” said Farayi.Dr. Sydney Farayi, who runs IVF Zimbabwe clinic in Harare with Dr. Tinovimba Mhlanga, says some couples turn to the wrong sources for help from traditional, faith healers. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)Farayi said he and Mhlanga are happy when they help couples reach their goal.“The value is really seen in the happiness and joy which we are bringing to sub-fertile couples in terms of assisting them to conceive and having a baby. The joy is real and it’s something which is touching, personally affecting also us, as individuals and clinicians, so basically assisting couples to conceive is helping marriages to continue, the unions to continue and also bringing livelihoods to people’s lives,” said the doctor.One of those who have benefitted from IVF Zimbabwe is a 30-year-old woman who is expecting to deliver next month. Her first marriage collapsed after seven years of failing to conceive. As she narrates her ordeal with in-laws and community, she does not want to be identified.“The blame would always come to us women. Maybe there is something that you did. Or maybe you didn’t grow well. To be honest it was a lot of negativity coming from the backstab,” she said.The United Nations’ World Health Organization says failure to conceive in Africa is largely blamed on women, although half of all infertility cases can be traced back to men.Dr. Nancy Kidula – from the WHO’s regional office for Africa – said infertility problems are common and can be overcome. Via a messaging application, Kidula said in Africa, many governments are more focused on health problems like epidemics, infectious diseases and malnutrition.“Therefore, infertility will turn to fall quite low on the priority list. Fertility treatment is also very expensive to the extent that even insurance companies are reluctant to fund fertility management,” she said.Patients at IVF Zimbabwe say they pay around $4,000 for treatment – a huge sum for the average person in Zimbabwe.But to clients ready to welcome their first child after a long wait, the investment is worth it.
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NASA Probe to Leave Asteroid’s Orbit, Bring Back Samples
A probe from the U.S. space agency NASA is scheduled later Monday to fire its thrusters and leave the orbit of the asteroid Bennu, beginning a two-year journey back to Earth, complete with samples from the asteroid’s surface.The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) is scheduled to fire its thrusters for about seven minutes, taking it out of the asteroid’s orbit and setting it on a homeward course.OSIRIS-REx first rendezvoused with the asteroid in 2018. Last October, the craft dropped to Bennu’s surface, sunk its “sampling head” 48.8 centimeters into the asteroid and simultaneously fired a pressurized charge of nitrogen gas to churn up surface material and drive it into its the collection chamber.After gathering what NASA believes to be about 60 grams of material, the probe lifted off and continued to orbit the asteroid.NASA said Monday’s departure sequence is the mission’s most significant maneuver since it arrived at Bennu in 2018. The spacecraft’s thrusters must change its velocity by 958 kilometers per hour to set it on a path to intersect Earth, expected in September 2023.The space agency said there is no direct path back to Earth for the probe, as it must travel to where the planet will be in the future. The course will require it to orbit twice around the sun, covering 2.3 billion kilometers before it will catch up with Earth.Last year, the Japanese Haybusa2 spacecraft successfully returned to Earth with samples it collected from the surface of the Ryugu asteroid.
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Can Taiwan’s Silicon Shield Protect It against China’s Aggression?
The global shortage of semiconductors, or microchips — the “brains” in all electronic devices, has heightened the geopolitical significance of Taiwan and its chip-making sector. The island is home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC).Many describe Taiwan’s strength in microchips as its “silicon shield,” which can protect it against Chinese aggression.But others suspect the sector, coveted by China, may also trigger China to accelerate its efforts to take advantage of Taiwan’s tech prowess.‘Not let war happen’When asked to explain the shield, TSMC chairman Mark Liu told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” program last week that it means “the world all needs Taiwan’s high-tech industry support. So, they will not let the war happen in this region because it goes against interest of every country in the world.”While refusing to comment on whether the industry will keep Taiwan safe, Liu added that he hoped no war would occur in Taiwan. It is widely believed that any war fought in Taiwan could disrupt the global supply chains of microchips.More than 1 trillion chips are currently being produced annually. Industry watchers, including the National Bank of Canada estimated earlier that TSMC alone accounts for one-fifth of the world’s chip production and up to 90% of the supply of the most advanced chips.In an “extremely hypothetical scenario,” such a disruption in Taiwan’s chip production could cause $490 billion in annual losses for electronic device makers worldwide, according to estimates by the U.S.-based Semiconductor Industry Association last month.All shut downAmerican tech giants including Apple, major European auto makers and even Chinese companies would have to halt production in the event of a TSMC collapse, said Frank Huang, chairman of Taiwan’s third-largest chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.That, he said, will make China think twice about using force against Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing views as a renegade province.“China likes [to]… threat [threaten] Taiwan. But realistically without Taiwan, they cannot move either. Their semiconductors also shut down. So, the problem is: can you take over Taiwan without [triggering] impact [on] semiconductors? That is not [going to] happen,” Huang told VOA.The term “silicon shield” was first coined by Craig Addison in late 2000, who argued in his book “Silicon Shield: Taiwan’s Protection Against Chinese Attack” that the island’s rise as the key supplier for the world’s digital economy would serve as “a deterrent against possible Chinese aggression.”FILE – A leaflet that asks employees to protect the company’s confidentiality is seen at a reception in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Aug. 31, 2018.The debate over such a deterrent has heated up now that the pandemic has seriously disrupted most supply chains. The U.S. has also placed restrictions on exports of chips and chip-making equipment using U.S. design and technology to China — a development that some observers also fear may end up provoking China to increase aggression toward Taiwan.But Darson Chiu, a research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) in Taipei, disagreed, saying that he believes the world will stand behind Taiwan.“The world’s superpowers will view TSMC as a key driver behind the future global economic revival, which belongs to no one but the world. Hence the world will not tolerate China’s use of force to control TSMC,” Chiu told VOA over the phone.Double layer of protectionThe island’s dominance in chip-making has fueled the debate over its silicon shield, but the U.S. is more concerned that the shield may “have holes in it” and the technology is being used by China’s military, according to Alexander Neill, a former Shangri-La Dialogue senior fellow for Asia Pacific security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.An earlier Washington Post report alleged that a Chinese firm had used TSMC chips in the Chinese military’s development of hypersonic missiles. But the company denied the charges.The U.S. is also concerned about vulnerabilities caused by TSMC production being concentrated in Taiwan. The island’s water and electric supply shortages could disrupt production.“What the United States wants to do is to help TSMC diversify its production base so that there’s a double layer of protection. So, if the first shield is being penetrated, the second [reinforcement] shield is to nurture the chip production base in friends and ally countries including the United States,” Neill told VOA over the phone.Surging demandTSMC has planned to invest $100 billion in the next three years on new production facilities including a state-of-the-art wafer fabrication plant in the U.S. state of Arizona and expansions of its Nanjing, China-based fab to produce 28 nanometer chips for auto makers.The move aims to increase TSMC’s capacity, which is currently working at full capacity, to meet surging demand and support future growth in the global economy, TIER’s Chiu said.In a stock exchange filing last month, TSMC said it “is entering a period of higher growth as the multiyear megatrends of 5G and HPC (high performance computer) are expected to fuel strong demand for our semiconductor technologies in the next several years. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic also accelerates digitalization in every aspect.”But Powerchip’s Huang questions if overseas wafer fabs will be as cost effective as those based in Taiwan. He said that many fabs in the U.S. and Germany have proved to be too expensive to sustain.Expansion in ChinaFor years, China’s attempts to manufacture chips have failed since China lacks access to the intellectual property required for the process.Hence, TSMC’s expansion plan in its Nanjing plant is welcomed by many in China despite worries that the survival of homegrown chipmakers may be threatened by the Taiwanese chipmaker, according to Song Hong, assistant general director at the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.“28nm chips aren’t high-end. But mid- to low-end chips are in higher demand. So, I think this shows TSMC’s optimism in China’s future demand. It is in our hope to bolster homegrown chipmakers, but we also welcome competition,” Song told VOA.Song, however, shrugged off the geopolitical implications of Taiwan’s silicon shield, saying that China views Taiwanese issues as domestic affairs and will not be deterred from its goals by U.S. action. (This article originated in VOA’s Mandarin service.)
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COVID-19 Takes the Pomp Out of US College Graduations
As graduation approaches for university and college students in the United States, students are preparing for one of the most important milestones of their lives. But this year, COVID-19 has taken the pomp out of this year’s celebrations. Yanet Chernet explains, narrated by Kathleen Struck.
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Two Highly Contagious Coronavirus Variants Appear in South Africa
South African officials say two highly contagious variants of coronavirus are now present in the country, as Africa’s worst-hit nation prepares for a possible new onslaught of cases.Officials from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases announced late Sunday that they have detected the B.1.617.2 and B.1.1.7 variants among the South African population. With just under 1.6 million confirmed cases, South Africa leads the continent in coronavirus infections. Of those, nearly 55,000 people have died. “It is not surprising that new variants have been detected in South Africa,” said Adrian Puren, the institute’s acting director. “We would like to assure the public that the institute is focusing their resources and research efforts towards understanding the variants and what the potential implications are for South Africa.”FILE – A man passes doctors consulting rooms in Johannesburg, April 16, 2021.The first variant, B.1.617.2, has been detected in four positive cases, the institute said. Two of those are in Gauteng, the most populous province, and home to Johannesburg and Pretoria. South African officials said in a statement that all four known cases of this variant “have been isolated and managed.” and that contract tracing was underway.B.1.617.2 is among the variants currently circulating in India, where the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center says 22.6 million COVID-19 cases have been reported — though health experts have warned that they believe both cases and deaths are being underreported in India. Officials with the institute said they are now giving higher priority to positive samples from travelers entering South Africa, especially those coming from India.COVID Variants May Emerge That Are Not Covered By Vaccine, Scientists Warn In rare but expected development, a small number of people have developed COVID-19 after being vaccinatedThe second variant, B.1.1.7, has been detected in 11 cases, South African officials said. This highly transmissible variant was initially detected in the U.K. Officials urged South Africans to be vigilant, as the nation battles to secure enough vaccines to achieve herd immunity. The nation’s vaccination campaign has moved slowly so far, and to date, just over 382,000 people — all of them health workers — have been vaccinated. The next phase of vaccinations is set to begin next week.“We understand that many are suffering from COVID-19 fatigue, and becoming lax in exercising preventative measures,” Puren said. “But for the sake of yourselves and your loved ones, wash or sanitize your hands, wear your masks and maintain physical distance of 1.5 meters from others. Remember to hold gatherings outdoors, or in well ventilated areas and roll up your sleeve once the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available to you.”
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Reversing Trump, US Restores Transgender Health Protections
The U.S. will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in health care, the Biden administration announced Monday, reversing a Trump-era policy that sought to narrow the scope of legal rights in sensitive situations involving medical care. The action by the Department of Health and Human Services affirms that federal laws forbidding sex discrimination in health care also protect gay and transgender people. The Trump administration had defined “sex” to mean gender assigned at birth, thereby excluding transgender people from the law’s umbrella of protection. “Fear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequences,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Everyone — including LGBTQ people — should be able to access health care, free from discrimination or interference, period.” Becerra said the Biden administration policy will bring HHS into line with a landmark Supreme Court decision last year in a workplace discrimination case, which established that federal laws against sex discrimination on the job also protect gay and transgender people. Despite that ruling, the Trump administration proceeded to try to narrow the legal protections against health care discrimination, issuing rules that narrowly defined “sex” as biological gender. A federal judge had blocked those rules from taking effect, although Trump administration officials argued that as a legal matter health care discrimination was a separate issue from the employment case the Supreme Court decided. Monday’s action means that the HHS Office for Civil Rights will again investigate complaints of sex discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Hospitals, clinics and other medical providers can face government sanctions for violations of the law. The Biden administration action essentially restores policy established during the Obama years. The Affordable Care Act included a prohibition on sex discrimination in health care and the Obama administration had interpreted that to apply to gay and transgender people as well. It relied on a broad understanding of sex shaped by a person’s inner sense of being male, female, neither or a combination. Behind the dispute over rights for transgender people in particular is a medically recognized condition called “gender dysphoria” — discomfort or distress caused by a discrepancy between the gender that a person identifies as and the gender assigned at birth. Consequences can include severe depression. Treatment can range from gender confirmation surgery and hormones to people changing their outward appearance by adopting a different hairstyle or clothing. Medical groups and civil rights organizations generally support broader legal protections for gay and transgender people, while social and religious conservatives sought to narrow their scope.
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US Government Working to Aid Top Fuel Pipeline Operator After Cyberattack
The White House was working closely with top U.S. fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline on Sunday to help it recover from a ransomware attack that forced the company to shut a critical fuel network supplying populous eastern states. The attack is one of the most disruptive digital ransom schemes reported and has prompted calls from American lawmakers to strengthen protections for critical U.S. energy infrastructure from hacking attacks. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the pipeline fix was a top priority for the Biden administration and Washington was working to avoid more severe fuel supply disruptions by helping Colonial restart as quickly as possible its more than 5,500-mile (8,850 km) pipeline network from Texas to New Jersey. “It’s an all hands on deck effort right now,” Raimondo said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” program. “We are working closely with the company, state and local officials, to make sure that they get back up to normal operations as quickly as possible and there aren’t disruptions in supply.” Colonial said on Sunday its main fuel lines remain offline but some smaller lines between terminals and delivery points are now operational. Neither Raimondo nor the company gave an estimate for a full restart date and Colonial declined further comment on Sunday. U.S. gasoline futures jumped more than 3% to $2.217 a gallon, the highest since May 2018, as trading opened for the week and market participants reacted to the closure. Colonial transports roughly 2.5 million barrels per day of gasoline and other fuels from refiners on the Gulf Coast to consumers in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States. Its extensive pipeline network serves major U.S. airports, including Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport, the world’s busiest by passenger traffic. A Charlotte Douglas International Airport spokesperson said the airport had supply on-hand and was “monitoring the situation closely,” adding that the complex is supplied by another major pipeline as well as Colonial. Retail fuel experts including the American Automobile Association said an outage lasting several days could have significant impacts on regional fuel supplies, particularly in the southeastern United States. During previous Colonial outages, retail prices in southeastern states have risen substantially. Offices of governors in several of the U.S. states most vulnerable to fuel shortages – including Tennessee, Georgia and Maryland – were not immediately available for comment. Cybercriminals suspectedWhile the U.S. government investigation is in the early stages, a former U.S. official and three industry sources said the hackers are suspected to be a professional cybercriminal group called DarkSide. DarkSide is one of many ransomware gangs extorting victims while avoiding targets in post-Soviet states. The groups gain access to private networks, encrypt files using software, and often also steal data. They demand payment to decrypt the files and increasingly ask for additional money not to publish stolen content. In the Colonial attack, the hackers took more than 100 gigabytes of data, according to a person familiar with the incident. As the FBI and other government agencies worked with private companies to respond, the cloud computing system the hackers used to collect the stolen data was taken offline Saturday, the person said. Colonial’s data did not appear to have been transferred from that system anywhere else, potentially limiting the hackers’ leverage to extort or further embarrass the company. Cybersecurity firm FireEye is among those dealing with the attack, industry sources said. FireEye declined to comment. Colonial said it was working with a “leading, third-party cybersecurity firm,” but did not name the firm. Messages left with the DarkSide hackers were not immediately returned. The group’s dark website, where hackers regularly post data about victims, made no reference to Colonial Pipeline. Colonial declined to comment on whether DarkSide hackers were involved in the attack, when the breach occurred or what ransom they demanded. Biden briefed on hack President Joe Biden was briefed on the cyberattack on Saturday morning, the White House said, adding that the government was working to try to help the company restore operations and prevent supply disruptions. U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana who sits on the Energy Committee, said lawmakers are prepared to work more with privately held critical infrastructure companies to guard against cyberattacks. “The implication for this, for our national security, cannot be overstated. And I promise you, this is something that Republicans and Democrats can work together on,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Another fuel pipeline serving the same regions carries a third of what Colonial does. Any prolonged outage would require tankers to transport fuels from the U.S. Gulf Coast to East Coast ports. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is issuing a temporary hours of service exemption to truckers transporting refined products to 17 southern and east coast states including Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey and New York. Complicating the fallback plans, according to one industry source familiar with the federal response, was that the ranks of fuel-truck drivers for the main road transportation companies, which could pick up some of the pipeline volume, are down by 25% or more because of coronavirus infections. Oil refining companies contacted by Reuters over the weekend said their operations had not yet been impacted. Some were working to find alternative transport for customers. The privately held, Georgia-based company is owned by CDPQ Colonial Partners L.P., IFM (US) Colonial Pipeline 2 LLC, KKR-Keats Pipeline Investors L.P., Koch Capital Investments Company LLC and Shell Midstream Operating LLC.
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Australia Appoints Its First Space Commander
A senior female air force officer whose childhood idol was iconic Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong will become Australia’s first space commander. Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts will oversee the space activities across Australia’s armed forces. Experts have said the army, navy and air force have relied on space-based technologies and communication, and centralized coordination was sensible. There is growing international competition for supremacy in space. The United States has a military arm called the U.S. Space Force while China and Russia both set up similar units in 2015. But officials in Canberra have been keen to stress that Australia has no plans to further “militarize space” nor would it seek to build technologies to attack enemy satellites. A dedicated space command brings Australia into line with Canada, France, India and Japan. Senior officers have said part of its job would be to establish if satellites used by Australia were under threat or being subjected to accidental interference or natural events. Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts is a trained engineer, who has served with the Royal Australian Air Force for 35 years. She will take up her position as space commander next year. In an official RAAF video, she explained how she was inspired by the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969. “Today I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about role models and how important it is for each one of us to pave the way for the next generation as we head into a rapidly accelerating future. The first person I remember ever having a material impact on my ambition was Neil Armstrong. In 1969 as a three-year old I watched on in awe as Lieutenant Armstrong descended the ladder of the lunar lander and uttered the first words ever spoken on the moon. It was an incredible moment for humanity and millions of aspiring engineers that were probably created at that moment. I was no different,” Roberts said.Last year, the civilian Australian Space Agency officially opened its new headquarters in the city of Adelaide. It is responsible for developing the nation’s multi-billion-dollar commercial space industry. The government believes it will generate 20,000 jobs in Australia by 2030. Prime minister Scott Morrison has previously estimated the global space economy could be worth more than US$780 billion by 2040, and that Australia needed to be in a position to take advantage of the opportunities. Analysts have said that as the cost and intricacies of exploiting space have fallen, more countries and businesses are developing and launching the type of surveillance and navigation technology that could have military capabilities. To this end, experts have said there needs to be close cooperation between the civilian-run Australian Space Agency and the planned new military “space command” division that will be led by Air Vice-Marshal Roberts.
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Iraqi Reporter Seriously Wounded Day After Activist’s Killing Sparks Protests
An Iraqi journalist was in intensive care after being shot in the head early Monday, doctors said, only 24 hours after a leading anti-government activist was killed. Anti-corruption campaigner Ihab al-Wazni was shot dead early Sunday in Karbala, sending protest movement supporters onto the streets to demand an end to such bloodshed and official impunity. Wazni had led protests in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, where pro-Tehran armed groups hold major sway. He was shot overnight outside his home by men on motorbikes using a gun equipped with a silencer, in an ambush caught on surveillance cameras. His death was confirmed by security forces and activists. Hours after his death, reporter Ahmed Hassan was in intensive care after receiving “two bullets in the head and one in the shoulder,” a doctor told AFP. “He was targeted as he got out of his car to go home,” in Diwaniya in the south of the country, according to a witness. Wazni had narrowly escaped death in December 2019, when men on motorbikes used silenced weapons to kill fellow activist Fahem al-Tai as he was dropping him home in Karbala.Mourners carry the body of Iraqi anti-government activist Ihab al-Wazni (Ehab al-Ouazni) during his funeral at the Imam Hussein Shrine in the central holy shrine city of Karbala on May 9, 2021.Both were key figures in a national protest movement that erupted against Iraqi government corruption and incompetence in October 2019. Around 600 activists from the movement have been killed, whether on the streets during rallies or targeted on their doorsteps. Protests broke out in Karbala, Nassiriya and Diwaniya in southern Iraq in reaction to Wazni’s killing, as people called for an end to the bloodshed and to rampant corruption. The Iraqi Communist Party and the Al-Beit Al-Watani (National Bloc) party born out of the anti-government protests also said they would boycott Iraq’s October parliamentary elections in protest. In a video recording in the morgue where Wazni’s body was initially held, a fellow activist blamed pro-Tehran groups for the killing. “It is the Iranian militias who killed Ihab,” said the activist, who was not named. ‘They kidnap and kill’ “Iran out!” and “The people want the fall the regime!” chanted hundreds of mourners Sunday as they carried Wazni’s body to the Shiite shrines in Karbala, under a sea of Iraqi flags. Police said they would “spare no effort” to find “the terrorists” behind Wazni’s killing. Politicians, including Shiite leader Ammar al-Haki, deplored the death and called for justice. Around 30 activists have died in targeted killings and dozens of others have been abducted since October 2019. Such killings are normally carried out in the dead of night by men on motorbikes, and nobody claims responsibility. Activists and the U.N. repeatedly blame “militias.” Authorities have consistently failed to publicly identify or charge the perpetrators of these killings. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi took office a year ago, vowing to rein in rogue factions, fight corruption and roll out long-awaited reforms after years of war and insurgency. He pledged again Sunday to catch “all the killers,” but the latest victim’s family said it would not accept the traditional visits of condolences until the assailants were unmasked. Pro-Iran groups view Kadhemi as being too close to Washington while protesters believe he has failed to deliver on his promises. Wazni had himself had challenged the premier in a Facebook post in February, asking: “Do you know what is going on? You know that they kidnap and kill — or you live in another country?” Ali Bayati, a member of Iraq’s Human Rights Commission, tweeted Sunday that crimes against activists in Iraq “raise again the question about the real steps of the government regarding accountability.”
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Biden Points to Slow Job Growth in Push for Economic Recovery Plans
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with lawmakers this week to find common ground on his economic recovery plans, which include spending on infrastructure, child care and education. The talks come as the United States reported weaker than expected recovery in hiring. Michelle Quinn reports.Produced by: Mary Cieslak
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Satellites May Help Forecast Volcanic Activity
Experts say this has already been a busy year for volcanic activity, but now NASA scientists say they may be able to predict eruptions far enough in advance to save lives. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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White House: US ‘Turning the Corner’ Against Coronavirus
The United States is “turning the corner” in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a key White House official said Sunday. Jeffrey Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, told CNN that the U.S. has “enough supply [of vaccines] for all Americans,” even as the number of new daily vaccinations has dropped to 2.1 million, down 40% from last month’s peak pace. He said that 58% of those 18 and older in the U.S. — nearly 149 million people — have now received at least one shot, a figure President Joe Biden says he hopes will reach 70% by July 4, the country’s annual Independence Day holiday. People check-in at a Covid-19 vaccination site at a sports center in Brooklyn, New York on May 8, 2021.Zients said the country is “on the path” to becoming “safer and safer and closer and closer to normal.” But he acknowledged that “everyone is tired” of restrictions imposed because of the pandemic and said, “Wearing a mask can be a pain.” He urged Americans to get vaccinated if they have not, as well as to “keep up our guard” and wear a face mask in crowded groups. “Let’s stay vigilant,” he said. Zients said that regardless of whether the U.S. reaches the 70% vaccination figure by July 4, the nation will continue to vaccinate as many people as possible afterward and that if booster shots “are necessary [a half year or more from now], we’ll be ready.” In all, 112.6 million Americans are fully vaccinated, most often with the two-shot regimen developed by either the Moderna or Pfizer BioNTech drug makers. But polls show that about 20% of Americans — often supporters of former President Donald Trump — say they will not get vaccinated, making it more difficult for the country to increase its overall rate. FILE – U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci speaks at the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, Jan. 21, 2021.Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser and the country’s top infectious disease expert, told ABC’s “This Week” show that one key factor in increasing the number of inoculations is to “make it extremely easy to get vaccinated,” such as through the increasing number of no-appointment, walk-in vaccination sites at pharmacies. He said the country also needs to get “trusted messengers,” such as family doctors, clergy and sports figures, to spread the word of the need to be vaccinated. Currently, he said, about 43,000 new U.S coronavirus cases are being recorded each day. “We’ve got to get it to even lower,” Fauci said. Since the pandemic first swept into the U.S. in March 2020, the nation has recorded more than 581,000 deaths and nearly 32.7 million infections, with both figures more than in any other country, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
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Coronavirus Cases Still Surging in India
The coronavirus crisis is not abating in India, with the country reporting Sunday that it had counted more than 403,000 new infections and 4,000 deaths in the last 24 hours. In addition, health experts say the tolls are likely undercounted. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not imposed a nationwide lockdown to help stop the spread of the coronavirus despite calls to do so from politicians and public health officials. Some local governments, however, have imposed lockdowns on their jurisdictions. New Delhi has announced that a lockdown that began April 20 will be extended to May 17. The Indian capital also announced that Metro transit service will be suspended, starting Monday. The southern state of Tamil Nadu said it would shift from a partial to a full lockdown after neighboring Karnataka state extended its full lockdown Friday. FILE – Beds are seen inside a Gurudwara (Sikh Temple) converted into a coronavirus care facility amidst the spread of COVID-19 in New Delhi, India, May 5, 2021.In an interview Saturday with the French news agency, Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, warned that “the epidemiological features that we see in India today do indicate that it’s an extremely rapidly spreading variant.” Swaminathan said the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was clearly a contributing factor to the catastrophe in India, her homeland. “There have been many accelerators that are fed into this,” the 62-year-old pediatrician and clinical scientist said, adding, “A more rapidly spreading virus is one of them.” She added, however, that large gatherings and a lapse in mask-wearing also played a role. The B.1.617 variant was first discovered in India last October. The United States and Britain consider it a “variant of concern,” which indicates it is more dangerous than the original virus. In addition to the number of cases and deaths, Swaminathan said another danger is the increasing likelihood of variants that could outwit vaccines. “Variants which accumulate a lot of mutations may ultimately become resistant to the current vaccines that we have,” she said. Relatives react as healthcare workers pull a stretcher carrying the body of a person who died from COVID-19, at a mortuary in Ahmedabad, India, May 8, 2021.The India toll came as the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center in the U.S. recorded 157.7 million global infections early Sunday, with 3.3 million deaths. Johns Hopkins also said India currently had more than 22 million confirmed cases and 242,000 deaths. India is second to the U.S. in the number of infections. The U.S. currently has more than 32.6 million infections and 581,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. EU summit, US criticism On the second day of a European Union summit in Portugal on Saturday, the EU approved a contract extension with Pfizer-BioNTech to provide up to 1.8 billion additional doses of its vaccine through 2023. Pfizer-BioNTech has already provided the EU with 600 million doses, as required in the initial contract. FILE – People wait after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the COVID-19 in a vaccination center of Lyon, France, Apr. 8, 2021.Also at the EU summit, the U.S. faced mounting criticism from EU leaders over U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise endorsement last week of lifting COVID-19 vaccine patents to make more doses available to poorer countries. “We don’t think, in the short term, that it’s the magic bullet,” said EU Council President Charles Michel. Michel and other EU leaders said the U.S. should, instead, start boosting U.S. vaccine exports to have maximum impact on the global pandemic. “I’m very clearly urging the U.S. to put an end to the ban on exports of vaccines and on components of vaccines that are preventing them being produced,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. The U.S., like Britain, has limited exports of domestically developed vaccines so it can inoculate its population first. The EU has become the world’s leading vaccine provider, distributing about 200 million doses to the 27-nation bloc and roughly an equal number to nearly 90 countries around the world. Pope Francis said that he supports the temporary suspension of vaccine patents, according to news reports. He added that market forces, as it relates to the vaccines, must not predominate.
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Chad Military Claims Victory Over Rebels in North
Chad’s military claimed victory on Sunday in its weeks-long battle with northern rebels that led to the death of President Idriss Deby on the battlefield. The rebel group Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) did not respond to a request for comment. The transitional military authorities have previously said they have defeated the rebels only for fighting to continue. The fighting and broader political instability are being closely watched. Chad is a key power in central Africa and a longtime Western ally against Islamist militants across the Sahel region. Crowds in the capital N’Djamena cheered on Sunday as soldiers returned from the front line in a column of tanks and armored vehicles. “The triumphant return of the army to the barracks today heralds the end of operations and Chad’s victory,” the army’s Chief of the General Staff Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud told reporters. At an army base in N’Djamena, dozens of captured rebels sat in the dirt, on display for the assembled press. FACT fighters crossed the border from Libya in April to take a stand against Deby, whose 30-year rule they opposed. His subsequent death while visiting troops plunged the country into crisis. On Saturday, security forces fired tear gas to disperse a protest against the ruling military council. Led by Deby’s son Mahamat Idriss Itno, the council seized power after the former’s death, promising to oversee an 18-month transition to elections. Opposition politicians and civil society have denounced the takeover as a coup and called for supporters to take to the streets. At least five people were killed during a protest on April 27. They had planned a further protest on Sunday, but postponed it out of fear the authorities planned to suppress it violently, Mahamat Nour Ibedou, a prominent human rights activist, told Reuters. The military council had given permission for a protest on Sunday.
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Dogecoin Tumbles After Elon Musk Calls it a ‘Hustle’ on Saturday Night Live
The value of dogecoin dropped sharply in early U.S. hours on Sunday, after Tesla chief and cryptocurrency supporter Elon Musk called it a ‘hustle’ during his guest-host spot on the “Saturday Night Live” comedy sketch TV show. Dogecoin was quoted as low as $0.47 on crypto exchange Binance, down 28% from levels around $0.65 before the show. The billionaire Tesla Inc chief executive hosted the show at 11:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday (0330 GMT on Sunday). Cryptocurrency enthusiasts had for days been eager to see what he would say, after his tweets this year turned the once-obscure digital currency into a speculator’s dream. Asked ‘what is dogecoin,’ Musk replied, “It’s the future of currency. It’s an unstoppable financial vehicle that’s going to take over the world.” When a show cast member Michael Che countered, “So, it’s a hustle?” Musk replied, “Yeah, it’s a hustle.” And laughed. Musk is the rare business mogul to have been asked to host the venerable comedy TV show. The timing puts Musk back in the spotlight just as Tesla’s stock is losing steam following last year’s monster rally. The unconventional CEO has posted numerous comments about cryptocurrencies on Twitter and criticized regular old cash for having negative real interest rates. “Only a fool wouldn’t look elsewhere,” he said in February. His cryptic tweets “Doge” and “Dogecoin is the people’s crypto” that month kicked off a rally in dogecoin — created as a parody on the more mainstream bitcoin and ethereum. On Thursday, Musk tweeted: “Cryptocurrency is promising, but please invest with caution!” with a video clip attached in which he said, “it should be considered speculation at this point. And so, you know, don’t don’t go too far in the crypto speculation …” But he also said, in the video, that cryptocurrency has a “good chance” of becoming what he called “the future currency of the Earth.” On crypto data tracker CoinGecko.com, dogecoin has jumped more than 800% over the last month and is now the fourth-largest digital currency, with a market capitalization of $73 billion. It hit a record high Thursday above $0.73. It has overtaken more widely used cryptocurrencies such as litecoin and tether. Tesla said in February it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and would soon accept it as a form of payment for its electric cars, a large stride toward mainstream acceptance that sent bitcoin soaring to a record high of nearly $62,000. Tesla shares closed 1.3% higher at $672.37 on Friday.
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India: More Than 400,000 COVID Cases and More Than 4,000 Death in 24 Hours
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centers recorded 157.7 million global COVID-19 cases early Sunday, with 3.3 million deaths. India reported Sunday that it had counted more than 403,000 new infections and more than 4,000 deaths in the previous 24 hours. Experts say the tolls are likely undercounted. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not imposed a nationwide lockdown to help stop the spread of the coronavirus despite calls from politicians and public health officials. Some local governments have imposed lockdowns for their jurisdictions. More Contagious Variant Abets India’s COVID-19 Surge, WHO SaysIndia sets record for deaths in one day as more states impose more stringent lockdown measures New Delhi has announced that it is extending its lockdown that began April 20 to May 17. The Indian capital also announced that Metro service will be suspended, starting Monday. The southern state of Tamil Nadu said it would shift from a partial to full lockdown after neighboring Karnataka state extended its full lockdown Friday. In an interview Saturday with AFP, Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, warned that “the epidemiological features that we see in India today do indicate that it’s an extremely rapidly spreading variant.” Swaminathan said the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, was clearly a contributing factor to the catastrophe in India, her homeland. “There have been many accelerators that are fed into this,” the 62-year-old pediatrician and clinical scientist said, stressing that “a more rapidly spreading virus is one of them.” She added, however, that large gatherings and a lapse in mask-wearing also played a role. The B.1.617 variant was first discovered in India last October. The U.S. and Britain consider it a “variant of concern,” which indicates it is more dangerous than the original virus. In addition to the number of cases and deaths, Swaminathan said another danger is the increasing likelihood of variants that could outwit vaccines. “Variants which accumulate a lot of mutations may ultimately become resistant to the current vaccines that we have,” she said. EU Calls on US, Others to Export Their COVID-19 Vaccines EC head Ursula von der Leyen says discussions about waiving intellectual property rights won’t produce a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the near termEU summit, US criticism On the second day of a European Union Summit in Portugal on Saturday, the EU approved a contract extension with Pfizer-BioNTech to provide up to 1.8 billion additional doses of its vaccine through 2023. Pfizer-BioNTech has already provided the EU with 600 million doses, as required in the initial contract. Also at the EU summit, the U.S. faced mounting criticism from EU leaders over U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise endorsement earlier this week of lifting COVID-19 vaccine patents to make more doses available to poorer countries. “We don’t think, in the short term, that it’s the magic bullet,” said EU Council President Charles Michel. Michel and other EU leaders said the U.S. should, instead, start boosting U.S. vaccine exports to have maximum impact on the global pandemic. “I’m very clearly urging the U.S. to put an end to the ban on exports of vaccines and on components of vaccines that are preventing them being produced,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. The U.S., like Britain, has limited exports of domestically developed vaccines so it can vaccinate its population first. The EU has become the world’s leading vaccine provider, distributing about 200 million doses to the 27-nation bloc and roughly an equal number to nearly 90 countries around the world. Pope Francis said that he supports the temporary suspension of vaccine patents, according to news reports. He added that market forces, as it relates to the vaccines, must not predominate. WHO Approves Chinese COVID Vaccine for Emergency Use Worldwide Vaccine was developed by Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine The World Health Organization Friday approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed in China for emergency use worldwide. The vaccine, from China’s state-owned drugmaker, Sinopharm, is the first vaccine manufactured by a non-Western country to be endorsed by WHO. WHO’s decision allows the Sinopharm vaccine to be included in the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX, an initiative to distribute vaccines to mainly low-income countries. North American numbers In Washington, the White House COVID-19 Response Team said Friday its focus is on meeting President Biden’s new goal of fully vaccinating 160 million Americans by July 4, as infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that as of Saturday, 151,315,505 people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 112,626,771 have been fully vaccinated. At the team’s briefing, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said that to help meet Biden’s goal, the government will make walk-up, no-appointment shots available at 20,000 pharmacies around the country. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will also be shipping vaccines from high-volume vaccination centers around the country to smaller community-based sites, where they are more in demand.
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Last Wild Macaw in Rio is Lonely and Looking for Love
Some have claimed she’s indulging a forbidden romance. More likely, loneliness compels her to seek company at Rio de Janeiro’s zoo. Either way, a blue-and-yellow macaw that zookeepers named Juliet is believed to be the only wild bird of its kind left in the Brazilian city where the birds once flew far and wide.Almost every morning for the last two decades, Juliet has appeared. She swoops onto the zoo enclosure where macaws are kept and, through its fence, engages in grooming behavior that looks like conjugal canoodling. Sometimes she just sits, relishing the presence of others. She is quieter — shier? more coy? — than her squawking chums. Blue-and-yellow macaws live to be about 35 years old and Juliet — no spring chicken — should have found a lifelong mate years ago, according to Neiva Guedes, president of the Hyacinth Macaw Institute, an environmental group. But Juliet hasn’t coupled, built a nest or had chicks, so at most she’s “still just dating.”A blue-and-yellow macaw that zookeepers named Juliet flies outside the enclosure where macaws are kept at BioParque, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, May 5, 2021.“They’re social birds, and that means they don’t like to live alone, whether in nature or captivity. They need company,” said Guedes, who also coordinates a project that researches macaws in urban settings. Juliet “very probably feels lonely, and for that reason goes to the enclosure to communicate and interact.”Aside from Juliet, the last sighting of a blue-and-yellow macaw flying free in Rio was in 1818 by an Austrian naturalist, according to Marcelo Rheingantz, a biologist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and there are no other types of macaws in the city. The lovebirds featured in the 2011 film “Rio″ are Spix’s macaws, which are native to a different region of Brazil and possibly extinct in the wild.Being boisterous with brilliant plumage helps macaws find each other in dense forest, but also makes them easier targets for hunters and animal traffickers. They’re often seen in other Brazilian states and across the Amazon, and it is suspected Juliet escaped from captivity.Biologists at BioParque aren’t sure if Juliet’s nuzzling is limited to one caged Romeo, or a few of them. They’re not even certain Juliet is female; macaw gender is near impossible to determine by sight, and requires either genetic testing of feathers or blood, or examination of the gonads.Either would be interference merely to satisfy human curiosity with no scientific end, biologist Angelita Capobianco said inside the enclosure. Nor would they consider confining Juliet, who often soars overhead and appears well-nourished.A blue-and-yellow macaw that zookeepers have named Juliet, left, grooms with a captive macaw at BioParque, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, May 5, 2021.“We don’t want to project human feelings. I look at the animal, and see an animal at ease,” Capobianco said, noting Juliet has never exhibited behavior to indicate disturbance, such as insistently pecking at the fence.“Who am I to decide it should only stay here? I won’t. It comes and goes, and its feathers are beautiful.”After more than a year of COVID-19 quarantine and travel bans, the appeal of roaming without restriction is evident to humankind. Macaws are used to flying great distances of more than 30 kilometers a day, Guedes said.Last year, BioParque gave its macaws more space: a 1,000-square-meter aviary where they fly beside green parrots and golden parakeets to compose an aerial, technicolor swirl. It’s a massive upgrade from prior enclosures that were roughly 9 square meters.BioParque reopened to the public in March, after privatization of Rio’s dilapidated zoo and almost 17 months of renovations.BioParque aims to feature species associated with research programs at universities and institutes. One such initiative is Refauna, which reintroduces species into protected areas with an eye on rebuilding ecosystems, and is participating with BioParque to start breeding blue-and-yellow macaws.The plan is for parents to raise some 20 chicks that will receive training on forest food sources, the peril of predators and avoidance of power lines. Then the youngsters will be released into Rio’s immense Tijuca Forest National Park, where Juliet has been sighted and is thought to sleep each night.“Their role could be important in terms of ecosystem and reforestation. It’s a big animal with big beak that can crack the biggest seeds, and not all birds can,” said Rheingantz, the university biologist, who is also Refauna’s technical coordinator. “The idea is for it to start dispersing those seeds, complementing forest animals that can’t.”After some pandemic-induced delays, the project has slowly restarted and Rheingantz expects to release blue-and-yellow macaws into Tijuca park toward the end of 2022.After two decades of relative solitude, Juliet will then have the chance to fly with friends. Neves said Juliet could teach them how to navigate the forest, or even find a love of her own.
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