What emerging viruses are new viruses

Elisabeth Borne, who is taking the reins of President Emmanuel Macron’s government as the first female prime minister in over 30 years, is an experienced technocrat who enjoys the full confidence of the French leader. The 61-year-old engineer proved her loyalty to Macron during his first term, serving as transport, environment and finally labour minister from 2020. Borne is known for handling controversial transport and benefits reforms, which will be seen as a mighty advantage as Macron seeks to push through a highly-contested bid to raise France’s retirement age during his second mandate. Borne will seek to make a greater impact than France’s first female prime minister Edith Cresson, who lasted less than a year in the early 1990s. Macron had indicated he wanted a woman with left-wing and environmental credentials, and Borne ticked many boxes. The president promised before the runoff vote in presidential elections in April to put the climate crisis at the heart of his second … [Read more...] about New French PM Experienced Technocrat and Macron Loyalist | All You Need to Know About Elisabeth Borne

Charles Gilbert was only a few blocks away from the Buffalo, New York, supermarket when a white 18-year-old opened fire and spread terror among the local Black community, killing 10 and injuring 13 on Saturday. Like countless other Black Buffalo residents, Gilbert, a podcaster, said he is mired in pain, devastation and anger, but he and many in east Buffalo say they are also resolute to come together and forge a stronger community. “We’re hurt, but we’re not broken,” Gilbert said. “We, as a people and a community, will get past this. It will take some time. The spotlight is on us for the wrong reason, unfortunately. But we will show everyone that the community will come together.” The alleged assailant, Payton Gendron, drove more than three hours in his parents’ car from Broome County, specifically to the Black neighborhood of Jefferson Avenue, to carry out a racist plot that is now the largest mass killing in the city’s history. Eleven of the 13 people shot were Black. … [Read more...] about ‘We’re hurt, but we’re not broken’: Buffalo’s Black community vows to emerge stronger

A white supremacist accused of murdering 10 people and injuring three more at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket previously mulled other locations, including schools, churches, and malls in multiple upstate and western New York cities like Rochester, his internet writings reveal. Payton Gendron is accused of opening fire at a Tops Friendly supermarket on Saturday afternoon. A manifesto released online shortly before the shooting suggested that the shooter specifically targeted that supermarket because it was located in a neighborhood with a large Black population. The manifesto is currently under investigation by law enforcement. But Gendron also kept detailed logs of his alleged plans on the messaging app Discord, dating back until at least November 2021. Those logs, reviewed by The Daily Beast, reveal an aspiring killer who was inspired by past racist massacres and hoped to recreate them against Black New Yorkers. Gendron routinely shared personally-identifying information … [Read more...] about Ugly Chat Logs Show Months of Racist Plotting by Buffalo Suspect

When the COVID-19 emerged in China, sparking a pandemic of acute respiratory syndrome in humans, the transmission was linked to food. Initial cases were traced back to a seafood market in the city of Wuhan, and gradually, concerns about the virus being passed on through non-vegetarian food, Chinese cuisine, food delivery and packaging became prevalent. Food-related behaviour of the general population was certainly altered during the pandemic, and an online questionnaire-based study covering 600 respondents in both urban and rural areas showed that ‘immunity’, ‘supplements’ and ‘vegetable cleaners’ were among the top-searched terms on the internet during that period. The study, taken up by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) here, aimed to evaluate the trend of COVID-associated food and nutrition news search by Indian internet users between January 27, 2020, and June 30, 2021, and its impact on their perceptions and practices. The rise in … [Read more...] about Infodemic in pandemic: how COVID influenced food choices

SEOUL, May 16 (Reuters): Standing tall in bright red hazmat suits, five North Korean health workers stride towards an ambulance to do battle with a Covid-19 outbreak that - in the presumed absence of vaccines - the country is using antibiotics and home remedies to treat. The isolated state is one of only two countries yet to begin a vaccination campaign and, until last week, had insisted it was COVID-free. Now it is mobilizing forces including the army and a public information campaign to combat what authorities have acknowledged is an "explosive" outbreak. In an interview on state television on Monday, Vice Minister of Public Health Kim Hyong Hun said the country had switched from a quarantine to a treatment system to handle the hundreds of thousands of suspected "fever" cases reported each day. The broadcaster showed footage of the hazmat team, and masked workers opening windows, cleaning desks and machines and spraying disinfectant. To treat Covid and its symptoms, state … [Read more...] about Lacking vaccines, North Korea battles Covid-19 with antibiotics and home remedies

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 1 million on Monday, a once-unimaginable figure that only hints at the multitudes of loved ones and friends staggered by grief and frustration. The confirmed number of dead is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 336 days. It is roughly equal to how many Americans died in the Civil War and World War II combined. It’s as if Boston and Pittsburgh were wiped out. It is hard to imagine a million people plucked from this earth, said Jennifer Nuzzo, who leads a new pandemic center at the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island. Its still happening and we are letting it happen. Some of those left behind say they cannot return to normal. They replay their loved ones' voicemail messages. Or watch old videos to see them dance. When other people say they are done with the virus, they bristle with anger or ache in silence. 'Normal.' I hate that word, said Julie Wallace, 55, of Elyria, Ohio, who lost her husband to … [Read more...] about United States Crosses Grim Milestone of 1 Million Covid-19 Deaths

Daily cases neared 300,000 in just two weeks, and death toll increased to 42. The cases and deaths could be much larger than reported given the secrecy in North Korea and lack of test kits. North Korea has kept the virus out by sealing off it border with China. It resumed imports of daily necessities by rail from beginning of this year. Covid-19 is suspected of breaking out across the nation after the county held large-scale military parade on April 25. Given what each country went through over the last two years of pandemic, North Korean conditions would only worsen. The case with North Korea is grave due poor nutrition and the lack of food. Vaccines as well as treatments are unavailable. Patients with high fever are said to be treated with herbal remedies. Since authorities cannot identify virus infected due to lack of diagnosis kits, they refer them as “people with fever.” The Seoul government is making the right move by proposing humanitarian aid. It is unclear if … [Read more...] about Vaccine diplomacy will help everyone

North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis says he made a mistake by taking off his face mask indoors last month at a White House event. Many attendees — including Tillis and President Donald Trump — later tested positive for COVID-19. The senator, who has been a strong supporter of wearing masks in public, was wearing one outside at the White House Rose Garden on Sept. 26, when Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. But photos showed him without one at an indoor reception later. “I have to admit that I let my guard down because we’d all been tested about two hours before the event,” Tillis told WRAL-TV in an interview Tuesday. “It’s just another experience that tells me, even when you think you’re in a safe setting, you should always wear a mask.” Tillis, who is running for reelection next month against Democrat Cal Cunningham, announced his positive test last Friday and has been quarantined at his North Carolina home. He had already … [Read more...] about Tillis: I made a mistake taking off mask inside White House

With Delhi facing the third wave of COVID-19, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday that there was a need to promote wearing of face masks as a movement to check the spread of virus. Inaugurating a PWD project to strengthen Rohtak road in Mundka, the chief minister said he hoped that just as people faced the first two waves of coronavirus, they would face the third wave too and that it will end soon. "Till there is a medicine for corona, face masks are the medicine. These are the biggest protection against COVID-19 infection. We need to promote wearing face masks as a movement," he said. Citing the arrival of 32,000 Indians from virus-hit countries in March as well people coming from different parts of the country, he noted that Delhi faced a tough situation. On the issue of air pollution, he said air quality in Delhi remains good from January till mid-October but worsens after that due to stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and UP. Delhi has provided an alternative in the … [Read more...] about Need to Promote Use of Face Masks to Check Spread of Covid-19: Kejriwal Amid Rising Cases in Delhi

I’ve thought about Jim Obergefell often since we first spoke nine years ago, after his historic marriage to his husband on an airport tarmac outside Baltimore. He’s come to mind mostly during big moments in my own life as a gay man in America. I thought of Jim and his late husband, John Arthur, when I first considered proposing to my husband, Aaron, and the promises — in sickness and in health, till death do us part — that I’d be making. I thought of Jim and John again when Aaron and I exchanged vows in San Francisco City Hall in 2018, with our families around us and the bust of Harvey Milk nearby . We chose City Hall for its beauty and ease, but could have been anywhere in the country — a right Jim and John won us by overcoming a mountain of obstacles just to reach that tarmac. Advertisement I thought of Jim again last week, around the time I was emailing our lawyers about the next set of paperwork to file in our pursuit of U.S. citizenship for Aaron, who is … [Read more...] about Hearing threat to Roe vs. Wade, I thought of my gay marriage — and Jim Obergefell’s fight