Health & Science

• Tuesday, December 15th 2020 - 12:47 UTC

  BAS to study impact of giant A'68 iceberg and fresh water on South Georgia's ecosystem

  

  A research mission to determine the impact of the giant A-68a iceberg on one of the world’s most important ecosystems gets underway next month. A team of scientists, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), will set sail on the National Oceanography Centre’s (NOC) ship bound for the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2020 - 09:05 UTC

  New variant of Covid-19 has emerged in UK, reports WHO

  

  The World Health Organization is aware of a new variant of Covid-19 that has emerged in Britain, but there is no evidence the strain behaves differently to existing types of the virus, it said on Monday.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2020 - 08:58 UTC

  Some 47 Chinese workers in Uganda inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine allegedly tested positive

  

  Despite apparently being inoculated with China's vaunted coronavirus vaccines, 47 Chinese workers in Uganda have been diagnosed with the virus, raising questions about the efficacy of the China-made products.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2020 - 08:29 UTC

  Long food queues in Italy's financial capital and richest city of the country

  

  Long queues have been forming outside food banks and help centers in Italy's financial capital Milan as the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus has deepened before Christmas.

• Monday, December 14th 2020 - 09:39 UTC

  Tax reform in Brazil stalled in the midst of political dispute and “fiscal abyss”

  

  Brazil is heading into a “fiscal abyss” and a serious crisis next year, following the decision to postpone parliamentary debate on a bill extending emergency aid spending, lower house speaker Rodrigo Maia said on Friday

• Monday, December 14th 2020 - 09:30 UTC

  Bolsonaro's vaccination plan “a murderous stupidity” and a display of “lethal incompetence”

  

  President Jair Bolsonaro faced scathing criticism on Sunday over his government's plan – or lack thereof, opponents said – to vaccinate the population against Covid-19 in Brazil, the country with the second-highest death toll worldwide.

• Monday, December 14th 2020 - 08:59 UTC

  Peru suspends trials with China's Covid-19 vaccine due to a “serious adverse event”

  

  Peru suspended trials for China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine due to a “serious adverse event” that occurred with one of the volunteers for the study, the Peruvian government said in a statement on Saturday.

• Monday, December 14th 2020 - 07:50 UTC

  NASA to Provide Spanish-Language Coverage, Livestream of Solar Eclipse

  

  NASA will provide live coverage this Monday, Dec. 14, of a solar eclipse that will pass over South America, treating parts of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay to views of a total eclipse of the Sun. A Spanish-language program will air on NASA Television and the public channel on the agency’s website. A separate livestream of the eclipse without narration will air on the media channel.

• Saturday, December 12th 2020 - 09:54 UTC

  US launches mass-inoculation campaign as FDA approves the Pfizer vaccine

  

  United States health authorities, shipping services and hospitals stood ready on Friday to immediately launch a mass-inoculation campaign of unparalleled dimension, as federal regulators granted emergency approval to the first COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.

• Saturday, December 12th 2020 - 09:21 UTC

  China suspends meat imports from two Brazilian companies

  

  China has temporarily suspended meat imports from two Brazilian companies, Brazil's agriculture ministry said late on Friday.