ISRAEL
Nation to ease lockdown
Authorities yesterday announced that the nation would ease lockdown measures, but keep its international airport and land borders closed following a slight fall in the spread of COVID-19 cases. “The government has accepted a proposal from the prime minister and the health minister to ease lockdown measures from 7am on Sunday,” their offices said in a joint statement. Despite what has been termed the world’s fastest vaccination campaign per capita, Israel has still been registering a daily average of 6,500 new COVID-19 cases, down from about 7,000 last week, official figures show. A strict nationwide lockdown in force since Dec. 27 last year has been extended four times to combat the infection rate, but last month was the deadliest month with more than 1,000 COVID-19 fatalities.
UNITED STATES
US mulls mask distribution
White House officials are weighing sending masks to every American, as they hope to nudge individuals to do their part in lowering COVID-19 transmission rates, they said on Thursday. White House chief of staff Ron Klain said in an interview with NBC News that administration officials are looking at using mask supplies that the government already has in its stockpile. Klain said that the administration hopes to make an announcement on a potential move “in the next few days or next week.” US President Joe Biden has pleaded for Americans to wear masks during the first 100 days of his administration. It is a step he said could help save thousands of lives, as Americans await their turn to be vaccinated.
INDIA
Nation to receive most doses
The country is set to receive the most number of COVID-19 vaccine doses — 97.2 million shots — in the first tranche of distribution from the WHO’s COVAX initiative, despite that supply in the country appears to outstrip demand. COVAX, aimed at creating equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, is planning to distribute an initial 337.2 million doses starting as early as this month, in the first delivery of about 2 billion shots it has ordered so far. An interim distribution forecast published on Wednesday said that countries are allocated doses according to population size. The second-biggest tranche of 17.2 million shots would go to Pakistan, followed by 16 million doses to Nigeria and 13.7 million to Indonesia. North Korea would receive 2 million shots. The allocation might raise eyebrows given that India seems to have plenty of shots, but few takers. Only about half of those eligible to receive the jab have come forward, and media reports said that local producer Serum Institute of India is sitting on more than 55 million doses and has temporarily halted production.
UNITED STATES
Texas sends ‘Chucky’ alert
Rest assured, “Chucky” is not on the loose. The Texas Department of Public Safety has apologized after mistakenly issuing an Amber Alert that said the killer doll featured in the 1988 horror film Child’s Play was a suspect in the kidnapping of five-year-old Glen Ray, another character in the movie Seed of Chucky. The emergency alert described Chucky as a doll wearing blue denim overalls with a multicolored, striped long sleeve shirt “wielding a huge kitchen knife.” The alert was mistakenly sent out three times last week to Amber Alert subscribers. The agency said it was a test malfunction.
UNITED STATES
Ex-professor faces fraud
A former University of Florida professor and researcher fraudulently obtained US$1.8 million in federal grant money while concealing support he received from the Chinese government and a company that he founded in China to profit from that research, officials said. An indictment unsealed on Wednesday charges Lin Yang, 43, a Chinese citizen, with six counts of wire fraud and four counts of making false statements to a US agency. A federal grand jury in Gainesville returned the indictment last month. Yang traveled to China in August 2019 and has not returned to the US. According to the indictment, Yang obtained the grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an imaging tool for muscles known as “MuscleMiner.” In 2016, he established a business in China known as “Deep Informatics,” prosecutors said. The indictment alleges that Yang intentionally concealed his Chinese business and participation in a Chinese government talent plan.
SOUTH AFRICA
Rhino horns seized
Customs officials on Thursday seized more than US$3.5 million of rhino horns at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. A shipment of the 18 pieces of horns weighing 63kg destined for Malaysia was discovered at the airport’s courier facilities. The package was labeled “HP cartridges,” but an X-ray scan revealed images resembling horns, so the customs officials inspected it, the Revenue Service said in a statement. It was the fourth rhino horn bust at the airport by customs officials since July last year, with a total of 277kg of rhino horns worth more than US$15 million confiscated, the statement said.
EGYPT
Al-Jazeera journalist freed
The government has released al-Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein after more that four years in detention on accusations of publishing false news, a security source said yesterday. Hussein, an Egyptian national held under preventive detention since December 2016, was released from jail on Thursday night, the source said, without giving further details. Al-Jazeera has run a daily campaign for his release saying he was being held without formal charges, a trial or conviction.
WEST BANK
Unarmed Palestinian killed
The Israeli military yesterday said that an unarmed Palestinian man was shot and killed in a West Bank settlement after he tried to break into a home and fought with a guard. The military referred to the incident as a “terror attack,” but a spokesman was unable to explain how it came to that conclusion, given that no weapons were found on the suspect or in his car. It said the incident took place in “Sde Efraim farm,” which does not appear on maps and is likely one of several small outposts set up by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
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