Across global cities big and small, the coronavirus pandemic has forced a shutdown of cultural life. But that’s changing in the Russian capital, where a mass vaccination program is in full swing. Charles Maynes reports from Moscow.Camera: Ricardo Marquina Montanana Produced by: Bronwyn Benito
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Day: February 9, 2021
Super Bowl 2021 in now history – and it also made history for a number of reasons. Maxim Moskalkov has the story.Camera: Yuriy Zakrevskiy
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America’s latest first lady is breaking with tradition as the first presidential spouse to keep her job while in the White House. Jill Biden, who has a doctorate in education, is an English professor at a community college near Washington. “I think in particular, the fact that she is in a profession that is seen as a helping profession, that is seen as not innately a controversial profession, that she will be more accepted by the American people in continuing her professional life,” says Katherine Jellison, a professor of history at Ohio University. “Also, she’s in a traditionally female profession — teaching.” Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Jacqueline Kennedy poses during a tour of the White House East Room in Washington in 1962.Ever since she embraced historic preservation in the 1960s, every first lady has adopted at least one public service project. Lady Bird Johnson was an environmentalist who pushed for the preservation of wildflowers and other native plants. Nancy Reagan encouraged children to “Just Say No” to drugs. Barbara Bush championed literacy for children and adults, while Michelle Obama promoted healthy eating by planting a White House vegetable garden. “Things that are related to women — children, health literacy, drugs, gardening, historical preservation — those are the things that Americans are comfortable with their first lady doing,” says Perry. “The American people have a limited role they want the first lady to play, and if she steps outside that role, they turn on her.” Hillary Clinton learned that firsthand in 1993 after President Bill Clinton appointed her to lead his task force on national health care reform. It was an unprecedented policy role for a first lady. But fierce public backlash, some of it personally directed at Clinton, herself, helped doom the plan, which never even got a floor vote in Congress. “We saw where that got her — much hatred, people turned on her, it didn’t pass,” Perry says. “And then, she had to go back to more soft-power approaches to being first lady.” Behind the scenes While first ladies are often seen as motherly symbols of American womanhood, history shows these women can have considerable behind-the-scenes influence. A portrait of former first ladies: Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush (standing). Seated, left to right: Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford, Nov. 4, 1991 in Simi Valley, California.“Melania Trump had a top national security adviser fired in her husband’s administration because she didn’t like the way her staff was treated on a foreign trip by this adviser. So, they can also determine who’s around the president,” says presidential historian Kate Andersen Brower, author of “First Women.” “Nancy Reagan was really the human resources department for her husband. She decided who would be in and who was out.” And the same year she tried to push health care reform through Congress, Clinton made a quiet suggestion to her husband. “She’s one of the reasons why Ruth Bader Ginsburg was on the Supreme Court,” Andersen Brower says. “She told her husband that she thought she would make an excellent Supreme Court justice.” Former President Bill Clinton, left, Hillary Clinton, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Oct. 30, 2019, in Washington.It’s an example of soft power and how private conversations between spouses can have a huge impact on the country. “These women are really strong. I think that they’re constantly underestimated, and I think that’s partially because women in our society are often underestimated,” says Andersen Brower. “I hope and I think that we are moving in the right direction having Jill Biden as a working woman who can be both things at the same time. She can be a wife, a supporting actor, but also a strong woman.” While Biden is redefining her current role, the biggest shake-up could come once a woman is elected president, Jellison says, and a man takes up the role of first spouse.
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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) space agency announced Tuesday that its unmanned Mars probe has arrived at the red planet and successfully entered orbit. The Emirates Mars Mission — known as the Amal, or Hope Probe — announced the arrival from its official Twitter account. “Success! Contact with #HopeProbe has been established again. The Mars Orbit Insertion is now complete,” the tweet said. The probe’s successful drop into orbit makes the UAE the fifth nation in the world to reach the red planet and the first in the Arab world. A laser show celebration is put on ahead of a live broadcast of the Hope Probe attempting to enter the Mars orbit as a part of Emirates Mars mission, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 9, 2021.Ground controllers at the UAE’s space center in Dubai rose to their feet and applauded when word came that the craft had reached the end of its nearly seven-month, 482-million-meter journey (300 million miles) and had begun circling Mars, where it will gather detailed data on the planet’s atmosphere. The probe, along with its three scientific instruments, is expected to create the first complete portrait of the Martian atmosphere. The instruments will collect different data points on the atmosphere to also gauge seasonal and daily change. The orbiter fired its main engines for 27 minutes in an intricate maneuver that slowed the craft enough for it to be captured by Mars’ gravity. It then took a nail-biting 15 minutes or so for the signal confirming success to reach Earth. Two more unmanned spacecraft from the United States and China are following close behind, set to arrive on Mars over the next several days. A combination orbiter and lander from China is scheduled to reach the planet on Wednesday. It will circle Mars until the rover separates and attempts to land on the surface in May to look for signs of ancient life. A rover from the U.S. named Perseverance is scheduled to land on the planet February 18. It will be the first leg in a decadelong U.S.-European project to bring Mars rocks back to Earth to be examined for evidence the planet once harbored microscopic life.
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Many broadcasters are using a variety of digital radio for high quality transmissions reaching faraway lands. Mike O’Sullivan reports on one format that is starting to play an important role in global communications.
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The leader of international experts investigating the origins of COVID-19 in China says they saw no evidence of large outbreaks of the disease prior to its December 2019 discovery in the city of Wuhan. Peter Ben Embarek, an expert in viral illnesses for the World Health Organization, said Tuesday in Wuhan that his team’s findings indicate COVID-19 probably originated in bats, but says it is unlikely the bats were in Wuhan. The team visited the city’s Huanan Seafood Market, which was initially believed to be the epicenter of the outbreak, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and laboratories at state facilities, including the Wuhan Center for Disease Control. Embarek said at a news conference the theory that the virus leaked from a laboratory is extremely unlikely, and that his team will not investigate it further.Embarek said the most likely pathway for the virus was a crossover into humans from an intermediary species, which he said “could have been very convoluted.” He also said the idea that COVID-19 can be transmitted through trade in frozen products is possible. WHO Urges Measures to Stop Spread of COVID-19 Amid Vaccinations Warning comes after South Africa suspends their vaccine campaign, citing concerns it was not as effective against variants Dr. Liang Wannian, an expert with China’s Health Commission, told reporters at the briefing the novel coronavirus could have been circulating in other regions before it was officially identified in Wuhan. The WHO dispatched Embarek and his 10-member team to Wuhan last month to track down the source of the virus, which has killed more than 2.3 million people among more than 106 million infected worldwide. Monday the WHO expressed concern about new reports that vaccines against the coronavirus may not sufficiently protect against new variants. On Sunday, South Africa suspended its vaccination campaign against COVID-19 after a new study revealed that the AstraZeneca vaccine it was using is less effective against a variant of the virus found in the country. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday at a media briefing that the decision is “a reminder that we need to do everything we can to reduce circulation of the virus with proven public health measures.” The study, conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and not yet peer reviewed, concluded that the British vaccine offered only “limited protection against moderate forms of the disease caused by the South African variant, in young adults.” WHO to Review AstraZeneca Vaccine after South Africa Halts Vaccinations Tedros calls study suggesting vaccine minimally effective against the South African variant ‘concerning’ The news was a blow to South Africa, which has seen more than 46,000 people die from the virus. It had planned to begin inoculating its population with a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming days. But the study found that the vaccine was only 22% effective in moderate cases of the South African variant of the disease. The study did not explore the vaccine’s effect against severe cases. The variant has been found in at least 32 other countries, including the United States. AstraZeneca said Sunday it was developing another vaccine that would be more effective against the South African variant, which could be expected by this autumn. But WHO’s chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, cautioned Monday that countries should not assume the AstraZeneca vaccine does not work, noting that all available evidence shows that vaccines reduce death, hospitalizations and severe disease.
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U.S. rhythm and blues singer Mary Wilson, who rose to fame as a member of the legendary female singing trio The Supremes in the 1960s, has died at the age of 76.
Her friend, publicist Jay Schwartz, said Wilson died suddenly Monday at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wilson founded The Supremes with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard while living in a public housing project in Detroit, Michigan in 1959. The group signed with local R&B music label Motown Records two years later, but their first hit did not occur until 1964 with the classic chart-topping single “Where Did Our Love Go.”
The Supremes would go on to sing a record 12 number one hits, including such classics as “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “I Hear a Symphony,” and “You Can’t Hurry Love.” Their songs, numerous television appearances and live shows made them one of most popular musical acts of the 1960s, and helped transform Motown Records into an iconic figure on the American cultural landscape.
Ballard was replaced by Cindy Birdsong in 1967, and Ross left the group in 1969 for a solo career, but Wilson remained with The Supremes with various singers until it was formally disbanded in 1976. She remained active for many years as a solo performer, motivational speaker and U.S. cultural ambassador. The lineup of Wilson, Ross and Ballard were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
Motown founder Berry Gordy praised Wilson in a statement as “quite a star in her own right” who worked hard over the years “to boost the legacy of The Supremes.”
“She was a trailblazer, a diva and will be deeply missed,” Gordy said.
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The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board meets Tuesday to vote on a probable cause for the helicopter crash that killed basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others in California last year. The NTSB has said there was no sign of mechanical failure on the helicopter, and that the crash is believed to be an accident. Board members Tuesday could give recommendations for how to prevent similar disasters in the future. The helicopter was taking the eight passengers to a youth basketball tournament amid heavy fog when it crashed into hilly terrain outside Los Angeles.
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The World Health Organization expressed concern Monday over new reports that vaccines against the coronavirus may not sufficiently protect against new variants. On Sunday, South Africa suspended its vaccination campaign against COVID-19 after a new study revealed that the AstraZeneca vaccine is less effective against a variant of the virus found in the country. Speaking at a media briefing a day later, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing that the decision is “a reminder that we need to do everything we can to reduce circulation of the virus with proven public health measures.” FILE – A clinical trial patient receives a dose of AstraZeneca test vaccine at the University of Witwatersrand facility in Soweto, South Africa, Nov. 30, 2020.The study, conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and not yet peer reviewed, concluded that the British vaccine offered only “limited protection against moderate forms of the disease caused by the South African variant, in young adults.” The news was a blow to South Africa, which has seen more than 46,000 people die from the virus. It had planned to begin inoculating its population with a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming days. But the study found that the vaccine was only 22% effective in moderate cases of the South African variant of the disease. The study did not explore the vaccine’s effect against severe cases. The variant has been found in at least 32 other countries, including the United States. AstraZeneca said Sunday it was developing another vaccine that would be more effective against the South African variant, which could be expected by this autumn. A man photographs his mother getting a shot of China’s Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine for COVID-19 during a priority vaccination program for the elderly at a drive-thru site in the Pacaembu soccer stadium parking lot in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Feb. 8, 2021.But WHO’s chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, cautioned Monday that countries should not assume the AstraZeneca vaccine does not work, noting that all available evidence shows that vaccines reduce death, hospitalizations and severe disease. Millions of Mexicans were frustrated last week with the rollout of the country’s website to register people for coronavirus vaccine appointments. The first group designated to use the site to arrange appointments were the country’s senior citizens. One man told Britain’s Guardian newspaper that he “spent three days fighting with the website” to get a vaccination appointment for his mother. He told the newspaper his mother “would have been unable to do it without me.” Florida seniors have their temperatures taken before receiving the second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Jackson Health System, in Miami, Feb. 8, 2021.The shaky launch of the site is disheartening for a country that has the third-highest number of deaths from the coronavirus. Mexico has more than 166,200 COVID-19 deaths. Only Brazil and the U.S. have more, with 231,534 and 463,477 respectively, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The U.S. remains at the top of Johns Hopkins’ list as the place with the most COVID-19 infections. The U.S. now has more than 27 million cases, followed by India with 10.8 million and Brazil with 9.5 million. Head of Iran’s Razi Vaccine and Serum research Institute Ali Eshaghi speaks during a press conference after the unveiling ceremony of the locally-made Razi Cov Pars coronavirus vaccine, in the northern Alborz Province, Feb. 8, 2021.Over the weekend, both Iran and China unveiled new vaccines against the virus. On Sunday, Iran announced it had developed the Razi Cov Pars vaccine manufactured by the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute. Scientists will begin testing the vaccine on people this week. More than 59 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed across the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday. More than 41 million doses of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines had been administered by Sunday morning, with more than 31.5 million people receiving the first inoculation, according to the CDC. More than 9 million people received their second dose. VOA’s Fern Robinson contributed to this report.
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Public opinion is mixed on how well Western governments have handled the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, which also questioned people on their attitudes regarding compulsory vaccinations.Seventy-seven percent of Germans thought their government did a good job in handling the outbreak, while 58% of Americans say the U.S. government is doing a bad job.More than 4,000 adults were questioned in the United States, Britain, France and Germany.The survey was conducted in November and December 2020, before U.S. President Joe Biden took office in mid-January and just as vaccination programs were beginning to roll out in the United States and Britain.The European Union has been far slower in getting its vaccination programs under way, leading to some criticism of the bloc’s vaccine approval and procurement policy among EU citizens.An elderly visitor receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Cent Quatre cultural center in Paris, France, Feb. 1, 2021.France and other EU states have argued the process must not be rushed, fearing a loss of public trust. France has one of the highest levels of so-called “vaccine skepticism” in the world.A recent newspaper poll suggested that just over 40% of the adult population intend to get the coronavirus vaccine. French President Emmanuel Macron recently rejected calls for mandatory vaccines.The Pew survey questioned respondents on their attitudes to compulsory vaccinations.“In three of the countries where we asked that question, most people do not find that an acceptable idea,” report co-author Kat Devlin told VOA. “So, for instance, 75% in France do not like the idea of a government-mandated vaccine. The U.K. was the one country where we found more acceptance of the idea of a government-mandated vaccine — 62% find that an acceptable proposition.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 13 MB540p | 17 MB720p | 32 MB1080p | 71 MBOriginal | 224 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioThe vaccination program is accelerating in Britain, with over 12 million people having now received their first dose. Britain has also suffered the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe.Analysts say local elections scheduled for May will offer another measure of public approval for the British government’s handling of the pandemic.
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