Twitter said Wednesday it had suspended some accounts in India after New Delhi served the social media giant several orders to block accounts amid civil unrest. The announcement comes after months of unrest in India over changes to agriculture bills in the country. Protesting farmers have been met with internet cuts and social media blocks, which New Delhi has said are necessary for security. In a FILE – Security officers push back people shouting slogans during a protest held to show support to farmers who have been on a monthslong protest, in New Delhi, India, Feb. 3, 2021.Just last week, Twitter blocked hundreds of accounts in India — many of them belonging to news professionals and activists. Twitter said that two orders served by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) were “emergency orders,” and that while they were initially complied with, Twitter later restored the accounts, arguing that blocking them was against India’s own free speech laws. “After we communicated this to MeitY, we were served with a non-compliance notice,” the blog post said. Twitter relented, to some degree, after the order, as the company was told its local employees could face up to seven years in prison under an Indian information technology law. After more the two months of protests and campaigns against the new “farm bills,” which protesters say would leave them at the mercy of corporations, the demonstrations have experienced a resurgence and received international attention over the last week.
…
Day: February 10, 2021
The Oscars ceremony, delayed until April 25 due to the coronavirus pandemic that has rocked the entire film industry, will be broadcast live from “multiple sites,” including Hollywood, the Academy announced on Wednesday.Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, which still places restrictions on the Los Angeles area, “the Academy is determined to present an Oscar ceremony like no other, while emphasizing the public health and safety of all the participants,” said a spokesperson for the Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences, which presents the prestigious golden statuettes.”To create the live performance that our global audience wants to see while adapting to the constraints of the pandemic, the ceremony will be broadcast live from multiple venues, including the iconic Dolby Theater” which traditionally hosts the Oscars in the heart of Hollywood, according to the statement sent to AFP.The Academy has not given more details at this stage on the ceremony or the distribution of sites for this 93rd edition, the culmination of a season of film awards upset by the health crisis, between closure of cinemas and postponement of many big productions.This is not the first time that the Oscars ceremony has been held simultaneously in several locations. In the 1950s, the broadcast was from Los Angeles and New York.This is the formula chosen this year by the organizers of the Golden Globes for the award ceremony, which will be held on February 28.Even though the size of the audience drops a little more each year, with an all-time low of 23.6 million viewers last year in the United States, the Academy Awards have traditionally remained one of the most watched events in the country, preceded only by the American football championship Super Bowl.This year, the show was entrusted to Steven Soderbergh, director of the visionary film “Contagion,” by the Academy of Oscars, whose leaders believe that this pandemic is an opportunity “to innovate and reimagine” the ceremony.
…
A World Health Organization panel of immunization experts Wednesday recommended the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for all ages and in regions where variant strains of the virus are prevalent.The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization made the recommendation from agency headquarters in Geneva. The panel reviewed the vaccine this week after South Africa halted its use Sunday in response to a study by a university there that indicated the drug provided only minimal protection from the variant that was first discovered in that country.FILE – Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization speaks in Geneva, Jan. 21, 2021.The panel made the evaluation at the request of WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and for the benefit of health care workers around the world who already are administering the vaccine. But the panel recommendation does not signify official WHO approval of the drug for emergency use, which is expected in about a week.So far, the WHO has given emergency use authorization only to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, though other countries and regions individually have authorized other vaccines.WHO, UNICEF Say 130 Countries Yet to Administer Any COVID-19 Vaccine Top UN officials say of 128 million doses administered, more than three-quarters are in 10 rich countries, leaving much of the world at riskWHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said, nonetheless, the panel’s decision represents an “important milestone” because the AstraZeneca vaccine requires storage at refrigerator temperatures — not the far colder temperatures required for the Pfizer vaccines, making it easier and less expensive to distribute.The WHO-supported vaccine cooperative COVAX Facility, designed to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are equitably available to all countries, hopes to start shipping hundreds of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine starting later this month.
…
Chinese state media reported Wednesday a spacecraft known as Tianwen-1 has successfully entered orbit around Mars, the first step in an ambitious mission that includes landing a rover on the surface of the planet. In a statement, China’s National Space Administration said the spacecraft conducted a 15-minute burn of its thrusters, slowing it down enough to be pulled into Mars’ gravity, making it the country’s first artificial satellite orbiting the planet. The space agency says that in May or June, the Tianwen-1 will attempt to land a capsule carrying a 240-kilogram rover onto the surface of Mars, in a massive plain in the northern hemisphere known as Utopia Planitia. If all goes as planned, the rover will conduct a 90-day mission studying soil, looking for indications of water, and searching for signs of ancient life. The Chinese probe arrived after one from the United Arab Emirates swung into orbit around the red planet to study its atmosphere and weather, and just more than a week before a spacecraft from the U.S. space agency, NASA, carrying its own rover — and a small helicopter — is scheduled to arrive. The missions were planned for this time to take advantage of a unique alignment of Earth and Mars. The two newest probes join six other active orbiting spacecraft above Mars launched by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and India.
…
Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Tina Turner and Iron Maiden lead this year’s nominees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a female-heavy list of 16 acts that includes for the first time The Go-Go’s, Mary J. Blige and Dionne Warwick.
Artists are eligible for a nomination 25 years after the release of their first official recording. There are two newly eligible acts in Jay-Z and Foo Fighters while artists nominated for the first time include Blige, The Go-Go’s, Iron Maiden, Warwick and Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.
Several candidates are looking for a second spot in the hall. Turner would be inducted for a second time, having gone to the hall as part of Ike & Tina Turner in 1991. Nominee Carole King is already in the hall as a songwriter and she would go in again this time as a performer. Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl is already in the hall as a member of Nirvana.
If elected, King and Turner would become the second and third female artists inducted twice, following Stevie Nicks’ 2019 election; she was also in as a member of Fleetwood Mac.
“This remarkable ballot reflects the diversity and depth of the artists and music the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrates,” said John Sykes, Chairman of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, in a statement Wednesday. “These nominees have left an indelible impact on the sonic landscape of the world and influenced countless artists that have followed them.”
Other nominees this year include: Kate Bush, Devo, Chaka Khan, LL Cool J, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine and Todd Rundgren. LL Cool J is on his sixth nomination and Chaka Khan is on her third solo nomination.
The class of 2021 will be announced in May.
…
The Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers are celebrating their victory Wednesday with a boat parade amid continued concern over the coronavirus pandemic.
The parade will be held on the Hillsborough River near downtown Tampa. Mayor Jane Castor is again emphasizing that people attending the parade must wear masks outdoors and observe social distancing rules.
After Tampa Bay’s 31-9 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s title game, throngs of people gathered in the city’s entertainment districts. Many were seen maskless despite the ordinances requiring them.
Brian Ford, chief operating officer of the Buccaneers, said in video announcement that fans should heed the rules as they celebrate the team’s victory.
“It’s essential we do it the right way,” Ford said. “We want to do our part to ensure it’s done in a safe and responsible manner.”
The boat parade is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
…
Ugandan authorities restored access to the internet Wednesday, a month after blocking it ahead of the January 14 elections. The government said the disruption was needed for security, while critics say it was intended to cut off communication among opponents of President Yoweri Museveni. “Internet and social media services have been fully restored,” Ugandan Minister for Information and Communications Technology Peter Ogwang tweeted Wednesday, adding, “We apologize for the inconveniences caused, but it was for the security of our country.” A tweet by Peter Ogwang, Ugandan Minister for Information and Communications Technology, announces the restoration to access to social media websites. (Screenshot from Twitter)Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said the shutdown was a method of war against elements that were a threat to the credibility of the elections. Since those threats have been greatly neutralized, he said, the government has restored access to social media websites, with the exception of Facebook. “We have released elements of social media — Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp — because we think to a less extent, those are not as lethal as Facebook,” Opondo said. “So, we shall examine going forward, their posture on these other social media platforms that have been released. And that will inform how soon Facebook is restored.” Before the January 14 elections, Museveni ordered the blocking of Facebook following reports that the company had shut down 220 accounts linked to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology. Facebook said the accounts were fakes or duplicates being used to make posts by Museveni and his son, Lieutenant General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, appear more popular than they were. Some posts from the accounts also targeted the opposition National Unity Platform Party and its presidential candidate, Bobi Wine. National Unity Platform Party spokesperson Joel Senyonyi says Facebook was right to shut down the accounts. “Government continues to have a grip on social media because they want to control free speech,” he said. “Because they know that Ugandans pretty much have social media as the avenue for their free expression. And that’s why Facebook did carry out its investigations, because there was a lot of propaganda churned out by those government-run social media accounts.” A message from service providers to consumers after the Ugandan government restored access to social media websites. (Screenshot)Michael Niyitegeka, an information technology expert, says the shutdown of Facebook is hurting many Ugandans’ livelihoods because they rely on the social media site for marketing. “Because they don’t have the resources to go to radio, they don’t have the resources to go on TV. So, their business largely depends on the Facebook market,” he said. Dorothy Mukasa, chief executive officer of Unwanted Witness, a digital rights organization, is calling for lawmakers to establish rules on internet access. “What we should be doing as Ugandans is to continue to put the government to account,” she said. “You know, why did they shut down the internet? And also, ask institutions like parliament or judiciary to put in place guidelines. Because this is bound to happen over and over. Can we have guidelines in place or even a law that really stipulates, when should the internet be disrupted?”In the meantime, Ugandans continue to use virtual private networks to access Facebook without paying a social media tax introduced by the government in July 2018.
…
South Africa will begin vaccinating frontline health care workers with an unapproved coronavirus vaccine by the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company next week to see if it provides protection from the variant sweeping the country.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said Wednesday South Africa dropped plans to use the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for now because of concerns it may not be effective against mild to moderate cases of the N501Y variant.
The health minister said the country’s scientists will continue to examine the AstraZeneca vaccine and offer advice on whether to swap out the vaccine before it expires.
The Associated Press reports Mkhize said in a national broadcast the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is safe, based on testing of 44,000 people in South Africa, the United States and Latin America.
However, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has yet to be approved by any country. The company last week applied for emergency use authorization in the United States.
South Africa is also expected to use the Pfizer vaccine and others to support its immunization program.
South Africa continues to have the highest covid-19 tally on the continent, with more than 1,479,000 confirmed cases and 46,869 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center.
…
South Korea has approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University for all adults, despite concerns over the lack of data on its effectiveness among the elderly. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety granted emergency use for the two-dose vaccine Wednesday, but only on the condition that the British-Swedish drugmaker provide the results of its current late-stage clinical trials on adults 18 years of age and older. The ministry has also issued a precautionary warning about inoculating South Koreans older than 65 years of age. Inoculations of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the first to be approved for use in South Korea, will begin on February 26. Limits on use of AstraZeneca vaccineSeveral European countries, including Germany and France, have limited use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people between 18 and 64 years old because of insufficient data on elderly recipients. Further doubts about the AstraZeneca vaccine arose Sunday when South Africa suspended its vaccination campaign after a new study revealed that the vaccine was less effective against a variant of the virus found in the country. FILE – Blood is drawn from a clinical trials patient for the AstraZeneca test vaccine at the a hospital facility outside Johannesburg, 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.” South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced Wednesday that it will begin inoculating its front-line health care workers with U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine as part of a limited study. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has not been formally approved for use by any country, but the company says results of a late-stage clinical trial shows it is 85% effective in preventing serious illness, even against the South African variant. Therapeutic drug approved
Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use for a new COVID-19 therapeutic drug developed by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. The drug, which combines the monoclonal antibody drug etesevimab with the already-approved bamlanivimab, will be used for coronavirus patients who are at high risk of being hospitalized with a severe form of the disease. Monoclonal antibodies are lab-engineered versions of highly targeted human antibodies chosen for their specific ability to neutralize viruses.
…
As the world grappled with COVID-19, a recession and a racial reckoning, the ultrawealthy gave to a broader set of causes than ever before — bestowing multimillion-dollar gifts on food pantries, historically Black colleges and universities and organizations that serve the poor and the homeless, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual rankings of the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity last year.Another cause that got outsize attention from billionaire philanthropists: climate change. Jeff Bezos topped the list by donating $10 billion to launch the Bezos Earth Fund. Bezos, who last week announced he was stepping down as Amazon CEO to devote more time to philanthropy and other projects, also contributed $100 million to Feeding America, the organization that supplies more than 200 food banks.FILE – In this March 4, 2018, file photo, then-MacKenzie Bezos arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. MacKenzie Scott is one of the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity in 2020.No. 2 on the list was Bezos’s ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, who gave $5.7 billion in 2020 by asking community leaders to help identify 512 organizations for seven- and eight-figure gifts, including food banks, human-service organizations, and racial-justice charities.Another donor who gave big to pandemic causes and racial-justice efforts was Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, who ranked No. 5. He put $1.1 billion into a fund that by year’s end had distributed at least $330 million to more than 100 nonprofits.The financier Charles Schwab and his wife, Helen (No. 24), gave $65 million to address homelessness in San Francisco. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and wife, Patty Quillin (No. 14), gave $120 million for financial aid for students at historically Black colleges and universities. Michael Jordan, the basketball great (No. 31), pledged $50 million to racial and social-justice groups.”When I look at the events of the last year, there was an awakening for the philanthropic sector,” says Nick Tedesco, president of the National Center for Family Philanthropy. “Donors supported community-led efforts of recovery and resiliency, particularly those led by people of color.”Giving experts say they think the trend toward broader giving is likely to persist.”I don’t think this approach is just a 12-month moment that started with COVID and continued following George Floyd and is going to recede,” says Melissa Berman, president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, which counsels donors around the world. “There has been change building among private donors.”All told, the 50 biggest donors contributed $24.7 billion in 2020, compared with $15.8 billion in 2019. Still, those gifts come from a small share of the billionaire class. Only 23 of the people on the Forbes 400 gave enough to qualify for the list. Many of the multimillion-dollar donations came from people far less wealthy, like Gordon Rausser, a former dean of natural resources at the University of California at Berkeley.The Chronicle’s rankings are based on the total amount philanthropists awarded in 2020. The information is based on extensive research with donors, their beneficiaries, and public records.The No. 3 donor was Michael Bloomberg, who contributed $1.6 billion to arts, education, public health, and many other causes. Nike founder Phil and Penelope Knight were next, donating $1.4 billion, $900.7 million of it to their Knight Foundation.The $1 billion-plus of giving by each of the top five on the Philanthropy 50 matches last year’s record. No more than three donors gave $1 billion or more in any of the previous years.Sixteen donors in this year’s list — nearly a third of the Philanthropy 50 — made their fortunes in technology, and 20 of them live in California.Joe Gebbia (No. 47), the 39-year-old co-founder of Airbnb, has seen his net worth shoot up to around $12 billion following his company’s initial public offering in December. During 2020, he gave $25 million to two San Francisco charities that are tackling homelessness and helping people who have suffered economically due to the pandemic.”I’ve been incredibly fortunate and believe that comes with the responsibility of giving back,” Gebbia says. “Where will I take it? The sky is the limit.”At a time when tech billionaires’ wealth is compounding and many working people are still suffering from the pandemic’s fallout, philanthropic expectations have never been higher. David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, highlighted the disparate effects of the pandemic in a January interview on the PBS NewsHour.”During the pandemic, billionaires made $5.2 billion in increased wealth per day,” he said. “All we are asking for is $5 billion to avert famine around the world. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”Elon Musk, whose $180 billion fortune puts him neck-and-neck with Bezos for richest person in the world, is not on the Philanthropy 50. Musk has faced criticism for his meager lifetime donations, estimated in a recent Vox article at just 0.05 percent of his current net worth.If small and midsize charities were the notable winners in 2020, does that make large universities the losers? Hardly. Colleges and universities received $2.2 billion from Philanthropy 50 donors in 2020.But Benjamin Soskis, a research associate in the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute, says the most striking change with this year’s Philanthropy 50 list is that it presents a plurality of options for giving.”There’s a big difference between a hypothetical ‘Why didn’t you give to an HBCU instead of Harvard?’ and today’s list, where you can point to donors who actually did that.”More details about the Philanthropy 50 are available at philanthropy.com.
…
Vaccines against COVID-19 will be distributed to community health centers across the United States in the coming weeks, the White House said Tuesday.Washington has identified People wait in line to get their COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site set up in a park in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Feb. 9, 2021.Forty-three million doses of the vaccine have been administered, with just over 3% of the U.S. population fully vaccinated, according to data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.The number of available doses is expected to increase as a third vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson is expected to receive approval for emergency use sometime this month.Currently, both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, both of which require two doses, are being distributed across the United States.U.S. is world leader in confirmed cases Around the globe, there are more than 106.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2.3 million deaths due to the disease caused by the coronavirus. The U.S. leads the world in confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 27.1 million, and deaths, with nearly 465,000.Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky warned Tuesday that vaccines against COVID-19 may need to be administered every year, just as the flu shot is.”Unfortunately, as [the virus] spreads it can also mutate,” Gorsky told CNBC.As vaccination rates rise slowly across the country, health experts are still warning Americans to practice social distancing and masking to avoid further spread of the disease.We are all tired of #COVID19, but the pandemic is not over yet. We can slow its spread. #WearAMask, stay at least 6 feet from others, avoid crowds & poorly ventilated spaces, wash your hands often, & get vaccinated when it’s available to you. Learn more: https://t.co/qKkt9oEm7M. pic.twitter.com/iWwliR6sjZ— CDC (@CDCgov) February 8, 2021
…