CANBERRA, Australia — Indigenous people and tourists intent on traveling into remote communities of Australia are being urged to get vaccinated. Coronavirus outbreaks in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia have First Nations communities on high alert. The highly contagious Delta variant threatens to cause a national outbreak. Snap lockdowns have highlighted the vulnerability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as vaccination rates remain low. Dawn Casey from the National Community Controlled Health Organisation estimates about six percent of Indigenous people are fully protected with both doses. Casey said frontline organizations had spent months encouraging remote communities to come forward…
Author: zenger.news
BRISBANE, Australia — Queensland businesses are urging the state government to offer grants to those hit by its Covid-19 lockdown, in line with other Australian states. Thousands of non-essential businesses across the state’s southeast and Townsville have been ordered to close until 6 pm on July 2. The government hasn’t unveiled any support for companies affected by lockdowns, unlike New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland says the government should offer grants of up to AU$25,000 ($18,759.50) to cover the loss of stock and trade. Chamber of Commerce and Industry tweeted “From 6 pm…
CANBERRA, Australia — The chair of one of Australia’s largest aged care providers has welcomed the belated decision to make coronavirus vaccines mandatory for all workers. Nursing home staff will need to have their first shot by mid-September if they want to keep working in aged care. Unions are concerned the government is not offering enough support to workers, while aged care providers are worried about how their staff will get access to the vaccine. Peter Shergold, who runs Opal Aged Care, is relieved by the national cabinet decision to mandate vaccines for all staff. Shergold acknowledged it raised questions around…
PERTH, Australia — Premier Mark McGowan says Western Australia’s snap lockdown aims to crush the new Covid-19 outbreak but the highly infectious Delta strain is testing health systems and the community. More than two million West Australians on June 29 woke to their second day of a four-day lockdown to combat a coronavirus outbreak linked to New South Wales. There were no new locally acquired cases recorded on June 29 when Perth and the Peel region were plunged into lockdown. McGowan said the lack of further infections was a good start in crushing the Delta-variant outbreak, “but there is still a long…
CANBERRA, Australia — This week’s release of the Intergenerational Report should be a wake-up call for Australia’s politicians and the community more broadly, said the Business Council of Australia. The five-yearly report provides a guide for Australia’s outlook projected budget deficits, slower economic growth, and a smaller population over the next four decades due to the pandemic. An aging population also means that there will be fewer people working for each person in retirement and that productivity continues to flounder — a concern that was evident even before Covid-19 hit Australian shores. In response, the Business Council has released a discussion paper, Living on…
Israel’s Aquarius Engines and British multinational Kampac International (KIP) are forming the Middle East Aquarius Automotive company to produce automotive products based on Aquarius technology in the United Arab Emirates. According to a memorandum of understanding, KIP will invest up to $1.2 billion in establishing the manufacturing facility in the UAE, where KIP has an energy division. The groundbreaking Aquarius lightweight linear engine based solely on hydrogen gas fits KIP’s growing focus on clean energy. The MoU stipulates that KIP will be given an option to purchase up to 10 percent of Aquarius shares at a company value of $5…
BOSTON — In a sunny storefront not far from the Boston Harbor, Maria Vasco lingers off to the side of the cash register, smiling but nervous, as she watches one of her first two employees ring up a customer. For over a year, Vasco was the only employee — the founder and CEO — of Uvida, Boston’s first and only zero-waste shop. The name comes from the Spanish word “vida” meaning “life.” Vasco said she tells customers “you give life” by shopping plastic-free and reducing waste. Uvida offers a variety of home-goods essentials in plastic-free packaging, from deodorant and lip balm…
La policía de Camboya incautó a un cachorro de león que estaba de manera ilegal en manos de un hombre que se delató a sí mismo al publicar en línea videos de su “mascota”. Bajo la operación dirigida por la Administración Forestal, y asistida por voluntarios de Wildlife Alliance, el 27 de junio, la policía allanó una propiedad en el distrito de Boeng Keng Kang, en Phnom Pehn, después de recibir reportes de que alguien tenía un león. Oficiales supieron del caso a finales de abril cuando, mediante la red social TikTok, vieron un video del gran felino siendo bañado y…
CARACAS, Venezuela — A principios de este año, cuando The Lancet confirmó la alta eficacia de la vacuna Sputnik-V, varios países de América Latina lo vieron como una buena noticia. Era una oportunidad de adquirir las dosis necesarias para inmunizar a su población. La cercana relación de Rusia con ciertos países de la región y el bajo costo de producción de esta vacuna la hacían ver más asequible que las producidas por laboratorios como Pfizer o Moderna. Sin embargo, hoy hay más incertidumbre que certezas respecto a la aplicación masiva de la Sputnik V, Concretamente de las segundas dosis. ULTIMO MOMENTO:…
ISLAMABAD — Days after a powerful explosion took place near UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed’s residence in Pakistan capital Lahore, a journalist revealed that the wanted criminal was at home when the bomb went off and was the target of the attack. “Saeed is a high-value target, and we have come to know that the prison department monitors his location,” said Amjad Saeed Sahani, a Pakistan-based journalist. “The jail superintendent has the power to declare any location as a sub-jail,” “According to our information, Saeed was present at his residence. His family denies this, but Saeed was indeed the target of this attack.” Saeed…