HARARE, Zimbabwe — African countries are set to benefit from an American initiative to donate excess Covid-19 vaccines. “We are unable to share vaccine doses procured by the United States government at this time,” a United States Department of State spokesperson said in emailed responses to Zenger News. “But we are working on a framework for donating surplus vaccine doses, once there is sufficient supply in the United States, to countries in need, including through Covax.” The Covax program, backed by the World Health Organization and Gavi vaccine alliance, aims at equitable vaccine access worldwide. More than 2.09 billion vaccine doses…
Author: zenger.news
LAHORE, Pakistan — Activists and media persons gathered outside the Islamabad Press Club in Pakistan’s capital on May 29 to protest against the assault on independent journalist Asad Ali Toor at his residence four days ago. Slogans were chanted, demanding justice for Toor and support for the rising number of journalists under attack. Among those vowing accountability was Hamid Mir, one of Pakistan’s top journalists and a leading voice for press freedom. Two days after the protest, Mir was taken off-air by Geo TV, one of Pakistan’s most-watched news channels owned by the country’s largest media group. Mir, who was with…
BEIJING — Hoping to rejuvenate the aging population and arrest the declining birth rate, Chinese President Xi Jinping recently allowed couples to have three children. China’s recent census data, which is collected once per decade, showed the nation’s working-age population shrank over the past decade while the number of people older than 65 rose, indicating tough times for the economy and society. “The reduction in the supply of available workers, other things given, will push up wage costs and will drag down growth as the economy have fewer productive adults,” a Natixis research report of November 2020 states. Since 1970, the median…
KOLKATA, India — Y. Nuklu Phom spent his entire childhood foraging into the tropical and pine forests in Nagaland, a mountainous state in northeastern India and a global biodiversity hotspot. Such was his endearment towards the towering trees and gushing rivers that Phom has spent the last decade safeguarding them. This year, Phom won the 2021 Whitley Award for his continuous efforts in ecological conservation. “I was born in a small village in eastern Nagaland surrounded by forests and wildlife. Our people have always coexisted with nature and depended on the forests for their survival,” Phom said while receiving his award. “My grandfather…
NAKURU, Kenya — Pamela Nanjala, a 38-year-old mother of two, was among many sent home in March 2020 by Sosiani Flowers, a flower farm in Nakuru, 86 miles west of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, when the Covid-19 hit the horticulture industry. “By the end of March 2020, things started going downwards,” she told Zenger News. “We were told that business had gone down and that we should go home and wait for further communication. Things were tough, with children to feed and house rent to pay. We relied on well-wishers to survive.” That communication from the flower farm, which she had been…
NEW DELHI — As India sees a shift from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine shortage amid a deadly second Covid-19 wave, the country’s tech community has found shortcuts to book vaccine slots that cut down access for other eligible citizens. Since the vaccination opened for the age group of 18-44 on May 1, people have been spending hours on CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network), the country’s vaccine registration portal, to book a slot. Though the registration is optional for age 45 and above, the government has mandated it for those in the 18-44 category. The inoculation drive digitally excludes a huge mass…
ZBARBAR, Algeria — Zahir Bakhouche, 27, from the Zaâbib village in the Zbarbar commune, in Algeria’s south-east, vividly remembers his father’s tragic attack, kidnap, and murder by a group of more than 30 rebel fighters in February 1996. “They came on Feb. 20, 1996, heavily armed with Kalashnikov and Semenov rifles, and had wild looks, with their Afghan clothes and long beards,” he told Zenger News. “They came at sunset to look for my father (Mohamed Bakhouche). They broke down the front door before beating up and torturing my father in front of my two little sisters, my mother and me.”…
DELHI, India — Five fresh graduates set out in an auto-rickshaw to cover 1,700 kilometers [1,055 miles] from India’s Bengaluru to Mumbai when the second wave of Covid-19 was starting to grip the country. Making their parents agree was an uphill task, but they managed to get their nod due to the cause — to raise awareness and funds to educate young girls. At least 270 million children in India have been affected by the closure of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an Oxfam report. The report states: “Dependence of digital modes also excludes girls since access to digital media…
American Heritage’s “Catcher In The Rye” On D-Day (June 2021 edition), by Bruce Watson, has been used with permission from American Heritage magazine. In rain and darkness on June 6, 1944, almost 170,000 men crossed the English Channel to land on the beaches of Normandy. Among the invaders was Sergeant Jerome David Salinger. Along with his rifle and his rations, he carried a collection of stories about a boy named Holden — the first draft of what would become a classic. Here Bruce Watson tells how The Catcher In The Rye, and its author, survived D-Day. Salinger carried a draft…
Lateness can be a spur to innovation. Just ask Omri Moran. His date was late, and Moran kept texting to make sure she’d show up. “She finally arrived, all apologetic. I asked her what happened, and she said: ‘You wouldn’t get it.’ “After we had some drinks, I brought it up again. She explained she was excited about our first date and went to the nail salon. By the time she got home, the manicure was ruined. She tried to fix it, but didn’t have the right tools. In the end, she came to the date with naked nails,” Moran…