MELBOURNE, Australia — None of the people hospitalized in Victoria with coronavirus following a recent Delta variant outbreak was fully vaccinated, although two had been given their first jab. In his daily update on August 2, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said there were 10 Covid-19 positive patients in hospital, two of whom were in intensive care, including one on a ventilator. Statistics that were obtained show two of those cases were partially vaccinated before their admission to the hospital. Five patients were eligible but had not received their first dose, two were ineligible as they were under 40 years, and one was…
Author: zenger.news
MELBOURNE, Australia — The southeastern Australian state’s—Victoria—energy minister said it is too early to say if a fire at the state’s AU$84 million ($62.19 million) Big Battery will delay the project’s scheduled start date. One of the Tesla megapack batteries at the site in Moorabool, near Geelong, caught fire during testing on July 30 before spreading to another battery. It took firefighters four days to bring the blaze under control, with investigations now underway by multiple agencies, including Energy Safe Victoria, WorkSafe, police, and firefighters. Energy Safe Victoria is responsible for licensing and registering all electricians and electrical tradespersons required to undertake electrical…
CANBERRA, Australia — An Australian soldier deployed to Iraq, despite the army’s knowledge of his poor mental health, substance abuse, and violent tendencies had smuggled alcohol onto a base in mouthwash bottles, an inquest has heard. Sergeant Ian Turner took his own life in his Sydney home in July 2017 after longstanding difficulties with post-traumatic stress disorder and the abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs. The commando had completed seven deployments in East Timor, Afghanistan, and Iraq, including two after he was diagnosed with mental health problems. “The chain of command was absolutely aware of many of Sergeant Turner’sTurner’s issues before his final…
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s defense force has set a timeline for initial decisions on whether to strip honors or pay compensation to Afghan war crimes victims’ families. The Brereton inquiry released in November 2020 found credible allegations special forces troops committed 39 murders in Afghanistan. Defense’s long-awaited response was quietly released on its website last week. “A total of 39 individuals killed, and a further two cruelly treated,” states the inquiry. “A total of 25 current or former Australian Defence Force personnel who were perpetrators, either as principals or accessories, some of them on a single occasion and a few on multiple occasions.” The defense…
ADELAIDE, Australia — South Australia has reported one new Covid-19 case linked to a local cluster, but the person has been in quarantine and is not considered a threat to the broader community. The case was revealed on August 4, more than two weeks after the outbreak first emerged, and takes the number linked to the cluster to 22. Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said the positive test involved a man in his 20s who was the family member of a previously confirmed infection. His confirmed infection came after a relatively long incubation period. “This is a demonstration of how the virus…
BRISBANE, Australia — A significant retail body has criticized the Queensland government for clarity about which stores and shopping are essential. With Queensland now in its fourth day of lockdown, retail workers and industry representatives have been left confused about directives from the government as to which shops are essential and who should and should not be working. Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young has asked Queenslanders to consider whether they need an online shop or click and collect, reinforcing the stay-at-home message. Deputy Premier Steven Miles reiterated the point, highlighting the need to only leave home for essential goods. “You cannot go out because you…
Pro-government media in Turkey are reporting that the Children of Fire initiative, linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has claimed responsibility for starting fires that are ravaging the Turkish Riviera. Turkey regards the PKK as a terrorist organization. The fires broke out around noon on July 28 at four places in the district of Manavgat in Antalya, a major resort area for tourists on the southern coast. The Children of Fire Initiative reportedly said in a statement that the fires were in response to “the fascist Turks who invaded and exploited our country and pillaged our nature by burning…
With rising COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant and concerns about how long the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine remains effective — and how effective it is against Delta — the Israeli government decided on July 29 to make a booster shot available to every Israeli over age 60. Israel has followed an aggressive vaccination policy from the start. A third Pfizer shot already has been given to immunocompromised people, and initial doses to children between 12 and 15. Jerusalem-based expert Ronald Ellis answered some of the most pressing questions about the COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots. Ellis played key roles in…
Researchers from Tel Aviv University and the University of Tokyo have identified a rare “electron-capture” supernova, and in the process may have shed light on an astrophysical mystery dating back nearly 1,000 years. An electron-capture supernova occurs when a star eight to nine times the mass of the Earth’s sun explodes. A thermonuclear supernova occurs after the explosion of a white dwarf star that has gained matter in a binary star system. A core-collapse supernova occurs when a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel and its core collapses, creating a black hole or a neutron star. Iair Arcavi, from…
Bolivia, Ecuador, México y Perú informaron cerca de 50 por ciento menos muertes por COVID-19 de las que han tenido. El verdadero número de muertes pandémicas de Nicaragua es 50 veces más alto que el reportado: 7 mil muertes por coronavirus en lugar de las 137 reportadas. Y Rusia probablemente sufrió cuatro veces más muertes por pandemia de lo informado: 551 mil en lugar de 135 mil. Estas cifras provienen de World Mortality Dataset, una base de datos creada por los investigadores Ariel Karlinsky, estudiante de posgrado del Departamento de Economía de la Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén, y Dmitry Kobak,…