WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, has been administered her second dose of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, fully protecting her against the virus. New Zealand’s prime minister rolled up her sleeve on the afternoon of July 28 at a clinic in Hamilton. “It was fine. Really, really easy,” she said. Enjoying an orange lollipop for her troubles, Ardern appealed to Kiwis to follow suit and get vaccinated. “The Delta variant is spreading around the world. We are not out of the woods yet. To be effective, we need everyone,” she said. “It is an act of…
Author: zenger.news
SYDNEY — Businesses and workers holding out against another month of lockdown in the southeastern Australian state of New South Wales will now be supported with increased state and federal payments. The additional help was announced just after Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed that Greater Sydney’s five-week lockdown would continue until August 28 to combat the escalating Covid-19 crisis. JobSaver payments will now be available to businesses with an annual turnover of between AU$75,000 ($55,155) and AU$250 million ($183.85 million), which have experienced a revenue decline of 30 percent or more. The turnover ceiling has been raised from AU$50 million ($36.77 million), with businesses being…
DARWIN, Australia — Up to 1200 youths mistreated while in detention in Australia’s Northern Territory could share in an AU$35 million ($25.76 million) class-action settlement brokered with the Territory government. Law firm Maurice Blackburn said that details can now be revealed after the Federal Court this week ruled against moves to suppress the settlement figure. The deal covers anyone mistreated while in a youth detention center between August 2006 and November 2017. The case was brought by lead applicants Aaron Hyde and Dylan Jenkings, who was assaulted and abused by youth justice officers while locked up. “Only the people who have walked in…
MUMBAI, India — India’s fintech industry comprises over 2,000 start-ups, of which around 67 percent were set up in the past five years. The Indian fintech market, currently valued at $31 billion, is expected to grow to $84 billion by 2025, according to a report by investment promotion agency Invest India. One of the major success stories has been the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which lets one send and receive money using just a mobile phone. As of June 2021, UPI has recorded close to 2.8 billion transactions amounting to over $70 billion. But when you look at the top five…
JUBA, South Sudan — Arkanjelo Bundu, a father of 12, was sleeping with his family on midnight of May 19, 2021, when he had heard gunshots ringing outside his house. Bundu is from Youngster village of Tombura county, the restive Western Equatoria state of South Sudan. “It was not wise to stay home since the flying bullets could hit my children or me,” Bundu told Zenger News. “Attackers also burn houses at night while people are asleep. There’s too much violence here.” Bundu’s family are among thousands who have fled ethnic-driven violence between two rival tribes in the Western Equatoria over…
Police body-camera footage captured the arrival of a meteor in Pilbara, Western Australia, and the officers wondered what it could be. “Did you see that?” asked the police officers working the night shift in the sparsely populated region. “Oh wow! That was a big flash, I thought that was a torch,” said another officer, whose back was turned to the meteor as it flashed in the sky. “Make a wish, quick, make a wish,” she said. Despite missing its arrival, she turned just in time to see the meteor before it burned up and disappeared. One of the officers finally…
COLLEGE PARK, Maryland — Three-time Olympian Dominique Dawes still maintains her focus and dedication to what’s important in life — including laughter. During her performances, Dawes says she rarely smiled. But today, as a wife, mother of four young children and owner of a gymnastics academy, she encourages the girls she trains to express emotions that would not have been acceptable during her career. It’s part of a shift in the cutthroat culture of American gymnastics that was brought to the fore at the Tokyo Olympics by the decision of Simone Biles — considered the “Greatest of All Time” in…
The number is sobering: 611,000 U.S. lives (and counting) lost to COVID-19. The question is: How do you commemorate such a national tragedy? Various memorials have been created to remember the dead, more than nine times the number of U.S. soldiers who died in the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined. Too often, the pandemic prevented traditional death rites, diminishing the individual stories of COVID-19 victims. So families and artists created new ones. From handcrafted roses to stones on the beach, local memorials honor those who died of COVID-19, driven by grassroots organizations helping survivors process their grief. And the…
A biological material developed by nanotech scientists can generate electric currents and voltage cleanly, using surrounding movements to charge up. Two years ago, an international research group led by scientists from Tel Aviv University published a paper about this material — a molecule called Hyp-Phe-Phe. It resembles collagen, a protein whose strength and flexibility make it useful in many applications, but is much shorter and simpler. Now, in a study published in Nature Communications, the researchers show the new material shares another feature with collagen: piezoelectricity. “Piezoelectricity is the ability of a material to generate electric currents and voltage as…
NEW YORK — The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda terror organizations pose a growing threat in Africa, the United Nations has warned. A report to the Security Council by the United Nations team charged with tracking worldwide jihadi threats said that terror groups are not only resilient but are also expanding across the globe. The report warns that Africa is now “the region most affected by terrorism”—with Al-Qaeda and Islamic State-aligned groups inflicting higher casualties there than anywhere else. In many areas, these groups are gaining support, threatening more territory, getting better weapons, and raising more money, according…