CANBERRA, Australia — Kiwi leaders are apprehensive about reopening New Zealand’s borders to the rest of the world with too little data about the global Covid-19 situation to assess the risk just yet. The details of a national strategy are promised in a month’s time. Like Australia, New Zealand has followed an elimination strategy to fight Covid-19, which requires hard borders and a rigorous quarantine system. But unlike Australia, Jacinda Ardern is yet to spell out even a top-line strategy on relaxing those restrictions. Earlier this month, Scott Morrison unveiled a high-level four-stage approach to returning Australia to somewhere near pre-Covid…
Author: zenger.news
CANBERRA, Australia — Australian households with solar batteries will be able to make money from their electricity storage capacity due to the new energy market rules. The changes announced are part of broader moves by the Australian Energy Market Commission, the rule maker for Australian electricity and gas markets, to open up the national electricity market for the grid and household-scale batteries. The Australian Energy Market Commission said that homes set up with rooftop solar and storage will be able to sign up with aggregator businesses, which trade in the bundled-up capacity of many different energy users, and will pay for using…
MUMBAI, India — Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone, who has been quite vocal about her battle with depression, recently launched the “Frontline Assist” initiative to provide mental health support to the country’s frontline workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic. As people face a strong negative impact of Covid-19 on their mental health, the Bollywood actress has decided to join hands with Sangath. This non-profit organization is committed to improving health and evidence-based interventions in mental healthcare. Through this initiative, Padukone, under her “Live Love Laugh” non-profit organization (that deals with mental health issues), will support Sangath’s Covid-19 wellbeing center with sale proceeds from her…
CANBERRA, Australia — Peter Dutton has fanned fears Afghan interpreters seeking safety in Australia may have switched allegiances to the Taliban, a Deobandi Islamist movement and military organization in Afghanistan. The defense minister is under growing pressure over delays in processing visa applications as the security situation in Afghanistan rapidly deteriorates. Hundreds of Afghan interpreters, contractors, and security guards who worked for Australia are seeking protection as the Taliban reclaims control of the country. Graphic videos have emerged of Taliban tactical and military commanders conducting brutal and bloody reprisals following the departure of allied troops. Dutton said Australia needed to be wary about which Afghans…
CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian government has hit out at the European Union’s carbon border tax proposal that, if enforced, would levy energy-intensive imports from countries without a carbon price, or in other words weak climate regulations. It means Australian exporters would pay more to sell into the European Union compared with producers from countries that have more ambitious climate policies. Federal Trade Minister Dan Tehan has claimed the tax is protectionism and could contravene global trading rules. “If they’re now putting border tariffs on those products as they come into the EU, they’re treating differently products within the EU (European…
SYDNEY — Five million residents of Australia’s New South Wales will suffer through at least another fortnight of lockdown after sustained high daily Covid-19 numbers forced the state government to extend the measure. New South Wales recorded 97 new local Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8 pm on July 13, with at least 31 of them circulating in the community during part of all of their infectious period. The stay-at-home provisions for Greater Sydney were scheduled to end on July 15, after three weeks of lockdown, but will now remain in place until at least July 30. It comes…
Calvin Gary, better known as Joonie, calls his latest project his “third masterpiece.” Titled “Yellow Dust,” it reaches a broad fan base because of the diverse sound and attention to detail. (His other two albums are “Acoustic Love” and “No vacancy in our legacy.”) An avid fan of his own music and sound, Joonie understands the importance of him connecting with his music before putting it out for public consumption. In fact, when he created the song, “Love You More,” it literally saved his career. At a time when he thought about walking away from music, creating that tune not…
A teenage girl horrifically burned twice, who was bullied at school because of her appearance and then lost her dad to cancer, has rebuilt her life by becoming a top martial-arts athlete. Dilara Sultan Arpaci, 19, who is taking part in a world championship challenge next year and has already won top honors in other contests, is now facing her toughest fight back home. She is battling to help her mother get cancer treatment. Arpaci is the child of a Russian mother and a Turkish father. She lives in the district of Kemer in the Turkish province of Antalya. She…
Jerusalem-based ZzappMalaria, developer of a system to help eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitos, won the $3 million grand prize in the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE Competition as well as the People’s Choice Award as the “Most Inspiring Team.” The IBM Watson AI for Good Competition was launched in 2016 to promote the use of artificial intelligence technologies, such as IBM’s Watson question-answering system, to solve the world’s most pressing problems. More than 10,000 applicants were judged on their technological achievements, proven impact and potential scalability. “After five years of hard work and dedication, XPRIZE is thrilled to announce ZzappMalaria as the grand…
Paleontologists have been debating for years whether dinosaurs were in decline before the asteroid impact that caused an explosion several billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima finished them off. How did the dinosaurs fare before the cataclysm? In a recent study, scientists conclude the dinosaurs were already in decline for as much as 10 million years before a 39,370-foot asteroid crashed to the Earth some 66 million years ago. The study finds overwhelming evidence of a long-term decline across all dinosaurs and within all three major dinosaur groups. “Our study focuses on the best quality…