Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Protesters risk being killed in demonstrations against Myanmar’s military coup. But an entire generation is still showing up to fight – ABC News

A woman with black hair and wearing a mask and jumper holds her fist in the air surrounded by a crowd of protesters.

Mothers have taken to writing their phone numbers on their children’s arms in case they are caught up in the fray.

Some even include their child’s blood group, knowing there is a very real possibility they will end up in hospital.

“It’s … a really sad thing to see that the mothers are giving them blessing to go out [to protest] knowing they might never come back home or they might be arrested,” Myanmar analyst Dr Khin Mar Mar Kyi said.

“And yet they feel they do not have other options.”

Mya Thwaite Thwaite Khiang was the first person to be killed in the unrest in Myanmar.

While at a peaceful protest in Yangon demonstrating against the military coup, Ms Khiang was shot in the head by security forces and died later in hospital.

She was only 19 years old.

But her death hasn’t deterred protesters from joining the anti-coup movement.

“No, she actually gives me strength to fight for the freedom, the democracy that we deserve,” 21-year-old protester Khon Cho Thawdar told the ABC.

Source: Protesters risk being killed in demonstrations against Myanmar’s military coup. But an entire generation is still showing up to fight – ABC News

Several Texas college campuses to keep mask mandates after governor’s order

Austin Community College, Baylor University, Paris Junior College, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Southwestern University, the Texas A&M University System, Trinity University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at El Paso are keeping their current COVID-19 guidelines — which include mask mandates — in place. Other universities have not yet released updated guidance in response to Abbott’s announcement, but several schools, including the University of Houston, UT-San Antonio, Texas Tech University and Lamar University have said they are reviewing the order to determine the next steps.
Graduates at a Texas A&M University commencement ceremony at Reed Arena in College Station on Dec. 17, 2020.

Graduates at a Texas A&M University’s commencement ceremony at Reed Arena in College Station in December. The A&M System is among higher education institutions that will still require people to wear face masks.

Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune

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Several Texas colleges and universities will still require people to wear face masks after Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he will lift the statewide mask mandate and other COVID-19 restrictions starting Wednesday.

Those institutions’ decisions come as COVID-19 continues to spread across the state and Houston became the first city to record cases of all major COVID-19 strains. As of March 3, only 7.5% of Texans have been fully vaccinated- far below the recommended threshold for rolling back safety restrictions. Local leaders criticized Abbott’s decision, saying the move came too early and will cost peoples’ lives.

Austin Community College, Baylor University, Paris Junior College, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Southwestern University, the Texas A&M University System, Trinity University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at El Paso are keeping their current COVID-19 guidelines — which include mask mandates — in place. Other universities have not yet released updated guidance in response to Abbott’s announcement, but several schools, including the University of Houston, UT-San Antonio, Texas Tech University and Lamar University have said they are reviewing the order to determine the next steps.

UT President Jay Hartzell said in a message to the UT community that keeping the mask mandate in place for the university is in accordance with guidance from the Texas Education Agency.

“We have been safely delivering on our teaching and research missions so far this year, and our protocols have been working,” Hartzell said in the message.

John Sharp, Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, said in a statement that the system anticipates guidance will be lifted at the end of the spring semester, but system members should continue to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines that are already in place, including masking and physical distancing.

Disclosure: Baylor University, Lamar University, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at El Paso and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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India Threatens Jail for Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter Employees – WSJ

India’s government has threatened to jail employees of Facebook Inc., its WhatsApp unit and Twitter Inc. as it seeks to quash political protests and gain far-reaching powers over discourse on foreign-owned tech platforms, people familiar with the warnings say.

The warnings are in direct response to the tech companies’ reluctance to comply with data and takedown requests from the government related to protests by Indian farmers that have made international headlines, the people say. At least some of the written warnings cite specific, India-based employees at risk of arrest if the companies don’t comply, according to some of the people.

Source: India Threatens Jail for Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter Employees – WSJ

7-Year-old Liza Scott Sells Lemonade to Fund Her Own Brain Surgery

So often, a story like this will make the rounds on social media: a vulnerable American (bonus points if they are very old or very young, two groups easy to sympathize with) who is down on their luck, does something extraordinary to change their situation. Rarely mentioned is the reason they find themselves in hardship: the lack of any social safety net, the dissolution of the welfare state, and the cruel calculations of our healthcare system. Source: 7-Year-old Liza Scott Sells Lemonade to Fund Her Own Brain Surgery

US experts warn new Covid variants and states reopening may lead to fourth wave | Coronavirus | The Guardian

At the same time, a series of reports from the CDC this week highlighted the ongoing dangers of Covid-19. One CDC report tracked the travel of one of the first patients diagnosed with the B117 variants in the US – and the variant’s ability to spread even with restrictions in place.

The patient in question traveled to the UK for the holidays, encountered a sick relative at a family gathering on Christmas Eve, and developed mild Covid-like symptoms immediately before taking a transatlantic flight back to Dallas, Texas. A few days before the flight, the patient tested negative for Covid-19, but used a low-specificity antigen test.

Once the patient arrived in Dallas, they drove eight hours across the state; stopped five times for food, gas and groceries; they arrived home with worse symptoms, and eventually tested positive for the B117 variant of Covid-19.

In another report issued by the CDC this week, the agency found the rate of Covid-19 among children in Mississippi was probably 10 times worse than the number of reported cases, and had infected perhaps as many as one in six children by last September.

third report highlighted the association between restaurant dining, mask mandates and Covid-19 transmission. The agency found mask mandates drove down transmission and death rates, while any on-premises restaurant dining tended to drive up transmission and death rates.

To stop the spread of Covid-19 entirely, a nuanced concept called “herd immunity”, scientists believe the US would need to vaccinate the vast majority of adults. Even if vaccine manufacturers are able to produce enough doses to reach all American adults by the end of May, as Biden has promised, vaccine hesitancy, poor distribution and logistical barriers could still derail the immunization campaign.

Source: US experts warn new Covid variants and states reopening may lead to fourth wave | Coronavirus | The Guardian

CDC study finds easing mask mandates, restaurant restrictions led to higher Covid cases and deaths

A new CDC study published on Friday found that local mask requirements and limited dining at restaurants can help reduce the spread of Covid-19.

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A new CDC study published on Friday found that local mask requirements and limited dining at restaurants can help reduce the spread of Covid-19.

States that allowed indoor dining saw 3% rise in COVID-19 deaths, CDC finds

States that lifted restrictions on indoor dining in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic last year saw 2% to 3% increases in daily death rates related to the virus 60 to 100 days after doing so, according a CDC analysis. States-that-allowed-indoor-dining-saw-3- States that lifted restrictions on indoor dining in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic last year saw 2% to 3% increases in daily death rates related to the virus 60 to 100 days after doing so, according a CDC analysis.

FSIS Issues Public Health Alert for Ineligible Imported Raw Frozen New Orleans – Roasted Chicken Wings from the Peoples Republic of China | Food Safety Inspection Service (New enforcement-publication must have kicked in – 86 FSIS findings published today… usually a low number)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for raw frozen New Orleans -Roasted Chicken Wings products imported and labeled with a false USDA mark of inspection. A recall was not requested because the known affected product is no longer available in commerce for consumers to purchase.

Di-Da Di-Da USA Corp., a Saratoga, Calif., establishment received, and distributed ineligible imported frozen chicken wings products from The Peoples Republic of China to U.S. commerce for retail sale.

The following product is subject to the public health alert

  • 600-gram bags of “Chicken Arrived, Organic Chicken, NEW ORLEANS – ROASTED CHICKEN WINGS.”

The products were shipped to one retail location and then further distributed to 20 different retail locations in California, Oregon, and Washington. The frozen chicken wings products are labeled with a false USDA mark of inspection bearing “P-40478,” an establishment number that does not exist.

Source: FSIS Issues Public Health Alert for Ineligible Imported Raw Frozen New Orleans – Roasted Chicken Wings from the Peoples Republic of China | Food Safety Inspection Service