Category Archives: News to use

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

Pacific Islanders Have The Highest COVID-19 Death Rate In Hawaii

Non-Hawaiian Pacific Islanders make up 16% of Hawaii’s coronavirus deaths even though they are only 4% of the population, according to newly released data from the Hawaii Department of Health.

Source: Pacific Islanders Have The Highest COVID-19 Death Rate In Hawaii

COVID-19 Roundup: Cases spike at several universities; students punished for not following rules

Auburn University reported 207 new positive cases of COVID-19 from last week, including 202 students and five employees. Those numbers are a fivefold increase from the 41 positives cases reported during the previous week. The university has had 545 total positive cases since March.

Students packed bars in downtown Auburn over the weekend, AL.com reported. And officials now are investigating reports of students not wearing masks or practicing social distancing in the bars. The state of Alabama has a mask mandate in place until the end of the month.

The University of Alabama system on Monday published a dashboard showing cases at its various campuses. The dashboard reported 531 cumulative cases at the main campus in Tuscaloosa, where officials had previously declined to release the data.

And the city on Monday closed bars and suspended bar service at restaurants for two weeks, AL.com reported, to try to slow the spread of the virus.

“They have made tough decisions, and I appreciate Mayor Walt Maddox and the University of Alabama leadership for tackling a serious problem as quickly as possible,” Kay Ivey, the state’s Republican governor, said in a statement.

 

Source: COVID-19 Roundup: Cases spike at several universities; students punished for not following rules

Russian-backed organisations amplifying QAnon conspiracy theories, researchers say

Russian government-backed organisations are amplifying conspiracy theories promoted by QAnon, raising concerns of interference in the November US election, academics who study QAnon said.

The movement, launched in 2017 with anonymous web postings amplified by YouTube videos, is popular among supporters of US president Donald Trump. It claims that Trump is working to bring down an international child sex-trafficking ring run by satanic global elites, including Hollywood celebrities and the “deep state”.

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Russian government-backed organisations are amplifying conspiracy theories promoted by QAnon, raising concerns of interference in the November US election, academics who study QAnon said.

The movement, launched in 2017 with anonymous web postings amplified by YouTube videos, is popular among supporters of US president Donald Trump. It claims that Trump is working to bring down an international child sex-trafficking ring run by satanic global elites, including Hollywood celebrities and the “deep state”.

Researchers at Graphika, Stanford University and elsewhere, said there were no signs Russia was involved in the early days of the movement, but added that, as QAnon took on new topics, social media accounts controlled by a key Kremlin ally joined in.

Earlier, Russian government-backed media have stepped up coverage of QAnon, which began with a false proclamation Hillary Clinton would be arrested for an undetermined reason and now includes theories about child trafficking by Hollywood elites, the coronavirus and more.

“Though Russia is only one foreign actor capable of targeting US political audiences through the QAnon community, its history of operations appear to be the most ideologically aligned with the overarching QAnon theory. Russia also appears to have made the most effort to gain credibility within the community thus far”, the report said.

Van Morrison blasts Covid gig limits as ‘pseudoscience’

Being good singer and writer does not a scientist make – shut it!

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Star calls for live music to challenge social distancing rules, but faces fan backlash

Van Morrison has denounced the supposed “pseudoscience” around coronavirus and is attempting to rally musicians in a campaign to restore live music concerts with full capacity audiences.

The 74-year-old Northern Irish singer launched a campaign to “save live music” on his website, saying socially distanced gigs were not economically viable. “I call on my fellow singers, musicians, writers, producers, promoters and others in the industry to fight with me on this. Come forward, stand up, fight the pseudo-science and speak up,” he said.

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Beirut’s devastating blast has not shaken the ruling class’s grip on Lebanon | Gilbert Achcar

Sadly, the needed changes have not yet taken hold.

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Many Lebanese people had hoped for a silver lining to this tragedy of an independent government and new elections

The tremendous blast that shook Lebanon on 4 August will be recorded as a major turning point in the country’s history, no less so than the much less powerful explosion that killed former prime minister Rafik Hariri on 14 February 2005. Judging from the 15 years it took before a UN-appointed tribunal basically admitted its impotence on the latter event, there won’t be any official certainty about the circumstances of the terrible explosion at Beirut’s port in the foreseeable future. A few conclusions can, however. be drawn about this highly traumatic tragedy.

Related: ‘Our stitches ran out’: Beirut’s struggle to deal with injuries from port blast

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Blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients is still an experimental treatment. Here’s why | CBC News

Arnold is also concerned about politicizing plasma, as the treatment hydroxychloroquine was previously. Both have been used to treat other illnesses but neither has been proven effective against COVID-19.

“Hydroxychloroquine is a good example,” he said. “There are other examples of things that look really enticing and the early data might suggest that it may be working but later on turns out once the data is in and all the trials have been done, it actually did not work or potentially was harmful.”

Arnold hopes plasma will be an effective treatment for COVID-19. He just wants to be sure it is.

 

Source: Blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients is still an experimental treatment. Here’s why | CBC News