08 Tuesday, July 21, 2020 Europe / Americas US sanctions 11 Chinese firms over Uighur rights violations Bahamas bans travel from US, Latin America as virus cases rise WASHINGTON: The US Commerce Department on Monday announced it has blacklisted 11 Chinese busi- MIAMI: The Bahamas is barring visitors from the United States and Latin America in response nesses for involvement in human rights violations against the Uighur minority, cutting off the firms’ access to a rise in coronavirus cases in the archipelago three weeks after reopening its borders. News to American goods. Beginning Wednesday, only flights from Britain, Canada and the European Union will be al- Washington, together with other western nations and rights groups, has accused Beijing of interning at lowed to land in the Bahamas, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said on Sunday. in brief least a million Muslims from the Uighur ethnic group in the western Xinjiang region. Travelers from those places must complete an electronic health visa before departure, and The Commerce Department said the 11 sanctioned companies are “implicated in human rights viola- on arrival show a recent negative coronavirus test result. Otherwise they will be quarantined tions and abuses in the implementation of of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, for two weeks at their own expense. “In neighboring countries, hospitals are overwhelmed and forced labour, involuntary collection of biometric data, and genetic analyses.” (AFP) deaths are increasing,” Minnis noted. (AFP) France reports up to Britain’s Oxford COVID-19 vaccine 500 virus clusters but no ‘second wave’ yet AFP masks were made mandatory ‘safe and produces immunity’ Paris in all enclosed public spaces including shops, covered mar- DPA against Sars-CoV-2 infection, French authorities have kets and administrative build- London and for how long any protec- reported 400 to 500 active ings. tion lasts.” Sars-CoV-2 is the coronavirus outbreak clusters “The goal is not to worry A CORONAVIRUS vaccine scientific name for the corona- but there are no signs of an im- people excessively, but to keep being developed by Britain’s virus that causes the respira- minent “second wave,” Health them on their guard,” he said. University of Oxford with tory illness COVID-19. Minister Olivier Veran said on Nationwide the “R” num- pharmaceutical giant Astra- The British government Monday. ber indicating the viral trans- Zeneca appears to be safe announced earlier on Monday Many of the current virus mission rate now stands at 1.2, and to produce immunity, re- that it has also agreed in prin- clusters involve abattoirs or meaning 10 infected people searchers said on Monday. ciple to buy 90 million doses of other contained professional will infect an additional 12 on An ongoing trial involv- vaccines under development settings such as old age homes, average, according to the Sante ing 1,077 healthy adults found by other major pharmaceuti- he said. Publique France health agency. that the vaccine “induced cal firms based in France, Ger- Others had resulted from But in some areas on the strong antibody and T cell im- many and the United States. family reunions during the French mainland, the rate is mune responses” up to day 56, It ordered 60 million dos- summer holidays. much higher, with the south- the researchers wrote in The es of a vaccine from French- “At this point we are very ern Mediterranean region in- Lancet medical journal. based Valneva and 30 million far from a second wave,” Veran cluding Marseille and Nice now They said the immune re- of the BNT162 vaccine from a told Franceinfo radio, as face reporting a rate of 1.55. sponses “may be even greater joint programme by German’s after a second dose,” accord- Biontech and US-based Pfizer. ing to a trial with a sub-group The deal with Valneva in- of 10 participants. cludes an option to buy 40 Italy suffered double mortality in The British government million extra doses “if the vac- has already ordered 100 mil- cine is proven to be safe, effec- worst month of pandemic: Study lion doses of the potential vac- tive and suitable,” the govern- cine, which is among dozens of A pedestrian walks past signage outside University College Hospital in London, as Prime Minister Boris ment said. AFP the number of deaths tripled vaccine candidates worldwide. Johnson said he hoped Britain would ‘return to normality’ by November despite being badly affected by the “The hunt to find a vaccine Washington last spring but 22 percent of “The early stage trial finds coronavirus and predictions of a second wave of cases during winter months. (AFP) is a truly global endeavour excess deaths had not been of- that the vaccine is safe, causes and we are doing everything Italy’s mortality in March, ficially reported as coronavirus few side effects, and induces we can to ensure the British the worst month of its COV- cases, due to a lack of testing. strong immune responses in One trial among more public get access to a safe and ID-19 pandemic, was double To calculate the real toll of both parts of the immune sys- than 1,000 adults in effective coronavirus vaccine that of previous years, a re- the pandemic, demographers tem,” the Oxford researchers Britain found that a as soon as possible,” Business port published Monday said, and other researchers used not said. vaccine induced Secretary Alok Sharma said in showing how badly under- only the number of cases con- They said the vaccine a statement. counted initial estimates of firmed by tests but also looked produces a cellular immune “strong antibody and The reservation of dif- the deadliness of the disease at official mortality statistics, response, or T cell response, T cell immune ferent types of vaccine “will may have been. based on death certificates, within 14 days of vaccination responses” against ensure the UK has the best Italy was not the only and compared them to previ- and an antibody response chance possible of securing country to have failed to fully ous years, a method often used within 28 days. the coronavirus a vaccine that protects those account for deaths linked to in researching flu outbreaks. The vaccine uses a geneti- most at risk,” Sharma said. the coronavirus. Other stud- The results published Mon- cally modified common cold “The immune system has the virus when it’s circulating people for an extended peri- Thomas Lingelbach, Val- ies showed that the United day in the US medical journal virus that infects chimpan- two ways of finding and attack- in the body, as well as attack- od,” he said. neva’s chief executive, said his States, Peru and Mexico City “Jama Internal Medicine” zees, weakened so that it can’t ing pathogens - antibody and T ing infected cells.” “We hope Pollard cautioned that his company was “delighted to have largely under-reported the showed the devastating toll of cause disease in humans, said cell responses,” Pollard said. this means the immune sys- team needs “more research been selected to participate in number of people who died the virus in Italy, the first coun- Oxford’s Andrew Pollard, the “This vaccine is intended tem will remember the virus, before we can confirm the this important programme with from the disease. try to bear the full brunt of the lead author of the study. to induce both, so it can attack so that our vaccine will protect vaccine effectively protects the UK government. In New York, for example, pandemic in Europe.

Trump to resume his televised Putin names new governor to Putin visits disputed Crimea region to coronavirus briefings Far East region hit by protests showcase ’s strengthening navy AFP with information into testy ex- vember presidential challenger AFP Critics say the charges are Washington changes with reporters in the Democrat Joe Biden. Moscow politically motivated and have MOSCOW: Russian President room. He then angrily ditched Trump said the briefings demanded that Furgal, who was visited the US President Donald Trump the events after a briefing in would home in on good news Russian President Vladimir flown to Moscow to stand trial, disputed Crimea region for a announced on Monday he will which he drew widespread regarding vaccine development Putin named a new leader face the charges in . military ceremony on Monday resume his televised coronavi- ridicule for musing on air and therapeutics. of the Far Eastern region of Putin named Degtyarev as to show the country strength- rus briefings, saying he wants about the possibility of inject- “We think we’re doing very Khabarovsk from the nation- acting governor during a tel- ening its navy. to tout positive news, even as ing household disinfectant to well in that regard,” he said. “I alist LDPR party on Monday evised video link-up, saying he Putin addressed workers the pandemic spreads across combat COVID-19. think I’m going to be bringing after the arrest of its popular faced “a very demanding, very and military officials at the the country. He later said he had been in some of the great companies governor brought thousands to important” job in the region. Zaliv shipbuilding factory in “I think it’s a great way speaking “sarcastically,” al- that are working very success- the streets. Putin did not mention the the Crimean city of Kerch, to get information out to the though there was no evidence fully.” “We’re really coming up Putin sacked Sergei Furgal, is seen on a protests in Khabarovsk but said touting the construction of public,” he told reporters at of this at the time. with some very good answers,” who was detained this month screen during a video confer- Degtyarev needed to focus on new warships in the formerly the White House. “We’re doing The president has consist- he said. on murder charges, and named ence call with Russian President helping the region’s “very tal- Ukrainian enterprise. very well in so many different ently sought to play down the Trump signalled that he LDPR lawmaker Mikhail Degt- Vladimir Putin in Kerch, Crimea, ented and active” residents. Putin wished the workers ways.” Trump said he would severity of the health crisis, will once again dominate pro- yarev, 39, as his replacement. on Monday. (AFP) “We have to look to the fu- success in constructing two likely start on Tuesday. saying it will “disappear” by ceedings, likely at 5:00 pm, A Kremlin decree said Fur- ture and not forget about the helicopter-carrier amphibious The White House held doz- itself. when television audiences are gal was sacked over a “loss of daily demonstrations in strategic plans for developing assault vessels, similar to ens of coronavirus briefings But with the virus on the growing. confidence” in his ability to Khabarovsk, a city of 600,000 this huge and very important the two Mistral-class war- over two months in the early rebound, tearing through Flor- “We had very successful govern. on the border with China. region,” Putin said. ships that France refused stages of the pandemic, but ida and other major states, he briefings. I was doing them and The arrest of 50-year-old The biggest demonstrations Degtyarev, who unlike Fur- to deliver to Russia follow- abandoned them in late April. finds himself accused of failing we had a lot of people watching, Furgal, who defeated a can- on the last two Saturdays drew gal is from central Russia and ing Russia’s annexation of Trump often turned what to lead. record numbers watching. In the didate from the ruling United tens of thousands, with some not the Far East, said he was Crimea from neighbouring were billed as opportunities He is also dropping ever history of cable television, there’s Russia party to win the gover- estimates putting the crowds at ready to head to the region im- Ukraine. (DPA) to provide the anxious public further in polls against his No- never been anything like it.” norship in 2018, has sparked more than 50,000. mediately.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg wins Climate change on track to wipe out polar bears by 2100 first Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity AFP Even if humanity were able superstorms made more de- Paris structive by rising seas. But (DPA) prize, was selected among 136 to cap global warming at even if humanity were able to MADRID nominees from 43 countries. Climate change is starving 2.4C -- about half-a-degree cap global warming at 2.4C The head of the jury, Jorge polar bears into extinction, ac- above Paris Agreement tar- -- about half-a-degree above Greta Thunberg was given Sampaio, said a great major- cording to research published gets -- it would probably Paris Agreement targets, but the prize for humanity of ity of jury members voted in on Monday that predicts the only delay the polar bears’ hugely ambitious all the same the Portuguese Gulbenkian favour of Thunberg. apex carnivores could all but collapse -- it would probably only delay Foundation and awarded He emphasized “the form disappear within the span of a the polar bears’ collapse. with 1 million euros (1.1 mil- in which Greta Thunberg human lifetime. “That is still way above an- lion dollars). managed to mobilise the In some regions they are al- “By 2100, recruitment” -- ything polar bears have faced The 17-year-old climate younger generations for the ready caught in a vicious down- new births -- “will be severely during one million years of activist received the prize climate cause, as well as her ward spiral, with shrinking sea compromised or impossible evolutionary history,” said Am- for her fight against climate determined fight to change ice cutting short the time bears everywhere except perhaps strup. change and the ecological a status quo that stubbornly have for hunting seals, scien- in the Queen Elizabeth Island The threat is not rising crisis, the private foundation resist change, which make tists reported in Nature Cli- A handout photo made available on July 17, 2020 by Polar Bears In- subpopulation,” in Canada’s temperatures per se but the said in a statement on Mon- her one of today’s most ex- mate Change. ternational shows a polar bear with its cubs in the Sea Ice, northeast Arctic Archipelago, said Am- top-of-the-food-chain preda- day. traordinary personalities.” Their dwindling body of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska in 1985. (AFP) strup. tors’ inability to adapt to a rap- Thunberg expressed her Thunberg said the prize weight undermines their That scenario foresees idly shifting environment. thanks via Twitter. “This money would be donated via chances of surviving Arctic strup, who conceived the study within 80 years by the gallop- Earth’s average surface tem- “If somehow, by magic, sea means a lot to me, and I hope the Thunberg Foundation to winters without food, the sci- and is chief scientist of Polar ing pace of change in the Arctic, perature rising 3.3 degrees ice could be maintained even that it will help me do more organisations and projects entists added. Bears International, told AFP. which is warming twice as fast Celsius above the preindustrial as temperatures increase, polar good in the world,” she said working to combat climate “The bears face an ever On current trends, the as the planet as a whole. benchmark. bears might be fine,” Amstrup in a video published on her change and ecological degra- longer fasting period before the study concluded, polar bears There is not enough data One degree of warming so said by email. account. dation especially in the Glob- ice refreezes and they can head in 12 of 13 subpopulations ana- for six others to make a deter- far has triggered a crescendo “The problem is that their The activist, who is the al South, were people were back out to feed,” Steven Am- lysed will have been decimated mination as to their fate. of heatwaves, droughts and habitat is literally melting.” first person to receive the most affected.