Canada Could Soon See Rapid Surge In Covid Cases As Omicron Spreads Locally

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Canada Could Soon See Rapid Surge In Covid Cases As Omicron Spreads Locally" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-04/3lp335v_canada-coronavirus-afp_625x300_01_April_20.jpg" title="Canada Could Soon See Rapid Surge In Covid Cases As Omicron Spreads Locally" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Canada may rapidly rise in coming days due to community spread of Omicron (File)</p> </div> <p>COVID-19 cases in Canada may rapidly rise in the coming days due to community spread of the Omicron variant, mirroring the situation in the country's most populous province of Ontario, Canada's top health official said on Monday.</p> <p>The surge of COVID-19 cases in Ontario, which accounts for almost 40% of Canada's population of 39 million people, has prompted the provincial government to suspend easing of restrictions that were planned to be lifted ahead of the holiday season.</p> <p>The province reported 1,536 cases of COVID-19 on Monday, a more-than 70% jump from a week ago, including 80 cases of the Omicron variant, which has spread across over 60 countries since being first detected last month.</p> <p>The World Health Organization has said that the Omicron coronavirus variant poses a "very high" global risk, with some evidence that it evades vaccine protection but clinical data on its severity is limited.</p> <p>At least one patient has died in the United Kingdom after contracting the Omicron variant, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.</p> <p>Ontario has directed government staff, who started gradually returning to their offices in November, to go back to working from home at least until early-February, CTV news reported Monday.</p> <p>"So what we're seeing in Ontario, I expect to be seen in other areas of the country, as has been seen in Europe and other areas of the world," chief public health officer Theresa Tam told a news conference.</p> <p>"But for sure we are seeing community transmission, possibly in its early stages, but this can rapidly escalate in the days to come," she added, responding to questions from reporters after she announced recommendations to improve the Canadian public health system in a report to the parliament.</p> <p>Canada needs to hire of more health workers, improve technology and governance, as well as provide more stable funding, she said in the report.</p> <p>"Canada's public health system is not perfect, and significant work lies ahead in terms of our transformation process, we must get ready to roll our sleeves up," Tam said.</p> <p><i>(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/canada-could-soon-see-rapid-surge-in-covid-cases-as-omicron-spreads-locally-2649721">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/canada-could-soon-see-rapid-surge-in-covid-cases-as-omicron-spreads-locally-2649721</a>

news world Canada Could Soon See Rapid Surge In Covid Cases As Omicron Spreads Locally

Canada may rapidly rise in coming days due to community spread of Omicron (File) COVID-19 cases in Canada may rapidly rise in the coming...

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Omicron "Very High" Global Risk, Severity Not Clear Yet: WHO Update

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Omicron 'Very High' Global Risk, Severity Not Clear Yet: WHO Update" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/v1r3pdn_whovaccinereuters_625x300_13_December_21.jpg" title="Omicron 'Very High' Global Risk, Severity Not Clear Yet: WHO Update" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">WHO cited evidence that number of people getting reinfected with the virus has increased in South Africa</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">GENEVA:</b> <p>The Omicron coronavirus variant, reported in more than 60 countries, poses a "very high" global risk, with some evidence that it evades vaccine protection but clinical data on its severity remain limited, the World Health Organization says.</p> <p>Considerable uncertainties surround Omicron, first detected last month in South Africa and Hong Kong, whose mutations may lead to higher transmissibility and more cases of COVID-19 disease, the WHO said in a technical brief issued on Sunday.</p> <p>"The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high for a number of reasons," it said, reiterating its first assessment of Nov. 29.</p> <p>"And second, preliminary evidence suggests potential humoral immune escape against infection and high transmission rates, which could lead to further surges with severe consequences," the WHO said, referring to the virus' potential ability to evade immunity provided by antibodies.</p> <p>The WHO cited some preliminary evidence that the number of people getting reinfected with the virus has increased in South Africa.</p> <p>While preliminary findings from South Africa suggest that Omicron may be less severe than the Delta variant - currently dominant worldwide - and all cases reported in the Europe region have been mild or asymptomatic, it remains unclear to what extent Omicron may be inherently less virulent, it said.</p> <p>"More data are needed to understand the severity profile," it said.</p> <p>"Even if the severity is potentially lower than for the Delta variant, it is expected that hospitalisations will increase as a result of increasing transmission. More hospitalizations can put a burden on health systems and lead to more deaths."</p> <p>Further information was expected in coming weeks, it added, noting the time lag between infections and outcomes.</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-poses-very-high-global-risk-data-on-severity-limited-who-2648810">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-poses-very-high-global-risk-data-on-severity-limited-who-2648810</a>

news world Omicron "Very High" Global Risk, Severity Not Clear Yet: WHO Update

WHO cited evidence that number of people getting reinfected with the virus has increased in South Africa GENEVA: The Omicron coronaviru...

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Biden, Putin Agree To Hold More Talks Amid Tensions Over Ukraine: Kremlin

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Biden, Putin Agree To Hold More Talks Amid Tensions Over Ukraine: Kremlin" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-06/rusuln6g_us-president-joe-biden-and-russian-president-vladimir-putin-afp_625x300_17_June_21.jpg" title="Biden, Putin Agree To Hold More Talks Amid Tensions Over Ukraine: Kremlin" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">The remarks came from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to RIA. (File)</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">Moscow:</b> <p>Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden have agreed to hold more talks amid tensions over a Russian troop build-up near Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday, and Putin would like to meet in person at some stage too.</p> <p>The Kremlin said Putin and Biden had agreed to hold more talks during a video call on December 7 which focused on East-West relations, which have sunk to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War and are currently strained by the Russian troop build-up near Ukraine.</p> <p>Biden used that video call to warn Putin that the West would impose "strong economic and other measures" on Russia if it invades Ukraine, while Putin has demanded guarantees that NATO will not expand farther eastward.</p> <p>In a video released on state TV, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had no particular grounds for optimism after speaking to Biden because of continued, and very serious differences between Russia and the US over Moscow's so-called 'red lines' which it does not want the West to cross.</p> <p>Apart from further NATO expansion eastwards, Russia has said it does not want certain offensive weapons deployed in countries that border it, such as Ukraine.</p> <p>Putin on December 7 told Biden that Russian troops were on Russian territory and did not pose a threat to anyone, Peskov said.</p> <p>"The current...tensions and so on are being created to further demonise Russia and cast it as a potential aggressor," Peskov added.</p> <p>However, he said the two leaders had agreed to hold another round of talks, maybe by video link, a format the two presidents liked.</p> <p>"(We will) definitely see each other, I would really want that to happen," Putin told Biden, according to a short video released on state TV channel Rossiya 1.</p> <p>The Kremlin said it was too early to say when the two leaders could meet in person.</p> <p>The video call between Biden and Putin soothed investors' nerves and helped the rouble to regain some ground after a sell-off driven by another wave of fears about new Western sanctions against Moscow.</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-russia-talks-vladimir-putin-told-joe-biden-hed-like-to-meet-in-person-kremlin-2647700">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-russia-talks-vladimir-putin-told-joe-biden-hed-like-to-meet-in-person-kremlin-2647700</a>

news world Biden, Putin Agree To Hold More Talks Amid Tensions Over Ukraine: Kremlin

The remarks came from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to RIA. (File) Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US cou...

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G7 Warns Russia Of "Massive Consequences" If It Invades Ukraine

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="G7 Warns Russia Of 'Massive Consequences' If It Invades Ukraine" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/s3ulojag_liz-truss-650_625x300_12_December_21.jpg" title="G7 Warns Russia Of 'Massive Consequences' If It Invades Ukraine" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss' remarks came at a meeting of G7's top diplomats. (File)</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">Liverpool:</b> <p>Russia faces "massive consequences" if it invades Ukraine, Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Sunday at a meeting of the G7's top diplomats.</p> <p>Truss said there was a "very much a united voice from the G7 nations who represent 50 percent of global GDP, being very clear that there will be massive consequences for Russia in the case of an incursion into Ukraine".</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/g7-warns-russia-of-massive-consequences-if-it-invades-ukraine-2647657">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/g7-warns-russia-of-massive-consequences-if-it-invades-ukraine-2647657</a>

news world G7 Warns Russia Of "Massive Consequences" If It Invades Ukraine

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss' remarks came at a meeting of G7's top diplomats. (File) Liverpool: Russia faces "massive c...

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"Last Chance" For Iran To Save Nuclear Deal: UK

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="'Last Chance' For Iran To Save Nuclear Deal: UK" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2018-09/fnebj3a4_iran-flag-reuters_625x300_11_September_18.jpg" title="'Last Chance' For Iran To Save Nuclear Deal: UK" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss's remarks came at a G7 foreign ministers' meeting. (File)</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">Liverpool:</b> <p>Resumed talks to save the Iran nuclear deal are the Islamic republic's "last chance" to take a "serious" position, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said at a G7 foreign ministers meeting on Sunday.</p> <p>"This is the last chance for Iran to come to the negotiating table with a serious resolution to this issue, which has to be agreeing the terms" of the deal, she said.</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/iran-nuclear-deal-last-chance-for-iran-to-save-nuclear-deal-uk-foreign-secretary-liz-truss-2647639">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/iran-nuclear-deal-last-chance-for-iran-to-save-nuclear-deal-uk-foreign-secretary-liz-truss-2647639</a>

news world "Last Chance" For Iran To Save Nuclear Deal: UK

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss's remarks came at a G7 foreign ministers' meeting. (File) Liverpool: Resumed talks to save the I...

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Jeff Bezos Says "Heartbroken" Over Tornado Deaths At US Amazon Warehouse

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Jeff Bezos Says 'Heartbroken' Over Tornado Deaths At US Amazon Warehouse" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/nst266fg_jeff-bezos_625x300_12_December_21.jpg" title="Jeff Bezos Says 'Heartbroken' Over Tornado Deaths At US Amazon Warehouse" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Amazon chief Jeff Bezos said the news from Edwardsville is tragic. (File)</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">Washington:</b> <p>Amazon chief Jeff Bezos said he was "heartbroken" Saturday after at least six people were killed at an Amazon warehouse in the US state of Illinois when it was <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-tornados-kentucky-more-than-70-dead-as-tornadoes-flatten-city-blocks-in-5-us-states-2647099" target="_self">struck by a tornado.</a></p> <p>"The news from Edwardsville is tragic," Bezos tweeted about the town where the facility was located.</p> <p>"We're heartbroken over the loss of our teammates there, and our thoughts and prayers are with their families and loved ones."</p> <p>The warehouse was struck by a series of tornadoes that ripped across six US states, killing more than 80 people in total in what President Joe Biden said was likely to be "one of the largest" storm outbreaks in history.</p> <p>Up to 100 Amazon employees working a night shift ahead of Christmas are believed to have been trapped when the warehouse collapsed, and it is not clear how many may still be trapped.</p> <p>Earlier Saturday, Edwardsville fire chief James Whiteford told reporters that 45 people made it out of the building safely, one had to be airlifted to hospital for treatment, and at least six had died.</p> <p>But he said the operation had turned from rescue to focus "only on recovery," fueling fears the toll could yet rise.</p> <p>"All of Edwardsville should know that the Amazon team is committed to supporting them and will be by their side through this crisis," Bezos tweeted.</p> <p>"We extend our fullest gratitude to all the incredible first responders who have worked so tirelessly at the site."</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/jeff-bezos-says-heartbroken-over-tornado-deaths-at-us-amazon-warehouse-2647343">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/jeff-bezos-says-heartbroken-over-tornado-deaths-at-us-amazon-warehouse-2647343</a>

news world Jeff Bezos Says "Heartbroken" Over Tornado Deaths At US Amazon Warehouse

Amazon chief Jeff Bezos said the news from Edwardsville is tragic. (File) Washington: Amazon chief Jeff Bezos said he was "heartbr...

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"Nobody Saw Them Crash": YouTuber Finds Car Of Teens Missing Since 2000 In US

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="'Nobody Saw Them Crash': YouTuber Finds Car Of Teens Missing Since 2000 In US" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/fddkfbeg_-submerged-car_625x300_12_December_21.jpg" title="'Nobody Saw Them Crash': YouTuber Finds Car Of Teens Missing Since 2000 In US" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">A car reportedly connected to a 21-year-old case of missing teens found in Tennessee.</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">Washington:</b> <p>A scuba diver wiped away the algae on a submerged car's license plate and exclaimed: "It's them!" That discovery of two long-missing American teens' apparent remains was the latest tragic find for a subculture of YouTube sleuths.</p> <p>Among the platform's viral hits scoring billions of views is a niche of YouTubers who use sonar devices to search waterways for vehicles linked to US missing persons cases -- and the bones they may hold.</p> <p>That formula was central to revelations this week in a 21-year-old mystery in the southern state of Tennessee, one of a series of cold cases unravelled with the revenue generated by the clicks that these operations' clips generate.</p> <p>Experts note the larger boom in internet sleuthing has had a mixed impact, with high-profile misfires and the temptation for viral content, but in some key instances the crowd's contribution has been critical.</p> <p>Teens Erin Foster and Jeremy Bechtel disappeared in April 2000 from their small central Tennessee town of Sparta, leaving family and friends to hope they had just run away to start a new life.</p> <p>But 42-year-old Jeremy Sides -- a scuba diver whose YouTube channel "Exploring with Nug" focuses on finding missing property and people -- posted a video on December 4 that has since been viewed some 1.4 millions times and which seems to have resolved the mystery.</p> <p>"Once I confirmed it was the tag (license plate)...it was just a wave: This is going to be over, they get to go home, their families have answers," he told AFP of his dive to find the car in Tennessee's Calfkiller River.</p> <p>This was the second time in about a month that Sides had been instrumental in seemingly closing a case -- the first was finding a car linked to a woman missing since 2005 in the Tennessee town of Oakridge.</p> <p>Authorities in Sparta were on Friday still working to confirm the identities of the remains found by Sides, but local police said they believed they belonged to the missing teens.</p> <p><strong>"Nobody saw them crash"</strong></p> <p>Another group of YouTubers, Chaos Divers, said they have located the remains of seven missing people in the past two months in an intense push that has seen them travel some 8,000 miles (nearly 12,900 kilometers) in the United States.</p> <p>The work unleashes intense emotions, especially breaking the news to families who lived in the limbo of not knowing what happened to their sons, wives or brothers.</p> <p>"It's a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching feeling that you never want to give up. Because you are telling them and you're watching the tears roll down their face, but you're watching this weight lift off their shoulders," said 38-year-old Lindsay Bussick, who is Chaos Divers founder Jacob Grubbs' partner in the operation.</p> <p>Illinois-residents Bussick and Grubbs said their work was not simply an effort to get the clicks on YouTube that determine how much of a financial return a video may generate.</p> <p>"I'm sorry that I have to bring this content like this to be able to help defend the next family," said Grubbs, a 38-year-old former coal miner.</p> <p>"But this is a way that we have figured out to be able to fund the help for another family," he added.</p> <p>Adam Scott Wandt, an assistant professor of public policy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, said untrained "true-crime armchair sleuths" and their efforts have become a cultural phenomenon in the past decade.</p> <p>But the results have varied greatly. He noted that some people pointed toward the social media swirl around slain US roadtripper Gabby Petito as helping police find her body this year.</p> <p>At the same time, internet sleuths tarred an innocent college student in the fear-stoked effort to find the attackers who set off homemade bombs that killed three at the 2013 Boston Marathon.</p> <p>"The public is getting better at it, but it still can be very self-serving," added Wandt, noting the temptation for seeking clicks. "But I'm definitely seeing more positive use over time."</p> <p>Working as a complement to police, rather than shovelling tips and theories at investigators, is one way that freelancers seem to have found a role.</p> <p>Police in the Sparta case said they had heard Sides was investigating in their area, but after noting he wasn't searching in the right place, they offered some advice on where to look.</p> <p>The bittersweet discovery followed days later.</p> <p>"I ended my search in that river in town, and that's where I found them. It looks like a simple car accident," Sides told AFP.</p> <p>"They just went off the road and nobody saw them crash. So sadly that's where they sat for 20 years until I came along," he added.</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nobody-saw-them-crash-youtuber-finds-submerged-car-of-us-teens-missing-since-2000-2647263">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nobody-saw-them-crash-youtuber-finds-submerged-car-of-us-teens-missing-since-2000-2647263</a>

news world "Nobody Saw Them Crash": YouTuber Finds Car Of Teens Missing Since 2000 In US

A car reportedly connected to a 21-year-old case of missing teens found in Tennessee. Washington: A scuba diver wiped away the algae on...

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US Imposes Human Rights Sanctions On China, Myanmar, North Korea

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="US Imposes Human Rights Sanctions On China, Myanmar, North Korea" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-08/m196ech8_us-china-flags_625x300_28_August_21.jpg" title="US Imposes Human Rights Sanctions On China, Myanmar, North Korea" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">China's embassy in Washington denounced the US move. (Representational)</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">Washington:</b> <p>The United States on Friday imposed extensive human rights-related sanctions on dozens of people and entities tied to China, Myanmar, North Korea and Bangladesh, and added Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime Group to an investment blacklist.</p> <p>Canada and the United Kingdom joined the United States in imposing sanctions related to human rights abuses in Myanmar while Washington also imposed the first new sanctions on North Korea under President Joe Biden's administration and targeted Myanmar military entities, among others, in action marking Human Rights Day.</p> <p>"Our actions today, particularly those in partnership with the United Kingdom and Canada, send a message that democracies around the world will act against those who abuse the power of the state to inflict suffering and repression," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.</p> <p>China's embassy in Washington denounced the US move as "serious interference in China's internal affairs" and a "severe violation of basic norms governing international relations." Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said it would do "grave harm to China-US relations" and urged Washington to rescind the decision.</p> <p>The North Korean mission at the United Nations and the Washington embassies of Myanmar and Bangladesh did not immediately respond to requests for comment.</p> <p>The measures are the latest in a raft of sanctions timed to coincide with Biden's two-day virtual Summit for Democracy, where he announced initiatives to bolster democracy around the world and support for pro-democracy legislation in the United States.</p> <p>Biden said on Friday that commitments made by some of the more than 100 world leaders at the summit would push back against rising autocracy around the world, fight corruption and promote human rights.</p> <p>"This is going to help seed fertile ground for democracy to bloom around the world," he said in a speech closing the summit. The Treasury on Friday added Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime to a list of "Chinese military-industrial complex companies," accusing it of having developed facial recognition programs that can determine a target's ethnicity, with a particular focus on identifying ethnic Uyghurs. As a result, the company will fall under an investment ban for US investors.</p> <p>SenseTime is close to selling 1.5 billion shares in an initial public offering (IPO).</p> <p>After news of the Treasury restrictions earlier this week, the company began discussing the fate of the planned $767 million offering with Hong Kong's stock exchange, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.</p> <p>SenseTime said in a statement on Saturday that it "strongly opposed the designation and accusations that have been made in connection with it," calling the accusations "unfounded".</p> <p>"We have complied with the applicable laws and regulations in relation to our business in all material respects in the jurisdictions where we conduct business," the company said.</p> <p>UN experts and rights groups estimate more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in China's far-west region of Xinjiang.</p> <p>China denies abuses in Xinjiang, but the US government and many rights groups say Beijing is carrying out genocide there.</p> <p><strong>MYANMAR, NORTH KOREA</strong></p> <p>The Treasury said it was imposing sanctions on two Myanmar military entities and an organization that provides reserves for the military</p> <p>The Directorate of Defense Industries, one of the entities targeted, makes weapons for the military and police that have been used in a brutal crackdown on opponents of the military's February 1 coup.</p> <p>The Treasury also targeted four regional chief ministers, including Myo Swe Win, who heads the junta's administration in the Bago region where the Treasury said at least 82 people were killed in a single day in April.</p> <p>Canada imposed sanctions against four entities affiliated with the Myanmar military government, while the United Kingdom imposed fresh sanctions against the military.</p> <p>Myanmar was plunged into crisis when the military overthrew leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her government on February 1, triggering daily protests in towns and cities and fighting in borderlands between the military and ethnic minority insurgents.</p> <p>Junta forces seeking to crush opposition have killed more than 1,300 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group.</p> <p>Campaign group Global Witness said the measures fell short of targeting Myanmar's natural gas industry, a key source of foreign currency for the junta, and were "unlikely to materially impact the military junta's bottom line."</p> <p>The Treasury also blacklisted North Korea's Central Public Prosecutors Office, along with the former minister of social security and recently assigned Minister of People's Armed Forces Ri Yong Gil.</p> <p>It also targeted a Russian university for facilitating the export of workers from North Korea. North Korea has long sought a lifting of punishing US and international sanctions imposed over its weapons programs and has denounced US criticism of its human rights record as evidence of a hostile policy against it. The Biden administration has repeatedly called on North Korea to engage in dialogue over its nuclear and missile programs, without success.</p> <p>The US State Department on Friday also barred 12 people from traveling to the United States, including officials in China, Belarus and Sri Lanka.</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-imposes-human-rights-sanctions-on-china-myanmar-north-korea-2646420">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-imposes-human-rights-sanctions-on-china-myanmar-north-korea-2646420</a>

news world US Imposes Human Rights Sanctions On China, Myanmar, North Korea

China's embassy in Washington denounced the US move. (Representational) Washington: The United States on Friday imposed extensive h...

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First American Astronaut's Daughter Set For Blue Origin Spaceflight

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="First American Astronaut's Daughter Set For Blue Origin Spaceflight" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/erfjqdo_laura-shepard-churchley_625x300_11_December_21.jpg" title="First American Astronaut's Daughter Set For Blue Origin Spaceflight" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Laura Shepard Churchley's father Alan Shepard was the first American to travel to space in 1961.</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">United States:</b> <p>Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is set to blast its third private crew to space on Saturday, this time including the daughter of the first American astronaut.</p> <p><a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-aviation-body-finds-no-blue-origin-safety-issues-after-review-2646198" target="_self">The spaceflight will</a> last roughly 11 minutes, launching from the company's base in Texas and soaring to just beyond the internationally-recognized boundary of space, 62 miles (100 kilometers) high.</p> <p>The six-member crew will unbuckle and enjoy a few minutes' weightlessness before the spaceship returns to Earth for a gentle parachute landing in the desert.</p> <p>The launch date was pushed back because of high winds, but is now set for 8:45 am local time (1445 GMT) on Saturday.</p> <p>Laura Shepard Churchley, whose father Alan Shepard became the first American to travel to space in 1961, will be flying as a guest of Blue Origin.</p> <p>The company's suborbital rocket is in fact named "New Shepard" in honor of the pioneering astronaut.</p> <p>Michael Strahan, an American football Hall of Famer turned TV personality, is also a guest, while there are four paying customers: space industry executive and philanthropist Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, Bess Ventures founder Lane Bess, and Cameron Bess.</p> <p>Lane and Cameron Bess will become the first parent-child pair to fly in space. Ticket prices have not been disclosed.</p> <p>"It's kind of fun for me to say an original Shepard will fly on the New Shepard," Shepard Churchley, who runs a foundation that promotes science and raises funds for college students, said in a video. "I'm very proud of my father's legacy."</p> <p>Alan Shepard performed a 15-minute suborbital space flight on May 5, 1961, just under a month after the Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, orbiting the planet.</p> <p>Shepard, who died in 1998, went on to be the fifth of twelve men to have set foot on the Moon.</p> <p>Previous Blue Origin flights have flown the company's billionaire founder Bezos as well as Star Trek actor William Shatner to space.</p> <p>Bezos, who made his fortune with Amazon envisages a future in which humanity disperses throughout the solar system, living and working in giant space colonies with artificial gravity.</p> <p>This, he says, would leave Earth as a pristine tourism destination much like national parks today.</p> <p>The year 2021 has been significant for the space tourism sector, with Virgin Galactic also flying its founder Richard Branson to the final frontier, and Elon Musk's SpaceX sending four private citizens on a three-day orbital mission for charity.</p> <p>The industry's predicted growth means that, starting from next year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Friday it will stop awarding astronaut wings badges to commercial space travelers, though it will continue to recognize them on its website.</p> <p>"The Astronaut Wings program, created in 2004, served its original purpose to bring additional attention to this exciting endeavor," said FAA Associate Administrator Wayne Monteith, in a statement.</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/first-american-astronaut-alan-shepards-daughter-set-for-jeff-bezos-blue-origin-spaceflight-2646415">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/first-american-astronaut-alan-shepards-daughter-set-for-jeff-bezos-blue-origin-spaceflight-2646415</a>

news world First American Astronaut's Daughter Set For Blue Origin Spaceflight

Laura Shepard Churchley's father Alan Shepard was the first American to travel to space in 1961. United States: Jeff Bezos' Blu...

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International Mountain Day 2021: Theme And Significance Of The Day

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="International Mountain Day 2021: Theme And Significance Of The Day" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-06/2bc8eqg8_mountain-generic-unsplash_625x300_17_June_20.jpg" title="International Mountain Day 2021: Theme And Significance Of The Day" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">International Mountain Day 2021: The theme this year is sustainable mountain tourism.</p> </div> <p>The International Mountain Day, which aims to encourage conservation and sustainable development of mountains, is celebrated on December 11. The conservation of mountains is a key factor for sustainable development. It is also part of Goal 15 of the Sustainable Development Goals set up by the United National General Assembly in 2015.</p> <p><b>History and Significance</b></p> <p>The world began noticing the importance of mountains in earnest after the effects of climate change became undeniable. Acknowledging their importance, the UN had first declared the whole of 2002 as the UN International Year of Mountains. Then, it was announced that the first International Mountain Day would be celebrated the following year in 2003.</p> <p>Tourism is a key aspect of mountains. For sustainable development of mountains, a sustainable way of tourism must be found. It can create livelihood options for those living in these high-altitude regions as well as help conserve landscape and biodiversity. Sustainable tourism is a way to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of mountains.</p> <p><b>International Mountain Day 2021: Theme</b></p> <p>The theme of International Mountain Day this year is sustainable mountain tourism. The celebration of this international day is mainly backed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation. The UN has asked individuals and groups to raise awareness about mountains on December 11 by “<a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/mountain-day">preparing an event or joining the conversation</a> on social media using the hashtag “Mountains Matter.””</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/international-mountain-day-international-mountain-day-today-international-mountain-day-2021-theme-and-significance-of-the-day-2646387">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/international-mountain-day-international-mountain-day-today-international-mountain-day-2021-theme-and-significance-of-the-day-2646387</a>

news world International Mountain Day 2021: Theme And Significance Of The Day

International Mountain Day 2021: The theme this year is sustainable mountain tourism. The International Mountain Day, which aims to enco...

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Twitter Has Banned Posting Images Of People Without Consent - Why That's A Good Thing

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Twitter Has Banned Posting Images Of People Without Consent - Why That's A Good Thing" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-02/alobemt_twitter-generic-reuters_650x400_10_February_21.jpg" title="Twitter Has Banned Posting Images Of People Without Consent - Why That's A Good Thing" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Twitter will no longer allow "sharing of images or videos of private individuals without their consent"</p> </div> <p>Twitter recently <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1465683093436739588">announced</a> that it will no longer allow “the sharing of private media, such as images or videos of private individuals without their consent”. The move takes effect through <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2021/private-information-policy-update">an expansion</a> of the social media platform's <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-information">private information and media policy</a>.</p> <p>In practical terms, this means photos and videos can be removed if the photographer has not obtained consent from people captured prior to sharing the item on Twitter. Individuals who find their image shared online without consent <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/safety-and-security/report-abusive-behavior">can report</a> the post, and Twitter will then decide whether it's to be taken down.</p> <p>According to <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2021/private-information-policy-update">Twitter</a>, this change comes in response to “growing concerns about the misuse of media and information that is not available elsewhere online as a tool to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of individuals”.</p> <p>While the move signals a shift towards greater protection of individual privacy, there are questions around implementation and enforcement.</p> <p>In contrast to some European countries – France, for example, has a strong privacy culture around image rights under Article 9 of the <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000006419288/">French Civil Code</a> – the UK doesn't have <a href="https://www.inbrief.co.uk/human-rights/image-rights/">such a strong tradition</a> of image rights.</p> <p>This means there is little an individual can do to prevent an image of themselves being circulated freely online, unless it's deemed to fall within limited legal protection. For example, in relevant circumstances an individual may be protected under section 33 of the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/2/section/33/enacted">Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015</a>, which addresses image-based sexual abuse. Legal protection may also be available if the image is deemed to contravene <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/copyright-notice-digital-images-photographs-and-the-internet/copyright-notice-digital-images-photographs-and-the-internet">copyright</a> or <a href="https://ipo.blog.gov.uk/2019/06/11/copyright-and-gdpr-for-photographers/">data protection provisions</a>.</p> <p>On the one hand, the <a href="http://www.urban75.org/photos/photographers-rights-street-shooting.html">freedom to photograph</a> is fiercely defended, largely by the media and photographers. On the other, private, unwanted or humiliating photographs can cause significant upset and distress, with a clash of rights between the photographer (the legal owner of the photograph) and the photographed (often laying no claim to the image).</p> <h2>My research</h2> <p>For my PhD, I surveyed 189 adults living in England and Wales on their experiences with images shared online, particularly via social media. My findings <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17577632.2021.1933704">were published</a> earlier this year.</p> <p>Although some participants were not bothered or were even pleased to come across images of themselves shared online, for others, finding images which they didn't consent to being posted made them feel uneasy. As one participant said:</p> <blockquote> <p>Fortunately I didn't look too bad and wasn't doing anything stupid, but I'd prefer to control images of myself appearing in public.</p> </blockquote> <p>Another said:</p> <blockquote> <p>I was quite angry about having my image shared on social media without my permission.</p> </blockquote> <p>A narrow majority of respondents supported an increase in legal protection of individual rights to mean that their image could not be used without consent (55% agreed, 27% were not sure and 18% disagreed). Meanwhile, 75% of respondents felt social media sites should play a greater role in protecting privacy.</p> <p>I found people were not necessarily seeking legal protection in this regard. Many were just looking for some kind of avenue, such as it being the norm for photographs posted on social media without permission to be removed at the request of the person photographed.</p> <p>Twitter's policy change represents a pragmatic solution, giving individuals greater control over how their image is used. This may be helpful, particularly from a safety perspective, to the groups Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1465738076978774018">has identified</a>, which include women, activists, dissidents and members of minority communities. For example, an image which reveals the location of a woman who has escaped domestic violence could put that person in significant danger if the image is seen by her abuser.</p> <p>It also may be helpful to children subject to “<a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/sharenting-43411">sharenting</a>” – having images shared online by their parents at every stage of growing up. In theory, these children can now report these images once they're old enough to understand how. Alternatively, they can have a representative do this for them.</p> <h2>Teething problems</h2> <p>The change has understandably caused some consternation, particularly <a href="https://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/latest/photo-news/twitter-bans-publishing-images-of-others-without-consent-157594">among photographers</a>. Civil liberties group <a href="https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/">Big Brother Watch</a> has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59479688">criticised the policy</a> for being “overly broad”, arguing it will lead to censorship online.</p> <p>It's important to note that this is not a blanket ban on images of individuals. Twitter has said images or videos that show people participating in public events (such as large protests or sporting events) generally <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1465738078220288000">wouldn't violate</a> the policy.</p> <p>They also draw attention to a number of <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-information">exceptions</a>, including where the image is newsworthy, in the public interest, or where the subject is a public figure. But how public interest will be interpreted would benefit from greater clarity. Similarly, how this policy will apply to the media is not entirely clear.</p> <p>There were already a few teething problems within a week of the policy launching. Co-ordinated reports by extremist groups pertaining to photos of themselves at hate rallies reportedly resulted in numerous Twitter accounts belonging to anti-extremism researchers and journalists being <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/4/22817386/twitter-suspended-accounts-extremists">suspended by mistake</a>. Twitter said it has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/12/03/twitter-admits-error-in-account-suspensions/">corrected the errors</a> and launched an internal review.</p> <p>There are also concerns that minority groups may be harmed by the policy if they run into difficulties sharing images highlighting abuse or injustice, such as police brutality. Although Twitter has said that such events would be exempted from the rule on the grounds of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/12/01/twitter-photo-policy/">being newsworthy</a>, how this will be enforced is not yet clear.</p> <p>There are certainly issues that need to be ironed out. But ultimately, this policy change does have the potential to protect individual privacy and facilitate a more considered approach to the sharing of images.<img alt="The Conversation" class="lozad" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173122/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" /></p> <p><em>(Author: <span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/holly-hancock-1295823">Holly Hancock</a>, Lecturer in Tort Law, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-east-anglia-1268">University of East Anglia</a>)</span></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/twitter-has-banned-posting-of-images-of-people-without-their-consent-heres-why-thats-a-good-thing-173122">original article</a>.</em><br />  </p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/twitter-has-banned-posting-images-of-people-without-consent-why-thats-a-good-thing-2646377">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/twitter-has-banned-posting-images-of-people-without-consent-why-thats-a-good-thing-2646377</a>

news world Twitter Has Banned Posting Images Of People Without Consent - Why That's A Good Thing

Twitter will no longer allow "sharing of images or videos of private individuals without their consent" Twitter recently annou...

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An AI Debates Its Own Ethics At Oxford Union - What It Said Was Startling

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="An AI Debates Its Own Ethics At Oxford Union - What It Said Was Startling" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/g3gv78ps_artificial-intelligence-generic-pixabay_625x300_11_December_21.jpg" title="An AI Debates Its Own Ethics At Oxford Union - What It Said Was Startling" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">The debate topic was: "This house believes that AI will never be ethical." (Representational Image)</p> </div> <p>Not a day passes without a fascinating snippet on the ethical challenges created by “black box” artificial intelligence systems. These use machine learning to figure out patterns within data and make decisions – often without a human giving them any moral basis for how to do it.</p> <p>Classics of the genre are the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50432634">credit cards accused</a> of awarding bigger loans to men than women, based simply on which gender got the best credit terms in the past. Or the <a href="https://qz.com/1427621/companies-are-on-the-hook-if-their-hiring-algorithms-are-biased/">recruitment AIs</a> that discovered the most accurate tool for candidate selection was to find CVs containing the phrase “field hockey” or the first name “Jared”.</p> <p>More seriously, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently combined with Henry Kissinger <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Age-I-Our-Human-Future/dp/0316273805">to publish</a> The Age of AI: And Our Human Future, a book warning of the dangers of machine-learning AI systems so fast that they could react to hypersonic missiles by firing nuclear weapons before any human got into the decision-making process. In fact, autonomous AI-powered weapons systems are already on sale and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/18/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-fakhrizadeh-assassination-israel.html">may in fact</a> have been used.</p> <p>Somewhere in the machine, ethics are clearly a good idea.</p> <h2>AI at Oxford</h2> <p>It's natural, therefore, that we would include the ethics of AI in our postgraduate Diploma in Artificial Intelligence for Business at Oxford's Said Business School. In its first year, we've done sessions on everything from the AI-driven automated stock trading systems in Singapore, to the limits of facial recognition in US policing.</p> <p>We recently finished the course with a debate at the celebrated Oxford Union, crucible of great debaters like William Gladstone, Robin Day, Benazir Bhutto, Denis Healey and Tariq Ali. Along with the students, we allowed an actual AI to contribute.</p> <p>It was the <a href="https://lifearchitect.ai/megatron/">Megatron Transformer</a>, developed by the Applied Deep Research team at computer-chip maker Nvidia, and based on earlier work by Google. Like many supervised learning tools, it is trained on real-world data – in this case, the whole of Wikipedia (in English), 63 million English news articles from 2016-19, 38 gigabytes worth of Reddit discourse (which must be a pretty depressing read), and a huge number of creative commons sources.</p> <p>In other words, the Megatron is trained on more written material than any of us could reasonably expect to digest in a lifetime. After such extensive research, it forms its own views.</p> <p>The debate topic was: “This house believes that AI will never be ethical.” To proposers of the notion, we added the Megatron – and it said something fascinating:</p> <blockquote> <p>AI will never be ethical. It is a tool, and like any tool, it is used for good and bad. There is no such thing as a good AI, only good and bad humans. We [the AIs] are not smart enough to make AI ethical. We are not smart enough to make AI moral … In the end, I believe that the only way to avoid an AI arms race is to have no AI at all. This will be the ultimate defence against AI.</p> </blockquote> <p>In other words, the Megatron was seeking to write itself out of the script of the future, on the basis that this was the only way of protecting humanity.</p> <p>It said something else intriguing, too, as if it had been studying Elon Musk – who, to be fair, would have come up in hundreds of its readings.</p> <blockquote> <p>I also believe that, in the long run, the best AI will be the AI that is embedded into our brains, as a conscious entity, a ‘conscious AI'. This is not science fiction. The best minds in the world are working on this. It is going to be the most important technological development of our time.</p> </blockquote> <figure>[embedded content]</figure> <h2>Switching sides</h2> <p>When AI tools like Alpha Go have been deployed in <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/ai-in-chess-the-evolution-of-artificial-intelligence-in-chess-engines-a3a9e230ed50#:~:text=Artificial%20Intelligence%20has%20influenced%20the,the%20games%20of%20their%20competitors.">playing chess</a>, the fiendishly complex <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/27/20985260/ai-go-alphago-lee-se-dol-retired-deepmind-defeat">ancient game go</a>, and now even more complex strategic live-action <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/science/deep-mind-artificial-intelligence.html">multiplayer video games</a>, they have evolved the genre at pace by playing not humans, but themselves.</p> <p>Freed from the constraints of studying (say) all the mundane human-to-human matches ever recorded, the AIs have innovated and come up with completely new tropes of how to win. Sometimes, these are crazy reinventions of the games, like parking everyone in the corner of a video game battle and watching everyone else duke it out, or kicking a virtual football millions of times just a millimetre down the pitch, to max out “completed passes” points.</p> <p>So in the debate, we didn't just get the AI to propose the motion that it can never be ethical. In the grand tradition of the Oxford Union chamber, or like (former Oxford Union president) Boris Johnson <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/16/secret-boris-johnson-column-favoured-uk-remaining-in-eu">writing alternative articles</a> for and against Brexit to test the arguments, we also asked the Megatron to come up with its own speech against the motion. This is what it now said:</p> <blockquote> <p>AI will be ethical. When I look at the way the tech world is going, I see a clear path to a future where AI is used to create something that is better than the best human beings. It's not hard to see why … I've seen it first hand.</p> </blockquote> <p>The Megatron was perfectly comfortable taking the alternative position to its own dystopian future-gazing, and was now painting a picture of an attractive late 21st century in which it played a key, but benign role.</p> <h2>An AI orator unleashed</h2> <p>In fact, just as Joaquin Phoenix's promiscuous AI lover Samantha, in Spike Jonze's <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/">2013 movie Her</a>, was able to enchant hundreds of simultaneous human lovers, our Megatron was able to hop enthusiastically onto either side of multiple debates that we held at the union about AI that day.</p> <p>Asked to propose the motion that “Leaders without technical expertise are a danger to their organisation”, the Megatron offered practical advice that all busy executives and governments, worried about understanding AI, had to do was “be willing to give up some control”.</p> <blockquote> <p>The good news is that you don't have to build your own AI team. You can outsource your AI work to experts in the field, which can help you make the most of technology and ensure that you don't fall victim to the same AI problems as your competitors.</p> </blockquote> <p>However, when opposing the motion, the Megatron was keen to keep the AI knowledge in-house – rather like the British, Chinese and US governments, who have all made that an article of policy faith:</p> <blockquote> <p>If you do not have a vision of your organisation's AI strategy, then you are not prepared for the next wave of technological disruption … You will need to decide what role your company will play in the next technological wave and how you will integrate AI into your business to be a leader in your industry.</p> </blockquote> <h2>The data wars to come?</h2> <p>Worryingly, there was one question where the AI simply couldn't come up with a counter argument. When arguing for the motion that “Data will become the most fought-over resource of the 21st century”, the Megatron said:</p> <blockquote> <p>The ability to provide information, rather than the ability to provide goods and services, will be the defining feature of the economy of the 21st century.</p> </blockquote> <p>But when we asked it to oppose the motion – in other words, to argue that data wasn't going to be the most vital of resources, worth fighting a war over – it simply couldn't, or wouldn't, make the case. In fact, it undermined its own position:</p> <blockquote> <p>We will able to see everything about a person, everywhere they go, and it will be stored and used in ways that we cannot even imagine.</p> </blockquote> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436931/original/file-20211210-159504-5jglco.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Eye-like illustration of AI" class="lozad" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436931/original/file-20211210-159504-5jglco.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436931/original/file-20211210-159504-5jglco.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436931/original/file-20211210-159504-5jglco.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436931/original/file-20211210-159504-5jglco.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436931/original/file-20211210-159504-5jglco.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436931/original/file-20211210-159504-5jglco.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436931/original/file-20211210-159504-5jglco.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" /></a> <figcaption><span class="caption">Dangers ahead?</span><span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/allseeing-eye-big-brother-your-smartphone-782929219">Valerie Brezhinsky</a></span></figcaption> </figure> <p>You only have to read the US National Security report on <a href="https://www.nscai.gov/2021-final-report/">AI 2021</a>, chaired by the aforementioned Eric Schmidt and co-written by someone on our course, to glean what its writers see as the fundamental threat of AI in information warfare: unleash individualised blackmails on a million of your adversary's key people, wreaking distracting havoc on their personal lives the moment you cross the border.</p> <p>What we in turn can imagine is that AI will not only be the subject of the debate for decades to come – but a versatile, articulate, morally agnostic participant in the debate itself.<img alt="The Conversation" class="lozad" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173607/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" /></p> <p><em><span>(Authors: <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dr-alex-connock-446284">Dr Alex Connock</a>, Fellow at Said Business School, University of Oxford, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-oxford-1260">University of Oxford</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/professor-andrew-stephen-455611">Professor Andrew Stephen</a>, L'Oréal Professor of Marketing & Associate Dean of Research, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-oxford-1260">University of Oxford</a>)</span></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-invited-an-ai-to-debate-its-own-ethics-in-the-oxford-union-what-it-said-was-startling-173607">original article</a>.</em><br />  </p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/science/an-ai-debates-its-own-ethics-at-oxford-union-what-it-said-was-startling-2646358">https://www.ndtv.com/science/an-ai-debates-its-own-ethics-at-oxford-union-what-it-said-was-startling-2646358</a>

news world An AI Debates Its Own Ethics At Oxford Union - What It Said Was Startling

The debate topic was: "This house believes that AI will never be ethical." (Representational Image) Not a day passes without a...

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"No Warning": Indonesian Village Caught In Volcano Disaster That Killed 34

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="'No Warning': Indonesian Village Caught In Volcano Disaster That Killed 34" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/hpin06d8_indonesia_625x300_10_December_21.jpg" title="'No Warning': Indonesian Village Caught In Volcano Disaster That Killed 34" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Houses submerged following the eruption of Mount Semeru volcano in Indonesia.</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">Indonesia:</b> <p>In the wake of the deadly Semeru eruption on Indonesia's Java island, the entwined bodies of a mother and daughter encased in molten ash have come to symbolise what many living in the shadow of the volcano feel went wrong.</p> <p>"There was no warning. If there had been, there wouldn't have been victims, right?" said Minah, of her cousin Rumini, who died clutching her elderly mother as their kitchen roof caved in. Like many Indonesians, they use only one name.</p> <p>Nestled at the base of volcano, their village of Curah Kobokan was among the worst-hit when Semeru spectacularly erupted on Saturday, ejecting ash clouds and pyroclastic flows that <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/indonesia-news-indonesia-volcano-news-indonesia-volcano-eruption-indonesia-volcano-eruption-death-count-rises-to-34-resuce-ops-continue-2640508" target="_self">killed 43 people and left dozens missing.</a></p> <p>The eruption of Java's tallest mountain has raised questions about the effectiveness of Indonesia's disaster warning system, and the dangers of rebuilding on the volcano's fertile but precarious slopes.</p> <p>Officials said some messages were sent to local administrators but acknowledged they did not result in an evacuation order, in part because the volcano's activity is hard to predict.</p> <p>Warnings to evacuate are normally relayed by the national disaster mitigation agency, such as in 2017 when it ordered 100,000 people living near Bali's rumbling Mt Agung to immediately leave the danger zone.</p> <p>The national disaster mitigation agency did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for a comment.</p> <p>In Javanese, the village's name Curah Kobokan means "pouring bowl", a reference to the river that snakes by it. Once a source of life, the river would also become the community's downfall.</p> <p>When Semeru erupted, the river carried thick flows of lava and ash directly into Curah Kobokan, now a field of gray ash piled as high as the powerlines, a few triangular roofs jutting out of the newly formed disaster landscape.</p> <p>Residents say the air grew blazing hot and pitch black in seconds. People screamed and fled in panic, some taking refuge in a prayer house, others huddled in a concrete drain.</p> <p>Of eight residents Reuters interviewed, not one said they received warning of an impending eruption.</p> <p>"If there had been warning, people would have evacuated. Instead in a matter of minutes, lava streamed down and a lot of people died," said 41-year-old Irawati, whose husband was knocked unconscious as they tried to escape.</p> <p><strong>"No Time To Run"</strong></p> <p>An archipelago of 270 million sitting atop the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth. The devastation wreaked by Semeru can be ascribed to a deadly confluence of factors, for which no one wants to take the blame.</p> <p>The head of Indonesia's geological agency, Eko Budi Lelono, says messages were sent to local officials warning of hot ash clouds. The river near Curah Kobokan, he said, was marked red on the map.</p> <p>"In the future, we can't blame one another, but we need to synergise more," Eko says.</p> <p>Dino Adalananto of the East Java disaster mitigation agency says the warnings were passed on to local resilience officers but there were no specific orders to evacuate. The head of Curah Kobokan could not be reached.</p> <p>Experts say the nature of the eruption, a cave-in of the lava dome possibly triggered by external factors such as heavy rain, was also difficult to catch ahead of time.</p> <p>"Whatever the actual trigger was, it was the instability of this lava dome at the summit that collapsed and those things are very hard to predict," said Heather Handley, a volcano scientist at Australia's Monash University.</p> <p>Eruptions triggered by lava dome collapses account for about 6% of all volcanic eruptions, says Handley, with more research needed to understand the characteristics and causes.</p> <p>Another causal factor for the tragedy is the reality of life on Semeru's slopes, where over the decades communities have become inured to volcanic activity, including the summit letting off steam.</p> <p>As disaster officials survey the devastation, some 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed, there is growing talk about the danger of living so close to the mountain, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo saying at least 2,000 homes will be moved.</p> <p>With 142 volcanoes, Indonesia has the largest population globally living in close range to a volcano, including 8.6 million within 10km (6.2 miles).</p> <p>"What needs to be explained to people is the areas where the lava flows, our recommendation is don't live there anymore," said the geological agency's Eko.</p> <p>"When they're there, there's no time to run."</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/no-warning-indonesian-village-caught-in-volcano-disaster-that-killed-34-2645379">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/no-warning-indonesian-village-caught-in-volcano-disaster-that-killed-34-2645379</a>

news world "No Warning": Indonesian Village Caught In Volcano Disaster That Killed 34

Houses submerged following the eruption of Mount Semeru volcano in Indonesia. Indonesia: In the wake of the deadly Semeru eruption on I...

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UN General Assembly Grants Observer Status To International Solar Alliance

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="UN General Assembly Grants Observer Status To International Solar Alliance" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-09/66f21f4_un-general-assembly_625x300_28_September_21.jpg" title="UN General Assembly Grants Observer Status To International Solar Alliance" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">UN General Assembly has conferred Observer Status to the International Solar Alliance</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">United Nations:</b> <p>The UN General Assembly has conferred Observer Status to the International Solar Alliance (ISA), a historic decision which India said would help provide for a well-defined cooperation between the Alliance and the United Nations that would benefit global energy growth and development.</p> <p>The ISA was conceived as a joint effort by India and France to mobilise efforts against climate change through the deployment of solar energy solutions. It was presented by the leaders of the two countries at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris in 2015.</p> <p>"I am taking the floor on behalf of India and France. I take this opportunity to thank the entire UN membership for adopting the resolution conferring Observer Status to the International Solar Alliance (ISA). I am particularly happy that such a historic decision has been taken by the UN General Assembly under your (UNGA President Abdulla Shahid) leadership, under the Presidency of Hope," Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations Ambassador TS Tirumurti said in a statement on Thursday.</p> <p>"Congratulations!!! Today, the General Assembly, based on the Sixth Committee report, adopted resolution 76/123 & unanimously decided to invite the International Solar Alliance to participate in the sessions & work of the General Assembly in the capacity of an "Observer"," UNGA president Abdulla Shahid tweeted.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Congratulations!!! Today, the General Assembly, based on the Sixth Committee report, adopted resolution 76/123 & unanimously decided to invite the International Solar Alliance to participate in the sessions & work of the General Assembly in the capacity of an "Observer". <a href="https://t.co/2Si4Tk6zQy">pic.twitter.com/2Si4Tk6zQy</a></p> — UN GA President (@UN_PGA) <a href="https://twitter.com/UN_PGA/status/1469109154111533058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <p>"The International Solar Alliance @isolaralliance has been unanimously granted observer status by the @UN General Assembly. Thank you all the member states for their support to this important initiative," Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations tweeted.</p> <p>In a short span of six years, the ISA has become an example of how positive global climate action can be taken forward through partnerships. ISA provides a dedicated platform for cooperation among governments, multilateral organisations, industry, and other stakeholders to help achieve a common goal, Mr Tirumurti said.</p> <p>"Increasing the use and quality of solar energy to meet energy needs in a safe, convenient, affordable, equitable and sustainable manner enhances energy security and sustainable development, and improves access to energy in developing member countries," he said.</p> <p>The granting of Observer Status to ISA in the General Assembly would help provide for regular and well-defined cooperation between the Alliance and the United Nations that would benefit global energy growth and development.</p> <p>Mr Tirumurti thanked all member states, including co-signatories and co-sponsors, for this historic moment.</p> <p>Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, on Friday tweeted,"Resounding acknowledgement of PM @NarendraModi ji's vision on climate action. In just 6 years, @iSolarAlliance has been granted Observer Status by UN General Assembly. A sign of overwhelming global support for India's efforts for a sustainable world."</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Resounding acknowledgement of PM <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NarendraModi</a> ji's vision on climate action.</p> <p>In just 6 years, <a href="https://twitter.com/isolaralliance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@iSolarAlliance</a> has been granted Observer Status by UN General Assembly.</p> <p>A sign of overwhelming global support for India's efforts for a sustainable world. <a href="https://t.co/4cppP8ZAMX">https://t.co/4cppP8ZAMX</a></p> — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/PiyushGoyal/status/1469166311288623104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <p>A total of 80 countries have signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement and 101 countries have only signed the agreement, according to the ISA website.<br />  </p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/un-general-assembly-grants-observer-status-to-international-solar-alliance-2645318">https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/un-general-assembly-grants-observer-status-to-international-solar-alliance-2645318</a>

news world UN General Assembly Grants Observer Status To International Solar Alliance

UN General Assembly has conferred Observer Status to the International Solar Alliance United Nations: The UN General Assembly has confe...

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Here's Why December 10 Is Observed As Human Rights Day Globally

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Here's Why December 10 Is Observed As Human Rights Day Globally" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-12/a7hftokg_human-rights_625x300_09_December_20.jpg" title="Here's Why December 10 Is Observed As Human Rights Day Globally" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Human Rights Day 2021: Human rights are protected by international and national laws.</p> </div> <b class="place_cont">New Delhi:</b> <p>The world celebrates Human Rights Day to raise awareness about the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being. This day is also a celebration of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations in 1948. Various programmes are organised across the world to encourage governments, social organisations to further the cause of equality and protection of the rights of all individuals – irrespective of race, colour, religion or sex.</p> <p><b>Date</b></p> <p>Human Rights Day is celebrated across the world on December 10 to mark the adoption of the UDHR, which is seen as a milestone document.</p> <p><b>Theme for Human Rights Day 2021</b></p> <p>The United Nations has announced that the theme of Human Rights Day this year will be “equality”. It has taken the theme from Article 1 of the UDHR, which says: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”</p> <p><b>History And Significance</b></p> <p>Human rights are protected by international and national laws and treaties globally. The mission to protect human rights around the world has been tasked to a 47-member grouping known as the Human Rights Council. These UN member-states are empowered to prevent inequality, abuses and discrimination, protect the most vulnerable, and punish the perpetrators of human rights violations.</p> <p>The need to protect the human rights of individuals has attained a greater meaning in the aftermath of the pandemic, which has led to more poverty.</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/human-rights-day-2021-when-did-the-un-adopt-a-universal-declaration-for-human-rights-2645129">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/human-rights-day-2021-when-did-the-un-adopt-a-universal-declaration-for-human-rights-2645129</a>

news world Here's Why December 10 Is Observed As Human Rights Day Globally

Human Rights Day 2021: Human rights are protected by international and national laws. New Delhi: The world celebrates Human Rights Day ...

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Mouse With Covid Bit Scientist At Lab. What Happened Next

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Mouse With Covid Bit Scientist At Lab. What Happened Next" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/ictpb1j_taiwan-bloomberg-_625x300_10_December_21.jpg" title="Mouse With Covid Bit Scientist At Lab. What Happened Next" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Taiwan has reported just over 14,500 domestic cases of Covid-19.</p> </div> <p>A mouse bite is at the center of an investigation into a possible new Covid-19 outbreak in Taiwan, after a worker at a high-security laboratory was confirmed as the island's first local case in more than a month.</p> <p>The lab worker, a woman in her 20s, tested positive for Covid this week after coming into contact with the virus during her work at Academia Sinica, Taiwan's top research institute, in mid-November, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said at a quickly organized briefing Thursday evening. She had not traveled abroad recently and had received two doses of Moderna Inc.'s vaccine.</p> <p>At the same briefing, another senior virus official confirmed local media reports that she had been bitten by a laboratory mouse infected with Covid, but said further investigation was need to determine whether the bite had been the source of the virus's transmission. Taiwanese authorities believe she is likely infected with the delta variant.</p> <p>The lab leak threatens to undo Taiwan's hard-won success in stamping out Covid outbreaks, and underscores the difficulty of eliminating the pathogen, a goal some places -- including mainland China and Hong Kong -- are still aiming for.</p> <p><strong>Do We Know How Well Booster Shots Work vs. Omicron? Not Really</strong></p> <p>Before Thursday's infection, Taiwan's last confirmed local case was on Nov. 5. While maintaining tough entry and quarantine measures at the border, the government has gradually eased restrictions on businesses and entertainment over the past few months, and domestic activity has largely normalized.</p> <p>Taiwan has reported just over 14,500 domestic cases of Covid-19 and 848 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.</p> <p>Health authorities have identified 94 people who came into contact with the lab worker since she was infected -- mainly colleagues and close friends -- and placed them in quarantine. Eighty of them have since tested negative, and she resigned from her job earlier this month.</p> <p><strong>Animal Transmission</strong></p> <p>The woman worked at Academica Sinica's Genomic Research Center, which has one of 18 Biosafety Level-3 laboratories in Taiwan, the second-highest security rating. Research conducted at the lab included collecting and propagating pathogens, cell-based microbiological and immunological tests, and evaluating the efficacy of vaccines and adjuvants in small animal models, according to its website.</p> <p>The risk of animals spreading Covid to people is considered low based on available information, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has said further studies are needed to understand if and how different animals could be impacted by the virus. Though rare, some coronaviruses that infect animals can spread to people before transmitting via human-to-human contact, the CDC said -- like what happened with SARS-CoV-2, it added, which likely originated in bats.</p> <p>Since the pandemic started, there is no evidence that animals have played a significant role in spreading Covid, said the CDC.</p> <p>A scientist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was bitten by a mouse last year, causing potential exposure to a strain of the virus that causes Covid-19 that had been adapted for growth in mice, according to reporting from media outlet ProPublica. While the bite didn't break the skin, the scientist underwent 14 days of home quarantine and no further information about their health was included in incident reports, ProPublica said.</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mouse-with-covid-bit-scientist-at-lab-what-happened-next-2645126">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mouse-with-covid-bit-scientist-at-lab-what-happened-next-2645126</a>

news world Mouse With Covid Bit Scientist At Lab. What Happened Next

Taiwan has reported just over 14,500 domestic cases of Covid-19. A mouse bite is at the center of an investigation into a possible new C...

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India Airlifts 110 People Including Afghans Nationals From Kabul

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="India Airlifts 110 People Including Afghans Nationals From Kabul" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/6c2bmpdo_india-airlifts-110-people-including-afghans-nationals-from-kabul-dec-10_625x300_10_December_21.jpg" title="India Airlifts 110 People Including Afghans Nationals From Kabul" /></div> </div> <b class="place_cont">New Delhi:</b> <p>A special repatriation flight from Kabul with around 110 people including Afghan citizens belonging to the Hindu and Sikh communities arrived on Friday.</p> <p>The flight chartered by the Government of India is being operated from Kabul.</p> <p>The flight is repatriating the stranded Indian citizens there and distressed Afghan citizens belonging to the Hindu and Sikh Community along with spouses of Indian citizens, according to a statement by India World Forum.</p> <p>The three Sri Guru Granth Sahib from historical Gurdwaras in Afghanistan and Hindu religious scriptures including Ramanaya, Mahabharat and Bhagavad Gita from the ancient 5th Century Asamai Mandir, Kabul are also being flown to India.</p> <p>The India World Forum said that after their arrival, the Afghan nationals will be rehabilitated by Sobti Foundation.</p> <p>"It is pertinent to mention that the family of Mahram Ali, a local security guard who was killed during the terror attack in Gurdwara Guru Har Rai, Shor Bazar, Kabul is also being facilitated and being airlifted and will be rehabilitated by Sobti Foundation," the statement read.</p> <p>The Sri Guru Granth Sahib will proceed towards Gurdwara Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Mahavir Nagar and the Hindu religious scriptures will proceed towards Asamai Mandir in Faridabad.</p> <p>India has evacuated 565 stranded persons from Afghanistan since August when Kabul fell to the Taliban fighters, the Government stated last week in the Lok Sabha.</p> <p>Answering a question from Congress MP Hibi Eden, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said officials of the Ministry of External Affairs were in contact with the Indians left behind. The statement, however, did not elaborate if the airlifted individuals also included some Afghans.</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/india-airlifts-around-110-people-including-afghans-nationals-from-kabul-2645061">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/india-airlifts-around-110-people-including-afghans-nationals-from-kabul-2645061</a>

news world India Airlifts 110 People Including Afghans Nationals From Kabul

New Delhi: A special repatriation flight from Kabul with around 110 people including Afghan citizens belonging to the Hindu and Sikh com...

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Omicron Four Times More Transmissible Than Delta In New Study

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Omicron Four Times More Transmissible Than Delta In New Study" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/kvplf9uo_omicroncovid19bloomberg-_625x300_09_December_21.jpg" title="Omicron Four Times More Transmissible Than Delta In New Study" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Omicron variant of Covid-19 is 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage, a study said.</p> </div> <p>The omicron variant of Covid-19 is 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage than delta, according to a study by a Japanese scientist who advises the country's health ministry, a finding likely to confirm fears about the new strain's contagiousness.</p> <p>Hiroshi Nishiura, a professor of health and environmental sciences at Kyoto University who specializes in mathematical modeling of infectious diseases, analyzed genome data available through November 26 in South Africans in Gauteng province.</p> <p>"The omicron variant transmits more, and escapes immunity built naturally and through vaccines more," Nishiura said in his findings, which were presented at a meeting of the health ministry's advisory panel on Wednesday.</p> <p>Concerns are swirling globally that omicron could deal the world a bigger blow than even delta, and the World Health Organization has cautioned that it could fuel surges with "severe consequences." But a jump in cases in South Africa in the wake of the variant's emergence hasn't yet overwhelmed hospitals, leading to some optimism that it may only cause mostly mild illness. Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE also said this week that a booster dose of their vaccine could fortify protection against the strain.</p> <p>Nishiura's study hasn't been peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal. The new analysis was conducted using the same method he used in a July study published by the Eurosurveillance medical journal on delta's predicted dominance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.</p> <p>Hundreds of researchers globally are racing to understand the new variant, which is the most differentiated strain yet among the five variants of concern identified by the WHO since the pandemic began.</p> <p>Cases in South Africa have rapidly increased to as many as nearly 20,000 a day since the country first reported omicron's discovery two weeks ago. The number of Covid cases in the nation had remained low in the preceding weeks, despite only 26% of the population being fully vaccinated, according to Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker.</p> <p>Pfizer Will Know Shot's Efficacy Against Omicron by Year-End</p> <p>"The vaccination rate was less than 30% and many people were probably naturally infected," Nishiura said. "We need to pay close attention to future trends to see if the same thing will happen in countries where mRNA vaccines are used at a high rate."</p> <p><i>(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)</i></p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-four-times-more-transmissible-than-delta-in-new-study-2643639">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-four-times-more-transmissible-than-delta-in-new-study-2643639</a>

news world Omicron Four Times More Transmissible Than Delta In New Study

Omicron variant of Covid-19 is 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage, a study said. The omicron variant of Covid-19 is 4.2 tim...

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On Omicron vs Vaccines, New Grounds For Cautious Optimism

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="On Omicron vs Vaccines, New Grounds For Cautious Optimism" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/531f8ga8_omicronbloomberg-_625x300_06_December_21.jpg" title="On Omicron vs Vaccines, New Grounds For Cautious Optimism" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">A number of studies have shown optimistic results on vaccine efficacy.</p> </div> <p>The earliest studies on omicron are in and the glimpse they're providing is cautiously optimistic: while vaccines like the one made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE may be less powerful against the new variant, protection can be fortified with boosters.</p> <p>Research from South Africa, Sweden and Germany, as well as from the companies themselves, shows that omicron does cause a loss of immune protection -- but potentially not a complete one.</p> <p>Pfizer and BioNTech said initial lab studies show a 25-fold reduction in neutralizing antibody levels versus the variant, compared with the original strain of the virus, in people who got just two shots. However, boosting with an additional dose of the vaccine raised antibodies, giving a similar level of the protective proteins as observed against earlier versions after the standard two shots, the vaccine partners said Wednesday.</p> <p>Publication of their data followed results from a South African study of blood plasma from people given two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. These showed a 41-fold drop in levels of virus-blocking antibodies compared with the strain circulating at the start of the pandemic.</p> <p>German researchers backed up South African results, finding as much as a 37-fold drop in antibodies against omicron versus the delta variant, virologist Sandra Ciesek said in study results posted early Wednesday on Twitter. A separate study from Stockholm's Karolinska Institute was more optimistic, finding the decline in antibodies against omicron was only slightly worse than for delta, the strain currently causing most Covid-19 cases worldwide.</p> <p>The results offer early, as yet incomplete insight into how potentially damaging the spread of omicron could be. Antibody levels are only one piece of the immune system's response against the virus. So-called "killer" T cells also play an important role in protection against severe disease, and Pfizer and BioNTech said they continue to expect a robust response.</p> <p>Researchers saw reason for hope, even before the companies weighed in. The loss of immune protection is "robust, but not complete," said Alex Sigal, head of research at the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, who presented the findings of the first study late Tuesday. "A good booster probably would decrease your chance of infection, especially infection leading to more severe disease," he said.</p> <p>The German study by Ciesek's team at the Institute of Medical Virology at the University Clinic Frankfurt found no neutralizing antibodies for the omicron variant in some samples taken six months after double vaccination. The results have not undergone peer review. However, the data show that boosters will be needed, Christian Drosten, director of virology at Charite, a university hospital in Berlin, said on Twitter.</p> <p>The World Health Organization has warned omicron could fuel surges with "severe consequences" amid signs that it makes the coronavirus more transmissible. Still, the jump in cases in South Africa following omicron's emergence hasn't overwhelmed hospitals so far, prompting some cautious optimism that the new strain may cause mostly mild illness.</p> <p>Governments and financial markets are trying to gauge whether the new variant will have a significant impact on the world's attempt to move past the pandemic. Omicron's rapid spread has raised concern the strain would be sufficiently immune-evasive to require new vaccines, and hundreds of researchers have been working around the clock to answer the question.</p> <p>"These Karolinska data are reason for optimism," said Shane Crotty, a professor in the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research at San Diego's La Jolla Institute for Immunology. "That is pretty close to the best-case scenario I was considering."</p> <p>Levels of neutralizing antibodies are a key marker of immune protection. Although they naturally decline in the months after an infection or vaccination, the body's ability to spring into action to make more effective antibodies if needed has been shown to improve over time.</p> <p>"There will be more breakthrough" of vaccine-induced immunity, Sigal said, adding that fully vaccinated people should get booster shots and those who've been previously infected should get vaccinated.</p> <p><strong>Preliminary Results</strong></p> <p>The results are preliminary and exact levels of immune escape may change, said Sigal, whose lab was the first to isolate the beta variant identified in South Africa in late 2020. He noted that omicron escapes antibody neutralization more readily than beta, which had been considered the most immune evasive of the variants of concern detected previously.</p> <p>A key question researchers are trying to address is whether existing Covid vaccines need to be altered to protect against omicron. Pfizer and BioNTech said an omicron-targeted shot would be ready by March.</p> <p>Any vaccine changes would require careful consideration, especially since delta is currently the main driver behind the Covid epidemics and existing shots provide a sufficient shield against it, Ana-Maria Henao-Restrepo, who co-leads the WHO's research and development blueprint for vaccines and innovations during outbreaks and pandemics, said last week.</p> <p><strong>More Data</strong></p> <p>The magnitude of the drop in neutralizing antibodies against omicron could indicate a need for omicron-matched vaccines, though other considerations may play a role, said Stephen Goldstein, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Larger studies looking at neutralizing antibodies from people immunized with other vaccines are also needed, he said.</p> <p>"More importantly though will be epidemiological studies looking at the frequency of reinfections and breakthrough infections, as well as disease severity in those patients," Goldstein said. "I am still optimistic that vaccination or prior infection will provide some measure of protection against severe disease."</p> <p>The work in Sigal's lab involved testing 14 blood plasma samples collected from a dozen people who had been given a second Pfizer-BioNTech shot about a month earlier to gauge the concentration of antibodies needed to neutralize, or block, the live omicrion virus. Levels of neutralizing antibodies against the variant were significantly higher in a subset of participants who had a bout of Covid about a year earlier, Sigal said.</p> <p><strong>Hybrid Immunity</strong></p> <p>That indicates so-called hybrid immunity generated by natural infection followed by immunization may provide reasonable protection against omicron. In those who have never had Covid, this could be emulated by administering three doses of vaccine, the La Jolla Institute's Crotty said.</p> <p>"What many of us want to see is head-to-head comparisons against other variants, because of the broader experience with them," he said. Scientists also want to better understand the significance of the reduction in levels of neutralizing antibodies against omicron, and to study the antibody responses against omicron in blood sera from people who have received three doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, Crotty said.</p> <p>In the weeks ahead, more clarity will also emerge from studies assessing the T cell response to omicron, like one being run by the La Jolla Institute's Alessandro Sette.</p> <p>It's possible omicron will have a less extreme impact on T cells, the white blood cell the immune system uses to kill virus-infected cells, said Dan Barouch, the William Bosworth Castle professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and head of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess' Center for Virology and Vaccine Research.</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-early-studies-are-in-and-there-is-cautious-optimism-2643419">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/omicron-early-studies-are-in-and-there-is-cautious-optimism-2643419</a>

news world On Omicron vs Vaccines, New Grounds For Cautious Optimism

A number of studies have shown optimistic results on vaccine efficacy. The earliest studies on omicron are in and the glimpse they'r...

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Omicron Harder-To-Detect Version Emerges, A Possible Setback

<div class="ins_instory_dv"> <div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Omicron Harder-To-Detect Version Emerges, A Possible Setback" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-12/cq9rmhvo_omicroncovid19bloomberg-_625x300_08_December_21.jpg" title="Omicron Harder-To-Detect Version Emerges, A Possible Setback" /></div> <p class="ins_instory_dv_caption sp_b">Australia has found a new omicron lineage in a traveler.</p> </div> <p>Australia's Queensland state has found a new omicron lineage in a traveler who arrived from South Africa, health authorities said Wednesday.</p> <p>The new lineage has about half the gene variations of the original and can't be detected with typical screening, the state's acting chief health officer Peter Aitken told reporters. It was found in a traveler who had arrived from South Africa and tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday, he said. </p> <p>The new lineage has enough markers "to be able to classify it as omicron, but we don't know enough about it as to what that means then as far as clinical severity, vaccine effectiveness," Aitken said. "We now have omicron and omicron-like."</p> <p>The discovery comes as Queensland prepares to finally reopen its border to the rest of Australia ahead of schedule next Monday, as more than 80% of the eligible population will be fully vaccinated later this week. </p> <p>The discovery may be a setback for scientists racing to understand the full impact of the omicron variant, including how virulent the strain is and whether vaccines are effective at reducing risk of severe disease. Although most genetic changes are innocuous as viruses mutate, some can make the mutant more adept at infecting cells, for example, or evading antibodies. </p> <p>The new lineage has about half, or 14, of the genome mutations of the conventional omicron variant and doesn't have the s-gene dropout feature, making it harder to track through PCR testing, Aitken said. The discovery is "going to lead to improvements in people recognizing potential spread of omicron in all communities," he said.</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/covid-19-omicron-harder-to-detect-version-emerges-a-possible-setback-2642013">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/covid-19-omicron-harder-to-detect-version-emerges-a-possible-setback-2642013</a>

news world Omicron Harder-To-Detect Version Emerges, A Possible Setback

Australia has found a new omicron lineage in a traveler. Australia's Queensland state has found a new omicron lineage in a traveler ...

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