Over 13,000 S.African health workers contract coronavirus

By AFP - Jul 23,2020 - 

Staff shortages and a lack of personal protective equipment have been blamed for the infection increases (AFP photo)

JOHANNESBURG — Coronavirus has infected some 13,000 South African health workers and killed more than 100 of them, the health ministry said on Thursday, as the virus takes a toll on frontline caregivers.

South Africa holds the highest number of infections on the continent with 408,052 recorded cases and 5,940 deaths so far.

It is also the world's fifth worst-affected country in terms of diagnosed infections.

Health ministry spokesman Popo Maja told AFP that 13,174 health workers had become infected as of Tuesday, including 103 deaths and 6,394 people declared recovered.

South Africa's statistics were unveiled as the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that more than 10,000 health workers in 40 countries had been sickened by the virus.

"The growth we are seeing in COVID-19 cases in Africa is placing an ever-greater strain on health services across the continent," said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, at a news conference on Thursday.

"This has very real consequences for the individuals who work in them, and there is no more sobering example of this than the rising number of health worker infections," she said.

A combination of a recent spike in infections, staff shortages and a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been blamed for the infection increases.

A recent report by South Africa's National Institute for Occupational Health said hospital admissions of health workers were increasing weekly in line with the national trend of rising numbers of admissions.

The data revealed that by July 12, some 2.6 percent of COVID-19 hospital admissions in South Africa were healthcare workers.

Those infected included nurses, doctors, porters, administrators, paramedics and laboratory scientists.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told parliament earlier this month that "since the COVID-19 pandemic, PPE supply chains have become severely constrained".

WHO Africa chief Moeti said it was critical to ensure health workers "have the equipment, skills and information they need to keep themselves, their patients and colleagues safe".

Sub-Saharan Africa has recorded more than 750,000 coronavirus cases, including 15,000 deaths.

Ukraine anti-corruption activist's house torched 

By AFP - Jul 23,2020 

Vitaly Shabunin talks to media in front of his burnt house on Thursday (AFP photo)

GNIDYN, Ukraine — A prominent Ukrainian anti-corruption campaigner said on Thursday his house had been set on fire and condemned authorities for failing to protect activists.

Vitaly Shabunin, the head of the non-profit Anti-Corruption Action Centre, posted photos on Facebook of his one-storey house with damaged interiors and a collapsed roof.

The Anti-Corruption Action Centre said it believed the arson was "an assassination attempt" targeting Shabunin and his family.

Speaking to reporters in front of his house in the village of Gnidyn outside Kiev, Shabunin accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of failing to protect activists.

"He hasn't done anything about it so far," he said. "People are being maimed and killed. And no one is held responsible for this."

Former actor and comedian Zelensky came to power last year pledging sweeping political change and to root out corruption.

Nobody was hurt in the blaze that tore through Shabunin's house early Thursday, he said, adding that he, his wife and their children were not at home.

His parents managed to escape after a neighbour heard an explosion.

Shabunin said he did not know who had set the house on fire.

But Shabunin said he and his centre had a lot of powerful enemies, including Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Igor Kolomoisky, a controversial tycoon with ties to Zelensky.

Police have opened a criminal probe.

Matti Maasikas, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, said he was "very disturbed" and called on Kiev to investigate.

"Civil activists must feel safe to carry on their mission," he tweeted.

In November 2018, Ukrainian anti-corruption campaigner Kateryna Gandzyuk died following numerous surgeries after attackers poured about a litre of acid on her.

Gandzyuk's death turned the spotlight on dozens of assaults on anti-corruption campaigners in Ukraine.

Both the European Union and the United States have called the attacks on activists unacceptable and urged authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Pushing region, world into chaos

JORDAN TIMES

Home » Opinion » Editorial » Pushing region, world into chaos

Jul 22,2020 - Last updated at Jul 22,2020

In an interview this week with the British newspaper The Guardian, Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Omar Razzaz warned that the Israeli government’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank would be "ushering in a new apartheid state" that could be a radicalising force and further destabilise the region and the world, stressing that the annexation move would enshrine a South African-style apartheid system

In the interview, the Premier warned that anything short of the viable two-state solution is going to push the region and the world into chaos, challenging any Israeli official to come up with a better alternative than the two-state solution.

Reiterating Jordan’s unwavering position on the Palestinian issue that is based on the two-state solution and supporting the inalienable rights of the Palestinians, Razzaz clearly stated that Jordan opposes any steps that are not part of a comprehensive plan that leads to the envisioned two-state solution.

The Premier’s interview with the Guardian came to send a clear message to the world on where Jordan stands on the Palestinian issue as the official position of the Kingdom in this respect has become only too clear to the world. A position that staunchly propagates the two-state solution as the sole viable, just, sustainable and practical formula for the Palestinian case, excluding the one-state solution as solution that cannot be even thought of.

At a time when the entire world is reeling under the grip of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, Jordan continued to champion the Palestinian issue and has been repeatedly sending messages to the world and exerting its utmost efforts so the world does not lose sight of the core issue in the Middle East. In fact, Jordan has not ceased challenging unilateral Israeli actions in international fora and continued spearheading a slew of efforts and meetings with agendas topped by the peace process.

The Kingdom has not retreated one inch from its pursuit of Middle East peace based on the two-state solution, which guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the June 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital, living securely and peacefully alongside an Israeli state in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.

Jordan’s unwavering and principled position in this regard remains clear; the two-state solution, which is supported by the EU and world powers, and anything short of that solution would only exacerbate tensions in a volatile region that has already been navigating tumultuous waters.

Peace and stability in the world can sprout solid roots only when there is peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis based on the two-state solution and Israel’s illegal, rejected and condemned plans to annex Palestinian territories do not serve regional or global peace and stability.

http://jordantimes.com/opinion/editorial/pushing-region-world-chaos

Rivian to begin deliveries of electric pickup truck in June 2021

 July 24, 2020



Image Credits: SOPA Images (opens in a new window)/ Getty Images

Rivian has started to run a pilot production line at its factory in Normal, Illinois, as the electric vehicle startup prepares to bring its pickup truck and SUV to market in summer 2021.

In an email sent to prospective customers, Rivian said deliveries of its R1T electric pickup truck will begin in June 2021. Deliveries of the R1S electric SUV will start in August 2021.

Rivian said in May that deliveries of the R1T and R1S would be pushed to 2021. It wasn’t clear — until today’s email — exactly when deliveries would begin.


Running a pilot production line is a critical step necessary to root out potential problems ahead of a full production launch. The two vehicles were supposed to come to market at the end of 2020. That timeline was extended to 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Rivian to suspend construction work on the factory, a former Mitsubishi plant that the company acquired in 2017. The factory was where Mitsubishi in a joint venture with Chrysler Corporation called Diamond-Star Motors produced the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Plymouth Laser and Dodge Avenger, among others.

The factory will produce its R1T and R1S electric vehicles for consumers, as well as 100,000 delivery vans for Amazon. Rivian has said it is still on track to begin deliveries of electric vans built for Amazon in early 2021. About 10,000 of these electric vans will be on the road as early as 2022, and all 100,000 vehicles will be on the road by 2030, Amazon previously said.

Garmin global outage caused by ransomware attack, sources say
•July 25, 2020




Image Credits: Garmin / TechCrunch (screenshot()


An ongoing global outage at sport and fitness tech giant Garmin was caused by a ransomware attack, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the incident.


The incident began late Wednesday and continued through the weekend, causing disruption to the company’s online services for millions of users, including Garmin Connect, which syncs user activity and data to the cloud and other devices. The attack also took down flyGarmin, its aviation navigation and route-planning service.


Portions of Garmin’s website were also offline at the time of writing.


Garmin has said little about the incident so far. A banner on its website reads: “We are currently experiencing an outage that affects Garmin.com and Garmin Connect. This outage also affects our call centers, and we are currently unable to receive any calls, emails or online chats. We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and apologize for this inconvenience.”


In a brief update on Saturday, Garmin said it had “no indication that this outage has affected your data, including activity, payment or other personal information.”


The two sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak to the press, told TechCrunch that Garmin was trying to bring its network back online after the ransomware attack. One of the sources confirmed that the WastedLocker ransomware was to blame for the outage.


One other news outlet appeared to confirm that the outage was caused by WastedLocker.






Garmin’s online services have been down for days. The cause is believed to be ransomware, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the incident. (Screenshot: TechCrunch)

WastedLocker is a new kind of ransomware, detailed by security researchers at Malwarebytes in May, operated by a hacker group known as Evil Corp. Like other file-encrypting malware, WastedLocker infects computers, and locks the user’s files in exchange for a ransom, typically demanded in cryptocurrency.
Malwarebytes said that WastedLocker does not yet appear to have the capability to steal or exfiltrate data before encrypting the victim’s files, unlike other, newer ransomware strains. That means companies with backups may be able to escape paying the ransom. But companies without backups have faced ransom demands as much as $10 million.


The FBI has also long discouraged victims from paying ransoms related to malware attacks.


Evil Corp has a long history of malware and ransomware attacks. The group, allegedly led by a Russian national Maksim Yakubets, is known to have used Dridex, a powerful password-stealing malware that was used to steal more than $100 million from hundreds of banks over the past decade. Later, Dridex was also used as a way to deliver ransomware.

Yakubets, who remains at large, was indicted by the Justice Department last year for his alleged part in the group’s “unimaginable” amount of cybercrime during the past decade, according to U.S. prosecutors.


The Treasury also imposed sanctions on Evil Corp, including Yakubets and two other alleged members, for their involvement in the decade-long hacking campaign.


By imposing sanctions, it’s near-impossible for U.S.-based companies to pay the ransom — even if they wanted to — as U.S. nationals are “generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them,” per a Treasury statement.


Brett Callow, a threat analyst and ransomware expert at security firm Emsisoft, said those sanctions make it “especially complicated” for U.S.-based companies dealing with WastedLocker infections.


“WastedLocker has been attributed by some security companies to Evil Corp, and the known members of Evil Corp — which purportedly has loose connections to the Russian government — have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury,” said Callow. “As a result of those sanctions, U.S persons are generally prohibited from transacting with those known members. This would seem to create a legal minefield for any company which may be considering paying a WastedLocker ransom,” he said.


Efforts to contact the alleged hackers were unsuccessful. The group uses different email addresses in each ransom note. We sent an email to two known email addresses associated with a previous WastedLocker incident, but did not hear back.


A Garmin spokesperson could not be reached for comment by phone or email on Saturday. (Garmin’s email servers have been down since the start of the incident.) Messages sent over Twitter were also not returned. We’ll update if we hear back.

Eating Pickled Capers May Help Improve Brain and Heart Health

CAPERS ARE USED IN STEAK TARTAR 

Jul 16, 2020 by News Staff / Source

A duo of researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine has discovered that a compound commonly found in pickled capers, which are the immature flower buds of the caper bush (Capparis spinosa), can directly regulate proteins required for bodily processes such as the heartbeat, thought, muscular contraction, and normal functioning of the thyroid, pancreas and gastrointestinal tract.

Pickled capers were found to activate KCNQ channels important for normal human brain and heart activity. Image credit: Bo Abbott.

Archaeological evidence for human caper consumption dates back as far as Mesolithic soil deposits in Syria thought to be more than 10,000 years old, and Stone Age cave dwellings in the Greek Peloponnesian peninsula and Israel.

Capers have traditional been used as folk medicine for hundreds if not thousands of years and are in current use or study for their anti-helminthic, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory properties and possible circulatory and gastrointestinal benefits.

Pickled capers are used throughout the world for a variety of culinary purposes. In the U.S. they are often added for flavoring to smoked salmon, pasta and other dishes.

They are the richest known natural source of a bioflavonoid called quercetin, with a maximum reported concentration of 520 mg/100 g for canned capers, compared to a maximum of 323 mg/100 g quercetin for raw capers.

In the new study, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine’s Professor Geoffrey Abbott and graduate student Kaitlyn Redford found that quercetin modulates potassium ion channels in the KCNQ gene family.

These channels are highly influential in human health and their dysfunction is linked to several common human diseases, including diabetes, cardiac arrhythmia, and epilepsy.

The study revealed that quercetin modulates the KCNQ channels by directly regulating how they sense electrical activity in the cell, suggesting a previously unexpected mechanism for the therapeutic properties of capers.

The mechanism may extend to other quercetin-rich foods in our diet, and quercetin-based nutritional supplements.

“Now that we understand how quercetin controls KCNQ channels, future medicinal chemistry studies can be pursued to create and optimize quercetin-related small molecules for potential use as therapeutic drugs,” Professor Abbott said.

“Increasing the activity of KCNQ channels in different parts of the body is potentially highly beneficial,” he added.

“Synthetic drugs that do this have been used to treat epilepsy and show promise in preventing abnormal heart rhythms.”

The study was published online July 8, 2020 in the journal Communications Biology.

_____

K.E. Redford & G.W. Abbott. 2020. The ubiquitous flavonoid quercetin is an atypical KCNQ potassium channel activator. Commun Biol 3, 356; doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-1089-8

AS ABOVE SO BELOW

Study: South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly is a Recurring Feature

Jul 22, 2020 by News Staff / Source

Strange behavior of Earth’s magnetic field in the South Atlantic region isn’t a sign of the upcoming magnetic field reversal, according to new research from the University of Liverpool.

The magnetic field and electric currents in and around Earth generate complex forces that have immeasurable impact on every day life. The field can be thought of as a huge bubble, protecting us from cosmic radiation and charged particles that bombard Earth in solar winds. Image credit: ESA / ATG Medialab.

Earth’s magnetic field is a complex and dynamic force that protects us from cosmic radiation and charged particles from the Sun.

It is largely generated by an ocean of superheated, swirling liquid iron that makes up the outer core around 3,000 km (1,864 miles) beneath our feet.

Acting as a spinning conductor in a bicycle dynamo, it creates electrical currents, which in turn, generate our continuously changing electromagnetic field.

This field is far from static and varies both in strength and direction. Over the last 200 years, it has lost around 9% of its strength on a global average.

A large region of reduced magnetic intensity has developed between Africa and South America and is known as the South Atlantic Anomaly.

From 1970 to 2020, the minimum field strength in this area has dropped from around 24,000 to 22,000 nanoteslas (nT), while at the same time the area of the anomaly has grown and moved westward at a pace of around 20 km per year (12.4 miles per year).

In a new study, University of Liverpool Ph.D. student Yael Engbers and colleagues analyzed the record of the magnetic field which is preserved in igneous rocks from the island of Saint Helena, which lies in the midst of the South Atlantic Anomaly.

The geomagnetic records from the rocks covering 34 different volcanic eruptions that took place between 8 and 11 million years ago revealed that at these occurrences the direction of the magnetic field for Saint Helena often pointed far from the North Pole, just like it does today.

“Our study provides the first long term analysis of the magnetic field in this region dating back millions of years,” Engbers said.

“It reveals that the anomaly in the magnetic field in the South Atlantic is not an one-off — similar anomalies existed 8-11 million years ago.”

“This is the first time that the irregular behavior of the geomagnetic field in the South Atlantic region has been shown on such a long timescale,” she added.

“It suggests that the South Atlantic Anomaly is a recurring feature and probably not a sign of an impending reversal.”

“It also supports earlier studies that hint towards a link between the South Atlantic Anomaly and anomalous seismic features in the lowermost mantle and the outer core. This brings us closer to linking behavior of the geomagnetic field directly to features of the Earth’s interior.”

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

_____

Yael A. Engbers et al. Elevated paleomagnetic dispersion at Saint Helena suggests long-lived anomalous behavior in the South Atlantic. PNAS, published online July 20, 2020; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2001217117

WHO R U 

Giant Predatory Owls Once Lived in Ecuador

Jul 22, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An extinct species of giant owl that lived 40,000 years ago (Pleistocene epoch) and preyed on smaller owls has been identified from fossils found in the Cangagua Formation in the Chimborazo province of Ecuador.

Life reconstruction of Asio ecuadoriensis. Image credit: Sebastián Rozadilla.

Named Asio ecuadoriensis, the ancient bird was more than 70 cm (2.3 feet) tall and had a wingspan of over 1.5 m (4.9 feet).

It had longer and more robust legs than any other extant or extinct member of its genus Asio (typical or true owls).

“We think that the climate change that occurred about 10,000 years ago, when the Ice Age ended, was partly responsible for the extinction of these large predatory birds,” said co-author Dr. Federico Agnolin, a paleontologist with the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia, the Concejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, and the Fundación de Historia Natural ‘Félix de Azara.’

The fossilized bones of Asio ecuadoriensis were collected from a small cave site Dr. Agnolin and colleagues interpreted as a fossil owl burrow.

The paleontologists also found several specimens from three extant owl species (Glaucidium sp., Tyto furcata and Athene cunicularia) and skeletal remains of different mammals, including rabbits and rodents.

Size comparison between Asio ecuadoriensis and a human (left) and the preserved material of the ancient owl species (right). Image credit: Lo Coco et al, doi: 10.1007/s10336-020-01756-x.

“The fossil owl remains of Tyto, Athene and Glaucidium show breakage and weathering, typical of stomach acid-derived abrasion of owls,” they said.

“This indicates that, as occurs with mammals coming from the site, they would be prey items of the owl that is the owner of the burrow.”

“The large size of Asio ecuadoriensis, as well as the absence of acid-derived weathering of the bones, may constitute indirect evidence that this species is the owner of the burrow.”

“Asio ecuadoriensis is probably an owl-specialized predator,” they added.

“It is well known that owls usually prey on raptors, but predation on owls by owls is uncommon and remains poorly explored in the literature.”

“If correctly interpreted, the present contribution may constitute the first fossil evidence of owl being killed by owls.”

The team’s paper was published recently in the Journal of Ornithology.

_____

G.E. Lo Coco et al. 2020. Late Pleistocene owls (Aves, Strigiformes) from Ecuador, with the description of a new species. J Ornithol 161, 713-721; doi: 10.1007/s10336-020-01756-x

IMAGINE ALL THE PIGEON SHIT

Meet Tongoenas burleyi, Extinct Giant Pigeon from Tonga

Jul 23, 2020 by News Staff / Source

A new extinct genus and species of pigeon has been identified from fossils found on six islands (Foa, Lifuka, ‘Uiha, Ha‘afeva, Tongatapu, and ‘Eua) in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Tongoenas burleyi (right) likely featured the brightly colored plumage of other canopy-dwelling pigeons on the Pacific islands. On the left is the Kanaka pigeon (Caloenas canacorum), another large extinct Tongan species. Image credit: Danielle Byerley.

Tongoenas burleyi inhabited the Tongan islands for at least 60,000 years, but vanished within a century or two of human arrival around 2,850 years ago.

This canopy-dwelling species was about 51 cm (20 inches) long, not including the tail, weighed at least five times as much as the average city pigeon, and could fly.

“When I first found Tongoenas burleyi fossils in a cave on the Tongan island of ‘Eua, I was immediately impressed by their size,” said lead author Dr. David Steadman, curator of ornithology at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

“I said, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never seen a pigeon that big.’ It was clearly something different.”

“Once we began excavating charred and broken remains of Tongoenas burleyi at archaeological sites, we knew it was another human-caused extinction. Pigeons and doves just plain taste good,” he added.

Tongoenas burleyi co-evolved with fruit-bearing trees in the mango, guava and chinaberry families, acting as an essential forest cultivator by spreading seeds to new locations.

“Tongoenas burleyi was likely capable of swallowing fruit as big as a tennis ball,” Dr. Steadman said.

“Some of these trees have big, fleshy fruit, clearly adapted for a big pigeon to gulp whole and pass the seeds.”

“Of the fruit-eating pigeons, this bird is the largest and could have gulped bigger canopy fruit than any others. It takes co-evolution to the extreme.”

Dr. Steadman hypothesized Tongoenas burleyi featured the bright, even gaudy, plumage of other pigeons that live in treetops, where intense colors provide better camouflage than the muted browns and grays of pigeons that live on the ground.

“The absence of Tongoenas burleyi from the Tongan islands could threaten the long-term survival of local trees that depended on the pigeon as a seed transporter,” said co-author Oona Takano, a doctoral student at the University of New Mexico.

“Tongoenas burleyi provided an important service by moving seeds to other islands. The pigeon species on Tonga today are too small to eat large fruits, which imperils certain fruit trees.”

In their study, the researchers analyzed the features of the hindlimbs (femur, tibiotarsus, tarsometatarsus) of the Papuan-Oceanic pigeons and doves, dividing them into three groups: tree-dwelling species, ground-dwellers and those that live both on the ground and in trees.

“We dedicated the study to the memory of W. Arthur ‘Art’ Whistler, whose expertise in West Polynesian botany was unsurpassed. Whistler died from COVID-19 in April,” Dr. Steadman said.

“There wasn’t a plant on Fiji or Tonga that Art didn’t know, including all of the pigeon-dispersed fruits. He was a true plant nerd and complete salt of the Earth. He always made time for people.”

The study was published in the journal Zootaxa.

_____

David W. Steadman& Oona M. Takano. 2020. A new genus and species of pigeon (Aves, Columbidae) from the Kingdom of Tonga, with an evaluation of hindlimb osteology of columbids from Oceania. Zootaxa 4810 (3); doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4810.3.1

This article is based on text provided by the Florida Museum of Natural History.