Friday, July 22, 2022

Russian, European astronauts make rare joint spacewalk at ISS


The spacewalkers are seen on Thursday outside the International Space Station. They are working to relocate a robotic arm's external control panel and replace a protective window on the arm's camera unit. Photo courtesy NASA

July 21 (UPI) -- A Russian cosmonaut and European Space Agency engineer made a several-hour spacewalk at the International Space Station on Thursday to work on a robotic laboratory arm.

The pair began the spacewalk around 10 a.m. EDT and it was scheduled to last about six 

The objective of the mission is to continue outfitting the European robotic arm on the ISS Nauka laboratory.

Commander Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos and flight engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA are carrying out the spacewalk.


The objective of the mission is to continue outfitting the European robotic arm on the ISS Nauka laboratory. Commander Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos and flight engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA are carrying out the spacewalk. Photo courtesy NASA

NASA said the primary objective is to install platforms and workstation adapter hardware near the 37-foot-long Nauka manipulator system.

The spacewalkers will also relocate the arm's external control panel, replace a protective window on the arm's camera unit and extend a Strela telescoping boom to help facilitate future spacewalks, NASA said.

During the walk, the pair will also deploy 10 nano-satellites that will collect radio electronics.

RELATED Russian cosmonauts activate robotic arm on ISS during spacewalk

Artemyev wore a Russian spacesuit with red stripes and Cristoforetti was outfitted in a Russian suit with blue stripes.

NASA said Thursday's is the sixth spacewalk for Artemyev and the first for Cristoforetti, who's also the fourth European astronaut to perform a spacewalk in a Russian spacesuit.

Joint spacewalks involving Russian and ESA astronauts are uncommon, the last having occurred in 1999. Typically, Americans and Europeans or a pair of Russian cosmonauts typically carry out the spacewalks.
FOSSIL FISH EXTINCTION
Chinese paddlefish, last seen in 2003, now officially extinct due to human activity



July 21 (UPI) -- The Chinese paddlefish, a freshwater fish that has been known to live for as many as 100 years, has been officially ruled extinct and more than two dozen similar fish are also threatened, wildlife officials said Thursday.


© Provided by UPI News CBS News YouTube

The World Wild Fund for Nature announced the status changes in a report that was based on a 13-year sturgeon and paddlefish study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Sturgeon Specialist Group.

The study said that the Chinese paddlefish, which are closely related to sturgeons, were last seen almost 20 years ago and has died out due to human activity such as overfishing and dam-building.


"The assessment officially declares the extinction of the Chinese paddlefish, the extinction in the wild of the Yangtze sturgeon and the regional extinction of ship sturgeon in the Danube," the WWF said in a statement Thursday.The study also said almost two-thirds of sturgeon and paddlefish species are now critically endangered on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species.

"There's something to be said about humanity, when a species that's outlived the dinosaurs is pushed to the brink of extinction by humans who have, in comparison, existed for a mere blip in time," Beate Striebel-Greiter, WWF Lead of the Global Sturgeon Initiative, said in a statement.

"We call on countries to stop turning a blind eye to the extinction of sturgeon and implement the solutions they know can help save these iconic species.


Sturgeon are among the planet's largest freshwater fish and can grow to 23 feet and weigh up to 1.6 tons. The WWF said sturgeon have been around since the dinosaurs and have remained almost unchanged since.


"The world's failure to safeguard sturgeon species is an indictment of governments across the globe, who are failing to sustainably manage their rivers and live up to their commitments to conserve these iconic fish and halt the global loss of nature," Arne Ludwig, chair of the IUCN Sturgeon Specialist Group, said in a statement.

"These shocking -- but sadly not surprising -- assessments mean that sturgeon retain their unwanted title as the world's most threatened group of species."

We have a choice: thriving healthy rivers that nourish and sustain communities around the world or stick with today's failed policies -- leaving us with empty rivers that benefit neither people or nature."






Federal watchdog launches criminal investigation into missing Secret Service texts


July 21 (UPI) -- A federal watchdog has launched a criminal investigation into missing Secret Service texts from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, and told the Secret Service to stop any internal investigation it may be conducting.

"To ensure the integrity of our investigation, the USSS must not engage in any further investigative activities regarding the collection and preservation of the evidence referenced above," Department of Homeland Security deputy inspector general Gladys Ayala wrote in a letter to Secret Service Director James Murray on Wednesday.

"This includes immediately refraining from interviewing potential witnesses, collecting devices or taking any other action that would interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation."

According to NBC News, the criminal investigation could result in referral to federal prosecutors.

The Secret Service is facing a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee and a demand for information on the texts from the National Archives.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol tweeted Wednesday its investigators are assessing information provided by the Secret Service and are concerned "about a system migration that we have been told resulted in the erasure of Secret Service cell phone data."

Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson and vice chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney said in a joint statement that failing to retain the texts "may represent a possible violation of the Federal Records Act."

The Secret Service said it was working to determine whether any text messages had been lost and if they were recoverable after the inspector general told lawmakers that a number of text messages were erased as part of a device-replacement program.


RELATED Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Secret Service records

The Secret Service has handed over a text message conversation between former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and former Secret Service Uniformed Division Chief Thomas Sullivan to the Jan. 6 committee, CBS News reported. In the texts Sund asked for help and resources from the U.S. Secret Service.

Satellite images show dramatic water level change at Lake Mead


A satellite view of the water levels in Lake Mead in Nevada on July 3, 2022. 
Photo courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory

A satellite view of the water levels in Lake Mead in Nevada on July 2000. 
Photo courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory

July 21 (UPI) -- NASA on Thursday released new satellite images depicting the dramatic changes in the water levels of Lake Mead over the past two decades.

The photos show just how much water the Nevada lake has lost through repeated drought cycles from 2000 until July 3, 2022.



According to NASA, Lake Mead reaches maximum capacity when filled to about 1,220 feet, about 9.3 trillion gallons of water. In 2000, the reservoir was at about 1,215 feet and as of this month, it was at 1,043 feet, about 27% of its capacity.

The images show entire sections of the lake completely dried up, with faint "bathtub rings" visible in the surrounding land where the water used to be.

Lake Mead, a man-made reservoir first filled in 1937, is filled by the Colorado River. The lake provides drinking water and irrigation for millions of people in much of the western United States.

The stark contrast in the images highlights more than two decades of extreme drought and higher temperatures in the region, a result of climate change.

According to NASA, 74% of nine Western states are under drought conditions, including Colorado, where the headwaters of the Colorado River are located. A below-average snowpack in many locations has also worsened drought conditions


Bill to legalize cannabis nationwide introduced in Senate
By Pedro Oliveira Jr.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at the New York Cannabis Parade and Rally in Union Square in New York City on May 7. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

July 21 (UPI) -- Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is hoping to reignite the fire to legalize marijuana nationwide.

Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced Thursday the long-awaited Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act to allow states to set their own regulations on the pot industry.

"It's no longer a question of 'if cannabis should be legal,'" said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore,. who co-sponsored the bill alongside Schumer and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

"The states are moving ahead, and not only do the overwhelming majority of American people support legalization, they now live in a state where some form of cannabis is legal," Wyden added in a statement. "I'd ask my colleagues in the Senate to think long and hard about what keeping the federal government stuck in yesteryear means for public health and safety."

The bill, which comes more than 50 years since Congress first classified the substance as an illegal drug, has floated around Capitol Hill in draft form for more than a year.

On Thursday, Schumer said America's War on Drugs "has been a war on people, and particularly people of color."

"The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act will be a catalyst for change by removing cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances, protecting public health and safety, and expunging the criminal records of those with low-level cannabis offenses, providing millions with a new lease on life," Schumer said in a statement. "A majority of Americans now support legalizing cannabis, and Congress must act by working to end decades of over-criminalization. It is time to end the federal prohibition on cannabis."





















Yet Schumer faces an uphill battle, with strong opposition even from lawmakers representing states that have pro-cannabis laws, such as South Dakota and Montana.

"I oppose it," Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told Politico. "The people in Montana decided they want to have it legal in our state, and that's why I support the SAFE Banking Act as well -- it's the right thing to do -- but I don't support federal legalization."

Nineteen states allow recreational sales and 37 have medical marijuana programs.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on crime and terrorism, chaired by Booker, will hold a hearing to "examine decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level, focusing on necessary steps to address past harms."

Booker has long fought to decriminalize weed, proposing in 2017 legislation to end the federal ban on cannabis. He's vocally opposed such laws as having a disproportionate effect on minorities.

"They don't make our communities any safer -- instead they divert critical resources from fighting violent crimes, tear families apart, unfairly impact low-income communities and communities of color and waste billions in taxpayer dollars each year," Booker told NJ.com.

Booker has opposed leaner marijuana bills, such as the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, which would allow banks to offer services to cannabis corporations without any provisions for social justice reform.

"De-scheduling marijuana and applying that change retroactively to people currently serving time for marijuana offenses is a necessary step in correcting this unjust system," he told NJ.com.

Keeping social justice reform in the legislation remains a priority for Schumer, too.

"We'd certainly listen to some suggestions if that'll bring more people on board," Schumer told Politico. "That is not to say we're going to throw overboard things like expungement of records -- very important to us -- and other things like that, just cause some people don't like it."

Some in the cannabis industry are not as hopeful as Schumer.

"This comes after he promised and failed to release the bill in April, and after he put out a 'discussion draft' way back in July 2021," Todd Harrison, who heads the cannabis-focused investment firm CB1 Capital, said in a statement. "We see little chance that this bill moves forward as is."

Biden holds firm on refusal to open new Abu Akleh probe, despite push from Democrats

Official says US reviewed Israeli, Palestinian investigations for State Department inquiry into reporter’s killing, will not gather evidence or question those involved directly



Banners depicting slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh hang on a building overlooking the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the West Bank, on July 14, 2022. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)

The Biden administration will not open a new investigation into the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a senior US official told The Times of Israel on Thursday, despite efforts by some Democratic lawmakers to reopen the issue.

Washington announced earlier this month after reviewing evidence that it was not possible to definitively determine who killed the reporter, but said the Israeli army was likely responsible, and that there was no reason to believe the shooting was deliberate.

The July 4 announcement by the State Department came after US Security Coordinator in Jerusalem General Mike Fenzel reviewed both Israeli and Palestinian investigations, and ballistic experts from his office examined the bullet that killed Abu Akleh, which was too damaged to draw a definitive conclusion.

But the results did not satisfy over a dozen Democratic Congress members who argued that relying on Israeli and Palestinian investigations was not sufficient and that US authorities should conduct their own probe that would directly gather evidence and question those involved.

The request was delivered in a letter to US President Joe Biden by Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, and in another letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken from Senators Chris Van Hollen, Patrick Leahy, Chris Murphy and Dick Durbin.

Even stronger wording calling for a US investigation was used in legislation co-sponsored by 13 progressive Democrats earlier this month demanding that the FBI determine whether US weapons were used in Abu Akleh’s killing. A senior Israeli official briefing reporters ahead of Biden’s Mideast trip this month said both the Israeli soldiers and the Palestinian gunmen in the May 11 clashes during which the Al Jazeera reporter was killed were using American-made weapons.

The legislation directed at the FBI was introduced by Representative Andre Carson, who also led a letter in May, before the State Department announced its findings, calling for an independent US probe. That letter was signed by 57 House Democrats.

But senior administration official said Thursday that the White House was satisfied with Fenzel’s reliance on the Israeli and Palestinian investigations.

“I would not anticipate an independent US investigation,” he said.

Students carry a mock coffin as they hold a symbolic funeral for slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, at al-Azhar University in Mughraqa, central Gaza Strip, Monday, May 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)

The official reiterated the Biden administration’s call for Israel to conclude its own probe and release the findings as soon as possible.

The PA said its investigation proved that the Al Jazeera journalist was intentionally targeted and killed by the IDF during a raid in the northern West Bank Palestinian city of Jenin after a series of terror attacks against Israelis, including some carried out by Jenin residents. Israel flatly rejected the PA’s claim as a blatant lie and said there is not enough evidence to draw a definitive conclusion about who fired the fatal bullet.

Blinken called Abu Akleh’s family the day before Biden’s trip to Israel. The family’s request for a meeting with the president while he was in the Middle East was not granted, but Blinken invited the family to Washington.

Hundreds march through Warsaw to mark 80 years since Nazis liquidated Jewish ghetto


Poland’s chief rabbi compares operation that sent 260,00 to their deaths to mass displacement of Ukrainians during Russian invasion

By AFP
Today, 

People attend a March of Remembrance during ceremonies on July 22, 2022 marking the 80th anniversary of the start of Nazi Germany's mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the death camp of Treblinka. (Wojtek Radwanski/AFP)


WARSAW, Poland — Hundreds of people marched through Warsaw on Friday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Nazi liquidation of the Jewish ghetto during World War II, with the war in Ukraine giving the event fresh resonance.

The procession passed through the location where Jews were deported from the ghetto to the Treblinka death camp in central Poland in 1942, killing 260,000.

Marchers carried symbolic ribbons bearing the names of the deportees.

This year’s march was dedicated to the theme of victims of deportations and forced displacement, with millions of Ukrainians having fled their homes due to Russia’s invasion on February 24.

Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told the ceremony that the ghetto represented a “division” between its inmates, presented as evil, and the “good people” who lived outside it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “has tried once again to divide people. Every time I hear people speak about a division between good and bad, it’s a red flag for me,” he said.

Nazi Germany created the Warsaw ghetto — the biggest of its kind in World War II — in 1940 to hold almost half a million Jews during its occupation of Poland.

Residents were crammed into a small neighborhood where disease and starvation were rampant, before a decree announcing the start of the ghetto’s liquidation arrived on July 22, 1942.

In three months, 260,000 people — a quarter of Warsaw’s population — were deported to Treblinka and killed as part of the Holocaust.

Marking 80 years since the murder of Warsaw's Jews

In July 1942, the SS launched its operation to systematically exterminate the Jews of Warsaw. A march to commemorate this genocide is taking place in Poland on Friday.

The deportation was carried out with utmost cruelty

Life was hell for Jews in the Polish capital, Warsaw, 80 years ago. Ever since Nazi Germany had invaded Poland in September 1939, they had been subjected to constant persecution by the occupiers, and from November 1940 onward they were confined to the Warsaw Ghetto in the northwest of the city. Up to 450,000 men, women, and children lived crammed together behind the high walls of the ghetto. Around 100,000 people had died of hunger or disease, or been killed in summary executions.

Leaving the sealed-off district without permission was punishable by death, as was providing any kind of outside help to the inhabitants of the ghetto. The guards would even shoot little children who smuggled in food or coal. Emaciated corpses lying by the side of the road became part of daily life.

SS officer Hermann Höfle gave the order to kill

Almost a third of the population of the Polish capital was made up of Jews before World War II. They had been an integral part of the city on the Vistula for centuries. July 22, 1942, would mark a tragic turning point.

On this day, Adam Czerniakow, an engineer and local politician, whom the Nazis had forced to become the head of the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Council, wrote the following in his diary: "At 10 o'clock, Sturmbannführer Höfle appeared with his people. [ … ] We were told that all Jews, irrespective of sex and age — with certain exceptions — are to be deported to the East." Every day, Czerniakow was to prepare 6,000 people from the ghetto for deportation. The SS later increased that daily target to 10,000.

On July 23, Czerniakow wrote a farewell letter to his wife: "They are demanding that I kill the children of my people with my own hands. There is nothing for me to do but to die." He ended his life with a cyanide capsule — but his death did nothing to stop the extermination.

From November 1940, Jews were forced to move into the overcrowded Warsaw Ghetto, from which they were later deported

The gas chambers of Treblinka

The Nazis carried out the deportations with the utmost brutality, in order to nip any attempt at resistance in the bud. Each house was surrounded; its occupants were whipped and beaten as they were driven out into the courtyard, then taken to the so-called "Umschlagplatz" ("collection point") at the station.

People were taken to the Treblinka extermination camp in cattle trucks. After a long and miserable journey, they usually arrived only to be killed in the gas chambers that same day. The Germans disguised their operation, "Grossaktion" Warsaw, as "resettlement in the East," but many soon realized that they were being sent to their deaths.

Every day, thousands of Warsaw Jews were crammed into cattle trucks and taken to Treblinka. Most were gassed on arrival

Janusz Korczak died alongside his children

In early August, Janusz Korczak, a respected doctor, teacher and the director of an orphanage, arrived at the collection point along with the children in his care. He had had a chance to flee the ghetto, but had refused to abandon the children who had been entrusted to him. To allay their fears, he told them that they were going on a "trip to the countryside" — and went with them to the gas chamber, as did his colleague Stefania Wilczynska.

Adina Blady-Szwajgier, a pediatric nurse, chose a different path: She gave some of her young patients morphine, killing them before they could fall into the Nazis' hands.

Janusz Korczak, the head of the Jewish orphanage in Warsaw, chose to stay and die with the children in his care

According to German sources, more than 250,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka in just two months; Jewish sources say the number was closer to 300,000. Several thousand people who were too old or too sick to travel were taken to Warsaw's Jewish cemetery and shot.

Around 35,000 Jews were left alive, and sent to work in factories. Between 20,000 and 25,000 people escaped deportation, and continued to live "illegally" in what was left of the ghetto. In April 1943, those who remained were scheduled for deportation, which sparked the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in which 13,000 Jews were killed. Those who remained were sent to Treblinka and other camps. As an eyewitness wrote at the time: "Jewish Warsaw has ceased to exist." The biggest Jewish community in Europe had been erased.

People were driven out of their houses, often brutally, and rounded up for deportation

Globocnik's evil plan

The murder of the Warsaw Jews was, however, only part of the grand plan, code-named "Operation Reinhardt," to exterminate all Jews in German-occupied Poland.

As early as October 13, 1941, Heinrich Himmler had instructed Odilo Globocnik, the head of the SS and police in the Lublin region, to murder the Jews in his area of control, the south of occupied Poland. Globocnik immediately started to construct the first of several extermination camps — Belzec. Later, two more were built — Sobibor and Treblinka — where victims were gassed immediately on arrival. From 1943 onward, Majdanek near Lublin also served as an extermination camp.

The killing continued until November 1943, when these camps were dismantled and disguised, and the last remaining prisoners shot. The Holocaust researcher Stephan Lehnstaedt estimates that the total number of victims of Operation Reinhardt was at least 1.8 million, perhaps as many as two million. The Nazi extermination of European Jews, which later became known as the Holocaust, continued until 1945. A total of six million Jews were killed. Hundreds of thousands of Sinti and Roma were also murdered.

These train tracks led into the Treblinka extermination camp. The Nazis later tried to disguise their crimes

Almost no survivors of the forgotten camps

Only about 150 people in total survived Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. For many years, these extermination camps were almost forgotten; the camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau became the main symbol of the Holocaust. Only gradually did the Operation Reinhardt sites return to public consciousness, but it was not until 1988 that a memorial was erected at the former "Umschlagplatz" where the Warsaw Jews had been assembled for deportation.

This is where the march to commemorate the start of Operation Reinhardt will begin on July 22. From the station, it will progress to Nalewski Street, once the heart of Warsaw's Jewish quarter. Today, all that remains from the time of the ghetto and the deportation are the cobblestones and the disused tramlines.

This article was translated from German.

Staff of Nicaragua newspaper La Prensa newspaper flee abroad

La Prensa — one of Nicaragua's leading newspapers — says its staff have been forced to flee the country amid a targeted crackdown by President Daniel Ortega's government. However, the paper said its work would continue.

Printing materials for La Prensa were routinely blocked, ultimately forcing the paper to shelve its printed edition

The online edition of Nicaragua's oldest newspaper La Prensa on Thursday said its journalists, photographers and other  staff had left the country for fear of being jailed.

It follows a pre-election clampdown that saw dozens arrested last year, including La Prensa director Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro and seven would-be presidential candidates.

President Daniel Ortega's government has repeatedly moved against independent press outlets that are critical of the administration. It has also shut down more than 1,000 civil society organizations in the Central American nation.

What did La Prensa say?

La Prensa says the relocation was decided after Nicaraguan authorities arrested two of its employees working as drivers earlier this month. That followed raids on the homes of several journalists from the newspaper.

"The persecution by the Daniel Ortega regime intensified this month against the personnel of La Prensa newspaper and forced the outlet's personnel to flee the country," the newspaper wrote.

"Reporters, editors, photographers and other personnel were obliged to flee Nicaragua in an irregular manner in the past two weeks for their safety and freedom."

"This situation forced La Prensa to put its staff under guard and then take them out of the country," adding that the staff would continue to produce the digital version of the newspaper from exile.

Although members of the newspaper's staff were not in their homes over recent days, La Prensa said police and civilians had arrived repeatedly and harassed their families.

The paper said staff had to sneak across the border because they feared they would be arrested at formal border crossings. It did not say how many of its employees had left Nicaragua.

Forced to cease print edition

Founded in 1926, La Prensa is Nicaragua's oldest newspaper. After the government repeatedly held shipments of printing supplies, it was forced to stop publishing a print edition last year.

The paper's two drivers who were arrested earlier this month were reportedly taken to the infamous El Chipote prison, where many political and media figures are detained.

In April, a court sentenced La Prensa director Holmann Chamorro to nine years in prison for alleged money laundering. Defense lawyers say the charges were politically-motivated and that there is no evidence against their client.

Two of Holmann Chamorro's cousins, La Prensa directors Cristiana Chamorro — a political opponent of Ortega — and Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Barrios, are also imprisoned.

Since its crackdown, which began in 2018, Nicaragua's government has imprisoned nearly 190 people who human rights groups and the US State Department say are political prisoners.

Ortega's government claims his detained critics have conspired against the administration with backing from the United States.

Former Marxist guerilla Ortega won his fourth consecutive term in November in an election that US President Joe Biden dismissed as a sham.

rc/aw (AFP, AP)

Monkeypox primarily transmitted through sexual activity, says new study

A new study has shown 95% of monkeypox cases have been transmitted through sexual activity. US health officials are concerned that it could become an entrenched STD, like gonorrhea, herpes or HIV.



Monkeypox is in the endemic stage in some African nations.

New research published by the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that 95% percent of monkeypox cases have been transmitted through sexual activity.

The research was led by scientists at Queen Mary University of London. It looked at 528 confirmed infections in 16 countries between April 27 and June 24, 2022.

According to the study, 98% of infected people were gay or bisexual men, and 41% had HIV. The median age was 38.

Their median number of sex partners in the prior three months was five, and around a third were known to have visited sex-on-site venues such as sex parties or saunas within the previous month.

The study also showed monkeypox patients have been showing symptoms previously unrelated to the virus, such as single genital lesions and sores on the mouth or anus.

Many of these are similar to symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and could lead to misdiagnosis, said researchers.

"It is important to stress that monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection in the traditional sense — it can be acquired through any kind of close physical contact. However, our work suggests that most transmissions so far have been related to sexual activity mainly, but not exclusively, among men who have sex with men," said first author John Thornhill, in a statement.

Researchers stressed that monkeypox can also be spread by contact with respiratory droplets, clothing or other surfaces.

"Most cases were mild and self-limited, and there were no deaths. Although 13% of the persons were admitted to a hospital, no serious complications were reported in the majority of those admitted," said the researchers.

Monkeypox DNA was present in the semen of 29 out of 32 people tested, but it's still unclear whether semen is capable of transmission.
 

Watch video 05:02 COVID-19 and monkeypox: Similar but different


Monkeypox could become 'entrenched STD' in US

US health officials have also raised concerns that monkeypox is on the verge of becoming an entrenched STD, such as gonorrhea, herpes, or HIV, although there is no consensus among experts on the likely path of the disease.

More than 2,400 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the US as part of a global outbreak.

Authorities have limited information on the spread of the disease, and are worried about its spread during summer.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told the Associated Press that the US government's response is growing stronger every day and vaccine supplies will soon surge.

"I think we still have an opportunity to contain this," she said.

World Health Organization (WHO) experts are currently debating whether to classify the outbreak as a global health emergency.

Monkeypox is in the endemic stage in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals.

Before April 2022, monkeypox virus infection in humans was seldom reported outside Africa, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

tg/wmr (AFP, AP)

SCIENCE

Why are omicron variants of the coronavirus on the rise?

New research shows why exactly the omicron variant is so infectious. We take a look at the science behind COVID-19 variants, and how future vaccines will deal with them

Coronavirus mutations give rise to new variants

The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is quite versatile, with a large number of variants and subvariants. The omicron variant alone has more than 130 sublineages.

In Europe, the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are currently on the rise. Why are they spreading so fast, despite the fact that many people have already been vaccinated?

Omicron is better at evading the immune system

"New variants are traditionally defined as a new set of mutations that is believed to change how the virus functions. Typically, these variants have increased infection rates and increased disease severity," Krishna Mallela, professor in the department of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Colorado in the US, told DW.

Now scientists are beginning to understand why specific mutations cause variants to be more infectious, like omicron, or more deadly, like delta — and it comes down to how the coronavirus enters cells, and how our immune system fights it off.

A recent study from the US showed that omicron is more infectious because it can better evade our immune system.

After vaccination or a prior infection, antibodies circulate in your body and hunt for viruses. They detect coronavirus via its spike protein, which then signals for the virus to be neutralized.

The study shows that the mutations in omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.2 change the structure of the spike protein.

"The mutations are at the spots where antibodies bind to the spike protein. The mutations cause a different binding surface, which is less recognized by the antibodies. This leads to the evasion of antibody protection," Kamal Singh, an immunologist from University of Missouri in the US, told DW.

Essentially, your immune system is less good at hunting down and destroying omicron virus particles. This evasiveness is what caused the huge rise in infections around the world since omicron was first identified in South Arica in November 2021.

Why is delta more deadly?

With all the omicron news lately, it's easy to forget the variants that came before — like delta. Delta is the most virulent coronavirus variant, leading to more severe symptoms and increased mortality among infected patients. UK statistics show that risk of death with omicron is 67% lower than delta infection.

Research has shown that delta is particularly deadly because of mutations on the spike protein, protuberances on the surface of the virus. A new US-based study found that two mutations cause increased expression of the spike protein on the delta variant of the virus.

That's important because SARS-CoV-2 is like a thief trying to sneak into your house, or rather your cells — and it does this via spike proteins.

Its system of breaking into cells is via a protein expressed on the surface of cells in your body, called ACE2. This protein is like a door into your cells. Normally it's closed and requires a key to open it.

SARS-CoV-2 has managed to trick ACE2 into thinking it should be let into your cells. In essence, it's duplicated the keys to your house.

In biological terms, the keys are the spike proteins, which bind to ACE2. Once inside, the virus then replicates and spreads.

Coronavirus enters human cells via its spike proteins

For delta, more spike proteins mean greater ability to enter cells and reproduce, leading to higher quantities of coronavirus in the body.

Mallela, the study's lead author, explained how the mutations also affects the immune system's ability to neutralize the virus.

"Our study found delta reduces the spike protein binding to an important class of antibodies [in the human body]. This causes higher infectivity rates and worse symptoms," he said.

Future vaccines look to combat new variants

Coronavirus vaccines have been hugely successful, reducing mortality and severe symptoms worldwide. However, new variants are likely to appear in the coming years, and they could be more transmissible and deadly.

Scientists are working hard to be one step ahead, developing new coronavirus vaccines that train the immune system to deal with new variants. 

"There are about 220 vaccine candidates in clinical trials around the world," said Mallela. "These updated vaccines will allow us to generate an immune response that is better suited to tackle the variants that are in circulation at the time of vaccinating." 

And there's reason to be optimistic. For example, UK-based scientists recently showcased a promising new vaccine that better protects against newer coronavirus variants like omicron. The study authors used new nanoparticle technology to create a vaccine that can easily be adapted to target future variants.