22-10-2021

India Thursday scripted history by hitting the milestone of one billion
Covid-19 vaccinations in just nine months after it began its ambitious inoculation
drive.
Photo : AP
India hits 1 billion Covid
vaccination milestone
NEW DELHI : India Thursday scripted
history by hitting the milestone of one
billion Covid-19 vaccinations in just nine
months after it began its ambitious
inoculation drive, reports UNB.
India is the second country in the world to
achieve the feat in such "a short period of
time". China, however, touched the one
billion mark of Covid vaccinations in June.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the
milestone as "historic" and described it as
"the triumph of Indian science, enterprise
and collective spirit of 130 crore Indians".
"Congrats India on crossing 100 crore
New Zealand governor-general
favors outreach to marginalized
vaccinations. Gratitude to our doctors,
nurses and all those who worked to achieve
this feat," he said in the national capital.
According to the Indian Health Ministry,
around three-quarters of the country's
adults have had one dose of a Covid vaccine
while 30 percent are fully jabbed.
And the government aims to get all the
country's adults inoculated by this yearend.
India took 85 days to touch the 10-
crore vaccination mark, 45 more days to hit
the 20-crore mark and 29 more days to
reach the 30-crore mark, as per the
Ministry data.
Latvia goes back into lockdown
as Covid rate spikes
RIGA, Oct 21, 2021
(BSS/AFP) - Latvia plunged
back into lockdown on
Thursday with non-essential
shops closed and cinema,
theatres and hairdressers
shutting down for a month
in a bid to break the world's
worst Covid rate.
Latvia has seen 1,406
Covid infections per
100,000 inhabitants over
the last 14 days, the highest
per capita rate in the world
as of October 20, according
to an AFP calculation.
Its Baltic neighbours of
Lithuania and Estonia
followed close behind with
1,221 cases and 1,126 cases
respectively.
Only around half the
population in Latvia is fully
vaccinated-the fourth worst
vaccination rate in the
European Union after
Bulgaria, Romania and
Croatia.
"I apologise to those who
have already been
vaccinated, but the
restrictions will apply to
everyone," Prime Minister
Krisjanis Karins told
reporters when the
measures were approved on
Monday following a 10-hour
cabinet meeting.
"There are still too many
unvaccinated people who
get infected with Covid and
die in the hospital," he
added.
The lockdown is due to last
until November 15 and will
include a curfew between 8
pm and 5 am, as well as a
takeout-only policy for
restaurants.
Most people will be
required to work remotely.
Schools will also switch to
remote learning, though
children in kindergarten and
the first three elementary
grades will continue to
attend lessons in person.
Hospitals throughout the
country of 1.9 million people
have stopped treating people
with cancer and other
diseases, focusing only on
Covid patients requiring
intensive care.
Latvia earlier this month
declared a three-month state
of emergency to bolster
mask-wearing and
vaccinations.
A few days later, Latvian
President Egils Levits was
diagnosed with Covid-19 last
week despite being fully
vaccinated. Also this month,
a scientific advisory group
on Covid said it was no
longer going to work with
the government because its
advice during the summer
had been ignored.
"There must be demand
from the government for
academic expertise but our
current experience shows
that there is no such
demand from the cabinet
at all," the scientists said
in a statement.
frIDAY, OCTOber 22, 2021
7
S Korea prepares test of 1st
domestically made space rocket
SEOUL : South Korea was preparing to testlaunch
its first domestically produced space
rocket Thursday in what officials describe as
an important step in its pursuit of a satellite
launch program.
If weather and other conditions prevail, the
three-stage Nuri rocket was expected to be
launched at around 5 p.m. (0800 GMT) with
an aim to deliver a dummy payload - a 1.5-ton
block of stainless steel and aluminum - into
orbit 600 to 800 kilometers (372 to 497
miles) above Earth.
The launch was initially scheduled an hour
earlier but was delayed because engineers
needed more time to examine some valves
inside the rocket, South Korean Vice Science
Minister Yong Hong-taek told reporters. He
said no problems were immediately found
but the launch could still be moved depending
on wind and other conditions at the planned
time for blastoff.
Engineers had completed erecting the 47-
meter (154 foot) rocket Wednesday night on a
launch pad at the Naro Space Center, the
country's lone spaceport, on a small island off
its southern coast.
After relying on other countries to launch its
satellites since the early 1990s, South Korea is
now trying to become the 10th nation to send
a satellite into space with its own technology.
Officials say such an ability would be crucial
for the country's space ambitions, which
include plans for sending more advanced
communications satellites and acquiring its
own military intelligence satellites. The
country is also hoping to send a probe to the
moon by 2030.
Nuri is the country's first space launch
vehicle built entirely with domestic
technology. The three-stage rocket is powered
by five 75-ton class rocket engines placed in
its first and second stages.
Scientists and engineers at the Korea
Aerospace Institute plan to test Nuri further,
including conducting another launch with a
dummy device in May 2022, before trying
with a real satellite.
South Korea had previously launched a
space launch vehicle from the Naro spaceport
in 2013, which was a two-stage rocket built
mainly with Russian technology. That launch
came after years of delays and consecutive
failures - the rocket, named Naro, reached the
desired altitude during its first test in 2009
but failed to eject a satellite into orbit, and
then exploded shortly after takeoff during its
second test in 2010.
It wasn't clear how North Korea, which had
been accused of using its space launch
attempts in past years as a disguise for
developing long-range missile technology,
would react to Thursday's launch.
While pushing to expand its nuclear and
missile program, the North had shown
sensitivity about South Korea's increasing
defense spending and efforts to build more
powerful conventionally armed missiles.
In a speech to Pyongyang's rubber-stamp
parliament last month, North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un accused the U.S. and South
Korea of "destroying the stability and
balance" in the region with their allied
military activities and a U.S.-led "excessive
arms buildup" in the South.
While Nuri is powered by liquid propellants
that need to be fueled shortly before launch,
the South Koreans plan to develop a solid-fuel
space launch rocket by 2024, which possibly
could be prepared for launch more quickly
and also be more cost effective.
New Zealand's new governor-general said
Thursday she plans to reach out to people marginalized
by issues like homelessness, addiction
and discrimination.
Photo : AP
WELLINGTON : New
Zealand's new governorgeneral
said Thursday she
plans to reach out to people
marginalized by issues like
homelessness, addiction
and discrimination.
Cindy Kiro is the first
Indigenous woman
appointed to the role as the
representative of Queen
Elizabeth II in the South
Pacific nation. She took her
oath in both Maori and
English when she was
sworn in to a five-year term,
reports UNB.
She emphasized the need
to build community spirit
through outreach and said
she wants to celebrate
society's unsung heroes. "I
will connect with new
migrants and former
refugees and celebrate the
many diverse cultures and
religions gifted to our
nation by those who have
chosen to make New
Zealand their home," Kiro
said at the ceremony in
Parliament.
Kiro, 63, has had a long
career advocating for
children. She was given the
honorific Dame for her
services to the community
and says she hopes to
inspire Maori girls.
"We are living through a
period of immense
uncertainty and anxiety,"
Kiro said. "And I wish to
acknowledge those in
Auckland, and all around
the country, who continue
to face disruptions caused
by COVID-19."
Youth yearning for independence
fuel Western Sahara clashes
MAHBAS REGION : As a glowing sun sank behind the sandy
barrier that cuts across the disputed territory of Western
Sahara, Sidati Ahmed's battalion launched two missiles that
sizzled through the air and then followed with an artillery
attack, reports UNB.
Within minutes, a barrage of mortar shells flew in the
opposite direction, from Moroccan positions, landing with a
thick column of smoke in the barren desert of what is known
as Africa's last colony.
"Low-intensity hostilities," as a recent United Nations
report describes them, have raged for the past year along the
2,700-kilometer (1,700-mile) berm - a barrier second in
length only to the Great Wall of China that separates the part
of Western Sahara that Morocco rules from the sliver held by
the Polisario Front, which wants the territory to be
independent. Both sides claim the area in its entirety.
For nearly 30 years this swath of North African desert
about the size of Colorado - that sits on vast phosphate
deposits, faces rich fishing grounds and is believed to have
off-shore oil reserves - has existed in limbo, awaiting a
referendum that was supposed to let the local Sahrawi people
decide their future. Instead, as negotiations over who would
be allowed to vote dragged on, Morocco tightened its control
of the territory, which was a Spanish colony until 1975.
Last year, the Polisario Front announced that it would no
longer abide by the 1991 cease-fire that ended its 16-year
guerilla war with Morocco.