Six In The Morning Saturday 31 July 2021

 

What you need to know about the Delta variant if you're pregnant

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN

Updated 0402 GMT (1202 HKT) July 31, 2021

The Delta variant of Covid-19 is dominating cases worldwide, and health officials in some countries are sounding alarm over its impact on pregnant women.

Several of England's top health officials issued a joint statement on Friday urging pregnant women to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. They pointed to new data showing that 98% of expectant mothers admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 in the country since May were unvaccinated.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also previously said that infected, pregnant women face an increased risk of developing severe Covid-19 compared with non-pregnant women of a similar age.

Tibet and China clash over next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama

The spiritual leader has mused that he may return as a woman. But his succession has turned into a political battle

Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correspondent

Sat 31 Jul 2021 16.13 BST

A couple of years ago, during a meeting of Tibetan leaders in Dharamshala in India, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was asked about his reincarnation. Addressing the room of monks, religious teachers and Tibetan politicians, the Dalai Lama asked them to look into his eyes. “Do you think it’s time now?” he asked.

It was a meeting that would end with the Tibetan leaders agreeing that the issue of reincarnation was one that would be decided only by the Dalai Lama himself. But China, which annexed Tibet in 1951 and has retained tight control over the region ever since, has other ideas. It insists that the choice of the next Dalai Lama lies only with China, and have even enshrined this right into Chinese law.

The Dalai Lama, who recently turned 86, has insisted that discussions of his death are premature (according to his own visions, he will live to 113). But a power struggle for who will choose his reincarnation after he dies has already begun.

From COVID to malaria: The potential of mRNA vaccines

Messenger RNA are little helpers, and scientists have long studied their potential in medicine. COVID-19 gave them a chance to prove it. Could malaria be next?

Malaria vaccines have had a slow time of it, lately. Progress on getting a vaccine out into the community has been sluggish.

There is a vaccine called RTS,S which, it is said, protects against about a third of malaria infections. That's been out for a bit and is approved. 

Since this year (2021), there is a new vaccine called R21/Matrix-M, which has a reported efficacy of 75%.  But it has yet to be approved.

France sees third weekend of protests against obligatory 'health pass'

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to take to the streets across France on Saturday to protest against the Covid-19 health pass that is now obligatory for entrance to many public cultural venues.

Authorities estimated that some 150,000 demonstrators would take part in Saturday's demonstrations. Some 161,000 people gathered at similar protests last week and 110,000 took to the streets a week earlier.

More than 3,000 police and gendarmes have been mobilised to deal with the demonstrators and secure vulnerable landmarks. Protests are planned in more than 150 French cities, including Montpellier, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice and Nantes.

What’s behind far-right trend of using 3D tech to make guns?

There are mounting concerns over the proliferation of 3D-printed weapons amid growing arrests across Europe of people downloading and or trying to build their own guns.

By Hyder Abbasi

31 Jul 2021

“All you need is a weekend’s worth of time and $50 for the materials”.

That was the advice of Stephan Balliet, a German Neo-Nazi who has been sentenced to life in prison for killing two people after attempting to attack a synagogue in the city of Halle on October 9, 2019.

Balliet, 27, was referring to 3D-printed firearms. In the same post, on the now-defunct far-right messaging board, Meguca, Balliet wrote, just minutes before carrying out his attack: “Of course, there are dozens of other designs out there, so what’s special with mine? Simple, I prefer live testing.”

Interpreters make sure nothing gets lost in translation at Olympics

By STEPHEN WADE

Ask him how many languages he speaks, and Alexandre Ponomarev replies: “If you mean to make myself understood, I've lost count.”

Count 'em. Ponomarev speaks Russian, Ukranian, English, German, Spanish, French and Danish. And gets by in Swedish, Portuguese, Italian and Norwegian.

Ahh, but how about your Japanese?

“Muzukashi,” replied Ponomarev, which means “difficult” in Japanese, and can be interpreted to mean he doesn't speak much.

OK, nobody's perfect.