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Harry and Meghan are giving up royal titles and state funding. Here's what that means

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Harry and Meghan are giving up royal titles and state funding. Here's what that means

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20/01/2020
People were surprised when Megan and Harry had decided to step out of Royalty.

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meghan and harry are giving up royal titles and state funding. here's what that means - cnn

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Harry and Meghan are giving up royal titles and state funding. Here's what that means

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Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will give up their royal titles and eschew some state funding in a deal brokered to end a crisis that broke out after the couple announced they would step back from the royal family.

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Australia fires: A visual guide to the bushfire crisis

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Australia fires: A visual guide to the bushfire crisis

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31/01/2020
The new year began with not so good news after Australia had caught intense fires that affected almost 1.2 million hectares.

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Australia fires: A visual guide to the bushfire crisis

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How Australia has been battling bushfires during a devastating fire season.

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More than 220,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US

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More than 220,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US

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8,206,525 cases of Covid 19 were reported last week in the US and at least 220,079 people had died.

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Updated 12:03 a.m. ET, October 20, 2020

Long-term heart damage is likely in some survivors of Covid-19, a team of doctors reported Monday.

The doctors found that Covid-19 dysregulates the way the blood clots, and damages the lungs and their ability to process fresh oxygen into the blood, they wrote in a review for the American College of Cardiology.

Patients who have had to undergo ventilation -- and the medicated sedation that goes along with that --- are most in danger, wrote Dr. Sean Pinney of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and his colleagues.

The doctors noted that about a third of survivors of the closely-related severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus in 2003-2004 had persistently abnormal lung function a year after illness, with lower exercise capacity -- and Covid-19 appears to damage the heart even more.

A second study noted a kind of damage to the heart known as myocardial injury in about a quarter of coronavirus patients.

A third study in the same journal noted that patients with excess body fat, uncontrolled blood sugar, high blood pressure and high cholesterol face much higher risks of complications from coronavirus. Many Americans have all four problems.

The head of Lebanon's powerful General Security Directorate, who spent the past several days meeting with senior US national security officials, has tested positive for Covid-19 in Washington, his office announced Monday.

Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim took a coronavirus test in Washington, the post on Facebook said, which came back positive. Ibrahim was due to have meetings in Paris after Washington, which have been canceled.

Ibrahim has been part of the ongoing talks between the White House and the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad over US citizens who are believed to be in regime custody. During his visit to Washington, Ibrahim met with National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, who has previously tested positive for Covid-19.

Ibrahim's diagnosis comes amid news that two senior Trump administration officials met with Syrian regime officials in Damascus this fall in an effort to secure the release of American prisoners believed to be held by the Syrian dictator, two administration officials confirmed to CNN.

Ibrahim spoke with the UAE's The National news service during his trip, which reported he was also due to meet with the CIA Director Gina Haspel and State Department Undersecretary for Political Affairs David Hale.

The CIA would not comment on whether Haspel met with Ibrahim but spokesman Tim Barrett told CNN: "Director Haspel continues to test negative and follow CDC guidelines."

Ibrahim also met with State Department officials, sources told CNN. The State Department has not replied to CNN's inquiries.

Lombardy, Italy's hardest-hit region during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year, will enact a curfew in order to curb a new rise in cases.

Under the curfew -- which begins Thursday -- nearly all activities and travel in public must cease from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Regional authorities also agreed to close shopping centers on weekends, except for stores selling food and basic necessities, to prevent more opportunities for the virus to spread.

Lombardy is home to the city of Milan and a population of more than 10 million. The novel coronavirus took a staggering toll on the region in its earliest days, leading many to call it the pandemic's epicenter in Europe. The elderly population was particularly hard-hit.

Details of exact exemptions, how long the curfew will last and how it will be enforced will be announced in an upcoming regional decree. Under the latest government decree, local administrations have the power to enact lockdowns and curfews for their area.

Iran reported 337 new Covid-19 related deaths on Monday, the country's Ministry of Health said. It was the highest number of fatalities the nation has seen in a single day since the pandemic began.

At least 30,712 people have now been killed in the country by the novel coronavirus, according to the ministry.

Authorities said 4,251 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Monday, bringing the national total to 534,631.

Travel restrictions to and from Tehran, the capital, have been imposed in order to stymie this latest wave of cases.

A wedding at a Hasidic Jewish synagogue that was expected to draw up to 10,000 people has been barred by a New York state order, according to officials.

A grandson of the grand rebbe (rabbi) of Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar in Brooklyn planned to get married Monday, according to a statement attributed to the synagogue which CNN received from the Satmar Wedding Committee.

After an investigation into the planned wedding, New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker on Friday signed a section 16 order barring the event, Beth Garvey, special counsel to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, confirmed at a press conference on Saturday.

"It was outside the target red, or orange or yellow cluster zone, but the information that our investigation revealed was that upwards of 10,000 individuals ... planned to attend," Garvey said.

Read more:

Argentina has topped 1 million total known cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, according to the country's health ministry.

Argentina is the fifth country to report more than 1 million known coronavirus cases, following the US, India, Brazil and Russia, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The health ministry reported 12,982 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing Argentina's total number of known cases to 1,002,662.

The country also reported 451 new fatalities from the virus, bringing the country's known coronavirus death toll to 26,716.

There are at least 8,206,525 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 220,079 people have died from the virus, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

So far on Monday, Johns Hopkins has recorded 51,931 new cases and 405 reported deaths.

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.

President Trump's attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, won't help the United States battle the coronavirus pandemic, said Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University School of Public Health.

It's "disturbing and "upsetting" to hear the President say such things, Jha told CNN's Jake Tapper.

"We're in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century and Dr. Fauci is America's most respected infectious disease expert for good reason," Jha said.

"He is the best there is and to attack him personally is very unfortunate and it is not going to help the country out," Jha added.

"I mean, right now we're heading into a difficult fall and winter. Attacking your best experts is not what you want to be doing if you're President of the United States."

It could also have dire health consequences, Jha said.

"Dr. Fauci isn't just somebody that the public respects. All of us in the medical field who study these things look up to him as the best there is," Jha noted.

"And so undermining him and undermining his message really makes it so much harder to control this virus, so much harder to control this pandemic. I think the President's doing a great disservice to Dr. Fauci, but really to the country."

Trump called Fauci a "disaster" and referred to him and other health experts as "idiots" in a campaign phone call on Monday.

Dr. Richard Besser, the former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on "Full Circle" if political leaders aren't working with scientists to pull the nation together in their coronavirus response, they're likely going to fail.

"The only way response works is when you have a unity of message between the political leaders and the science leaders because the science leaders are never going to be asking people to do things that are easy. They're asking people to change their lifestyle, to take action, to reduce the spread of an infectious agent and that requires sacrifice and when you don't have your political leaders pulling the nation together and making it a national effort, you're going to fail," he said.

"Infectious agents don't care what political party you support. They don't care where you live. They will infect everybody and anybody," he said.
Watch:

The race to get a Covid-19 vaccine has involved some of the largest vaccine clinical trials ever orchestrated, US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday.

"Obviously, we're all hoping that we'll see data as soon as possible," Azar said at a conference sponsored by the Milken Institute, a nonpartisan think tank founded by ex-banker Michael Milken.

"It is an amazing achievement for the President, for Operation Warp Speed, for our biopharmaceutical industry in the United States that we even have this in range," Azar said.

Under Operation Warp Speed, the US is producingmillions of vaccines currently. All six vaccine candidates that the US has invested in or contracted to buy are being manufactured at commercial scale right now, Azar said. He said he believes that there will be enough vaccines by the end of December to vaccinate the most vulnerable populations in the US. By the end of January, he believes there will be enough to vaccinate all seniors and health care workers and first responders.

"By the end of March, early April, we believe we will have enough vaccine produced to vaccinate anybody in the United States who wanted to get vaccinated," Azar said.

The AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccine trials are paused in the US, as is Eli Lilly's monoclonal antibody trial.

"The American people should feel very reassured, actually, by these developments. That shows we're putting patients at the center," Azar said. "It shows that we're playing by the book. It shows that the FDA is in the driver's seat."

Vaccine approvals will be determined by the career leadership at the FDA, Azar said.

The CIA would not comment on whether Haspel met with Ibrahim but spokesman Tim Barrett told CNN: "Director Haspel continues to test negative and follow CDC guidelines."

"It was outside the target red, or orange or yellow cluster zone, but the information that our investigation revealed was that upwards of 10,000 individuals ... planned to attend," Garvey said.

Read more:

"He is the best there is and to attack him personally is very unfortunate and it is not going to help the country out," Jha added.

"The only way response works is when you have a unity of message between the political leaders and the science leaders because the science leaders are never going to be asking people to do things that are easy. They're asking people to change their lifestyle, to take action, to reduce the spread of an infectious agent and that requires sacrifice and when you don't have your political leaders pulling the nation together and making it a national effort, you're going to fail," he said.

Watch:

"By the end of March, early April, we believe we will have enough vaccine produced to vaccinate anybody in the United States who wanted to get vaccinated," Azar said.

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By Joshua Berlinger, Adam Renton, Melissa Macaya and Mike Hayes, CNN

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Updated 12:03 a.m. ET, October 20, 2020 Long-term heart damage is likely in some survivors of Covid-19, a team of doctors reported Monday. The doctors found that Covid-19 dysregulates the way the blood clots, and damages the lungs and their ability to process fresh oxygen into the blood, they wrote in a review for the American College of Cardiology.

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How George Floyd Died, and What Happened Next

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How George Floyd Died, and What Happened Next

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25/05/2021
People protested peacefully to what had happened with the George Floyd murder and police attacked with violence.

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How George Floyd Died, and What Happened Next

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Mr. Floyd, a Black man, died in May 2020 after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police officers in an episode that was captured on video, touching off nationwide protests.

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Serena Williams confirms she will not play at 2020 Tokyo Olympics

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Serena Williams confirms she will not play at 2020 Tokyo Olympics

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June 27, 2021
The fans were devastated after Serena Williams had said that she wouldn't be attending the Tokio Olympics.

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2020 tokyo olympics: serena williams confirms she will not play at summer games - cnn

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Serena Williams confirms she will not play at 2020 Tokyo Olympics

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23-time grand slam champion Serena Williams has confirmed she will skip the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

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COVID-19: Rich countries should donate at least 1 billion vaccine doses, says WHO panel

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COVID-19: Rich countries should donate at least 1 billion vaccine doses, says WHO panel

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31/08/2021
Rich countries ordered over twice as many doses that are needed for their populations and hadn't shared any with other low resources countries, even though they have more than what they actually need.

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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia, and Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, expressed deep concern over the slow pace of vaccine redistribution from high-income to low-income countries.

The two former leaders served as co-chairs of the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response ( IPPPR), launched by WHO in July 2020. Its final report was published in May.

A critical step

"The Independent Panel report recommended that high-income countries ensure that at least one billion doses of vaccines available to them were redistributed to 92 low and middle-income countries by 1 September, and a further one billion doses by mid-2022", they declared.

"Ensuring that all those around the world most vulnerable to the impact of the virus, including healthcare workers, older people and those with significant comorbidities, can be vaccinated quickly is a critical step towards curbing the pandemic."

Show solidarity

To date, the global solidarity initiative COVAX has shipped 99 million donated doses, they said. While 92 countries have received some 89 million vaccines, this is far short of the one billion called for in the report.

"High-income countries have ordered over twice as many doses as are needed for their populations. Now is the time to show solidarity with those who have not yet been able to vaccinate their frontline health workers and most vulnerable populations," the former leaders stated.

"Reaching the goal of redistributing one billion doses by 1 September would be a vital step in protecting the five billion people aged 15 and over who live in low- and middle-income countries. The 600 million doses which have already been pledged now need to be delivered with urgency", they added.

Boost production

Additionally, rapid action is needed to step up vaccine production in low- and middle-income countries.

"Manufacturing capacity has to be increased and knowledge and technology shared in order to scale up production quickly," the two experts recommended. "This pandemic has shown the global risks of locating the know-how and manufacturing facilities in just a handful of countries."

The co-chairs have also welcomed the establishment of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine technology hub in South Africa, adding that more such announcements are needed.

"Low and middle-income countries must be able to produce more of their own vaccines and thereby help increase in general the amount of vaccine available to the world", they said.

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COVID-19: Rich countries should donate at least 1 billion vaccine doses, says WHO panel

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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia, and Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, expressed deep concern over the slow pace of vaccine redistribution from high-income to low-income countries. The two former leaders served as co-chairs of the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response ( IPPPR), launched by WHO in July 2020.

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Why the world should be worried about India’s Nipah virus outbreak

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Why the world should be worried about India’s Nipah virus outbreak

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2021/09/12
People were not worried about this virus but lately scientists had noticed how dangerous it can be.

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A road blockade set up during the Nipah virus outbreak in India this month.
C. K Thanseer / DeFodi Images via Getty Images

In 2018, we reported how the South Indian state of Kerala beat back the deadly Nipah virus. Local filmmakers and musicians even made a celebratory music video about it. Three years later, the state is faced with yet a new case of Nipah - its third outbreak since 2018 - and it couldn't have come at a worse time. Kerala, known for its palm-lined beaches on the Arabian Sea, is still reeling after a caseload of 4 million COVID infections since the pandemic began.

The Nipah virus is making news again after tragic reports that a 12-year-old boy died of the disease on Sept. 5, in Kerala's Kozhikode district. He had been admitted to a private hospital after running a high fever and showing symptoms of encephalitis - swelling of the brain.

While figuring out how to prevent and treat the Nipah virus is very much a work in progress, there have been advances.

Nonetheless, Nipah remains a concern, not just in India but for the entire planet. The World Health Organization classifies it as a "virus of concern" for future epidemics because "each year it spills over from its animal reservoir into humans," says Dr. Stephen Luby, professor of infectious disease at Stanford University. And when humans are infected it can be transmitted from person-to-person.

But the virus is not as transmissible as some other viruses. "There are occasional Nipah superspreaders who infect a lot of people," says Luby. "But the average transmission rate is less than one person per infection.

"However, each time a person is infected, the virus is in an environment that selects for human adaptation and transmissibility. The risk is that a new strain that is more efficiently transmitted person-to-person could generate a devastating outbreak. Indeed, since 70% of people who are infected with Nipah virus die, such a strain could represent the worst pandemic humanity has ever faced."

That's why, he says, it's important to "continue to invest in strategies to reduce the risk of spillover and to develop countermeasures across a range of high-risk pathogens."

Still a mysterious virus

Following the boy's death, public health authorities swung into action, contact tracing friends, family and health workers. They identified and isolated 251 people, including 30 close family members. Eleven samples from those in close contact with the boy were sent for testing, and on Aug. 8; they were negative. But how this child contracted Nipah is still unclear.

"It's really difficult to establish the cause of the boy's illness," says Dr. Thekkumkara Surendran Anish, associate professor of community medicine at the Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram. "The infected patient was just too sick to tell us anything about what he ate or did. That's why it's all speculation."

In the two strains of Nipah encountered so far - originating in Malaysia in 1999 and later in Bangladesh - pigs and fruit bats are believed to be the intermediary hosts. "One plausible theory is that those who've been infected [in Kerala] ate food or fruit contaminated with bat saliva or excreta," says Anish.

When reports emerged that the boy could have possibly contracted Nipah from eating therambutan - a tropical fruit with thick red spines resembling lychee that grew around his home - sales of the fruit plunged in Kerala. But the fear that the fruit is the cause of the disease is pure speculation and without evidence, experts say.

By contrast, information about the route of virus' spread has been established in prior outbreaks. In strains of Nipah originating in Malaysia in 1999 and later in Bangladesh, pigs and fruit bats are believed to be the intermediary hosts, says Anish.

"We have a very clear understanding of how Nipah virus moves from fruit bats into people," says Luby. "Bats are attracted to raw date palm sap that is harvested during the wintertime. When people drink raw date palm sap that has been contaminated by bats, they are at risk of contracting Nipah."The World Health Organization calls the drink a " likely source" of outbreaks in humans in India and Bangladesh.

Survival rates are low

While it is possible to recover, the virus has a high fatality rate.

In 2018, when Nipah emerged for the first time in Kerala, only two of the 19 infected people survived. When it was detected again in 2019, a 23-year-old man was infected, but swift isolation ensured the virus did not spread to others in his community. The patient survived.

"[With] COVID, you are most infectious before the symptoms set in," says Anish. "Once they do, your ability to infect other people wanes. But that's not the case with Nipah. When the symptoms set in, you start spreading the virus." In areas more prone to Nipah infections (Bangladesh, Malaysia, India, and Singapore) being aware of this can help, he says.

After the current case was identified, COVID precautions have helped control the spread of Nipah in Kerala, says Dr. K Puthiyaveettil Aravindan, a former professor of pathology at the Government Kozhikode Medical College. "Hospital workers were already kitted out in full protective equipment. People were masked." Since the virus is spread from human-to-human through bodily fluids, physical distancing and masking helped.

The virus is not, however, as transmissible as some other viruses. "There are occasional Nipah superspreaders who infect a lot of people," says Luby. "But the average transmission rate is less than one person per infection."

Hopes for treatment and a vaccine

With all the concerns about Nipah, efforts to develop a vaccine are ongoing. "There are several promising Nipah virus [vaccine] candidates that have demonstrated high efficacy in animals," says Luby. In addition, CEPI,the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, is supporting human trials of multiple vaccine candidates.

One study on vaccines, a pre-print, focused on the effectiveness of ChAdOx 1 - a multipurpose vaccinevector which can be customized to carry DNA from a wide variety of pathogens. In a trial on African green monkeys, it proved effective when tailored against the Nipah virus.

While the vaccine is still in clinical trials, there's also a non-patented drug called M 102.4 developed by Christopher C. Broder, a professor of immunology and microbiology at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. It's a monoclonal antibody that can attach to proteins in a virus and render it ineffective.

"Suppose you get a massive dose of a virus in your body. It's a matter of time before the pathological process begins and it damages your cells," says Anish. "You don't have time to depend on the immune reaction generated by a vaccine at that point. In this narrow window [before you develop symptoms], you can use an agent that can neutralize the virus."

During Kerala's 2018 outbreak, M 102.4 was flown in from Queensland, Australia for use on an emergency basis. At the time, it had not been tested on humans. Since then, initial tests in humans have been successful. In a study published by The Lancet, Phase I clinical trials in humans have shown the drug can neutralize Nipah.

In case of any major outbreak, health authorities in Kerala and elsewhere now can use the antibody to get it under control, says Aravindan.

A virus on the move

It's likely that other Indian states may be affected, too. "Kerala can't be the only hot spot" says Aravindan. "It's possible that the health system in other states may not be catching these infections at all."

He also has concerns about future spread. Genetic changes in the virus are likely, making hosts out of new species of bats and making the virus more transmissible among humans, he says. He adds that Nipah could emerge as a global problem similar to COVID due to international trade, global travel and climate change that causes bats to seek new habitats.

For those reasons, he says, it's imperative "to analyze which species [of bats] could be infected, the places they're located" and whether there might be additional intermediary host animals.

For now, the Nipah virus scare in Kerala seems to be under control. But "as long as there's a lot we don't know, the possibility of an epidemic can't be ruled out," Anish says.

Kamala Thiagarajan is a freelance journalist based in Madurai, India, who has written for The International New York Times, BBC Travel and Forbes India. You can follow her @kamal_t.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Why the world should be worried about India's Nipah virus outbreak

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In 2018, we reported how the South Indian state of Kerala beat back the deadly Nipah virus. Local filmmakers and musicians even made a celebratory music video about it. Three years later, the state is faced with yet a new case of Nipah - its third outbreak since 2018 - and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

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The ‘world’s safest city’ for 2021 revealed

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The ‘world’s safest city’ for 2021 revealed

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https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/the-worlds-safest-city-2021-revealed/index.html

2021/09/20

Copenhagen is the safest city to live based on professional studies even though people had said that other countries and cities were safer.

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(CNN) - Safety has long been a paramount concern for travelers when it comes to deciding which destination to visit.

But the world has been turned on its head in recent years due to the global pandemic and the notion of exactly what makes somewhere "safe" has changed significantly.

This may help to explain the shake up at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit's Safe Cities Index (SCI,) which ranks 60 international destinations on digital security, health security, infrastructure, personal security, as well as environmental security, a new category for this year.

While Asian cities like Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka have continuously occupied the top spots year after year, it's a European destination that holds the number one position for 2021.

Copenhagen has been named the world's safest city for the first time, scoring 82.4 points out of 100 in the annual report.

Denmark's capital jumped from joint eighth place in 2019 to the top of the list, largely thanks to the introduction of an environmental security section, which the city scored particularly well in, along with personal security.

"One key factor that makes Copenhagen such a safe city is its low crime rate, currently at its lowest level in more than a decade," Lars Weiss, lord mayor of Copenhagen, says in the report.

"Copenhagen is also characterized by great social cohesion and a relatively narrow wealth gap. It is a mixed city where both the cleaning assistant and the CEO meet each other at the local supermarket and have their kids in the same school.

"This is one of the very cornerstones of Danish culture, and it contributes greatly to the high levels of trust and safety that we benefit from."

Canada's Toronto just missed out on the top spot, taking second place with 82.2 points, while Singapore was third with 80.7 points.

Although Sydney came fourth, with 80.1 points, the Australian city topped the digital security category, while 2019 winner Tokyo was awarded 80.0 points, putting the Japanese city in fifth place.

"Copenhagen is definitely a worthy overall leader and Toronto a well-deserving runner-up, but as much because of long-term success in making residents secure as from any particular improvements in the last two years," reads the report.

"Toronto and Copenhagen do noticeably better in the new environmental security pillar than do any of the top three cities from earlier years."

The Netherlands' Amsterdam was sixth with 79.3 points, while New Zealand's Wellington came in at number seven with 79.0 points, and was the overall leader in the environmental security category.

Asia Pacific cities Hong Kong and Melbourne scored joint eighth place after receiving 78.6 points each, while Sweden's Stockholm rounded off the top 10 with 78.0 points.

New York was the highest US city on the list, sharing the 11th spot with Spain's Barcelona (both cities received 77.8 points).

Washington DC was close behind in 14 place, while London and San Francisco tied at 15th.

There were few surprises at the other end of the list, with Nigeria's Lagos, Egypt's Cairo, Venezuela's Caracas, Pakistan's Karachi and Myanmar's Yangon making up the bottom five.

But while the cities with the lowest overall scores have found themselves near the bottom of all categories in recent years, this isn't the case here.

In fact, the report notes that "some signs exist of a shift mirroring that seen among the leaders," with Lagos scoring "slightly above average in environmental security, while 55th place Casablanca comes 41st in digital security."

Unsurprisingly, Covid-19 is constantly mentioned throughout, particularly in the assessments on health security, which Copenhagen scored much lower in than other categories.

According to Nima Asgari, director of the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, the subject of urban resilience has previously been focused on disasters and floods rather than health crises, "probably because people never thought the health system would collapse as a consequence of continuous demand from outbreaks."

The report suggests that this missing link may have to led to some destinations being less prepared, and ultimately less successful in limiting the impact of coronavirus.

"Covid-19 teaches that there is always a blind spot, even when there is a lot of activity," adds Michele Acuto, a professor of global urban politics at the University of Melbourne.

The report goes on to stress that the understanding of health security "needs to be revisited" as a direct result of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Naka Kondo, senior editor at The EIU and editor of the report, notes that digital security has become an even bigger priority now that "more work and commerce have moved online," and adjustments will need to be made in light of this.

"Those responsible for infrastructure safety have to adjust to dramatic changes in travel patterns and where residents consume utilities; agencies responsible for personal security need to address a large, lockdown-driven shift in crime patterns," says Kondo.

The report also acknowledges that the pandemic has brought about "a potential turning point across every pillar of urban safety," providing an opportunity for cities to "reassess longer term dangers in the way of achieving safe, sustainable, liveable cities as well as opportunities for getting there."

"A renewed, more holistic understanding of urban safety gives hope for cities that are not just more secure, in every sense, but more sustainable and enjoyable places in which to live," it adds.

Six cities, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Tokyo, Toronto, Singapore and Sydney have all made it in the top 10, every year since the report was launched back in 2015, while Copenhagen has been a regular fixture since 2019.

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'world's safest city' for 2021 revealed by economist intelligent unit - cnn

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The 'world's safest city' for 2021 revealed

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Asian cities like Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka formerly occupied the top spots in the Economist's annual list of safe destinations, but Covid has turned the world on its head. Now a European city leads the pack in terms of resilience, security and wellbeing.

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20/09/2021
All internacional travelers coming to the US must be fully vaccinated and should had tested negative for Covid in the moment they enter the country.

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WASHINGTON - The Biden administration will require all international travelers coming into the U.S. to be fully vaccinated against Covid as part of a new international air travel system.

Starting in early November, foreign nationals flying into the U.S. will be required to be fully vaccinated and must show proof of vaccination prior to boarding a U.S.-bound flight, said White House Covid coordinator Jeffrey Zients.

The U.S. will also start putting into place additional testing requirements, Zients said. Foreign nationals will have to be tested three days prior to departure to the U.S. and show proof of a negative test, and unvaccinated Americans will have to test within one day of departure and be required to test again after their arrival.

While there is no vaccination requirement for domestic air travel, Zients said nothing is off the table.

"We clearly have a track record that shows we're pulling available levers to acquire vaccinations and we're not taking any measures off the table on specific authorities used for implementation," Zients said.

Zients didn't detail what vaccines will qualify and what would constitute as fully vaccinated and said the CDC would provide further details. The new policy applies only to air travel and not land border crossings.

Along with the vaccination and testing requirement, the U.S. will also put in place an enhanced contact tracing system for international travel.

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U.S. to require Covid vaccinations for arriving international travelers

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WASHINGTON - The Biden administration will require all international travelers coming into the U.S. to be fully vaccinated against Covid as part of a new international air travel system. Starting in early November, foreign nationals flying into the U.S.

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Magnitude 5.8 earthquake strikes near Melbourne, Australia; reports of damage

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Magnitude 5.8 earthquake strikes near Melbourne, Australia; reports of damage

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21/09/2021
An unusual and powerful temblor happened today at Australia one of the hardest earthquakes that had striked Australia since 2019.

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MELBOURNE, Australia - A magnitude 5.8 earthquake caused damage in the city of Melbourne on Wednesday, an unusual and powerful temblor for Australia.

The quake hit northeast of Australia's second-most populous city near the town of Mansfield at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), Geoscience Australia said.

Media showed images of damage to brickwork in Chapel Street in the inner suburb of South Yarra.

Mansfield Mayor Mark Holcombe said he was not aware of any damage reports in the town.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there were no reports of serious injury.

The earthquake was the largest to rattle Australia since a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck 210 kilometers (130 miles) off the northwest coastal town of Broome in 2019.

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Magnitude 5.8 earthquake strikes near Melbourne, Australia; reports of damage

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MELBOURNE, Australia - A magnitude 5.8 earthquake caused damage in the city of Melbourne on Wednesday, an unusual and powerful temblor for Australia. The quake hit northeast of Australia's second-most populous city near the town of Mansfield at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), Geoscience Australia said.