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Nepal’s progressive COVID-19 vaccine campaign plagued by ‘infodemic’
Image by RF ._. STUDIO via Pexels, used under a Pexel License. This article by Sonia Awale was originally published in Nepali Times and an edited version is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement. So far, 450,000 Nepalis have received the first dose of Covishield, reaching 85 per cent of the target group in the first phase of the country’s COVID-19 vaccination drive. Starting March 7, 3.7 million Nepalis over 55, 12 per cent of the total population, will get their shots against SARS-CoV-2 in the second phase. Teachers, students and bus drivers will be included in t...
Global Voices
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Anger over huge power bills in 'preventable' Texas weather crisis
Houston (AFP) - Millions of Texans were still without safe water on Sunday as officials fielded angry complaints over shockingly large power bills spawned by a cold weather crisis that Houston's mayor said was ultimately preventable. The frigid air mass that paralyzed parts of the southern and central United States early in the week claimed more than 70 lives, left millions temporarily without power and froze water lines. "All of what happened this week was foreseeable and preventable," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told CBS's "Face the Nation," saying it had long been clear that the independ...
AFP
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Texas restores power but still struggling with water
Houston (AFP) - Texas authorities have restored power statewide bringing relief after days of unprecedentedly frigid temperatures, but millions were still struggling Saturday without safe, drinkable water. "Due to lack of power, frozen pipes, high use at certain times, we've seen the number of systems go up that are reporting (water) issues," Toby Baker, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality told reporters during a televised briefing. Water problems, he said, were impacting about 14.3 million residents out of a total population of around 29 million, as officials d...
AFP
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Three climbers go missing during winter attempt to scale K2 summit in Pakistan
K2, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level, is the second highest mountain in the world. Image via Flickr and Google Images by Waqas Anees. Public Domain. For mountaineering fans, this year was special: the Winter K2 Summit was taking place for the first time—38 years after a Polish team went to K2, the world's second highest mountain, to gauge the feasibility of a winter climb. However, the joy was short-lived, as contact with three expert mountaineers, from Pakistan, Chile and Iceland, was lost just near the Bottleneck), short of the summit, on the night of Friday, February 5, 2021. The...
Global Voices
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Six months on, families of Beirut port blast victims demand the truth
Family members of the victims of August's deadly blast at Beirut's port demanded on Thursday that Lebanese authorities go public with findings of a probe into the explosion. The survivors, holding pictures of the victims, gathered near the port to mark six months since the cataclysmic explosion that killed at least 193 people, injured 6,000 others and left hundreds more homeless. The August 4 blast was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate, which had been inadequately stored in the port. Gathered for the commemoration on Thursday, some family members expressed anger at being in the dark about the...
DPA
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Cyclone Chalane hit Mozambique, leaving much less damage than previous storms
Illustration of the path followed by Cyclone Chalane – satellite image / screen shot Windy Forecast – 28 December 2020 The central Mozambican provinces of Sofala and Manica were hit by cyclone Chalane on 30-31 December. After the devastating experience of Cyclone IDAI in March 2019, which killed more than 600 people and caused extensive destruction in the city of Beira, Mozambique was preparing for the worst. Fortunately, the storm reduced in intensity, going from severe to moderate, and only caused intense rainfall with minimal destruction of infrastructure, according to the newspaper Notícia...
Global Voices
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2020 round-up: COVID-19 in South Asia
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay, used under a Pixabay License. As COVID-19 took over the world in 2020, densely populated South Asia became one of the hardest hit regions, with India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal surpassing China in terms of the number of coronavirus cases. The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic has been just short of catastrophic, as progress was halted, and prolonged lockdowns and inadequate government support pushed millions of people to slip below the poverty line. Global Voices coverage highlighted the devastation and uncertainties COVID-19 caused...
Global Voices
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Japan lends 50 billion yen to Philippines for disaster, health crisis response
MANILA, NNA – Japan is lending another 50 billion yen ($474.8 million) to the Philippines that can be used to respond to natural disasters and disease outbreaks such as the coronavirus pandemic.Under the second phase of the Post-Disaster Standby Loan (PDSL 2), Manila can withdraw about 23.3 billion pesos in tranches following a disaster or public health crisis.The Philippines can use the funds when it declares a state of calamity, public health emergency, or when the government imposes the strictest level of its quarantine restriction, the finance department said.“We hope we will never need to...
NNA Business News