Wednesday, June 30, 2021

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What should I know about the delta variant?

Posted: 30 Jun 2021 04:04 AM PDT

WHAT should I know about the delta variant?

It's a version of the coronavirus that has been found in more than 80 countries since it was first detected in India. It got its name from the World Health Organization (WHO), which names notable variants after letters of the Greek alphabet.

Viruses constantly mutate, and most changes aren't concerning. But there is a worry that some variants might evolve enough to be more contagious, cause more severe illness or evade the protection that vaccines provide.

Experts say the delta variant spreads more easily because of mutations that make it better at latching onto cells in our bodies.

In the United Kingdom, the variant is now responsible for 90 percent of all new infections. In the US, it represents 20 percent of infections, and health officials say it could become the country's dominant type as well.

It's not clear yet whether the variant makes people sicker since more data needs to be collected, said Dr. Jacob John, who studies viruses at the Christian Medical College at Vellore in southern India.

Studies have shown that the available vaccines work against variants, including the delta variant.

Researchers in England studied how effective the two-dose AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were against it, compared with the alpha variant that was first detected in the UK.

The vaccines were protective for those who got both doses but were less so among those who got one dose.

It's why experts say it's important to be fully vaccinated. And it's why they say making vaccines accessible globally is so critical. (AP)

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EXPLAINER: How bad is the pandemic in North Korea

Posted: 30 Jun 2021 03:37 AM PDT

SEOUL, South Korea -- After saying for months that it kept the coronavirus at bay, North Korea on Wednesday, June 30, came closest to admitting that its anti-virus campaign has been less than perfect.

Kim Jong Un's mention of a "great crisis" created by a "crucial" failure in national pandemic measures during a ruling party meeting has triggered outside speculation about how bad the situation in North Korea really is.

A look at some of the clues:

EXPERTS DIVIDED OVER EPIDEMIC

Du Hyeogn Cha, an analyst at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said the North could be dealing with a huge Covid-19 outbreak that has spread beyond border towns and rural areas and is now reaching urban centers, possibly including capital Pyongyang.

While North Korea has told the World Health Organization it has not found a single coronavirus infection after testing more than 30,000 people, experts widely doubt its claim considering its poor health infrastructure. Cha said North Korea has no other way to deal with outbreaks than quarantining people and locking down entire areas until transmissions subside.

Other experts, including Park Won Gon, a professor of North Korea studies at Seoul's Ewha Womans University, said the large Politburo meeting attended by party officials from across the country would have been planned in advance and may have not taken place if the virus was circulating aggressively.

In case of large outbreaks, the North would deploy extreme measures to seal off affected regions, something outside monitoring groups haven't detected, said Ahn Kyung-su, the head of the Seoul-based Research Center of DPRK Health and Welfare.

IS IT ABOUT POWER SHAKEUP?

Most analysts agree that Kim's remarks indicate a development that's significant enough to warrant a shakeup of Pyongyang's leadership.

The North's state media said Kim berated senior party and government officials for neglecting "important decisions of the party on taking organizational, institutional, material, scientific and technological measures as required by the prolonged state emergency epidemic prevention campaign."

The report also said that the party during the meeting recalled an unidentified member of the Politburo's powerful Presidium, which consists of Kim and four other top officials. It's possible that Kim could be sacking his Cabinet Premier Kim Tok Hun, his top economic official, or Jo Yong Won, a secretary of the party's Central Committee who had been seen as a fast-riser in Pyongyang's power circle.

CALL FOR OUTSIDE HELP?

Even if it was dealing with an alarming rise in infections, it's highly unlikely that the North would admit it. Still, Kim's decision to publicly address a major setback in the fight against the pandemic could also be an appeal for outside help.

Cha said the North could request stronger assistance from China, its main ally and economic lifeline, as they approach the 60th anniversary of their friendship treaty next month.

Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University, said Kim's efforts to find the scapegoats for the outbreak could also be in preparation for accepting vaccines from abroad.

Covax, the UN-backed program to distribute vaccines worldwide, said in February that the North could receive 1.9 million doses in the first half of the year. But the plans have been delayed due to global shortages.

Kim Sin-gon, a professor at Seoul's Korea University College of Medicine, said that Kim Jong Un likely aimed to raise international awareness of the North's pandemic-related difficulties. (AP)

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Florida officials pledge multiple probes into condo collapse

Posted: 30 Jun 2021 12:38 AM PDT

SURFSIDE, Florida -- Elected officials pledged Tuesday, June 29, to conduct multiple investigations into the collapse of an oceanfront Florida condo tower, vowing to convene a grand jury and to look closely "at every possible angle" to prevent any other building from experiencing such a catastrophic failure.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she and her staff will meet with engineering, construction and geology experts, among others, to review building safety issues and develop recommendations "to ensure a tragedy like this will never, ever happen again."

State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said she will pursue a grand jury investigation to examine factors and decisions that led to Thursday's collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside. Another victim was recovered Tuesday, June 29, bringing the confirmed death toll to 12, with 149 people unaccounted for.

Even as officials looked to the future to determine the cause of the collapse, they were resolute in vowing to continue the effort to find survivors.

On the sixth day of a painstaking search, Governor Ron DeSantis evoked a well-known military commitment to leave no one behind on the battlefield and pledged to do the same for the people still missing in the rubble.

"The way I look at it, as an old Navy guy, is when somebody is missing in action, in the military, you're missing until you're found. We don't stop the search," DeSantis said at a news conference.

"I think that's what is happening. Those first responders are breaking their backs trying to find anybody they can. I think they are going to continue to do that. They've been very selfless. They've put themselves at risk to do it."

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett cited the case of a woman who was found alive 17 days after a garment factory collapsed in 2013, killing more than 1,000 people in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

"No one is giving up hope here. ... We are dedicated to getting everyone out of that pile of rubble," Burkett said.

Also Tuesday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden would travel to Surfside on Thursday.

Martin Langesfeld, whose sister, 26-year-old Nicole Langesfeld, is missing in the collapse, also expressed hope that there are still survivors.

"We're not alone in this. There's hope. I really believe miracles do happen. Things like this have happened around the world," he said during a vigil Monday night on the beach near the collapsed building.

The collapse has drawn scrutiny of the safety of older high-rise buildings throughout South Florida. Cava ordered a 30-day audit on whether buildings 40 years old or older are complying with a required recertification of their structural integrity, and that any issues raised by inspections are being addressed.

On Tuesday, the mayor said building inspections have found four balconies in one building in Miami-Dade County that "must be immediately closed due to safety concerns."

Previous grand juries in South Florida have examined other large-scale disasters, such as the 2018 collapse of a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University, which killed six people. That investigation is ongoing.

Criminal charges in such matters are possible, such as the third-degree felony murder and manslaughter charges brought in the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592, which killed 110 people in the Everglades.

Work at the site has been deliberate and treacherous. Debris fell onto the search area overnight from the shattered edge of the part of the building that still stands. That forced rescuers to mark a "don't go beyond here" line and focus their efforts on parts of the debris pile that are farther from the structure, Burkett told Miami television station WSVN.

Kevin Guthrie of the Florida Division of Emergency Management said his agency requested an additional search team. He said state officials want to rotate some of their teams out so they can be on hand in case of severe weather in the coming days.

Several members of an Israeli rescue team worked partly on hands and knees Tuesday over a small section of the rubble, digging with shovels, pickaxes and saws. They removed debris into buckets that were dumped into a metal construction bin, which was periodically lifted away by a crane. The crane then delivered an empty bin.

Late in the afternoon, rescue officials sounded a horn for a second time during the day's work, signaling an approaching storm with lightning. Workers temporarily evacuated.

Authorities said it's still a search-and-rescue operation, but no one has been found alive since hours after the collapse on Thursday.

The pancake collapse of the building left layer upon layer of intertwined debris, frustrating efforts to reach anyone who may have survived in a pocket of space.

Authorities meet frequently with families to explain what they're doing and to answer questions. They have discussed how DNA matches are made to help identify the dead, how next-of-kin will be contacted and explained in "extreme detail" how they are searching the mound, the mayor said.

With that knowledge, Cava said, families are coming to their own conclusions.

"Some are feeling more hopeful, some less hopeful, because we do not have definitive answers. We give them the facts. We take them to the site," she said. "They have seen the operation. They understand now how it works, and they are preparing themselves for news, one way or the other."

Rachel Spiegel, whose 66-year-old mother, Judy Spiegel, is missing, said Tuesday that she was hoping for a miracle, but she also wrote about looking beyond the tragedy.

"Our mom Judy was the glue that kept our family together. All of the family mementos, photos, clothing and heirlooms our father and mother have collected over the past 65 years were lost in a matter of seconds," Spiegel wrote in a message about setting up a fund for charities on behalf of her mother. "As we continue to search for meaning in this catastrophe, we must also look to the future and rebuild."

In a text message exchange with The Associated Press, she added, "Please keep praying for a miracle." (AP)

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Hawks romp to 110-88 win without Young, Giannis goes down

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 10:37 PM PDT

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Hawks proved they are more than a one-man team.

Now, it's the Milwaukee Bucks who may have to show they can get by without the Greek Freak.

With Trae Young sidelined by an unusual injury, Lou Williams and a host of Hawks stepped up to fill the void, leading Atlanta to a 110-88 rout of the Bucks in Game 4 to even the Eastern Conference finals Tuesday night.

"A total team effort," Hawks coach Nate McMillan said.

In another stunning twist to a series no one saw coming, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo hobbled off the court with an injured left knee, depriving the Bucks of their best player.

"We'll see how he is tomorrow," coach Mike Budenholzer said. "We'll take everything as it comes. We'll evaluate it. We've got a heck of a team, a heck of a roster."

Williams started for Young and did a stellar job with 21 points, Bogdan Bogdanovic added 20 to break a series-long slump, and the Hawks pulled away in the third quarter to tie the series at two wins apiece.

Game 5 is Thursday night in Milwaukee.

It's not known if Young or Antetokounmpo will be able to play.

Williams, long one of the NBA's best players off the bench, will be ready to start again for the Hawks, if needed.

"I knew about an hour before this game that I was going to start, when they said Trae was out, so I just had to refocus my energy, put on a different hat and get ready for the game," Williams said,

Young was declared out about 45 minutes before tipoff, having sustained a bone bruise when he twisted his right ankle stepping on an official's foot along the sideline in Game 3. He watched from the bench in a black warmup suit, barely noticeable with a hood over his head and a mask across his face.

Turns out, he wasn't needed.

"Everybody played with confidence. Everybody played at a high level," Williams said "Going back to Milwaukee, we're going to have to bottle it up and take it with us."

Antetokounmpo endured a dismal first half, scoring just six points and chunking up a pair of airballs from the free-throw line. He bounced back with eight points in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the third quarter, including a step-back jumper that sliced Atlanta's lead to 62-54.

The next time down the court, Williams worked a pick-and-roll with Clint Capela, who went up for a dunk that Antetokounmpo tried to contest. The Bucks star landed awkwardly and went down in a heap, grasping at his left knee while a hush fell over the arena.

The entire Milwaukee bench came out to check on Antetokounmpo, who had to be helped to the locker room with what was diagnosed as a hyperextended knee. He returned briefly to the bench, but never made it back to the court, heading to the locker room for good when the Hawks blew the game open.

Atlanta outscored the Bucks 25-8 the rest of the quarter to seize a commanding 87-62 lead.

Budenholzer is confident his team will play much better the next time out — with or without Antetokounmpo.

"We've got to be better on both ends," the coach said. "Our group will gather. The character will come through."

The Hawks led 51-38 at halftime, holding the Bucks' to their lowest-scoring half of the postseason.

Milwaukee made only 14 of 41 shots from the field — including 5 of 23 beyond the arc — to go along with nine turnovers.

MIDDLETON STRUGGLES

Two nights after tying his career playoff high with 38 points in a Game 3 victory, Milwaukee's Khris Middleton was held to 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting.

He missed all seven of his 3-point attempts.

REDDISH SHINES

With Young out, the Hawks needed some little-used players to step up.

No one was bigger than Cam Reddish.

In just his second appearance since February, Reddish scored 12 points, pulled down five rebounds and came up with two steals.

Reddish missed the final 42 games of the regular season with an Achilles injury and the first two rounds of the playoffs. His first appearance since Feb. 21 came during garbage time of Milwaukee's blowout win in Game 2.

Reddish had to play a much bigger role in Game 4, coming on less than seven minutes into the game in the first wave of substitutions. He was joined by Kris Dunn, playing just his fifth game all season and first of the playoffs.

FREE THROW WOES

With the crowd mocking him mercilessly, counting off the number of seconds he took to shoot, Antetokounmpo missed all three of his free throws in the first half.

In fact, he only hit the rim on one of them, which had the Atlanta fans jeering him even louder.

TIP-INS

Bucks: Milwaukee's lowest-scoring first half of the regular season was a 31-point effort at Philadelphia on March 17. They wound up winning that game 109-105 in overtime. ... The Bucks had not scored fewer than 41 points in a half during the playoffs. ... Jrue Holiday was the top scorer with 19 points.

Hawks: Milwaukee's 38-point half was the lowest allowed by Atlanta in a playoff game since holding Boston to 33 in 2016. ... The Hawks came out spreading the ball around. Four players were in on first 10 points. ... Capela was helped to the locker room with a towel over his face after taking an elbow in the closing minutes. The extent of his injury wasn't known. (AP)

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At 100, China's Communist Party looks to cement its future

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 09:10 PM PDT

BEIJING — For China's Communist Party, celebrating its 100th birthday on Thursday is not just about glorifying its past. It's also about cementing its future and that of its leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In the build-up to the July 1 anniversary, Xi and the party have exhorted its members and the nation to remember the early days of struggle in the hills of the inland city of Yan'an, where Mao Zedong established himself as party leader in the 1930s.

Dug into earthen cliffs, the primitive homes where Mao and his followers lived are now tourist sites for the party faithful and schoolteachers encouraged to spread the word. The cave-like rooms feel far removed from Beijing, the modern capital where national festivities are being held, and the skyscrapers of Shenzhen and other high-tech centers on the coast that are more readily associated with today's China.

Yet in marking its centenary, the Communist Party is using this past — selectively — to try to ensure its future and that of Xi, who may be eyeing, as Mao did, ruling for life.

"By linking the party to all of China's accomplishments of the past century, and none of its failures, Xi is trying to bolster support for his vision, his right to lead the party and the party's right to govern the country," said Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

This week's celebrations focus on two distinct eras — the early struggles and recent achievements — glossing over the nearly three decades under Mao from the 1950s to 1970s, when mostly disastrous social and economic policies left millions dead and the country impoverished.

To that end, a spectacular outdoor gala attended by Xi in Beijing on Monday night relived the Long March of the 1930s — a retreat to Yan'an that has become of party lore — before moving on to singing men holding giant wrenches and women with bushels of wheat. But it also focused on the present, with representations of special forces climbing a mountain and medical workers battling COVID-19 in protective gear.

The party has long invoked its history to justify its right to rule, said Joseph Fewsmith, a professor of Chinese politics at Boston University.

Shoring up its legitimacy is critical since the party has run China single-handedly for more than 70 years — through the chaotic years under Mao, through the collapse of the Soviet Union and through the unexpected adoption of market-style reforms that over time have built an economic powerhouse, though millions remain in poverty.

Many Western policymakers and analysts believed that capitalism would transform China into a democracy as its people prospered, following the pattern of former dictatorships such as South Korea and Taiwan.

The Communist Party has confounded that thinking, taking a decisive turn against democracy when it cracked down on large-scale protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 and quashing any challenges to single-party rule in the ensuing decades — most recently all but extinguishing dissent in Hong Kong after anti-government protests shook the city in 2019.

Its leaders have learned the lesson of the Soviet Union, where the communists lost power after opening the door to pluralism, said Zhang Shiyi of the Institute of Party History and Literature.

Instead, China's newfound wealth gave the party the means to build a high-speed rail network and other infrastructure to modernize at home and project power abroad with a strong military and a space program that has landed on the moon and Mars. China is still a middle-income country, but its very size makes it the world's second-largest economy and puts it on a trajectory to rival the U.S. as a superpower.

In the meantime, it has doubled down on its repressive tactics, stamping out dissent from critics of its policies and pushing the assimilation of ethnic minorities seeking to preserve their customs and language in areas such as Tibet and the heavily Muslim Xinjiang region. While it is difficult to gauge public support for the party, it has likely been boosted at least in some quarters by China's relative success at controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and its standing up to criticism from the United States and others.

"We have never been so confident about our future," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told journalists on a recent trip to the party's historic sites in Yan'an.

Tiananmen Square, where Mao proclaimed the founding of communist China in 1949, is no longer a home for student protesters with democratic dreams. On Thursday, the plaza in the center of Beijing will host the nation's major celebration of party rule. While most details remain under wraps, authorities have said that Xi will give an important speech.

The anniversary marks a meeting of about a dozen people in Shanghai in 1921 that is considered the first congress of the Chinese Communist Party — though it actually started in late July. The festivities will likely convey the message that the party has brought China this far, and that it alone can lift the nation to greatness — arguing in essence that it must remain in power.

Xi also appears to be considering a third five-year term that would start in 2022, after the party scrapped term limits.

The centennial is at once a benchmark to measure how far the country has come and a moment for Xi and the party to move toward their goals for 2049, which would mark the 100th year of communist rule, said Alexander Huang, a professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. By then, Xi has said, the aim is basic prosperity for the entire population and for China to be a global leader with national strength and international influence.

"Whether they can achieve that goal is the biggest challenge for the Chinese leadership today," he said, noting growing tensions with other countries, an aging population and a young generation that, as elsewhere, is rejecting the grueling rat race for the traditional markers of success.

Still, the party's ability to evolve and rule for so long, albeit in part by suppressing dissent, suggests it may remain in control well into its second century. The party insists it has no intention of exporting its model to other countries, but if China continues to rise, it could well challenge the western democratic model that won the Cold War and has dominated the post-World War II era.

"In the United States, you only talk, talk, talk," said Hua of the Foreign Ministry. "You try to win votes. But after four years, the other people can overthrow your policies. How can you ensure the people's living standards, that their demands can be satisfied?" (AP)

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Bucks' Antetokounmpo hyperextends left knee, leaves game

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 07:56 PM PDT

ATLANTA — Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained a hyperextension of his left knee and will not return to the Milwaukee Bucks' Eastern Conference finals game against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

Antetokounmpo was defending a jam by Hawks center Clint Capela with 7:14 remaining in the third quarter when his left knee appeared to buckle. He fell to the floor in obvious pain, grimacing and clutching his knee.

Antetokounmpo remained down for several minutes before rising and slowly walking to the locker room. He was supported by his brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, and a staff member, as he left the court.

Giannis Antetokounmpo returned to the bench briefly before again heading to the locker room after the Hawks blew open the game by extending their lead to 20 points. Soon after, the Bucks announced he would not return to the game.

Antetokounmpo's status for Game 5 at Milwaukee on Thursday night is not known.

Following a slow start to the game, Antetokounmpo had scored eight of his 14 points in the opening minutes of the second half. Following the jam by Capela, the Hawks led 62-52 when the Bucks' star left the game.

The Hawks are without their leading scorer, Trae Young, who was held out with a bone bruise in his right ankle. (AP)

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