International News: 2020/09/25

 ASIA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 9.9 million

Total Deaths: At least 184K

-Japan  [Source: Japan Times]

   

Couples who get married from next April can receive up to 600,000 Japanese Yen ( US $5680) to cover their rent, and other costs as they start a new life, government sources said on Sunday. To be eligible both husband and wife will have to be under age 40 as of the registered date of marriage and have a combined income of less than 5.4 million Japanese Yen ( US $51000)

(Note: The program is a part of government efforts to address the nation's ultralow birth rate as people in Japan marry late or stay unmarried)

-Indonesia  [Source: Al Jazeera]

   People in the Penida Archipalengo have returned to seaweed farming as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, which has kept tourists away from Bali. In early 1980s, seaweed farming was the main industry on the Penida Archipalego. But just it is about to take off, seaweed patches just faded away. "When I first came here in 2010, you could see the patches everywhere and smell seaweed drying on the side of every road", said Valery Senyk, assistant manager at Baku Karang Resort. "By 2016, the only farms remained in the channel dividing two islands. By 2019, there was none left at all."

   The end of seaweed farming was a symptom of Indonesia's tourism boom, which saw visitor number rocket from seven million in 2010 to 16 million in 2019, according to statistics of Indonesia. Thousands of Chinese day-trippers and hundreds of Australian surfers visited everyday, providing jobs that offered regular wages and far easier working conditions than aquaculture. But with the global tourism industry paralysed by the coronavirus pandemic and 13 million tourism workers now employed in Indonesia, seaweed farming in Penida Archipalego is back in vogue(trend).

👉Before the pandemic, Kasumba was purchasing officer. Now she is one of an estimated one thousand islanders who spend their days knee-deep in water and busy planting, harvesting and hauling baskets of seaweed. "My grandmother was a seaweed farmer but I never did it before because I studied accounting in university", Kasumba said. "It's really hard-work but I am lucky to do it. There are no other jobs here. Without it, I might not have money to eat."

NORTH AMERICA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 8.5 million

Total Deaths: At least 304K

-USA  [Source: CNN]

Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine candidate begins Phase 3 trials in the United States. "Phase 3 trials will begin immediately, with the first participants receiving doses on Wednesday", Johnson & Johnson Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Paul Stoffels said. Initially findings from the vaccine's Phase 1/2 trials in the United States and Belgium suggest that a single dose of the vaccine provokes a immune response and is safe enough to move into large-scale trials.

(Note: Johnson & Johnson is now the fourth company to begin large-scale clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, behind Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca. While the other vaccine candidates require two doses, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine candidate is studied as a single-dose vaccine)

SOUTH AMERICA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 7.7 million

Total Deaths: At least 244K

-Brazil  [Source: BrazilNews.Net]

The Brazilian agribusiness, one of the mainstays of the country's economy, grew 5.26 percent in the first half of 2020 from a year earlier, the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA) said on Wednesday. The increase in agribusiness was driven by bumper crops and an exchange rates that favored exports, according to a CNA report.

EUROPE

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 4.6 million

Total Deaths: At least 218K

-Belarus  [Source: DW]

Tens of thousands of protestors, once again, took to the streets in Belarusian capital city on Monday, demanding on end to President Alexander Lukashenko's rule. It was the sixth Sunday in a row that anti-government demonstrations have taken to the streets. Hundreds of police and army were out in force to try and stop the protests going ahead. According to rights group Viasna, late in the day, uniformed men in balaclaves began arresting demonstrators and more than 100 people were detained. Authorities had closed metro stations in Minsk (Belarus's Capital) and mobile internet services were down in an attempt to stop the demonstrators.

(Note: Protests first broke out on August 9 after Lukashenko claimed a victory in a presidential election. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years insists he won with 80% of the vote.)

AFRICA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: 1.4 million

Total Deaths: At least 34K

-Uganda  [Source: AllAfrica]

     As floods create havoc(widespread destruction) across the country, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has warned of severe drought between November to February 2021 that will cause food scarcity in the country. Dr. Emmanuel Zziwa, the climate change expert at FAO country office, told in an interview that several districts such as Kabale, Luweero, Amolatar and Katakwi are already experiencing disastrous heat waves that affect agricultural productivity. "From 1960 to 2010, Uganda experienced an average of one degree centrigade point increase in temperature. In some regions, the temperature has risen to close to two degree centrigade points."

     Dr. Sadat Walusimbi from Makerere University College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences told that available evidence shows that each rise in temperature causes an average of 30 percent reduction in maize production. He said although the immediate effects of climate change such as floods are evident, other issues such as prolonged dry seasons are causing havoc to farmers, threatening food security.

     Mr. Freddie Kabango, the assistant Commissioner of Soil and Water Conservation at the Agriculture ministry, said government is making efforts to increase irrigation. "There is desire to have increase in irrigation. In order to achieve that we will need to sustainably utilize our natural resources and to also come up with innovation/technologies which can help our farming communities cope with climate change challenges while meeting their ever-changing needs." Mr. Kabango also added: "Agriculture in Uganda is majorly rain-fed and therefore prone to climate change. Climate change has impacted heavily on the prevalence of rainfall, quantity and distribution and has come with associated hazards notably pests and diseases, severe land degradation, extreme temperatures, losss of lives and habitats, and others."

OCEANIA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 30K

Total Deaths: At least 900

-New Zealand  [Source: NZ Herald]

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday lifted all coronavirus restrictions across the country, except in Auckland, as the number of new coronavirus cases slowed. Some restrictions were also eased in Auckland to allow gatherings of up to 100 people, but the country's biggest city needed more time before all curbs could be lifted, Ardern said. "Our actions collectively have managed to get the virus under control", she told reporters in Auckland. "This was the center of the outbreak and that's why that caution is needed here."

(Note: New Zealand, a nation of five million, appeared to have stopped community transmission of COVID-19 earlier this year, but a fresh outbreak in Auckland in August caused the government to place the city back in lockdown.)