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World

Angry farmers drive thousands of tractors into New Delhi

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NEW DELHI (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesting farmers drove long lines of tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, breaking through police barricades, defying tear gas and storming the historic Red Fort as the nation celebrated Republic Day.

They waved farm union flags from the ramparts of the fort, where prime ministers annually hoist the national flag to mark the country’s independence.

Thousands more farmers marched on foot or rode on horseback while shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At some places, they were showered with flower petals by residents who recorded the unprecedented rally on their phones.

Leaders of the farmers said more than 10,000 tractors joined the protest.

For nearly two months, farmers have camped at the edge of the capital, blockading highways connecting it with the country’s north in a rebellion that has rattled the government. They are demanding the withdrawal of new laws which they say will commercialize agriculture and devastate farmers’ earnings.

“We want to show Modi our strength,” said Satpal Singh, a farmer who drove into the capital on a tractor along with his family of five. “We will not surrender.”

Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons at numerous places to push back the rows upon rows of tractors, which shoved aside concrete and steel barricades. Authorities blocked roads with large trucks and buses in an attempt to stop the farmers from reaching the center of the capital.

“We will do as we want to. You cannot force your laws on the poor,” said Manjeet Singh, a protesting farmer.

The government insists that the agriculture reform laws passed by Parliament in September will benefit farmers and boost production through private investment.

Farmers tried to march into New Delhi in November but were stopped by police. Since then, unfazed by the winter cold, they have hunkered down at the edge of the city and threatened to besiege it if the farm laws are not repealed.

The government has offered to amend the laws and suspend their implementation for 18 months. But farmers insist they will settle for nothing less than a complete repeal. They plan to march on foot to Parliament on Feb. 1, when the country’s new budget will be presented.

The tractor rally overshadowed the Republic Day celebrations, which were scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A thin crowd assembled along ceremonial Rajpath boulevard in New Delhi to watch a parade displaying the country’s military power and cultural diversity. People wore masks and adhered to social distancing as police and military battalions marched along the route displaying their latest equipment.

Republic Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution on Jan. 26, 1950.

Farmers are the latest group to upset Modi’s image of imperturbable dominance in Indian politics.

Since returning to power for a second term, Modi’s government has been rocked by several convulsions. The economy has tanked, social strife has widened, protests have erupted against discriminatory laws and his government has been questioned over its response to the pandemic.

Agriculture supports more than half of the country’s 1.4 billion people. But the economic clout of farmers has diminished over the last three decades. Once producing a third of India’s gross domestic product, farmers now account for only 15% of the country’s $2.9 trillion economy.

More than half of farmers are in debt, with 20,638 killing themselves in 2018 and 2019, according to official records.

The contentious legislation has exacerbated existing resentment from farmers, who have long been seen as the heart and soul of India but often complain of being ignored by the government.

Modi has tried to allay farmers’ fears by mostly dismissing their concerns and has repeatedly accused opposition parties of agitating them by spreading rumors. Some leaders of his party have called the farmers “anti-national,” a label often given to those who criticize Modi or his policies.

Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert who has spent the last two decades campaigning for income equality for Indian farmers, said they are not only protesting the reforms but also “challenging the entire economic design of the country.”

“The anger that you see is compounded anger,” Sharma said. “Inequality is growing in India and farmers are becoming poorer. Policy planners have failed to realize this and have sucked the income from the bottom to the top. The farmers are only demanding what is their right.”

___

AP video journalist Rishabh R. Jain contributed to this report.

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Science

Scientists Discover the Source of Strange “Blue Jet” Lightning

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Scientists have gotten a look at what it is that causes a strange electrical phenomenon called blue jet lightning. Instruments on the International Space Station did what had been impossible for scientists on land. Per Science News’s breakdown, blue jets — which fire upward from lightning clouds into the stratosphere, rather than down to the ground — have been observed by scientists and pilots for years, but without having a topside view of the lightning clouds, finding the cause or source was difficult. Since most pilots will tell you that flying through an active thunder cloud is not ideal unless it’s absolutely necessary, that limits observation options.

The blue jet gets its name from its color, and gets its color from what it burns off in the atmosphere. Traditional lightning is interacting with a wide variety of gases on its way to the ground, but the upward movement of the blue jets means that the electric bolt is burning mostly nitrogen, which burns blue at that temperature.

According to Science News, blue jets can reach altitudes of about 31 miles (50 kilometers) in less than a second.

Scientists have finally gotten a clear view of the spark that sets off an exotic type of lightning called a blue jet.

The Space Station last week spotted a blue jet emerging from an extremely brief, bright burst of electricity that happened near the top of a thunder cloud. Scientists reported the find on January 20.

While blue jets and other upper-atmosphere weather events are unlikely to cause serous inuries to people or animals, scientists monitor and study them not just for the academic understanding of the natural world, but for more practical reasons as well; such events can impact how radio waves travel, impacting satellites and other communications technology.

Scientists are trying to figure out what might be special about the sparks that generate the blue jets. The blast reported in January — and recorded in February 2019 — was a 10-microsecond flash of bright blue light, which took place near the top of the cloud, about 10 miles up.

Torsten Neubert, an atmospheric physicist at the Technical University of Denmark in Kongens Lyngby quoted in the Science News piece, suspects that the spark may have been a unique kind of short-range electric discharge inside of the cloud. That would account for the brief, intense blast, because while traditional lightning is caused by discharges between oppositely charged objects many kilometers apart, these short term sparks might bring the oppositely-charged areas within about a kilometer, creating powerful bursts of current that would burn up fast. Evidence of such bursts are nothing new, but this could provide new insight into the phenomenon.

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US

Coronavirus live news: Biden to reinstate Covid travel ban as world nears 100m cases | World news

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19:36

Eleanor de Jong

More now from New Zealand.

Over three dozen guests at the Pullman hotel in central Auckland, where the infected woman was undergoing government-managed isolation, are being held longer in their rooms while the source of the newly confirmed local infection is investigated. Nearly all 200 hotel staff have been tested

Although health authorities suspect the virus was contacted directly – meaning person to person contact – they have not ruled out airborne or surface contact.

Hundreds of people have been lining up all day for tests in Whangarei, Northland and Auckland. Test results for these people will be known tomorrow. The director-general also said many people who had no symptoms or contact with the infected woman have been lining up for tests – and he asked them to go home so close contacts could be prioritised.

The Covid-19 response minister said news was circulating on social media of an impending lockdown. He said this was “fake news” and “not true at all”.













19:30

Experts have called for greater clarity about the monitoring in place to assess the 12-week dosing interval for Covid vaccines, as the UK’s vaccination programme ramps up.

According to government data released on Sunday, a total of 6,353,321 people in the UK have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine. A further slew of vaccination centres are due to open on Monday to speed up delivery of the jabs.

These include at the Crick Institute in London, the Blackpool Winter Gardens, Lancaster town hall, Bath racecourse and the Black Country Living Museum, where scenes for the TV show Peaky Blinders were filmed.

“These 33 new major vaccine centres will bolster our existing network and enable the NHS to protect as many people as possible in the coming weeks,” said the vaccine minister, Nadhim Zahawi.

However, there is continued controversy about the government’s decision to increase the interval between the two doses of the jabs to up to 12 weeks in an effort to offer protection to as many people as possible.

The Guardian’s Nicola Davis and Jessica Elgot report:













19:16

Community case confirmed in New Zealand

Eleanor de Jong

A community case of Covid-19 has been confirmed in New Zealand, with genome sequencing identifying it as of the South African variant of the virus.

Investigators think the 56-year-old woman contracted the infection from a fellow guest at the Pullman hotel, where she was undergoing government-managed isolation.


19:02

World nears 100m cases

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 99 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, as the total moves rapidly towards a shocking 100 million people infected with Covid-19 in just over a year.

The current total is 99,105,389 infections. At least 2,127,206 people have died.

On average, around 650,000 coronavirus cases have been reported daily in the last week.













18:40

Israel ‘closes skies’ to air travel to prevent virus spread

Israel on Sunday announced a week-long ban on most incoming and outgoing flights in a bid to slow the spread of new coronavirus variants, AFP reports.

The measure will begin at midnight from Monday into Tuesday and remain in effect until Sunday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.

Exceptions will be made for cargo and firefighting flights, as well as trips for medical treatments, funerals and legal procedures.

A panel of health and interior ministry officials will be able to issue exemptions on request “for humanitarian or personal needs”, the statement said.

The decision came with the country in its third national coronavirus lockdown, initiated late December and extended on Tuesday until the end of the month due to a surge in deaths.

Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced his government’s intention to close the airport, as variants of the coronavirus have been detected in rising numbers.

“We’re closing the skies hermetically, except for rare exceptions, to prevent the entry of virus mutations, and to ensure that we make swift progress with our vaccination campaign,” he said ahead of a cabinet meeting.


18:37

Biden to reinstate travel ban and add South Africa

US president Joe Biden on Monday will formally reinstate Covid travel restrictions on non-US travellers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two White House officials.

AP: the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the order, also confirmed Sunday that South Africa would be added to the restricted list because of concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread beyond that nation.

Biden is reversing an order from President Donald Trump in his final days in office that called for the relaxation of the travel restrictions as of Tuesday.

The decision to reverse the order is not surprising, but the addition of South Africa to the restricted travel list highlights the new administration’s concern about mutations in the virus.

The South Africa variant has not been discovered in the United States, but another variant — originating in the United Kingdom — has been detected in several states.
Reuters was first to report Biden’s decision to add South Africa to the list.

Biden last week issued an executive order directing federal agencies to require international air travellers to quarantine upon US arrival. The order also requires that all US-bound passengers ages 2 and above get negative test results within three days before traveling.

Updated


18:34

Summary

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 99 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, as the total moves rapidly towards a shocking 100 million people infected with Covid-19 in just over a year.

In the US, president Joe Biden on Monday will formally reinstate travel restrictions on non-US travellers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two White House officials.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the order, also confirmed Sunday that South Africa would be added to the restricted list because of concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread beyond that nation.

Here are the other key developments from the last few hours:

  • Israel is set to ban passenger flights in attempt to prevent Covid variant imports, coming into effect from Monday 10pm for two weeks
  • Greek health authorities have reported a jump in the number of cases of the coronavirus variant first spotted in the UK, with 32 infections detected.
  • The UK has reported a further 30,004 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases, according to government data. This compares with 38,598 cases registered last Sunday.
  • Jeremy Hunt, the former UK health secretary, has echoed calls from epidemiologists urging the use of medical-grade masks to be compulsory on public transport and in shops.
  • Serbia has detected its first case of the UK coronavirus variant, in a woman who travelled from London but no new lockdown is planned in the country, President Aleksandar Vučić said.
  • Airbus has announced that some 500 employees have entered quarantine following an outbreak at its aircraft factory in Hamburg in which 21 workers have tested positive, according to Reuters.
  • Police used water cannon and dogs against protesters after hundreds gathered in a square in central Amsterdam on Sunday to protest against a new coronavirus curfew.
  • France probably needs to enter into a third lockdown because of the spread of new coronavirus variants in the country, the government’s top medical adviser on Covid-19 policy has said.
  • Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will telephone Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss Mexico’s procurement of the Sputnik V vaccine, the Mexican government said on Sunday.
  • France has reported 18,436 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, down from 23,924 on Saturday. However, today’s figure is higher than last Sunday’s, when 16,642 infections were registered.
  • Ecuador has approved the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.



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World

Coronavirus live news: US nears 25m cases as three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain | World news

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21:17

Melissa Davey

In December, the UK reported a Covid-19 variant of concern, commonly referred to as the B117 variant, which appeared to be more transmissible. Since then, scientists have established that B117 is somewhere between 50% to 70% more transmissible than other variants. If more people are getting sick, there is more pressure on health systems, and in the UK health services are so overloaded a country-wide lockdown has been enforced.

While many scientists say B117 does not appear more deadly, researchers on the UK government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group found it may increase the death rate by 30% to 40%, though their sample size was small and they said more research is needed. With B117 now detected in more than 50 countries, understanding the variant is urgent.

But other variants of concern have also been identified, including in California, South Africa and Brazil.

So exactly what is a variant, and how many are there? And why are some variants of more concern than others?

Answers at the link below:













20:56

Helen Sullivan

And what a year it has been. In just over a month’s time, I will have been liveblogging international developments in the coronavirus pandemic for eight hours a day, every day on the global blog – which has been running non-stop around the world almost uninterrupted for more than a year.

This time last year, I was living in Beirut, having just returned from reporting on the bushfires in Australia.

Where were you at the end of January 2020? Let me know on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Updated


20:53

Monday marks one year since first cases in Australian state of New South Wales

In Australia, the state minister for health in New South Wales has noted that Monday will mark a year since the state confirmed its first four cases of coronavirus.

Today marks a week with no new local cases confirmed in the state:

Brad Hazzard
(@BradHazzard)

Tomorrow is one very challenging year since NSW had first 4 Covid19 cases. But today, with incredible support of our community (testing)& stellar work of front line @NSWHealth (inc⭐️Tracers),@nswpolice @NSWHPathology it is one week since our last local transmission of Covid19.

January 24, 2021













20:50

Summary

Here is a summary of the key developments from the last few hours:

  • The US is nearing 25m cases. I’ll post a summary shortly. For now, the US is nearing an astonishing 25 million cases of coronavirus – a quarter of the global total and one in every thirteen people in the country. There are currently 24,985,689 confirmed infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
  • UK to quarantine arrivals from high-risk countries – reports. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to force travelers from countries where there is a high risk of Covid to go into quarantine for 10 days after arriving in Britain, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.
  • Three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain. Coronavirus infections linked to the Australian Open are continuing to emerge, with a further three non-players – two men in their 30s and one in his 50s confirmed to have the highly contagious UK strain of the virus.
  • Mainland China confirmed 80 new coronavirus cases on 23 January, down from 107 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Sunday. The National Health Commission, in a statement, said 65 of the new cases were local infections. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 92 from 99 cases a day earlier. The total number of confirmed cases in Mainland China now stands at 88,991, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635.
  • A possible community case of Covid is being reported in the northernmost New Zealand province of Northland. The “probable” case is in the community, a ministry of health spokesperson said, rather than a managed isolation facility. The director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, and the minister of covid-19 response, Chris Hipkins, will hold a media stand-up at 4pm to share the latest information.
  • It has been a year since the Wuhan lockdown. The Chinese city of Wuhan marks one year since the start of its traumatic 76-day coronavirus lockdown. On 23 January 2020, Wuhan shocked the globe by confining its 11 million anxious citizens to their homes, starting a cycle that would spread across the world. But China largely brought its outbreak under control and Wuhan is nothing like the ghost town of a year ago, with traffic humming, sidewalks bustling, and citizens packing public transport and parks.
  • Hong Kong and Oslo tightened measures. Thousands of people in one of Hong Kong’s poorest and most densely packed districts have been ordered to stay in their homes. Norway’s government, meanwhile, has imposed the strictest restrictions seen in the region of the capital, Oslo, since March after the discovery of the British variant in a retirement home.
  • A French lockdown ‘likely’. A French government source has told AFP that “the hypothesis of confinement is more and more likely,” citing projections of a surge in cases due to the more transmissible British strain.
  • Fabric masks still work, said the WHO. The World Health Organization says it has no plans to change its guidance recommending fabric face masks as new coronavirus variants spread because the mutated strains are transmitted in the same way. The statement comes after Germany and Austria made medical masks mandatory on public transport and in shops, allowing only surgical or FFP2 masks rather than fabric.
  • There is a shortage of vaccines in Brazil. Brazil has just started its vaccination campaign but scientists are already warning the hard-hit country will quickly run out of doses and even syringes, some blaming the government for the shortages.


20:38

Possible community case in New Zealand

Eleanor de Jong

An update on New Zealand now, where a possible community case of Covid is being reported in the northernmost province of Northland.

The “probable” case is in the community, a ministry of health spokesperson said, rather than a managed isolation facility.

The director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, and the minister of covid-19 response, Chris Hipkins, will hold a media stand-up at 4pm to share the latest information.

The last case of covid-19 in the community was recorded in Auckland on November 18 and contained within a matter of days after central Auckland was shut down.

Overall less than 2000 people contracted coronavirus in 2020, and 26 people died. New Zealand is pursuing an elimination strategy towards the disease.


20:27

Mexico’s Health Ministry on Saturday confirmed 20,057 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 1,470 additional fatalities, bringing the country’s total to 1,752,347 cases and 149,084 deaths, Reuters reports.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.


20:07

Mainland China reports 80 new cases vs 107 a day earlier

Mainland China confirmed 80 new coronavirus cases on 23 January, Reuters reports, down from 107 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Sunday.

The National Health Commission, in a statement, said 65 of the new cases were local infections. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 92 from 99 cases a day earlier.

The total number of confirmed cases in Mainland China now stands at 88,991, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635.


19:58

No new local cases in Australian state of Victoria

Victoria has recorded its 18th straight day without a local coronavirus case as the state’s residents enjoy greater freedom to gather indoors, AAP reports.

The zero cases recorded on Saturday – as well as one case in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system – came from just under 12,000 tests.

Only 30 active coronavirus cases remain in the state.

It comes as more visitors are allowed in Victorian households, with the indoor gathering limit at homes doubled from Saturday from 15 to 30.

The smaller limit on home gatherings had been introduced on New Year’s Eve as the state battled a cluster linked to a Black Rock Thai restaurant.

More Victorians stranded interstate will also be able to return home, thanks to a further easing of interstate border restrictions.

Updated


19:56

UK to quarantine arrivals from high-risk countries – reports

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to force travelers from countries where there is a high risk of Covid to go into quarantine for 10 days after arriving in Britain, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

Via Reuters: Travellers from Brazil and South Africa, and neighbouring countries, will be met on arrival and escorted to hotels to quarantine, under plans being discussed by UK ministers, the Daily Mail said.

Johnson favoured a more targeted approach than making all air passengers go into quarantine, said the report, which added that the quarantine decision would be taken on Monday.

Britain has recorded more than 3.5 million Covid infections – the fifth-highest in the world – and nearly 96,000 deaths.













19:54

Three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain

Coronavirus infections linked to the Australian Open are continuing to emerge as the states and territories continue their run of no new locally acquired cases.

Victorian authorities on Saturday reported one new case linked to the Open, a man in his 20s who is not a player.

A further three non-players – two men in their 30s and one in his 50s – have meanwhile been confirmed to have the highly contagious UK strain of the virus.

Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria said all three had been in hard lockdown since they landed in Melbourne.

“The residents arrived in Melbourne on a dedicated Australian Open charter flight on 15 January and returned their first positive tests on 15, 17 and 18 January,” a spokesperson said.

There are 10 active cases linked to the Open and 970 people associated with the tournament in quarantine.


19:48

Eleanor de Jong

A possible outbreak of Covid-19 is being reported in New Zealand, in the northernmost province of Northland.

The probable case has emerged in the community, but is NOT a probable case of community transmission, according to the New Zealand Department of Health.

The outbreak – if confirmed – is said to be related to a person recently released from a managed isolation facility, the New Zealand Herald reports.

The director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, and the minister of covid-19 response, Chris Hipkins, will hold a media stand-up at 4pm to share the latest information.

Updated


19:46

Australian state of New South Wales confirms zero local cases

Calla Wahlquist

New South Wales has recorded no new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 on Sunday and three in hotel quarantine. It brings the number of new cases listed in Australia today to four, all in hotel quarantine, after Victoria reported one new case in Melbourne’s quarantine hotels. Queensland has recorded no new cases on Sunday.

Health officials in NSW have urged people to get a Covid-19 test if they have any cold or flu symptoms, however mild, after just 11,344 tests were conducted in the 24-hours to 8pm last night – well below the daily target of 30,000 tests.




Arriving passengers at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith International airport are sent onto buses for mandatory 14 day quarantine on January 22, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Photograph: James D Morgan/Getty Images

Authorities say they have also detected fragments of the virus in sewage tests at the Warriewood and North Head treatment plants,. The former covers about 70,000 people in the Northern Beaches area, and the latter has a catchment of 1.3 million people from a large chunk of Sydney extending north of the Parramatta River from Western Sydney to Manley.

NSW Health said the detection “likely reflects known recent confirmed cases in those areas,” but urged anyone living in those areas to get tested if they had any symptoms.













19:43

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

I’ll be bringing you the latest developments from around the world, with a focus on Australia, for the next few hours.

I’ll post a summary shortly. For now, the US is nearing an astonishing 25 million cases of coronavirus – a quarter of the global total and one in every thirteen people in the country. There are currently 24,981,398 confirmed infections, with

In Australia, meanwhile, the states of New South Wales and Victoria have recorded zero local cases. We’re awaiting the numbers from Queensland.

And three infections in hotel quarantine linked to the Australian Open have been confirmed to be the UK strain of the virus.

As always, you can say Hi (or shout at me) on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Updated



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