Israel ready to administer fourth dose of anti-Covid vaccine

Today's headlines:High school students in India refuse canteen food cooked by a dalit; in Fukushima an underwater tunnel is being studied to pour radioactive water into the sea; one person is dead and dozens are missing in a jade mine accident in Myanmar; in China a 66 million years old dinosaur embryo has been discovered. 

ISRAEL

A panel of government experts has given the go-ahead for the administration of the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, reserved - for now - for the over-60s, health care workers and the immunocompromised. The booster can be administered four months after the third dose, to make up for a drop in antibodies. The advisory has yet to receive final approval from the Ministry of Health. 

INDIA

For over a week now upper caste students  at a high school in Jaul, in the northeastern Indian state of Uttarakhand, have been refusing canteen food because it isprepared by a Dalit cook, once considered untouchable and casteless. Despite the laws, the episode confirms once again the persistence of a discriminatory attitude and "caste racism" in the country. 

JAPAN

The operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, scene of the worst disaster since Chernobyl, wants to build an underwater tunnel to release 1.3 million tons of contaminated water into the sea. Enough to fill about 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, it is stored in huge tanks at an annual cost of about 0 million and space is running out.

CHINA

A group of scientists has discovered a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo that was preparing to hatch from its egg, just like a chicken. The discovery took place in Ganzhou, southern China. Researchers estimate it is at least 66 million years old and is a toothless theropod dinosaur (oviraptorosaur), which they have nicknamed Baby Yingliang.

MYANMAR

At least one person is dead and dozens are missing after a landslide occurred this morning in a jade mine in northern Myanmar. The disaster struck the Hpakant quarry, in Kachin State, near the border with China, the main reference point for the precious metals market. The sector, which claims numerous victims every year, uses low-paid migrant workers. 

UZBEKISTAN

The khokim (governor) of the Fergana region, Khairullah Bozorov, told the regional assembly that residents with obesity problems will receive up to 500 sumo (about 40 euros) for every kilogram lost. The governor referred to  WHO data that excessive weight is the most common cause of disease, with a global average of 55%,  in Uzbekistan it is 80%.

LAOS - THAILAND

The project to build a hydroelectric plant in Laos is causing deep concerns in Thailand. Concerns include relocations of many villages, impact on fish fauna and safety. The Sanakham Dam, a billion, 684-megawatt electricity project, will be built on the Mekong. China's Datang International Power Generation is among the developers  .

RUSSIA

In the Russian Orthodox Church, opposition to the anti-Covid vaccine QR-Code (Green Pass) is growing. While in the past this opposition was the prerogative of conspiracy-minded and radical minorities, today it is the Metropolitan of Ekaterinburg in the Urals, Evgenij (Kulberg), who has issued a "manifesto" against the "quasi-religion" of digital profiling, in controversy with Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeev).