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Several gorillas at Zoo Atlanta in the southern US state of Georgia have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, the zoo said. The western lowland gorillas were tested after keepers saw them coughing and other symptoms, it said. Initial tests indicated they were positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes …

US President Joe Biden has a simple message for fellow Democrats about his plan to raise taxes to remake large swaths of the American economy: look beyond the bottom line. Biden is trying to persuade Democrats to embrace a more emotional argument, namely that the plan is fair, that it …

German company BioNTech, which in partnership with Pfizer developed one of the most widely used anti-Covid shots, says it’s preparing for the worldwide launch of its jab for younger recipients and might get approval in October. An mRNA vaccine against coronavirus for children aged between five and 11 years old …

Two goals from returning hero Cristiano Ronaldo sent Manchester United top of the Premier League after early-season pace-setters Tottenham Hotspur fell to a surprise 3-0 loss at Crystal Palace. Champions Manchester City made it three wins out of four with a 1-0 win at Leicester City while Arsenal got their …

Four civilians arrived in Florida ahead of a planned liftoff next week for a SpaceX launch into orbit billed as the first all-civilian spaceflight in history. After completing their final day of astronaut training at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California on Wednesday, September 8, the crew of Inspiration4 arrived in …

South Africa’s health regulator has approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for use by children aged 12 and older, paving the way for the government to offer vaccinations to teenagers. The South African Health Products Authority (SAPHRA) said the decision came after a review of updated safety and efficacy information submitted in …

Fully vaccinated people were 11 times less likely to die of COVID-19 and 10 times less likely to be hospitalized since highly contagious Delta became the most common variant, US health authorities said Friday. The data came from one of three new papers published by the Centers for Disease Control …

Egypt has announced plans to provide more than 60 million people in rural areas with high-speed internet as part of a nationwide effort to develop the digital economy and drive job creation. “We want to improve internet connectivity for 60 million Egyptians living in around 4,500 villages by upgrading broadband …

Booster shots to extend the protection of COVID-19 vaccines may be unnecessary for many people, a leading scientist behind the AstraZeneca vaccine said on Friday. Oxford University Professor Sarah Gilbert told The Telegraph newspaper that immunity from the vaccine was holding up well — even against the delta variant. While …

Oil prices eased on Thursday on China’s plan to release state oil reserves to reduce pressure on domestic refiners and a smaller than expected U.S. weekly crude draw. Traders said losses were limited by the slow return of U.S. output after Hurricane Ida and higher than expected U.S. gasoline demand. …

Facebook Inc launched its first smart glasses on Thursday in a step toward its aim of offering true augmented-reality spectacles. The glasses, which were created in partnership with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, allow wearers to listen to music, take calls, or capture photos and short videos and share them across Facebook’s …

A smoke alarm was activated in a Russian service module on the International Space Station (ISS), the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday, and Russian news agencies reported that cosmonauts had smelled burning plastic. The RIA news agency quoted Roscosmos as saying all systems were later working properly. Plans …

The US government could run out of money as early as next month to service its debt, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday, reiterating her warning that emergency measures put in place to raise cash could be exhausted soon. “Given this uncertainty, the Treasury Department is not able to …

When Facebook acquired WhatsApp, it promised to respect the privacy of its users. That hasn’t been the case, and the firm now employs thousands of staff to read supposedly encrypted chats. Social media behemoth Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg promising to keep the stripped-down, ad-free messaging …

Nvidia on Wednesday sought EU antitrust approval of its $54 billion takeovers of British chip designer Arm, according to a European Commission filing, with regulators likely to echo worries similar to those voiced by the UK watchdog last month. The world’s biggest maker of graphics and AI chips announced the …

While humans are protected from solar storms by the Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere, they still have the potential to cause immense damage to infrastructure which could induce an “internet apocalypse,” new research finds. The report, entitled ‘Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse’, states that “one of the greatest …

The vaccine-sharing facility Covax said Wednesday it should be able to provide COVID jabs to no more than 20 percent of people in poorer countries this year, far fewer than anticipated. Covax acknowledged that it now expects to access just 1.425 billion vaccine doses this year – far short of …

The head of the World Health Organization is calling on rich countries with large supplies of coronavirus vaccines to refrain from offering booster shots through the end of the year, expanding a call that has largely fallen on deaf ears. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said on Wednesday he …

Indian authorities are restricting major religious festivals that start this week and attract huge crowds, warning that a new COVID-19 wave had already begun in the financial capital Mumbai. State governments across the country of 1.3 billion people, which saw a devastating coronavirus surge in April-May, are clamping down on …

Documents obtained by The Intercept reveal that the US government-funded studies into coronavirus in bats in Wuhan long before the pandemic, with the proposal showing it was aware of the risk that researchers would be infected. More than 900 pages of material related to this research were published on the …