“An environmental emergency of this nature causes significant damage to the planet by the release of hazardous substances into the ecosystem,” U.N. Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Hanaa Singer-Hamdy said in a statement late Saturday. “This in turn threatens lives and livelihoods of the population in the coastal areas.”

Sri Lanka has already submitted an interim claim of $40 million to X-Press Feeders to cover part of the cost of fighting the fire, which broke out on May 20 when the vessel was anchored about 9.5 nautical miles (18 kilometers) northwest of Colombo and waiting to enter the port.

Too early to decide on Covid-19 booster shots:WHO

Jun 20, 2021

“We do not have the information that’s necessary to make the recommendation on whether or not a booster will be needed,” Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, said in a Zoom interview Friday. The “science is still evolving.”

Counting Covid-19 enters new era as threats shift away from cases

Jun 20, 2021

Scientists say comparing the prevalence of Covid to the flu, which kills about 650,000 people globally each year, will become an important yardstick come next fall and winter. Covid has killed more than 3.8 million people since the start of 2020, but vaccinated countries should eventually be able to treat its periodic resurgences in the same way as they do the flu — and make policy decisions accordingly.

China mulls end to childbirth restrictions by 2025, says report

Jun 19, 2021

Faced with a demographic crisis, the Chinese government relaxed the policy in 2016 to allow for two children, but many couples in the Han middle class were reluctant to have more than one child, citing the high costs of raising families particularly in cities. In 2020, the birth rate fell by almost 15 per cent year on year.

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