NEW YORK, Feb 16 (IPS) – Akshaya Kumar is the crisis advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.Efforts to combat the vast global inequity in access to Covid-19 vaccines just got a boost. A Cape Town company claims it successfully made a vaccine that mimics Moderna’s messenger RNA vaccine—without any help from Moderna. This copycat will still need to undergo clinical trials, but the effort could yield Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccine.
Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 16 (IPS) – Unable to walk, see or hear, and without assistance, the multiple barriers between 240 million children with disabilities and the education system mean nearly half are likely never to have attended school.
Big rigs parked outside Parliament represent the movement’s last stronghold after demonstrators abandoned their sole remaining truck blockade along the U.S. border.
(Image credit: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press/via AP)
Syrian military says missiles came from occupied Golan Heights, caused material damage
Several surface-to-surface missiles from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights struck southwest of Damascus late on Wednesday and caused material damage, the Syrian military told local media. No casualties have been reported yet.
The “Israeli enemy” struck near the town of Zakyah at approximately 11:35 pm, military sources told the Syrian news agency SANA. Damascus did not provide any details on the type or number of missiles used.
While Israel Defense Forces (IDF) airplanes frequently fire air-to-ground missiles into Syria, usually from Lebanese airspace, the newest attack is unusual because no jets were used. Israeli warplanes were spotted over Lebanon but launched no missiles this time, according to Syrian media.
Israel has fired surface-to-surface missiles at Syria from Golan just last Wednesday, in a follow-up to an air strike. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, ten such projectiles were launched against Syrian air defenses, killing one soldier and injuring five more. The IDF said they had carried out a strike in retaliation, after a Syrian air defense missile launched to intercept an Israeli airstrike exploded in the skies over Galilee instead.
Tel Aviv has sought to justify its previous air raids by saying they were “defensive” strikes against “Iranian” targets inside Syria. Damascus has rejected this reasoning and accused Israel of repeatedly violating its sovereignty.
Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 16 (IPS) – Unable to walk, see or hear, and without assistance, the multiple barriers between 240 million children with disabilities and the education system mean nearly half are likely never to have attended school.
