The Week - USA (2021-03-05)

8 NEWS The world at a glance ...

Mount Etna, Italy

Lighting up the sky: Mount Etna has

been erupting for more than a week,

shooting burning lava nearly a mile into

the Sicilian sky and showering ash and

rocks over a 20-mile radius. “We have

not seen such high explosions for years,”

said volcanologist Marco Neri, “but at

the moment there is no risk to the popu-

lation, apart from the smoke that can create breathing problems.”

This eruption is not a record for Etna, Europe’s most active vol-

cano. In 1789, it belched lava fountains some 10,000 feet high. “It

is said the lava lit up the sky so much that it was possible to read

even at night,” said volcanologist Boris Behncke. Etna’s longest

eruption on record began in 1614 and lasted 10 years.

Serrana, Brazil

Whole town gets vaccine: The

entire adult population of Serrana

will get inoculated with the

Chinese-made CoronaVac vaccine

over the next two months, as part

of a study on the rate of Covid transmission

among an immunized population. São Paulo’s

state government selected the commuter town of 45,000 people

because it has a high infection rate and good health-care infrastruc-

ture. Scientists hope to find out the share of the population that

needs to be inoculated to stop the spread of Covid. In clinical trials,

CoronaVac was 50 percent effective in preventing symptomatic

Covid, and 100 percent effective against hospitalization or death.

Once word spread that the town had been chosen, the Serrana real

estate market exploded as Brazilians from other areas sought to

rent or buy property there. The local government is now requiring

people to prove longtime residency before getting their shots.

London

Megxit official: Buckingham Palace confirmed last week

that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and

Duchess of Sussex, will not be returning to any royal

duties, and that Harry will give up his honorary mil-

itary titles and royal patronages. The two stepped

away from royal life last year after complaining of

harassment by the tabloid press, and their status was

to be reviewed after a year. The couple were reportedly

upset to lose their status as royal patrons of several

charities. In a statement, Harry and Meghan said they

“have offered their continued support to the organiza-

tions they have represented regardless of official role.”

Several of those groups, including the Invictus Games

for wounded military veterans, which Harry founded,

will keep working with the Sussexes.

Mexico City

Cartel queen busted: Mexican President Andrés

Manuel López Obrador has welcomed the arrest

in the U.S. of the wife of drug kingpin Joaquín

“El Chapo” Guzmán. Emma Coronel, a

dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, was arrested

at a Virginia airport this week on charges of help-

ing her husband run the multibillion-dollar Sinaloa

cartel while he was in a Mexican prison—and of

conspiring to help him escape that prison in 2015.

The leftist López Obrador said that Coronel, 31,

might know more about the case of Genaro García Luna—a minis-

ter of public security under the conservative former President Felipe

Calderón—who was arrested in Dallas in 2019 on charges of taking

millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel. “The extent of

the criminal association between the neoliberal authorities and the

criminals isn’t known,” López Obrador said. “Hopefully the U.S.

government will find out more.”

London

Getting picky over shots: With the U.K.’s Covid vaccination cam-

paign steaming ahead, some Britons are shopping around in an

attempt to get their preferred jab. Their choices are the Pfizer vac-

cine, which is about 95 percent effective and is known locally as

“the posh one,” and the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed

with Oxford University and is being called “the English one.” The

National Health Service says patients can’t choose the shot they get,

but some have been calling up clinics to find out which vaccine is in

stock. Andrew Marr, host of a popular BBC news show, said on air

that he would much prefer Pfizer over AstraZeneca, which is 60 to

70 percent effective and may not work against the South African

variant. But doctor Paul Williams, a former Labour Party law-

maker, said his patients are telling him they want “the English

one,” because they trust Oxford scientists.

Ottawa

Vaccine delays: Only 3 percent of Canadians have received a Covid

vaccine, compared with 27 percent of Britons and 13 percent of

Americans, because of ongoing supply issues. Canada had ordered

more than 10 times the amount of vaccine needed for its 37.5 mil-

lion people. But rather than pick one or two vaccine providers and

bargain for early access, the government spread its orders among

seven companies, only two of which—Pfizer and Moderna—

currently have vaccines approved for use in Canada. Delivery of

those firms’ doses has been delayed by winter storms and produc-

tion slowdowns in Europe. John Lewis, CEO of Alberta-based

Entos Pharmaceuticals, said if the government had dumped its “risk-

averse” approach and invested early in domestic vaccine makers—

as the U.S. and U.K. did—Canada might have its own shot now.

AP,

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Coronel: Charged

Waiting for shots

Epic eruptions

The Sussexes