No evidence yet that it's time for a 3rd booster, says former FDA director

Sand and dust storms impact over 500 million in India: Study More than 500 million people in India and more than 80 per cent of the populations of Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Iran are exposed to medium and high levels of poor air quality due to sand and dust storms, according to a new report. Sand and dust storms contribute significantly to poor air quality in Karachi, Lahore and Delhi in ‘southwest Asia’. Nearly 60 million people in these places experienced more than 170 dusty days a year in 2019, the report showed. The findings were published in the Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) report Sand and Dust Storms Risk Assessment in Asia and the Pacific. APDIM is a regional institution of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). The situation is much worse for six million residents of eight cities across the region: Three in China, two in Iran, two in Pakistan...

Nyrstar fined $35,000 for toxic acid spill into waterways near Port Pirie lead smelter The owners of Port Pirie's lead smelter have been fined $35,000 for a series of failures that led to 700 litres of "toxic" sulphuric acid leaking from the plant into waterways and mangroves near the town. Nyrstar caused material environmental harm by polluting the environment through toxic waste leakage between January 31 and February 2, 2019 — the extent of that harm could not be quantified. The Environment, Resources and Development Court previously heard the company did not respond for about eight hours as it made "a wrong assumption" that the leak only contained weak acid. Judge Paul Muscat said the case was not a "flagrant disregard" by Nyrstar and sat at the lower end of the scale. "An incident of this general nature was not entirely unforeseeable and effective mechanisms to prevent it could — and should — have been implemented," he said. https://www....

Is India’s rooftop solar sector being ignored for large-scale projects? Rooftop solar has significant potential in India but growth in the sector has lagged due to many factors including a focus on mega solar power projects. India has a target of achieving 40 gigawatts (GW) of green energy from the rooftop solar sector by 2022 but it has not been able to achieve even 20 percent from it so far. Conservationists have often highlighted rooftop solar as an alternative to large-scale renewable energy projects that come with several ecological and social costs. Scientists emphasise that it is also more economically viable than large-scale utility projects. They call for a policy shift from centralised to decentralised projects and focus on commercial and industrial rooftop solar to boost the growth in the sector. As India is inching closer to 2022, it increasingly becomes clear that achieving an installed capacity of 40-gigawatts (GW) from the rooftop solar sector by 2022 is nearly impossibl...

Pelosi sets Oct 1 target for infrastructure, Biden spending bill WASHINGTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday set an Oct. 1 target date for passing President Joe Biden's multitrillion-dollar infrastructure and social spending agenda. In a "Dear Colleague" letter to her fellow Democrats, Pelosi also warned against delaying next week's expected vote on a $3.5 trillion budget resolution that some party centrists have threatened not to support. https://list.ly/kaido-zoro15/newsfeed https://the-suicide-squad.additor.io/page/xQGrv5TwJzNK https://the-suicide-squad.additor.io/page/p3WAnzu1zVjM https://the-suicide-squad.additor.io/page/aqrwKbUbYWRX https://the-suicide-squad.additor.io/page/N0D5YGupErvN https://the-suicide-squad.additor.io/page/j1zkWGCgMZj5 https://lepeupleloupcomplet.additor.io/page/XjA2Q0uBkwak https://lepeupleloupcomplet.additor.io/page/p30e8aiQDkOL https://lepeupleloupcomplet.additor.io/page/MyvK0qtoR7jw http...

U.S.-run airlift from Taliban-occupied Kabul picks up pace but faces daunting problems KABUL, Afghanistan — Faced with mounting criticism of a chaotic exit from Afghanistan, the U.S. and its allies Friday stepped up evacuation efforts from Kabul, where thousands of desperate people ringed the airport even as a semblance of normality returned to other parts of the capital. With bedlam at the airport a daily event since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul on Sunday, even those with permission to leave have faced a gantlet of crushing crowds and edgy Taliban fighters using truncheons, sticks, whips, rifle butts and bullets to disperse people around the airport’s environs. The U.S. administration is weathering intense disapproval, both internationally and domestically, for failing to organize the departure of U.S. citizens and vulnerable Afghans well before the planned exit of American troops by the end of this month. In Washington, President Biden promised that any American in Afghanistan who...