Category Archives: headline

headline

Sign of cancer dismissed because of colour of woman's work uniform

When Chelsey La Frentz, 25, went to her GP with 'yellow' jaundiced eyes, she was told they probably just looked that colour because of the vivid yellow Ikea uniform she was wearing.

And while the Adelaide woman was sent for tests – she had also started being sick after eating and suffered itching – the GP told her she was unlikely to have cancer.

"She didn't think they were yellow, because I was wearing my uniform. She thought it was just my uniform," she told nine.com.au.

READ MORE: Cancer spike predicted as people finally return to GPs, but delays could be deadly

Chelsea Lafrenz was diagnosed with liver cancer last year during the start of the pandemic.

"She said 'this is not going to be cancer – at your age it just doesn't add up'."

Early results showed there was a problem with Miss La Frentz's liver, but it took her becoming so ill she had to go to the emergency department to finally get a diagnosis.

READ MORE: Fears as breast cancer screening cancelled during Sydney lockdown

By this point she says her whole body had turned yellow with jaundice because her liver wasn't flushing out the toxins. She was also covered with rashes.

Chelsey was suffering from jaundice, which makes the eyes appear yellow. (Stock photo)

The results of an MRI scan from the day before was examined.

"The emergency doctor came up to me and my mum and said, 'it's not looking good, it looks like cancer'," she said.

"I was numb."

READ MORE: Young dad dies after testicular cancer battle

Medics at Royal Adelaide Hospital later confirmed the shock news that Ms La Frentz, who was then just 24, had bile cancer, a type of liver cancer.

Chelsey is urging people not to put off medical appointments.

But despite surgery and chemotherapy initially working, the cancer returned and is now terminal.

However, Ms La Frentz, who is having chemotherapy to try and prolong her life, refuses to accept she is going to die.

"It's very scary. They pretty much said it was terminal and the chemo is going to extend my life," she said.

Chelsea Lafrenz was diagnosed with liver cancer last year during the start of the pandemic.

"I try and stay positive. Miracles happen."

READ MORE: Fears thousands of Aussies unaware they have cancer because of reluctance to visit GP during COVID pandemic

Ms La Frentz is backing a campaign urging people to see their doctors if they have any symptoms like she did – despite the pandemic.

After joining together earlier this year, multiple cancer charities have issued a fresh appeal for people not to delay seeing their doctor about symptoms or put off tests or screenings due to coronavirus.

Medics fear thousands of Aussies have cancer – but don't know yet- because they're avoiding check-ups or screenings.

Chelsey was diagnosed with cancer aged just 24.

But even during lockdowns, medical appointments are allowed.

"Just because COVID has hit doesn't mean cancer has gone away," Ms La Frentz, said.

"You think you're young and you're going to be fine but it can affect anyone."

Dr Lorraine Chantrill, the Chair of the Gastro Intestinal Cancer Institute said while bile cancer like what Ms La Frentz has is rare, if it spreads it can't be cured.

And while she didn't delay seeing her doctor, seeking help after just a month of becoming unwell, Dr Chantrill's organisation is one of those trying to reach others who might be putting it off.

Chelsea Lafrenz was diagnosed with liver cancer last year during the start of the pandemic.

READ MORE: Shattering diagnosis after doctors blamed pain on bushwalking

"It is a tragedy to encounter patients who could have been helped if they sought help sooner, we feel so bad telling them that we cannot cure their cancer if it is advanced," she told nine.com.au. 

Cancer organisations say there were between 27 per cent to 50 per cent fewer diagnostic procedures for breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer done during the first wave of the pandemic.

A massive 145,000 fewer mammograms were performed through BreastScreen Australia in January to June 2020 compared with the same time in 2018.

The New Normal, Same Cancer: Conversations campaign aims to reduce delays in cancer being diagnosed – which could make a difference between surviving and not.

Symptoms of cancer could include unexplained weight loss, fatigue, tiredness, unexplained aches or pains, fever, or an unusual lump or swelling.

Chelsea Lafrenz was diagnosed with liver cancer last year during the start of the pandemic.

The organisations involved in the campaign are Cancer Australia, Bowel Cancer Australia, GI Cancer Institute, Leukaemia Foundation, Lymphoma Australia, Lung Foundation Australia, Neuroendocrine Cancer Australia, Ovarian Cancer Australia, Pancare, Pankind, Pink Hope, Prostate Cancer Australia, Rare Cancers Australia, and So Brave.

It is backed by drug company AstraZeneca.

Professor Dorothy Keefe , the Chief Executive of government body Cancer Australia, also urged people not to wait.

"Most symptoms are due to something less serious than cancer but, if it is cancer, the earlier it is found the better," she said.

What is bile cancer?

Bile cancer is a form of liver cancer

The bile ducts are the tubes that take bile from the liver and pass it to the small bowel, and are needed to digest food.

While it's one of the rarest cancers, it's one of the most deadly.

The chance of surviving for five years is 20 percent, according to Cancer Australia, with around 2300 people a year dying.

Symptoms include jaundice (yellowing of the skin), dark urine and pale stools, upper abdominal pain, persistent nausea and weight loss.

Contact journalist Sarah Swain: Ss****@******om.au

headline

Moose charges at park-goer in US state of Colorado

A US park-goer's close call with a wild bull moose has prompted a warning from authorities.

The visitor to the park in Clear Creek County in the state of Colorado was filming the animal as it was grazing behind a tree.

Within a matter of seconds, the moose spotted the person behind the camera and charged at them.

READ MORE: Baby girl dies after tragic magpie swooping accident in Brisbane park

Moose charges at park-goer in Colorado

The park-goer dropped their camera, ran from the moose, and hid behind a tree.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife shared the video, assuring viewers there were no injuries.

"This person managed to get behind a tree and the moose hit that," Colorado Parks and Wildlife tweeted.

"This video is an example of being too close to a bull moose and how quickly they can decide to charge on you.

READ MORE: China's wandering elephants may finally be heading home

"The individual just by chance came upon the bull walking along a willow bottom heading towards a lake."

The department said it was aware of at least 15 moose conflicts since 2013, which resulted in injuries to humans.

"Signs of moose aggression include laid back ears, raised hairs on the neck, and licking of the snout," the department said.

"​If a moose displays aggressive behaviour or begins to charge, run as fast as you can and try to put a large object between you such as a boulder, car, or tree."

headline

Cold fronts to slam opposite sides of Australia

The wild weather continues for Western Australia today as a pair of cold fronts trigger damaging winds, hail and snow in the south west of the state.

As the first front, which swept across the state over the weekend weakens, another system is approaching from the west.

The second and stronger cold front began to charge across the southwest of WA last night, bringing another round of showers, small hail and potentially damaging winds.

READ MORE: Climate change report a 'code red for humanity', UN warns

Wind gusts could reach around 100 kilometres per hour today with showers or thunderstorms most likely to the south of Bunbury and west of Albany.

Abnormally high tides and damaging surf are also likely along the coasts in this region, which could cause localised flooding and beach erosion.

A cold air mass is expected to surge across southwestern Australia in the wake of the two fronts, delivering small hail and possibly a dusting of snow on the peaks of the Stirling Range.

Perth will experience showers today with temperatures only expected to reach about 15C, which is four degrees below average for this time of year.

This wet and wintry weather won't give umbrellas much of a chance to dry out after the city's wettest July in 26 years.

Across the country in Victoria, a cold front will bring damaging winds to the Central, East Gippsland, South West, North Central, North East and West and South Gippsland.

Peak gusts around 90 kilometres per hour are forecast to develop across central parts of the warning area from early Tuesday afternoon.

The winds are forecast to extend to the rest of the warning area late on Tuesday night, with peak gusts of 100 to 110 kilometres per hour likely over alpine peaks tonight and tomorrow morning.

Winds are expected to ease from the west during Wednesday as the cold front crosses Victoria.

Locations which may be affected include Ararat, Kyneton, Ballarat, Daylesford, Bacchus Marsh and Falls Creek.

Elsewhere, a trough is starting to bring showers to southern SA.

Moist onshore winds are driving a few showers over coastal Queensland.

A high is keeping elsewhere mostly dry.

headline

Tribute to Sir Lester Bid

Sir Lester Bryant Bird left us this morning at about 5.30 lying peacefully in bed.  He was 83. Antigua and Barbuda has lost a very special son.
Beyond any doubt, he is the architect of modern Antigua, responsible for successfully transitioning the country from an economy dependent on a defunct sugar industry into one of the leading tourism centres in the world.
Under his stewardship, Antigua and Barbuda became a high-income country, transforming the quality of jobs and housing and introducing high end tourist resorts.
When he lost the general elections in 2004, Antigua and Barbuda had the lowest rate of unemployment in the Caribbean of 5 per cent.  Many people had the luxury of two jobs.
 A keen sportsman, he played golf in his later years, but his passion was cricket.  He was a superb pace bowler with a strategic knowledge of the game. At a different time, he might have been selected to represent the West Indies. Hie early triumph for Antigua and the West Indies was to win a bronze medal for long jump for the West Indies at the 1957 Pan American Games.
     He was a committed regionalist. He was highly instrumental in establishing the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) serving twice as its Chairman – the first time he was not yet Prime Minister, but such was the confidence that leaders of the Eastern Caribbean reposed in him. He strongly influenced the decision to turn the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority into a Central Bank that serves its member states so well today. He was convinced that the structures of unity and functional cooperation should be maintained in the OECS because the small size of the countries required unity for strength in regional and international bargaining.
In the wider Caribbean, he was literally and figuratively a giant.  It was under his Leadership as Chair of CARICOM that with Jamaica’s PJ Patterson and Barbados’ Owen Arthur that the Regional Negotiating Machinery was established for collective bargaining with the European Union.
Known for his bold oratory, his annual speeches at the UN became a “must listen”, often reported by the international media. He fought tirelessly for a bigger voice in the international community for small states.
Sir Lester Bird was a progressive thinker whose vast experience and knowledge as tourism minister, foreign minister and prime minister served the people of the Caribbean well in the councils of CARICOM.
He had a testy relationship with Barbuda, an island in which he spent his summer holidays as a boy and for which he had great affection. He always said, “I am half Barbudan – my mother is Barbudan”. He dreamed of a developed Barbuda, companion to Antigua in the development of modern facilities and infrastructure. He might have achieved it, had he won the 2004 general election.
It is beyond question that Antigua and Barbuda and the Caribbean Community has lost a gold star in the Olympics of West Indian achievement. And, I have lost an irreplaceable friend and close collaborator of 44 years.  I wish it were not so.
        Rise, Lester, as you always have with your broad smile and the impish twinkle in your eye.  You will continue to inspire through your work that must be recalled and retold for future generations.

Sir Ronald Sanders
Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the Us and the OAS, former High Commissioner to the UK and Ambassador to UNESCO and the World Trade Organization

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SKN Moves to partner with Ministry of Education in fight to reduce NCDs, says PM Harris

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, August 7, 2021 (MMS-SKN) — The St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN) Moves is an initiative of the Ministry of Health aimed at reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by creating a healthy lifestyle culture, and for it to succeed in its mandate, Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris is recommending that it should inculcate persons at a young age.

Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris (holding the mike) addressing, at the Caribbean Cinemas parking lot, persons who participated in the SKN Moves second anniversary health walk.

The St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN) Moves which is observing a slate of celebratory events spanning a seven-week period to mark its second anniversary, held the marquee celebratory event – a health walk – on Saturday August 7. The events are being held by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister.

 Leading the participants in the event which saw them walk from Caribbean Cinemas, along F. T. Williams and Kim Collins Highways to the roundabout at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and back through Ponds Road and Cayon Street, were Prime Minister, Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, and Minister of Health the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett.

 Commending Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Mr William Vincent Hodge, who was a walk participant, Prime Minister Harris observed that what government and SKN Moves are attempting to do now is to inculcate people at a very young age – in pre-schools, primary schools, and secondary schools. He pointed out that if they succeed, they will have less work to do with the adults.

 “We are going to partner strongly with the Ministry of Education because they control the largest number of young people,” said Dr Harris.

 Noting that pre-schools, and primary schools have a population of around 5,000 and secondary schools with over 4,000, then within the education sector they have a large proportion of people in a population of just about 47,000. He remarked: “So imagine if we start there – how much stronger and safer we will be.”

Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris and Minister of Health the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett and other walk participants seen at various stages during the walk.

Addressing participants at the end of the walk, Dr Harris who also has lead responsibility for Human Resource Development, Health and HIV/AIDS issues in the CARICOM’s quasi-cabinet, noted that St. Kitts Nevis (SKN) Moves is part and parcel of the Caribbean Moves initiatives that was launched by the CARICOM heads.

 He noted that the CARICOM heads recognised that the Caribbean region and the CARICOM in particular had been much challenged by non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which are linked largely to habits of people who drink too much of the wrong things, and who do not exercise enough among others.  

 “Way back the CARICOM heads were able to get non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the global agenda for attention so that the world could focus its energy in assisting us and assisting everyone affected by NCDs in living a healthier life,” he added.

 Minimising, if not avoiding, the use of alcohol, doing away with smoking, and engaging in more physical activities would be critical in achieving the desired goals. He said that the St. Kitts Nevis Moves is about physical activity, with everyone finding something to do, whether it is walking, running, cycling, swimming, noting that there are so many activities and the more that persons do leisurely, the more healthy they can be in body and mind.

 “So I am happy that with our learning to live better with Covid, we could gather and execute this because healthy living is still a must,” said Prime Minister Harris. “It is still necessary and the good thing about it, the power lies in each of us – what we do, what we say, how we think, all these we can control with effort.”

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Delores Stapleton-Harris (left) and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Mr William Vincent Hodge (right) during the walk.

The Honourable Prime Minister commended the Ministry of Health and in particular Minister the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett, Permanent Secretary Dr Delores Stapleton-Harris, and all the functionaries in the Ministry of Health for organising another St. Kitts Nevis (SKB) Moves event.

 Others from the Ministry of Health included Chief Medical Officer Dr Hazel Laws, Non-Communicable Diseases Programme Coordinator, Dr Marissa Carty, National HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinator and Health Educator, Dr Mathias Afortu-Ofre, and Administrative and Communication Officer at the Permanent Secretary’s office, Ms Marcia Bassue.

 The Prime Minister thanked all who participated in the walk, notably the young people who had turned out in their numbers, and the delegation from the Embassy of the Republic of China on Taiwan led by the new Ambassador, His Excellency Michael Lin. He thanked the new ambassador for participating in the health walk at the commencement of his tenure. Ambassador Lin also participated in Prime Minister’s Monthly Health Walk held on Saturday July 31.

Young people took part in the walk in large numbers. They included two-year old Master Jahmaar Gonsalves seen leading his mother Ms Genel Boddie on Pond Road, and being congratulated by PM Harris at the end of the walk.

Before the participants set off, they were addressed by Permanent Secretary Dr Delores Stapleton-Harris, and Non-Communicable Diseases Programme Coordinator, Dr Marissa Carty, who gave details of celebratory activities taking place. Week One which celebrated World Breastfeeding Week was observed in the period August 1-7.

 The remaining activities are: Week 2 – SKN Moves Anniversary Celebrations (August 8-14); Week 3 – Community in Ya Kitchen (August 15-21); Week 4 – Water Challenge (August 22-28); Week 5 – Mindfulness Challenge (August 29-September 4); Week 6 – Self Care and Management (September 5-11); and Week 7 – Caribbean Wellness Week (September 12-17).

NCD Programme Coordinator, Dr Marissa Carty (2nd right) addressing participants before they set off. Others are, from left, the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett, Prime Minister Harris, PS Dr Stapleton-Harris, and Chef Ya Chen.

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headline

PM Harris pays tribute to Pastor Emeritus Eric Maynard of Shiloh Baptist Church

PM Harris pays tribute to Pastor Emeritus Eric Maynard of Shiloh Baptist Church

 

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, August 9, 2021 (MMS-SKN) — Founder of the Charlestown-based Shiloh Baptist Church, Pastor Emeritus Eric Maynard, was on Sunday August 8 celebrated for his fifty years of ministry to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis and the wider Caribbean.

Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, Health Minister the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett and members of their entourage are joined by some members of the Shiloh Baptist Church for a group picture.

At a special morning worship service held at the church in Charlestown, Nevis, which was attended by Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, Federal Minister of Health the Hon Akilah Byron-Nisbett, and Commissioner of Police Mr Hilroy Brandy among others, Pastor Eric and Mrs Marilyn Maynard were honoured exactly fifty years to the day when the ministry was started on Sunday August 8, 1971.

 “We are very grateful for the Prime Minister and his delegation who came over in honour of this special day,” said Pastor Wayne Maynard, who is the son of Pastor Emeritus Eric Maynard. “We are so grateful and delighted that you took the time out of your busy schedule to come across the Narrows, and to be here with us.”

 The younger Pastor Maynard added that the Shiloh Baptist Church was officially started on October 22, 1974. Sermon was delivered by Pastor Emeritus Eric Maynard.

Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris delivering remarks at the special service held to honour 50th anniversary of Pastor Eric Maynard’s service in Shiloh Baptist Church. Pastor Eric and Marilyn Maynard are seated in the front row.

When invited to make brief remarks, Prime Minister Harris gave God thanks for having created churches like the Shiloh Baptist Church, and for providing pastors like Senior Pastor Emeritus Eric Maynard who has shepherded God’s flock and has brought people together to magnify God and to continue His work, noting that fifty years is not like fifty days.

 “It is wonderful when we have good messengers of God who by their stability of spiritual work, who by their own example help encourage us the weaker ones to come see a man called Jesus,” said Prime Minister Harris. “As we celebrate your fiftieth anniversary, I bring heartiest congratulations from myself, from the government and people of St. Kitts and Nevis for a wonderful job and encourage you to continue to praise God.”

 He commended the leadership of the church for being as welcoming as it has always been, for being as diversified as it is in its membership, for its outreach to the young people, and in its outreach to the womenfolk in particular.

 The church was further commended for the special appreciation day that it has introduced for non-nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis. The Prime Minister noted that it reminded “us that we all are one – we all are one people with one God to serve, and together in unity we can build a stronger St. Kitts and Nevis.”

Pastor Wayne Maynard welcomes Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris and members of his entourage to Shiloh Baptist Church for the special anniversary service honouring his father Pastor Emeritus Eric Maynard.

The Prime Minister requested Pastor Emeritus Eric Maynard to continue to stay close to God, continue to pray for the leaders of the country, and to continue to pray for him (Prime Minister). In further thanking Pastor Maynard he said that there were times he used to call him from St. Kitts and ask for his prayers, and the pastor would reply and say that he had been praying for him and that he would say a special prayer for him.

 While leadership is a blessing, Dr Harris pointed out that it is tough. He noted that there are so many times when leaders must do what they expect their own membership and fellowship to do, which is the true sense of leading by example. He added that the Shiloh Baptist Church has shown a good example and that something good is happening in the church as leadership was transferred from father to son, which is a blessing.

 In his conclusion, Prime Minister Harris observed that it had rained early morning in St. Kitts and fearing that the waters might be too choppy for travel, he called Commissioner of Police Mr Hilroy Bandy who advised it was okay to travel, “and so we have come in thankfulness to let you know that at the highest level of the government, we hold you in deep appreciation.”

Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris (left) pictured with Mrs Marilyn Maynard and Pastor Emeritus Eric Maynard at the end of the special service.

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Woman Pleads Not Guilty to Attacking St Vincent’s Prime Minister

Annamay Lewis, a 56-year-old vendor of Layou, appeared before a Kingstown Magistrate this morning charged with wounding Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves during a protest last Thursday in Kingstown.

She entered a not guilty plea to the charge and was granted bail with one surety in the sum of EC $3,000 dollars.

The matter was adjourned to September 15.

The Kingstown Magistrate’s court which drew many curious onlookers was heavily guarded by police.

There were emotional scenes outside the court as relatives of Lewis gathered to lend support.

According to reports, on August 5, the accused allegedly unlawfully and maliciously wounded Ralph Gonsalves, 74, Prime Minister of Old Montrose (Dasent Cottage) by striking him on the right side of his head with an unknown object.

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Dixie Fire: 8 Missing in Largest Single Wildfire in California History

Climate change

Judge demands information from PG&E utility as investigators seek cause of blaze spanning 698 sq miles

Dixie Fire rages in California<br>U.S. Forest Service firefighter Ben Foley lights backfires to slow the spread of the Dixie Fire, a wildfire near the town of Greenville, California, U.S. August 6, 2021. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
Wildfire tears through northern California gold rush town – video
in New York and agencies
Guardian

At least eight people were missing on Saturday as what has become the largest single wildfire in California’s recorded history continued to scorch through northern communities, forest and tinder-dry scrub in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

People in the scenic region were already facing a weekend of fear as the huge Dixie fire threatened to reduce thousands of homes to ashes.

The blaze, which has been raging for three weeks and incinerated much of the gold rush-era town of Greenville this week, was threatening more than 14,000 buildings in the northern Sierra Nevada. It had engulfed an area larger than New York City.

“We have received reports of eight unaccounted-for individuals,” the Plumas county sheriff’s office, about 160 miles north of Sacramento, said on Saturday afternoon, asking for the public’s help in finding them.

Five of the missing belong to Greenville.

 

Eulogy for Greenville, my beautiful hometown lost to wildfire

Dixie, named for the road where it started, spanned an area of 698 sq miles as of early Saturday evening, the largest current wildfire in the nation covering the largest area in recorded state history, and was less than a quarter contained.

In the first reported injuries of the Dixie blaze, four firefighters were taken to the hospital on Friday after being struck by a fallen branch, a California department of forestry and fire protection firefighter and spokesman, Edwin Zuniga, said.

“We’re hoping to gain ground. There are favorable weather conditions, with less wind and a blanket of smoke that blocks direct sunlight. It allows a higher humidity, which helps us,” Zuniga said.

Meanwhile, a federal judge has ordered the California utility Pacific Gas & Electric to “explain its role” in the Dixie fire’s combustion, according to a number of news reports on Saturday.

Investigators are still trying to pinpoint the cause of the fire. On Friday, the US district judge William Alsup issued an order demanding information from PG&E on a tree that fell on a power line at the point of ignition.

Wind-driven flames destroyed dozens of homes and most of Greenville’s downtown on Wednesday and Thursday, and also heavily damaged Canyondam, a hamlet with a population of about three dozen people. The fire reached Chester but crews managed to protect homes and businesses there, officials said.

Charlene Mays kept her gas station in Chester open as long as she could, telling weary firefighters not to apologize for the trail of ash their boots left on the floor. But when the small town on the north-west shore of Lake Almanor lost power two days ago, Mays decided it was time for her to leave.

She ran home to grab a box of valuables. The smoke was so thick it was hard to breathe. Chunks of ash broke apart as they hit the ground, making a sound like broken glass.

Since then, Mays has been living in the parking lot of Lassen College in Susanville. Her husband stayed behind to maintain some water tanks firefighters were using. It’s just her, a miniature pinscher chihuahua named Jedidiah and a pit bull named Bear.

Her home was still standing on Friday but her fate was bound with the direction of the wind and she wasn’t alone.

A firefighter surveys the Greenville library in a decimated downtown Greenville, California.
‘My heart is crushed’: US’s largest wildfire levels beloved California town

“I’ve got probably 30 of my regular customers right here,” she said.

Weather at the fire site was expected to have higher humidity and calmer winds on Saturday, with temperatures topping 90F (32.2C) instead of the 40mph gusts and triple-digit highs recorded earlier in the week.

Heatwaves and historic drought tied to the climate crisis have made wildfires harder to fight in the American west.

The burned-out remains of a gas station along Main Street in downtown Greenville.
The burned-out remains of a gas station along Main Street in downtown Greenville. Photograph: Peter DaSilva/UPI/REX/Shutterstock

Scientists say climate breakdown has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

Smoke from the fires blanketed central California and western Nevada, causing air quality to deteriorate to very unhealthy levels and, in some areas, the worst levels in the world as measured by World Air Quality Index, especially in Plumas county, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Air quality advisories extended through the San Joaquin Valley and as far west as the San Francisco Bay Area, where residents were urged to keep their windows and doors shut.

The Dixie fire has not burned across such a large area as certain massive multi-fire so-called complexes, including last year’s August Complex inferno, which surpassed the Mendocino Complex that burned for more than three months in 2018.

California is on track to surpass last year, which had the worst fire season in recent recorded state history.

Since the start of the year, more than 6,000 blazes have destroyed more than 1,300 sq miles, more than triple the losses for the same period in 2020, according to state fire figures.

The Dixie fire ignited less than 10 miles from the start of the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest in California’s history, also sparked by PG&E equipment, in the thickly forested Feather River Canyon, 100 miles north of state capital Sacramento. The Camp fire destroyed the towns of Paradise and Concow and killed 85 people.

California’s raging wildfires were among more than 100 large, active fires burning across 14 states, mostly in the west where historic drought conditions have left lands parched and ripe for ignition.

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Corona Effect: A&B in Anti Vax Protests

The protest fever over concerns about mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 has spread to Antigua and Barbuda with protest marches.

Citizens heeded the call from a group called Freedom Fighters for Antigua and Barbuda, to protest about several issues including no to jab IDs, mandatory jabs, state of emergency, curfew and masks.

A group converged earlier this afternoon on Market street chanting “No vaccine” and “No vaccine for the children.”

One female protester said their freedom should not be taken away from them as well as expressed concern about children being vaccinated from the age of 12.

There are reports that teargas was used to disperse the crowd.

According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health, 38,605 people have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine of which 31, 298 have received their second dose.

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World View: Alarming Climate Report, Nagasaki Plea, War Merchants Stranded, More

Aug 09, 2021

  • The bipartisan effort in the Senate is holding steady as a coalition of Democratic and Republican senators brushes off critics to push the $1 trillion infrastructure package toward final passage.
  • “Code Red for Humanity”: A U.N. report says Earth’s climate is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably reach a worrying level.
  • Nagasaki marks the 76th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city with its mayor urging Japan, the United States and Russia to do more to eliminate nuclear weapons.
  • Some of the foreign contractors who powered the logistics of America’s “forever war” in Afghanistan now find themselves stranded on an unending layover in Dubai without a way to get home.
  • “Modern Family” medicine: Television series star Julie Bowen and her sister come to the rescue of a hiker who fell at Arches National Park in Utah.

ANDREW MELDRUM

Africa News Editor, Johannesburg

The Associated Press

 

The Rundown

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Often elusive, the political center is holding steady in the Senate as a coalition of Democratic and Republican senators brushes off critics to push the $1 trillion infrastructure package toward final passage. …Read More

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BERLIN (AP) — A U.N.-appointed panel of experts is releasing a key report Monday summarizing the latest authoritative scientific information on climate change. The report will provide governments with up-to-date facts on the curr…Read More

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TOKYO (AP) — Kara Winger is the American record-holder in the javelin throw who just wrapped up her fourth Olympics. She has never finished higher than sixth place. When she got the call over the weekend telling her she would be …Read More

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Some of the foreign contractors who powered the logistics of America’s “forever war” in Afghanistan now find themselves stranded on an unending layover in Dubai without a way to get home. …Read More

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TOKYO (AP) — Nagasaki on Monday marked the 76th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city with its mayor urging Japan, the United States and Russia to do more to eliminate nuclear weapons. …Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has dug in for the fight of his political life despite the threat of potential criminal investigations and widespread calls for…Read More

MOAB, Utah (AP) — A woman who fainted and hit her head on a rock after stopping to rest in Utah’s Arches National Park woke up to hear a familiar voice and wondered if she mi…Read More

Canada on Monday is lifting its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit, but the United States is keeping similar restrictions in place for Ca…Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — Moviegoing, once expected to be closer to semi-normal levels by now, continues to be battered by the pandemic, the delta variant of the coronavirus and in-hom…Read More

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