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The country with the highest percentage of people who have had Covid vaccinations has been named in a bid to get other countries to boost their rollout. An impressive 99 per cent of the population over the age of 12 in the tiny Pacific country of Palau have had a Covid jab, said the Red Cross - which puts them out in front as the nation with most vaccinations. Palau is an archipelago of 500 islands in the western Pacific Ocean but despite its remoteness it is ahead of the pack with its vaccination programme. The size of its population will have had an impact though as there are only 16,152 people in Palau. The Red Cross has published the country with the most vaccinations to encourage nations to boost their rollout with Palau having moved into top spot. Palau is an archipelago of 500 islands in the western Pacific Ocean with a population of 16,152 people ( Image: AFP via Getty Images) Last month it was Portugal who were top of the list with 80 …

[Read more...] about Country with most people vaccinated against Covid in world named as 99% jabbed

This is the dramatic moment a huge great white shark sunk its teeth into a diving cage in South Africa. The astonishing scene, which was captured by Ewan Wilson, 23, on a shark dive in Mossel Bay on Sunday, shows the monster fish opening its jaws and repeatedly biting the metal cage. Crew members can be heard shouting in the background, trying to get the shark to stop. "Luckily the animal left the cage and no divers or sharks were hurt," Wilson said. The shark was filmed biting the cage ( Image: Newsflare) Crew can be heard on the video shouting in an attempt to get the shark to stop ( Image: Newsflare) Another video, filmed today by Ewan, shows another gigantic sharks slamming the bait into the side of a cage. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now …

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A teenage girl and her younger brother were filmed screaming as they fought off a shark in the waters off Australia. The pair were out spearfishing when a shark appeared underneath them. They caught the terrifying encounter in dramatic footage as they scrambled away. Taia Hanley, 16 and Baxter, 13 could be heard on the beach as the struggled to get back to the shore off New South Wales on Sunday afternoon. The footage shows the shark apparently following Taia and Baxter Hanley off Bulli rock pools, north of Wollongong. For the latest on the coronavirus pandemic, click here Taia Hanley and her brother Baxter were in the water fishing ( Image: Taia Hanley) Baxter told ABC news in Australia: "Taia was hanging off the back of me because she always had a fear of sharks. The younger sibling aimed his new spear gun towards the shark, while Taia began filming. Taia …

[Read more...] about Spearfishing siblings film shark ‘chasing’ them as they fight it off with harpoons

A man left his dead parents and swam through shark infested water following a horrific fishing accident. Ryan Oostryck made the daring escape after the boat he was on with his mum Jan and dad Bob capsized. Along with his girlfriend Anastasia, Ryan swam 3km to the coast through Australia's famously shark infested waters. The group had only set off from the tourist town of Coral Bay an hour before waves knocked the 6.1m boat over. Bob and Jan, who were in their 70s, were knocked unconscious and trapped underwater by the boat, ABC reported . Ryan Oostryck was forced to leave the bodies of his parents and swim to shore ( Image: 9 News) "Our family is devastated and heartbroken at the loss of our beloved Bob and Jan Oostryck," a statement from the family said. "Bob and Jan were incredible people, full of life and they were doing what they loved in a place they loved. "We are so …

[Read more...] about Man swims four hours through shark-infested waters to find help for dead parents

The world is in no mood to pop champagne corks under confinement, according to makers of French bubbly, who predict a plunge of up to 75 per cent in the sale of bottles of fizz in the second quarter due to the global coronavirus lockdown. In France, winegrowers of all regions are lamenting plummeting sales as bars and hotels remain shut and export markets, notably China, have shut borders and stopped orders. But champagne, the quintessentially festive drink, is the hardest hit of all. “As soon as confinement started (on March 17), we saw a brutal halt in champagne consumption because it's a festive drink. When you no longer want to party, you no longer want champagne. The corks stop popping," said Maxime Toubart, president of the main Champagne winemakers' syndicate. “The sale of (champagne) bottles is heading to fall up to 75 per cent in the second quarter," he told the Telegraph. While beer and cider have seen sales increase slightly since confinement started in France …

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A picturesque seaside resort town has been rocked after a 77-year-old retired schoolteacher was found decapitated in her home. The unnamed local woman was found in gruesome fashion – with her head on a coffee table next to her body – at her home Agde in the Herault region of southern France. Suspicions were quickly raised when her son was unable to contact her via the phone, as the pair normally spoke on a daily basis. Prosecutor Raphael Balland said that authorities were currently questioning a man over the tragedy. "It is a 51-year-old man who knew the victim." A local source also said that there were no signs of a break-in at the home, with the outside gate closed and the front door left unlocked. They said: "The woman’s son was apparently connected to the home via video link, and he reported that he had seen a shadow on the ground." The woman was known to have been living alone following the death of her husband – she had two children. …

[Read more...] about Retired schoolteacher, 77, decapitated as head found on coffee table next to body

On June 14, 1940 , the day the German army invaded and occupied Paris, a small group of scientists marched to the White House with grave news for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. U.S. military technology, they said, was utterly unprepared to take on the Axis powers. They urged the president to create a new agency—a dream team of techies and scientists—to help win the war. In response, Roosevelt assembled an agency that became known as the Office of Scientific Research and Development, or OSRD. Led by Vannevar Bush, the former dean of the MIT School of Engineering, the office ultimately employed more than 1,500 people and directed thousands of projects around the country. By the end of the war, it had spawned military inventions such as the proximity fuse, radar, and—after one of its programs spun off to become the Manhattan Project—the atomic bomb. OSRD’s breakthroughs went far beyond missiles and bombs. It supported the first-ever mass production of penicillin in part by …

[Read more...] about World War II’s Lesson for After the Pandemic

It was the largest gathering of world leaders that no one paid attention to. On Monday, the Cold War-era alliance that brought together almost all of South America, Africa, and significant parts of Asia -- counting 120 states -- met in Belgrade, the city where it was founded 60 years ago. Second only to the United Nations when it comes to the size of membership -- the Non-Aligned Movement proudly represented the countries formed in the wake of the world’s big empires and colonisers and features figures such as Nelson Mandela and former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as its past presidents. Flags from all these countries appeared on signposts across the Serbian capital, as high-level delegations flew in from places ranging from Guatemala to Azerbaijan. The summit once represented the noble ideal of unifying what the West often derisively referred to as “the Third World.” It was a part of Yugoslav socialist president Josip Broz Tito’s strategic foreign policy …

[Read more...] about Belgrade just hosted the biggest gathering of world leaders you’ve never heard of

The UK's vaccination programme continues apace, but GP's have warned the uptake in BAME communities has been low. They warned that misinformation has left patients reluctant to come forward. Muslims are one of the groups of BAME patients that are reportedly being targeted. "The fears that target the Muslim community, are that somehow the vaccine contains components that aren't halal or something else," said Imran Ahmed from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate. Those behind the campaigns are "willing to use misinformation, misrepresentation and outright lies," he added. Elsewhere in the world, to fight the anti-vax movement, the president of Indonesia recently received the Chinese jab in front of a poster proclaiming it was halal. While the makers of all three vaccines available on the European market have issued statements confirming they don’t contain pork-based ingredients, historically some vaccines have. But potentially the most influential …

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A stricken plane is seen making a heart-stopping emergency landing in broad daylight on this busy highway in the United States. Dashcam footage filmed by a passing police car captured the dramatic moment when the tiny KR2 propeller aircraft comes into view overhead. The incident took place on State Route 7 in Spanaway, about 40 miles (64km) south of Seattle on August 1 during morning rush hour. A Washington State Patrol trooper turns around to witness the one-seater plane's bumpy impromptu landing. Oncoming cars are forced to veer out of its path as it speeds down the packed state highway. Footage shows how the plane comes into view overhead ( Image: Trooper Johnna Batiste/Twitter) The plane speeds past stunned motorists ( Image: Trooper Johnna Batiste/Twitter) It eventually come to a halt at a set of traffic lights. The pilot of the plane, apparently unharmed, then …

[Read more...] about Plane makes emergency landing on state highway as cars are forced to pull over