Goodbye lockdown, hello smartphone. As governments race to develop mobile tracing apps to help contain infections, attention is turning to how officials will ensure users’ privacy. The debate is especially urgent in Europe, which has been one of the hardest-hit regions in the world, with nearly 140,000 people killed by COVID-19. The use of monitoring technology, however, may evoke bitter memories of massive surveillance by totalitarian authorities in much of the continent.   The European Union has in recent years led the way globally to protect people’s digital privacy, introducing strict laws for tech companies and web sites that collect personal information. Academics and civil liberties activists are now pushing for greater personal data protection in the new apps as well.   Here’s a look at the issues.Why an App? European authorities, under pressure to ease lockdown restrictions in place for months in some countries, want to make sure infections …

An infant manatee rescued off the coast of Florida over the weekend is being treated at Miami Seaquarium, the Florida Keys News Bureau said. Owners of a private residence spotted the manatee along their dock and contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to Florida Keys. The female calf is underweight at about 30  kilograms, a veterinarian at Seaquarium said. The Dolphin Research Center’s Manatee Rescue Team and the Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder unit rescued the manatee, after it was separated from its mother, using a net to isolate the calf and take it out of the water. Manatees, also known as sea cows, are large, aquatic and mostly herbivorous marine mammals.   …

Conner Brown, a law student at Stanford University, spent the early days of the pandemic following his brother as he spotted and collected characters in the Pokemon Go mobile game.Then, Brown noticed the birds.”I thought, ‘Why don’t I take up birding?’ It’s like real-life Pokemon Go. It’s super addicting because you can start logging them and you get a little collection. It’s really cool,” said Brown, 25. He paused, then added, “They should really game-ify it.”  Brown, who’s living near Annapolis, Maryland, can now identify 30 different bird species. He can recognize the calls of the brown-headed cowbird and cardinal and tell male birds from females. He bought special binoculars that attach to his iPhone camera, downloaded bird identification and bird-logging apps, and is giving birding advice on Twitter.’A reason to get out of the house’”The world of birds is so much more vibrant and active than I’d ever realized, …

The U.N. Children’s Fund warns that COVID-19 mitigation measures are preventing the shipment of vaccines to dozens of developing countries, putting the lives of millions of children at risk.     Lockdowns and other measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus are causing a massive backlog in vaccine shipments.  UNICEF reports it had procured nearly 2.5 billion doses of vaccines last year, enough for 45% of all children under age 5 in 100 countries.   But the agency says that most of these vaccines are stuck in warehouses because of the dramatic decline in commercial and charter flights due to COVID-19 restrictions.  It says dozens of countries are running out of these vaccines.  It says 26 countries, more than half in sub-Saharan Africa, are at particular risk.   UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado says the skyrocketing costs of shipping the vaccines are compounding these problems.  She says freight rates are …

The United Nations says torrential rains and flooding have affected nearly 150,000 people throughout Yemen, causing serious damage to vital infrastructure and exposing thousands to potentially life-threatening disease outbreaks.U.N. agencies say the rains, which have been ongoing since mid-April, have damaged houses and shelters, rendering thousands homeless. Flood waters have washed out roads and bridges, contaminated water supplies and knocked out electricity and other vital services.The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says conditions are particularly harsh for thousands of families already displaced by conflict, who have lost shelter, food rations and household supplies.OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke told VOA many people are at risk of getting ill or dying from disease outbreaks, which thrive in flooded, unsanitary conditions.“Water-borne disease such as cholera or vector-borne, such as malaria because the stagnant water after the flooding is a breeding ground for mosquitos. So, getting rid of the water as fast …

The U.S. space agency NASA has announced a new high-pressure ventilator developed by its engineers and designed specifically to COVID-19 patients has been approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The device, called VITAL — meaning “Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally” — was designed and built in 37 days by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the city of Pasadena, California. Its designers say it is intended to be used exclusively on COVID-19 patients, freeing up traditional ventilators, which are built for a broad range of medical uses, and the most severe coronavirus cases. In critical cases, the coronavirus damages healthy tissue in the lungs, making it hard for them to deliver oxygen to the blood. Ventilators feed oxygen into the lungs of patients through a tube inserted down the throat. Among those involved in the project, mechatronics engineer Michelle Easter said scientists approached the project in the same way they would build a spacecraft, with an eye towards reliability yet simplicity. NASA says as a result, it is cheaper to build, composed of fewer parts and can be modified for use in field hospitals. The California Institute of Technology, which manages the JPL, is offering a …

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that it has not been invited by China to join the investigation into the cause of the coronavirus pandemic.WHO’s representative in Beijing Dr. Gauden Galea said he expected China would discuss collaborations with the organization in the “near future.””We know some national investigation is happening but at this stage we have not been invited to join. We are expecting to get, in the near future, a briefing on where that is and to discuss possible collaboration,” Galea said.The coronavirus disease COVID-19, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has taken over 230,000 human lives worldwide, according to a collection of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and confirmed infection cases have reached 3.2 million.Beijing has been criticized for lack of transparency in its handling of the pandemic, with the United States investigating whether the virus might have gotten out from a Wuhan …

The International Space Station received several tons of supplies this week from an unmanned craft, but the big story this week is a milestone birthday for the ultimate eye in the sky, as the Hubble Telescope turned 30. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi spoke with NASA’s director of astrophysics and brings us this story. …