August 17, 2021

Teachers who joined Myanmar’s civil disobedience movement following the military coup in February have set up a school for children displaced by conflict in a temporary camp in a rebel army-controlled area of eastern Kayah state near the Thai border. The internally displaced persons (IDP) camp where the school is located hosts more than 1,000 civilians, mostly ethnic Karennis, who fled their homes to escape fighting between the Myanmar military and Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) troops since May. The KNDF is a new network of civilian resistance fighters that includes existing ethnic armed groups in the state and Karenni

AUSTIN, TEXAS – Texas Governor Greg Abbott tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, according to his office, who said the Republican is in good health and experiencing no symptoms. Abbott, who was vaccinated in December and has refused calls to reinstate mask mandates as the highly contagious delta variant surges in Texas, was isolating in the governor’s mansion in Austin and receiving monoclonal antibody treatment, spokesman Mark Miner said in a statement. He is at least the 11th governor to test positive for the virus since the pandemic began, according to a tally by The Associated Press. “Governor Abbott is

U.S. news outlets say the Biden administration will begin urging all Americans who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to get an additional shot. The added dose is intended to offer more protection against the highly contagious delta variant that has led to a wave of new infections. Federal health officials are expected to announce sometime this week that Americans should get the extra shot, commonly known as a booster, eight months after their initial inoculation. Most Americans received either the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, while others were given the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. Officials had been rejecting

PARIS – Like many countries, France is seeing its COVID-19 cases rise — and nowhere as sharply as its overseas territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Low vaccination rates, fueled by suspicion of Paris, help explain the exploding pandemic in the Caribbean islands. Health workers from mainland France are arriving to the two Caribbean islands to help their overwhelmed colleagues deal with record COVID-19 cases. Hardest hit is Guadeloupe, where one in four people now tests positive for the disease caused by coronavirus—a number that doubled in a week. The situation is also alarming in Martinique. Hospitals are overflowing. Doctors say