Vaccine appears to protect against monkeypox, CDC says
U.S. public health officials say at-risk people who have received just one dose of the monkeypox vaccine have appeared to be significantly less likely to get sick from the virus. Still, on Wednesday they urged a second dose for full protection. It’s the first look public health officials have offered into how the Jynneos vaccine is working against the monkeypox outbreak. The virus is primarily spread among men who have sex with infected men.
Churches defend clergy loophole in child sex abuse reporting
Clergy in 33 states are exempt from laws requiring professionals such as teachers, physicians and psychotherapists to report information about alleged child abuse to police or child welfare officials. That loophole has resulted in an unknown number of predators being allowed to continue abusing children for years despite having confessed the behavior to religious officials. An Associated Press review finds that over the past two decades, more than 130 bills have been proposed in state legislatures to create or amend child sex abuse reporting laws. After intense opposition from religious groups, the clergy privilege remained unchanged. Often, legislative efforts to close the loophole run up against lawmakers who are also church members.
VP Harris to visit DMZ after North Korean missile tests
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris plans to visit the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean Peninsula during the final stop on her four-day trip to Asia. The visit to the DMZ on Thursday comes amid tensions over new North Korean missile tests. Harris’ trip was anchored by her attendance at the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but security concerns in Asia have dominated discussions. Harris denounced North Korea’s “illicit weapons program” and she accused China of trying to intimidate its neighbors. Before visiting the DMZ, Harris will meet with South Korean’s president and hold an event focused on gender equity.
Russia poised to annex occupied Ukraine after sham vote
Russia has positioned itself to formally annex parts of Ukraine after occupied areas held a Kremlin-orchestrated “referendum” — denounced as illegal and rigged by Kyiv and the West — to live under Moscow’s rule. Armed troops had gone door-to-door with election officials to collect ballots in five days of voting. The results were widely ridiculed as implausible and characterized as a land grab by an increasingly cornered Russian leadership following embarrassing military losses in Ukraine. Russia is calling up 300,000 reservists to fight in the war and warned it could resort to nuclear weapons. The European Commission president urged the European Union’s 27 member countries to slap more sanctions on Russian officials and trade over what he called sham referendums.
Record methane leak flows from damaged Baltic Sea pipelines
A Danish official says the Nord Stream gas leaks in the Baltic Sea could emit the equivalent of one third of Denmark’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions. That would also be five times the amount of the potent greenhouse gas as was emitted during the Aliso Canyon well disaster in California in 2015-2016. A chemical engineer estimated the amount will turn out to be less, but still double what escaped at Aliso Canyon. Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas, able to warm the atmosphere 82.5 times more than carbon dioxide.
By wire sources