Скачать или смотреть VOA News for Wednesday, April 7th, 2021

VOA News for Wednesday, April 7th, 2021
Thanks to https://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for transcribing
This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton.
Every adult in the United States will be eligible within two weeks to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, this according to President Joe Biden on Tuesday. He moved up by two weeks the previous May 1st deadline for open season for inoculations.
The president's announcement comes amid a fourth surge of COVID-19 cases in the country with an increase in infections among young adults.
Over the past week, new coronavirus cases are up 7 percent compared to the previous seven-day period. Hospitalizations have increased 3 percent, while deaths from the coronavirus are reported to be down slightly.
The rise in infections is blamed on the loosening of mask wearing mandates, higher attendance at public events, increased domestic travel and the emergence of more contagious variants of the virus.
The White House and health officials are struggling to keep prominent the message of continued vigilance after a tiring 13 months of life restrained by and the fear of the coronavirus.
Other countries have appealed for help from Washington for doses of the vaccine, but the Biden administration has repeatedly stated its initial priority is making sure that Americans get inoculated.
A group of international public health experts says a successful rollout of new vaccines is "no longer a guarantee of victory" over the coronavirus pandemic.
In an essay published in the journal The Conversation, members of a COVID-19 task force say the world is in "a race against time" to vaccinate enough of the global population to guard against the spread of new, more contagious variants. They say these mutations could render current vaccines virtually ineffective.
You can follow all the news on coronavirus at our website voanews.com. From Washington, this is VOA news.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and NATO member states to hurry his country's bid for NATO membership as Russia builds up its troop levels along Ukraine's eastern border.
Zelenskiy spoke to the secretary-general on Tuesday to urge the alliance to fast-track Ukraine's membership bid as a means of stopping the long-running conflict in Ukraine's Donbas region.
After that conversation, Kyiv [res...] released a statement saying the most urgent issue is for the country's leadership to obtain the NATO membership action plan that is considered a step toward membership in the alliance, which was originally formed to counteract the threat posed by a powerful Soviet Union.
Zelenskiy had been working the diplomatic channels hard in recent days as Russia has increased the number of troops it has deployed to the northern east of Ukraine and in the occupied Crimean peninsula.
The Minneapolis policeman in charge of training officers to handle crises testified Tuesday that the officer charged in the death of George Floyd took a 40-hour course on crisis intervention.
Sergeant Ker Yang told [re...] jurors on day seven of officer Derek Chauvin's trial that Chauvin was trained to identify crises and use techniques to deescalate them.
Yang was the latest of several Minneapolis police officers to testify as prosecutors aim to prove that Chauvin failed to follow training when he pinned his knee on the back of Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.
Chauvin, who is white, was fired last May after Floyd, who was black, died while in police custody. He's pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges in the case being heard by a racially diverse 12-member jury. Chauvin's lawyer contends that Chauvin followed his police training when arresting Floyd and that Floyd died from underlying health issues.
Video from the arrest shows Chauvin holding his knee on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd pleaded that he could not breathe.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin announced Tuesday he selected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to form a new government.
A March 23rd election, the country's fourth in the span of two years, resulted in no party winning [...] a majority or holding enough support to [...] form a governing coalition.
Netanyahu now has 28 days to bring together a coalition, with the option of requesting an additional two weeks extension if necessary.
Arkansas became the first state in the United States to ban doctors from providing gender-affirming treatment for trans people under the age of 18 after the state's lawmaking body voted to override the governor's veto of the proposed state law.
Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton, VOA news.