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Business News/ News / Business Of Life/  Mint Lite | US rejoining WHO, Ankara FM's Brussels visit & more
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Mint Lite | US rejoining WHO, Ankara FM's Brussels visit & more

Stories, opinions, news and views that matter, from around the world

Virus mutations that emerged in Britain, South Africa and Brazil have alarmed EU authorities because of their increased infectivity (REUTERS)Premium
Virus mutations that emerged in Britain, South Africa and Brazil have alarmed EU authorities because of their increased infectivity (REUTERS)

EU leaders shift focus to the new coronavirus variants whose spread risks outpacing the hope that vaccines will put a quickish end to the pandemic in Europe, reports AFP. The chiefs will hold a summit—by videolink to protect themselves from infection—"to raise political awareness on the seriousness of the situation with the new variants," an EU official said. Virus mutations that emerged in Britain, South Africa and Brazil have alarmed EU authorities because of their increased infectivity, prompting bans or restrictions on travellers from those countries.

USA rejoins WHO on Biden order

In April last year, as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading across the globe, Trump cut off US funding to the WHO
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In April last year, as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading across the globe, Trump cut off US funding to the WHO

The US rejoined the World Health Organisation (WHO) in one of the first official orders of the Joe Biden presidency, reversing a key foreign policy decision his predecessor Donald Trump took last year after accusing the UN health agency of incompetence and bowing to Chinese pressure over the coronavirus pandemic. In April last year, as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading across the globe, Trump cut off US funding to the WHO, saying it was "virtually controlled by China." He then went further, triggering the process to pull the US completely out of the organisation. The withdrawal was due to go into effect in July this year, but Biden's order will cancel it, reports the Press Trust of India. Biden also announced America's return to the international Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Biden has promised to put the United States on a track to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Eyes on Turkey as Ankara FM visits



The European Union will press Turkey to make good on recent gestures from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to calm tensions
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The European Union will press Turkey to make good on recent gestures from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to calm tensions

The European Union will press Turkey to make good on recent gestures from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to calm tensions, as Ankara's foreign minister visits Brussels, reports AFP. Mevlut Cavusoglu will meet EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and then council president Charles Michel on Friday in a push to mend ties between the 27-nation bloc and its hulking southeastern neighbour. Tensions between Brussels and Ankara reached new levels last year after Turkey repeatedly sent a ship to search for gas deposits in disputed waters, angering the EU and its member states Greece and Cyprus. But, in the weeks after Turkey withdrew the vessel, Oruc Reis, in November and Brussels announced plans to expand sanctions last month, both sides have softened their rhetoric. In an important move, Turkey and Greece agreed to hold exploratory talks on their maritime dispute in Istanbul on January 25, resuming consultations suspended in 2016.

Covid’s impact on housing



Covid has impacted not just property prices, but also apartment sizes
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Covid has impacted not just property prices, but also apartment sizes

Covid has impacted not just property prices, but also apartment sizes. Average apartment size in residential projects launched last year increased by 10% to 1,150 sq ft, as builders expected demand for bigger flats to rise after the covid-19 pandemic, according to property consultant Anarock. The consultant said the average apartment sizes were reducing year-on-year since 2016 but the trend has reversed last year. The reasons for apartment sizes reducing in previous years were affordability and millennials' preference for low-maintenance homes. Keen to generate more buyer interest with smaller price-tags, developers whittled down their flat sizes. However, the year 2020 saw an almost immediate reversal of buyer preferences. As more people started accommodating the work-from-home and learn-from-home culture, flat sizes began increasing for the first time in four years.

Sri Lanka reopens to tourists



Full operations also resumed Thursday at the island's two international airports, accommodating the commercial flights
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Full operations also resumed Thursday at the island's two international airports, accommodating the commercial flights

Sri Lanka reopened to foreign tourists Thursday after a nearly 10-month pandemic closure that cut deeply into the Indian Ocean island nation's lucrative travel industry. Full operations also resumed Thursday at the island's two international airports, accommodating the commercial flights. Under new protocols to prevent the spread of covid-19, tourists must be tested for the virus in their country 72 hours prior to their flight, when they arrive at their hotel in Sri Lanka and again seven days later. They must stay in a “travel bubble" designated in 14 tourism zones without mixing with the local population. About 180 hotels have been earmarked for tourist accommodations. The government had closed the country to tourists last March. The resumption of tourism follows a pilot project that began December 26 in which 1,500 tourists from Ukraine visited Sri Lanka in such a travel bubble.

Counting elephants, but from space



The breakthrough could allow up to 5,000 sq km of elephant habitat to be surveyed on a single cloud-free day
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The breakthrough could allow up to 5,000 sq km of elephant habitat to be surveyed on a single cloud-free day

Scientists are using images to count African elephants from space. The pictures come from an Earth-observation satellite orbiting 600km above the planet's surface says the BBC. The breakthrough could allow up to 5,000 sq km of elephant habitat to be surveyed on a single cloud-free day. And all the laborious elephant counting is done via machine learning - a computer algorithm trained to identify elephants in a variety of backdrops. According to Dr Olga Isupova, from the University of Bath, scientists just have to present examples to the algorithm and tell it, 'This is an elephant, this is not an elephant,'. By doing that, they can train the machine to recognise small details that humans wouldn't be able to pick up with the naked eye. Scientists looked first at South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park because of its high density of elephants, areas of thickets and of open savannah.

Curated by Sohini Sen. Have something to share with us? Write to us at feedback@livemint or tweet to @shohinisen

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Published: 21 Jan 2021, 11:09 PM IST
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