US FDA releases detailed data on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine- by Noah Manska

Pfizer’s experimental coronavirus vaccine is highly effective and poses no safety risks that would prevent it from being cleared for emergency use, Food and Drug Administration scientists said Tuesday.

FDA staffers detailed their findings in a 53-page report ahead of a Thursday meeting at which the agency’s vaccine advisory committee will consider Pfizer’s application for an emergency use authorization, which could pave the way for millions of high-risk Americans to be inoculated by the end of the year.

Read more at: FDA releases detailed data on Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

Aircraft Industry: Boeing 737 Max won't return to service before 2020

Boeing on Thursday abandoned its goal of winning approval this month to unground the 737 Max after chief executive Dennis Muilenburg met with senior U.S. aviation officials.

Read more at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/boeing-wont-return-737-max-before-2020-1.5394335

Aircraft Industry : Pilots reveal safety fears over Boeings fleet of 787 Dreamlinere

Pilots reveal safety fears over Boeing’s fleet of Dreamliners

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Turkish Tourist Industry Hit Again: Turkey and Greece hit by strong earthquake: - by Helena Smith

Two people were killed, 200 injured and five seriously injured on the Greek island of Kos after an earthquake hit tourist destinations around the Aegean sea in the early hours of Friday.

At least 70 people were injured in Bodrum.Turkey.

The magnitude 6.7 quake injured a further 200 people in Greek and Turkish coastal towns.

The damage was, however, much less than could have been expected for an earthquake of its size. The United States Geological Survey said it was a very shallow quake – only 6 miles (10km) below the seabed – off the south-western coastal city of Marmaris in Muğla province, Turkey.

The epicentre was just 6 miles south of the Turkish resort of Bodrum and 10 miles from Kos.

Read  more: Turkey and Greece hit by strong earthquake: two dead and 200 injured – as it happened | World news | The Guardian

Tourism: Travel trends for 2017: City - Sand - Sea

Dutch Beach: sometimes the beach is closer than you think

Where to go on holiday in 2017? To help potential customers decide, the travel companies have already got their catalogues out. And most agree that safety will again be a top priority among holiday-makers in 2017.

The facts and figures of the past months give the tourism industry cause for optimism: the demand for holiday offerings continues unabated - in spite of the lingering threat of terrorism. The UNWTO World Tourism barometer indicated an increase of 1.6 percent in overnight stays within Europe for the turbulent year 2016. So European tourism is still growing, even if no longer as rapidly as in previous years. And safety still ranks as the top selling point.

Spain and Portugal were last year’s most popular destinations and look set to top the list for 2017, as well. Travel companies are expanding their hotel capacities wherever they can.  Tui, the world’s largest tour operator, has acquired a good 20 percent more hotels on the Canary Islands alone. FTI has taken on 75 new hotels, and Alltours a full 100. But the beach capacity remains the same. Will vacationers find a spot to spread their towels on such overcrowded stretches of sand? In any case, they’ll have to splash out more cash for their summer vacation in Spain than in previous years. Prices are going up, as well.

Turkey registered 33-percent fewer tourists in 2016. Whether the sector has any real chance exists to recover from such a steep drop remains to be seen. The tour operators haven’t started cutting hotel capacity just yet, but they’ve slashed the prices: Tui by five percent, Thomas Cook and Neckermann by eight percent. The hotels offer the same high quality for less money. But will such a bargain be enough to counter holiday-makers’ fears in 2017? 
 
Read more: Travel trends for 2017: City - Sand - Sea | DW Travel | DW.COM | 06.01.2017

Air Travel: US electronics ban for Middle East flights draws doubts

Aviation experts are divided on the effectiveness of a US ban on large electronic items in hand luggage on flights inbound from a number of Middle Eastern states.

The US Department of Homeland Security announced the measure on Tuesday, citing the downing of an airliner in Egypt in 2015 and an attempt on a Somali passenger jet in 2016 using explosives smuggled on board.

A list of banned devices includes tablets, laptops, e-book readers and cameras, but not medical equipment and mobile phones.

The indefinite ban targets 10 airports in the Middle East and nine airlines, including Turkish Airlines and the major Gulf carriers: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

"We have reason to be concerned about attempts by terrorist groups to circumvent aviation security and terrorist groups continue to target aviation interests," US officials said in a statement.

However, aviation experts have cast doubt on that explanation and warned of the new dangers the measure could pose.

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at the aviation consultancy StrategicAero Research, told Al Jazeera the announcement "flies in the face" of US Federal Aviation Authority rules on the carrying of lithium batteries in a plane's cargo hold.

"[The rule] was put in place after the 2010 crash of a UPS 747 freighter in Dubai that caught fire while carrying such cargo," he said, before describing the immediate inconvenience the ban would cause for passengers.

"Airlines will of course comply, but delays will be seen at airports for customers not aware of the rule changes.

"Compliance will cause delays and add costs - it might even force passengers to drop plans to fly to the US or instead look for an alternative transit point through Europe so that their devices can be taken in the cabin as normal."

Read more: US electronics ban for Middle East flights draws doubts | News | Al Jazee

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Quality of Life: Top Ten Most Dangerous Cities in the USA for Pedestrians - by Sean Holton

A new national study released in December 2014 about what it calls an “epidemic” of preventable pedestrian deaths.

The report—titled “Dangerous by Design”—is a joint effort of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership and Transportation for America, two groups advocating for more federal transportation dollars to be dedicated to making roads safer for pedestrians. The project was guided by a steering committee that included representatives from AARP and several other organizations, including the American Public Health Association, America Bikes and Safe Routes to Schools National Partnership.

According to the study, older Americans are two-thirds more likely than those under age 65 to be killed while walking. In 2007 and 2008, persons over 65 represented 18 percent of all pedestrian fatalities, while making up just 13 percent of the population as a whole.

The 10 most dangerous metro areas for walkers include:

1. Orlando

2. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.

3. Miami-Fort Lauderdale

4. Jacksonville, Fla.

5. Memphis, Tenn.

6. Raleigh, N.C.

7. Louisville, Ky.

8. Houston

9. Birmingham, Ala.

10. Atlanta

These Southern cities—many of them retirement meccas—don’t necessarily have the highest absolute numbers of pedestrian deaths. But they all score high in what the study calls the “pedestrian danger index” because they tend to have fewer pedestrians overall, meaning the risk is relatively higher for those who do choose to walk.

Read more: Ten Most Dangerous Cities for Pedestrians, Walking - AARP Bulletin

Internet: The Cloud -No, your data isn't secure in the cloud - by Lucas Mearian

While online data storage services claim your data is encrypted, there are no guarantees. With recent revelations that the federal government taps into the files of Internet search engines, email and cloud service providers, any myth about data "privacy" on the Internet has been busted.

Experts say there's simply no way to ever be completely sure your data will remain secure once you've moved it to the cloud.
"You have no way of knowing. You can't trust anybody. Everybody is lying to you," said security expert Bruce Schneier. "How do you know which platform to trust? They could even be lying because the U.S. government has forced them to."

While providers of email, chat, social network and cloud services often claim -- even in their service agreements -- that the data they store is encrypted and private, most often they -- not you -- are the ones who hold the keys. That means a rogue employee or any government "legally" requesting encryption keys can decrypt and see your data.

Even when service providers say only customers can generate and maintain their own encryption keys, Schneier said there's no way to be sure others won't be able to gain access.

For example, Apple's SMS/MMS-like communications platform, iMessage, claims both voice and text are encrypted and can't be heard or seen by third parties. But because the product isn't open source, "there's no way for us to know how it works," said Dan Auerbach, a staff technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "It seems because of the way it works on functionality, they do have a way to access it. The same goes for iCloud."

Note EU-Digest: The Cloud services are also offered to European Internet users. Given that  the storage data banks of  Google, and Apple for Cloud and other similar systems are kept in the US by American companies, and consequently  fall under US jurisdiction, it probably would not be a good idea for EU citizens and businesses to store sensitive material on these data bank services.

Read more: No, your data isn't secure in the cloud | Computerworld

Electric Car Industry: Despite Several Electric-Car Fires, Tesla Is a Safer Option - by Daniel Sparks

Based on comments from Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a company blog post about the first fire in early October, earlier this week I explained that Tesla's Model S has only seen two fires in 100 million miles driven, while traditional vehicles have one fire for every 20 million miles driven. The numbers make a strong case that the vehicle is at least as fireproof as traditional vehicles.

But several readers suggested in the comments that the comparison doesn't suggest the Model S is safer, since the Model S is a new car and the national statistic for traditional vehicles includes much older models. A new car, they explained, should have far less vehicle fire incidents, they argued. It's a solid point.

Is there a counter to this argument? Or are electric vehicles simply just as likely to catch fire as traditional vehicles? As it turns out, there's still plenty of evidence that suggests Tesla's fully electric vehicles are a better alternative for preventing fires than filling your car with a large tank of highly flammable liquid.

Tesla has seen two fires in 130 million miles than it is to say two fires in 100 million miles. That brings the statistic to one fire in every 65 million miles, compared with traditional vehicles' one fire in every 20 million miles.

Read more: Despite Several Electric-Car Fires, Tesla Is a Safer Option (TSLA)

Sweat Shops:You should care where your T-Shirt was made: The true cost of a T-shirt - by M. MacKinnon and M. Strauss

A Sweatshop making your T-Shirt

At about 8:30 a.m. one morning in April, a generator rumbled to life at Rana Plaza – rattling the building, as it always did when it started.

Work had just begun at the welter of garment factories when the power went out. So a manager on the seventh floor, home to the New Wave Style factory, was quick to stand up as the lights went back on and announce that the building was safe. Everyone should continue doing their jobs.

But this time, Rana Plaza didn’t stop shaking.

“He died on the spot as he was announcing that we should keep working,” Raehana Akhter recalls. Then she fell, too. “It was like stepping into an elevator [shaft]. I felt this feeling in my stomach, and then everything fell.”
When she landed, Ms. Akhter, a 22-year-old mother who worked as a quality control officer for about $2 a day, was in complete darkness, with her left leg trapped under shattered cement.

“The ceiling was just here,” she says, putting her hand about 30 centimetres above her face. “I felt like this would be my little grave.”

The building did become a grave – for 1,129 people. Its collapse was the world’s worst industrial accident in almost three decades. Fatal accidents in the garment-trade belt around Dhaka have become all too regular.

Sweatshop

The Rana Plaza deaths added to a toll of 117 who died in a November, 2012, fire at Tazreen Fashions. And that disaster was echoed by another fire this week, which claimed 10 lives at the Aswad Composite Mills factory.

The collapse of Rana Plaza spotlighted the potentially tragic costs of the cheap T-shirt – now a staple of fast fashion – and sparked debate about just how much responsibility retailers should have for the supply chain that moves product onto their shelves.

Yet as the ties between countries have become stronger, accountability has become a loose thread. The Globe’s investigation shows how companies such as Loblaw place their orders through middlemen, who in turn source work to a network of far-flung factories. The retailer whose shelves are stocked with cheap T-shirts in many cases does not know where in the world it or its materials is going to be produced when an order is placed. Inspecting buildings and working conditions has been beyond the retailer’s scope.

Note EU-Digest: Maybe it is high time that the EU Parliament approves legislation which only allows in products made overseas into the EU that have a 'Trade Mark' which  says: "This product has been produced in a workplace which meets EU approved standards for safety". Just talking about the issue with the Governments in question that allow these sweatshops or corporate entities which import these products has had very little effect. 

In the meantime consumers should check the label of the products they are buying and think twice about buying the product if it is not clearly specified that it was produced in a safe workplace.

 Read more: Spinning tragedy: The true cost of a T-shirt - The Globe and Mail

Tourism: Germany rated as safest tourism destination

Germany, one of the most visited countries in the world, has been rated by Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Reports as the safest travel destination worldwide.

From the Baltic Sea to the Alps, Germany today is more popular as a tourist destination than it has ever been before.

Most of the tourists visiting the country come from the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the US besides a large number of them from Saudi Arabia and Gulf states.

The number of visitors from Saudi Arabia is increasing as alongside the UK. Germany today counts amongEurope’s two top ranking travel destinations for Saudi tourists with 23 percent and 22 percent of Saudi travelers visiting the countries respectively.

This is in addition to a large number of Saudi and Gulf businessmen visiting Germany for business as well as for leisure every year.

Turkey (14 percent) ranks third followed by France (9 percent).

Read more: Germany rated as safest tourism destination | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.

The Netherlands: Bicycling the Dutch Way - by Martine Powers

The Netherlands, a biking paradise

The intersection at De Koppeling Street is the kind of sight that might render a Bostonian speechless.

It’s a double-decker roundabout.

The top level functions like a normal rotary, cars entering and leaving from four directions. That bit of controlled chaos New Englanders know well.

But on a level just below the cars, there’s another rotary, this one is just for bikes. As cars flow through the circle overhead, a steady stream of businessmen and moms and 12-year-olds wind their way through the intersection on their bicycles, safe, separated from cars, and undisturbed.

It was enough to draw stares from four visiting Northeastern University civil engineering students who gawked from a grassy shoulder, taking photos on their iPads of this gleaming vision from a bicyclist’s Oz.

“This,” howled Andrew Brunn, a burly 22-year-old engineering student   grinning like a kid at Disneyland, “is totally crazy!”

To the average American, that’s exactly how Dutch bicycle traffic seems. This is a place with more bikes than people, where about 26 percent of commuting trips are taken by bicycle, where toddlers and 85-year-olds ride happily in traffic, and where the likelihood of getting killed on a bike is among the lowest in the world, about five times less than the United States.

Almost every major street features separated bike lanes, bike-specific traffic lights, bike highways, and yield signs that, together, deliver one message: The bicycle is king.

Read more: Bicycling the Dutch Way - Metro - The Boston Globe

European Railroads: Recent deadly train derailments in Europe

At least 77 are dead and 140 injured following a train derailment in northwestern Spain on Wednesday night. Following are some recent deadly train accidents in Europe.

Railway traffic nevertheless remains the most modern, efficient, safe and affordable way of transportation in Europe.

Read more: Recent deadly train derailments in Europe - Yahoo! News

Aircraft Industry - Safety: Aircraft fumes are a potential deadly travel hazard

How dangerous is the air pilots and passengers breathe on commercial flights? Two British Airways pilots are believed to have died as a result of contaminated air. The airline industry is under pressure to make changes.

In the summer of 2012, fumes in the cockpit of a German Wings flight made the pilots so nauseous that they just barely managed to land their plane at Cologne airport. Since then, in December and January, two British Airways pilots are believed to have died as a result of contaminated air.

The phenomenon of aircraft fumes has been known for years, but it is only ever discussed on the quiet because it is detrimental to the reputation of aviation.

For more than 50 years, cockpits and cabins in commercial jet planes have been ventilated with fresh air via so-called bleed air systems. Compressed air is drawn into the ventilation system through the engines - a time-tested, low-cost method, which the industry says works reliably if everything is set up, maintained and monitored properly. In the case of defective gasket seals and malfunctioning power units, however, tiny droplets of vaporized engine oil might seep into the air, releasing a distinct smell in both the cockpit and cabin.
Lufthansa chief pilot Werner Knorr conceded that much in a letter to his colleagues that was made available to DW.

Knorr stressed, however, that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Europe's top regulator of civilian aviation safety, "sees no reason for immediate and fundamental legal regulations in view of current reports and findings."

Germany's cabin crew union UFO takes a different view. Every month, the union said, it receives about 20 reports from cabin crew members detailing incidents of odor development during take-off and landing phases. "Symptoms include headaches, mucus membrane irritation and nausea," Andreas Sitek of the union's health task force told DW. "Some complain of sleeplessness and muscle spasms."

Eva Lichtenberger, an Austrian Greens politician and member of the EU parliament, proposed that EASA collect more comprehensive data on incidents involving contaminated cabin air. Such data might possibly lead to recommendations or legal regulations for improved safety features for passengers and flight crews.

Read more: Aircraft fumes are a potential travel hazard | Germany | DW.DE | 26.02.2013

'Wheel' you marry me? Europe has crush on cycling

Bicycle only path in Almere, Holland

Cycling through the heart of some European cities can be a terrifying experience as you jostle for space with cars, trucks and scooters that whizz by with only inches to spare.

Thankfully for bicycle enthusiasts, a movement is afoot to create more room for cycling in the urban infrastructure.

From London's "cycle superhighways" to popular bike-sharing programs in Paris and Barcelona, growing numbers of European cities are embracing cycling as a safe, clean, healthy, inexpensive and even trendy way to get around town.

Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, and the Danish capital, Copenhagen, are the pioneers of this movement, and serve as role models for other cities considering cycling's potential to reduce congestion and pollution, while contributing to public health.

The trend is catching on also outside Europe, says John Pucher, a professor of urban planning at Rutgers University in New Jersey and co-author of a new book titled "City Cycling." Pucher says urban cycling is on the rise across the industrialized world, though Europe is still ahead of the pack.

"Americans make only 1 percent of their trips by bike compared to 26 percent in the Netherlands, 18 percent in Denmark, and 8-10 percent in Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Finland," Pucher told The Associated Press, citing official statistics.

Read more: Wheel you marry me? Europe has crush on cycling

Safety: France's crackdown on drink-driving hit by controversy

A new French law that comes into force on Sunday July 1 demands all motorists in France, including tourists, to carry a breathalyser kit in their vehicle. Opponents of the ruling say it is more about lining pockets than saving lives.

A road safety group was accused on Friday of trying to profit from a new French law that forces drivers to carry a breathalyser kit in the car at all times.

Days before the new law comes into force on Sunday, it has emerged that the chief of the road safety group that persuaded Nicolas Sarkozy’s government to adopt the ruling is also a senior executive with the leading manufacturer of the blow-in-the-bag test kits.

Read more: France's crackdown on drink-driving hit by controversy - FRANCE - FRANCE 24

The News Tribune: Safety questions raised about Yemen jet - by Jeffrey Fleishman

For the complete report from the News Tribune click on this link

Safety questions raised about Yemen jet - by Jeffrey Fleishman

Flight 626 originated in Paris and stopped in Marseille before traveling on to San`a, where passengers switched to the Airbus 310-300. That jet, which was 19 years old and operated by Yemen’s national carrier, Yemenia, had raised suspicions earlier among European safety inspectors.In 2007, French transportation authorities barred the plane from French airports following a safety review that found problems with technical equipment. Inspectors “noticed a certain number of defects. Since then the plane had not returned to France,” Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau was quoted as telling French TV. “The company (Yemenia) was not on the blacklist but was subject to stricter checks on our part and was due to be interviewed shortly by the European Union’s safety committee.” In 2008, the European Union asked Yemenia to take “corrective actions” to improve safety performance. It was unclear what those actions were, but at a news conference Tuesday, EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said Yemenia had been reviewed by safety authorities and the company was not banned from operating in Europe.

Comorans and French nationals who had flown on Yemenia flights had complained to the French government about what they regarded as questionable safety practices, such as passengers forced to sit among luggage strewn about the aisles and unhygienic conditions. An association known as SOS Voyages to Comoro was formed to push for improved standards on Yemenia, owned by the poorest Arab nation.

Bloomberg.com: Boeing Faces $15 Billion Dilemma as Airbus A350 Gains - by Andrea Rothman and Susanna Ray

For the complete report from Bloomberg.com click on this link

Boeing Faces $15 Billion Dilemma as Airbus A350 Gains - by Andrea Rothman and Susanna Ray

Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner, absent from the Paris Air Show this week after two years of delays, may not be the jetmaker’s biggest problem. Airbus SAS’s bigger A350 has won almost 500 orders, 10 of them at the show, forcing Boeing to turn its attention to the market for bigger planes with more than 300 seats. The Chicago- based company is considering an upgrade of its 15-year-old 777. Airlines say it should spend billions on a new aircraft instead. “What Boeing makes next is the big question,” said Doug Runte, a New York-based analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. who estimates the U.S. company would need to spend $15 billion to develop a new model. “Airplanes require a huge investment of money and effort. If you get it wrong, the consequences are enormous and you have to live with it for a very long time.”

Guardian.co.uk: 'No links' between Air France and Yemenia Air crashes - by Dan Milmo

For the complete report from the guardian.co.uk click on this link

'No links' between Air France and Yemenia Air crashes - by Dan Milmo

Aircraft crashes inspire horrified fascination – and, inevitably, frenzied speculation – whenever they occur. For the second time in a month, there has been a fatal incident involving an Airbus plane. However, any thought that the two incidents are related – the safety of Airbus products has been heavily questioned in recent weeks following the Air France disaster – has been downplayed by seasoned commentators. The Air France crash, which happened off the coast off Brazil with the loss of 228 lives on 31 May, raised concerns over the fly-by-wire system used by the Airbus A330-200.

USA Today: Crashes analyzed for insight and clues - don't always trust the computer- by Alan Levin

For the complete report from USATODAY.com click on this link

Crashes analyzed for insight and clues - don't always trust the computer - by Alan Levin

As the Northwest Airlines jet climbed past 16,000 feet, its speed began increasing mysteriously. A short time later, a horn sounded to alert the pilots that they were flying dangerously fast. "Just pull her back, let her climb," the captain told the confused co-pilot, suggesting that they could slow the Boeing 727 down by making it climb even steeper. Within minutes, this 1974 flight crashed into a wooded area in New York, killing all three pilots, the only ones aboard. According to aviation safety experts, it is one of a string of accidents around the world that could offer clues into what might have caused Air France Flight 447 to disappear as it cruised above the Atlantic Ocean on June 1.

The blaring warning horn and speed indicators in the cockpit of the Northwest jet were erroneous, investigators concluded later. The normally highly reliable aircraft was instructing pilots to do the wrong thing. Instead of speeding up, the jet was actually slowing, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found. All three devices that measured air speed had become clogged with ice and were telling the pilots they were going far faster than they actually were. Faced with a jarring series of sometimes contradictory warnings, the pilots became confused.