Here are the top stories for this week all summarized so you can stay informed and save time!
All sources are at the end of the post.
American gunmakers help Ukrainians fight back against Putin:
Adrian Kellgren, director of industrial production of KelTec, holds a 9mm SUB2000 rifle, similar to ones being shipped to Ukraine, at their manufacturing facility on Thursday, March 17, 2022, in Cocoa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Former US Navy Pilot Adrian Kellgren’s family-owned gun company in Florida was left holding a $200,000 shipment of semi-automatic rifles after a longtime customer in Ukraine suddenly went silent during Russia’s invasion of the country. Kellgren and his company, KelTec, have put those 400 guns to use by sending them to Ukraine’s nascent resistance movement; helping civilians fight back against the Russian military. Kellgren said the American people, “enjoy our freedoms, we cherish those things. And when we see a group of people out there getting hammered like this, it’s heartbreaking.” This high-profile example is emblematic of other similar grassroots efforts to help arm the Ukrainian populace against this invasion. However, many of these efforts are held back by their lack of experience with the many regulations governing the international shipment of military equipment. Kellgren, being more experienced, was able to secure a federal arms export license in just four days with the help of a diplomat in the Ukrainian Embassy. That process can often take months. One New York-based group supporting Ukraine has been able to piggyback on KelTec’s license to export 60 long guns they recently collected.
China weighs exit from ‘zero COVID’ and the risks involved:
Community workers outside a locked down community chat near a Communist Party flag and trash bags labeled as hazardous waste on Thursday, March 17, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Even as Chinese authorities are locking down cities, they are looking for an exit from what has been a successful but onerous COVID-19 prevention strategy. Government-affiliated health experts have released messages indicating that China is exploring ways of slowly easing its zero-tolerance approach. Right now, China is facing 15,000 new cases this month from multiple outbreaks across the country. The government is prolonging its policy of lockdowns, repeated mass testing, and a two-week or more quarantine for overseas arrivals in the wake of this high case-load. China’s Center for Disease Control published a paper last week suggesting that mandatory quarantine be reduced to seven days for incoming travelers. “It’s not the same virus as two years ago in Wuhan and elsewhere,” said Jin Dong-yan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong. “That’s the main message that we need to pass on.”
UK’s Most Premature Twins Finally Go Home 5 Months After Being Given 0% Chance of Survival:
SWNS
‘The UK’s most premature twins’ have finally headed home from the hospital just five months after their birth when they were given a zero percent chance of survival. Little Harley and Harry Crane were conceived via IVF and were born at 22 weeks and five days. Babies born after only five months of development are not classed as legally viable, but the hardy siblings clung to life, and have amazed doctors. Jade Crane, the mother of the miracle twins, had tried to get pregnant naturally for over three years with no luck. She decided to start an IVF (in vitro fertilization) which is a process of removing mature ovaries, fertilizing them in the lab, and reinserting the fertilized eggs back into the uterus. She experienced many miscarriages with IVF throughout 11 years and it seemed hopeless. However, now the miracle twins are heading home with Jade this week to their home in Derby, just 2 and half weeks past their original due date. Even with many doctors saying that the babies were born with many defects, the twins have defied the odds and will go down in medical history as the toughest babies in the U.K.
Carbon-Negative Plant Opens in Turkey Turning Algae Into Bio-Jet Fuel and So Much More:
İMBİYOTAB Bogazici University
Europe’s first large-scale biorefinery for turning algae into fuels and feedstocks has been completed on the Black Sea shore of Istanbul. Set to head up a new “bio-economy,” the refinery, powered entirely by wind energy, will turn microalgae and macroalgae species into carbon-negative jet fuel, feedstocks, supplements, and fertilizers. They are carbon negative because algae absorb CO2 as plants do, but far faster and in much greater amounts than woody plants like trees. Once processed into products, more of that carbon pulled from the atmosphere remains imprisoned than is released during production, hence it being carbon negative. The project was funded in partnership by the government of Turkey and the European Union and is just one of several initiatives dubbed Project INDEPENDENT. The biorefinery, located at Boğaziçi University’s Sarıtepe Campus, can process 1,200 tons of algae per year. Reporting on the refinery says that the algae will be used to produce jet fuel that, when mixed with 5-10% fossil fuels, will power a flight leaving Istanbul by the end of the year.