| |  |  | The Reuters Daily Briefing | Friday, May 14, 2021 by Linda Noakes | Hello Here's what you need to know. No end in sight as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalates, scientists say the COVID-19 lab leak theory cannot be ruled out, and hackers DarkSide are back | | | | | Today's biggest stories  Palestinian women walk at the site of destroyed houses in the aftermath of Israeli air and artillery strikes in the northern Gaza Strip, May 14, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT
Israel fired artillery and mounted extensive air strikes against a network of Palestinian militant tunnels under Gaza, amid persistent rocket attacks on Israeli towns.
One building watchman in Gaza was given advance warning to evacuate by an Israeli officer - offering an insight into how, at least sometimes, these neighbors and antagonists fight their wars.
We visited the ancient city of Acre, often held up as an example of Arabs and Jews living alongside each other in relative calm, to find fear and mistrust now replacing peaceful co-existence.
|  Family members mourn at a crematorium ground on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, May 13, 2021. REUTERS/Samuel Rajkumar
PANDEMIC SLAMS ASIA
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the alarm over the rapid spread of the coronavirus through India's vast countryside, as the official tally of infections crossed 24 million, and 4,000 people died for the third straight day.
As India moves to what Modi has called a "war footing", we look at how the crisis has pushed up the cost of living – and dying.
Japan declared a state of emergency in three more prefectures, as it grapples with a surge of a more infectious virus strain just 10 weeks before the Tokyo Olympics are due to start.
Singapore announced the strictest curbs on social gatherings and public activities since easing a lockdown last year amid a rise in locally acquired infections, while Taiwan will close bars and nightclubs in Taipei as community transmissions in part of the city spread.
COVID SCIENCE
The origin of the novel coronavirus is still unclear and the theory that it was caused by a laboratory leak needs to be taken seriously, according to a group of leading scientists.
Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine generates antibody responses three-and-a-half times larger in older people when a second dose is delayed to 12 weeks after the first, a British study said.
And we look at the man behind Brazil's search for miracle COVID-19 cures.
| CYBER-ATTACKS
Ireland’s health service operator shut down all its IT systems to protect it from a “significant” ransomware attack and a unit of Toshiba said it has been hacked by DarkSide, the group the FBI has blamed for the Colonial Pipeline attack.
Colonial ramped up deliveries to fuel-starved markets up and down the East Coast following a nearly week-long outage caused by the hackers.
Ransomware attacks have increased in number and amount of demands, with hackers encrypting data and seeking payment in cryptocurrency to unlock it.
MARKETS
Global stocks rose and the dollar dipped after U.S. Federal Reserve officials said there would be no imminent move to tighten monetary policy in the world's biggest economy.
Here's how U.S. investors are looking for protection as inflation pressures bubble.
Bitcoin is heading for its worst week since February, while dogecoin has leapt by a quarter, as the latest tweets on cryptocurrencies from Tesla boss Elon Musk send the digital coins on a wild ride. A regulatory probe into crypto exchange Binance added to pressure on bitcoin.
Musk has amassed considerable power to move markets with his musings, but murky rules make it difficult for regulators to rein him in.
CLIMATE FIGHT
World leaders must agree to make coal a thing of the past at November's summit or there will be a climate catastrophe due to global warming, Britain's climate tsar says.
But the coal industry is betting it can survive the decarbonization of electricity and industry and keep fossil fuels in the mix by leaning on carbon-capture technology, the head of the World Coal Association has told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Europe faces the prospect of higher electricity bills and a supply crunch, as utilities struggle to finance new gas-fired power plants unless they meet tougher emissions criteria imposed by banks pressured to stop financing fossil-fuel projects.
As Russia's climate envoy describes a recent global trend towards ambitious new targets to reduce emissions as an "unreasonable race", the U.S. has brought back its climate change website detailing ongoing threats after Trump officials stopped updating it.
| | | | | | | | | Quote of the day "We can buy equipment, we can build plants. But in biotechnology, competent people is the most important thing. And there are not very many of them" Vikram Punia CEO of Pharmasyntez Why Russia is struggling to make Sputnik V doses | | | | Video of the day  Drought-stricken California trucks its salmon to the sea During a typical spring, the young salmon swimming at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery would be released into the American River and then make their way out to the Pacific Ocean to grow to adulthood. This week they embarked on a very different journey. | | | Thanks for spending part of your day with us. | | | | | |
